TWENTY-NINTU CONGRESS, 1845-47. 440 



upon the Treasury, and would necessarily be partial in its 

 operations and benefits, lie was rather inclined to believe 

 that the best disposition of the fund that could be made, 

 would be to invest the interest arising from it in a library. 

 There were great objections to this plan, to be sure. They 

 had been forcibly stated by the chairman of the select com- 

 mittee, [Mr. Owen.] But there was one great recommenda- 

 tion it possessed that strougly influenced him. That was, 

 that though it might not efi'ect the greatest amount of bene- 

 fit that could be produced by the fund, it was not liable to 

 the abuses to which all the other plans would probably give 

 rise. It would create no large body of ofiice holders, no 

 patronage, no favoritism, no partial, sectional advantages. 



Mr. Owen wished to say a few words in reply to the gen- 

 tleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. Adams.] lie was very 

 sorry that duty devolved upon him. He had for that gen- 

 tleman, in more senses than one, a most wholesome respect, 

 Not only did he respect his character most sincerely, his 

 acquirements, his long experience, his information, so accu- 

 rate on every subject, but in addition to all that, he had for 

 him, as opposed to him in argument, a most wdiolesome 

 respect. If any one who ever debated with him came ofl: 

 the better in the contest, it was while he (Mr. Owen) was 

 out of the House. And it was nothing but a sense of duty 

 which induced him to reply to the gentleman. 



The gentleman from Massachusetts had labored more 

 zealously in this good cause than, perhaps, any other indi- 

 vidual. He read from a report of Mr. Adams, of March, 

 1840, in regard to the application of these moneys, in which, 

 among other things, it was declared : 



" It will be perceived that the United States have made themselves credi- 

 tors to the States, and made themselves responsible for i\\Q punctual payment 

 of the interest of these bonds," &c. 



That (said Mr. Owen) was the opinion of the gentleman 

 from Massachusetts, in 1840 ; it was Mr. Owen's opinion 

 to-day. He believed it is the United States that are the cred- 

 itors of the State of Arkansas, and the other States, and that 

 their faith is plighted for the due administration of this 

 fund. And this included the question of time. Delay was 

 equivalent to denial ; to say you will administer a fund fifty 

 years hence, is to say you will not administer it at all. 



But not only in 1840, but a much later date, when every- 

 body knew that Arkansas had failed for three years to pay 

 her interest, did the gentleman from Massachusetts bring 

 in a bill — in June, 1844, (from which Mr. Owen read) — which 

 went further than the bill now before the committee, abso- 

 29 



