TWENTY-NINTH CONGRESS, 1845-47. 409 



of the fund. The fund was given in trust for a specific 

 object. 



Mr. G. W. Jones. Suppose the fund had been left to the 

 gentleman from Mississippi ; was he bound to keep it and 

 pay six per cent, interest upon it ? Or, if he invested it in 

 Mississippi or other State stocks, in good faith, would he be 

 bound as trustee to make good the principal and interest of 

 the fund ? 



Mr. Jefferson Davis could, he said, answer that case in 

 perfect conformity with his own views and feelings on the 

 subject. He would reject the trust unless he was willing to 

 execute it ; and if he misapplied the money and delayed to 

 execute the trust for eight 3'ears, he would consider himself 

 bound in honor to make good the whole fund. 



Mr. D. continued. He would admit that the Government 

 had no authority to take charge of the subject of education, 

 and he did not consider this bill as liable to that objection. 

 The Normal school system he considered as highly benefi- 

 cial, serving to produce uniformity in the language, and to 

 lay the foundation of all sciences. The spelling book of 

 Noah Webster, which had been used extensively in our 

 primary schools, had done more to produce uniformity in 

 our language in this country than anything else. If we 

 sent out good school books from this institution, it would 

 be of vast service to the country. 



Mr. D. enlarged upon the benefits which would result to 

 science and the difl:usion of every kind of useful knowl- 

 edge, from an institution which would gather young men 

 from the remotest parts of the country, at the common 

 point where every facility for practical instruction would be 

 afibrded. The taste of the country would be refined, and 

 he did not consider this as anti-democratic. Knowledge 

 was the common cement that was to unite all the heteroge- 

 neous materials of this Union into one mass, like the very 

 pillars before us. If there was any constitutional objection 

 to the establishment of a corporation, he was willing to 

 strike out that feature in the bill, and preserve the remain- 

 der. But let us do something to carry out the objects of 

 the testator, or let us throw back the fund upon the chan- 

 cery court of England. 



Mr. Marsh desired, he said, to add a few words on this 

 subject, but was unable to proceed at present, in conse- 

 quence of indisposition. He therefore moved that the com- 

 mittee rise. 



Some conversation ensued, upon which Mr. Marsh with- 

 drew the motion. 



