460 . CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



conferred on the country next to the preservation of lib- 

 erty. Our institutions were dependent upon intelligence 

 and reason ; and no matter what profession the young men 

 educated at this school should adopt, they would add to 

 the stock of knowledge, and diffuse it among men. 



Mr. Wick said, that some opinions had been expressed in 

 the course of the debate, wdiich he could not suffer to pass 

 uncontradicted. lie alluded to the opinions on the subject 

 of the doctrine of trust. It was alleged that all which the 

 Government was responsible for, was the stocks in which 

 the fund had been invested. This fund was intrusted to 

 our charge, and it was important that the honor of the 

 country should be sustained by its faithful execution. He 

 totally dissented, as a lawyer, from the doctrines which had 

 been advanced. A trustee in ordinary cases was not bound, 

 if he was authorized to use his discretion, as to the mode of 

 investing the fund intrusted to him. I3ut the Government 

 of the United States had no such discretion in this case. 

 There was no power given by the will of Smithson to invest 

 the money in any special manner, and the Government in- 

 vested it at its own hazard. 



If, of his own accord, and without authority, a trustee 

 made an investment, he was responsible for it. Thus the 

 United States stood in relation to this matter, and to this 

 extent they were responsible, if at all. If his wishes had 

 been consulted, the burden of this trust would never have 

 been accepted by the Government. But we did accept the 

 trust, and the national faith would be tarnished should it not 

 be executed. Had he been here -at the time he would have 

 voted against it. He knew that the Government had no 

 constitutional power to establish a college of itself. The 

 power was not granted in the Constitution ; but it might be 

 admitted that the Government had the power to accept a 

 trust for the purpose. He had always advocated a strict 

 construction of the Constitution, but he believed that the 

 Government might accept the trust. "We had accepted the 

 trust, and it was our duty to execute it. 



Mr. A. D. Sims made some remarks on the constitutional 

 question. 



Mr. G. W. Jones asked whether, if the money should be 

 given by will for the establishment of a national bank, the 

 Government would bo bound to execute the trust, or have 

 power to accept it ? 



Mr. Wick replied that he would vote against the accept- 

 ance of such a trust. 



Mr. Washington Hunt entirely concurred with the gen- 



