782 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 



requested of the Secretary, Forward, a more particular 

 Btateraent of the State stocks in which the Smithsonian 

 funds, principal and interest, have been invested, 



I spoke to Mr. Tyler about the Smithsonian fund and the 

 debts of the States. There are now six hundred and 

 twenty thousand dollars invested in State stocks bearing an 

 interest of six per cent, a year, payable half-yearly. I told 

 him I had at length succeeded in two measures at the recent 

 session of Congress — one by introducing into the bill for 

 distributing the proceeds of the sales of the public lands, 

 the fourth section, whereby the portion coming at any time 

 to any State shall be first applied to the payment of any 

 debt, principal or interest, from the State to the United 

 States ; and the other by the repeal of the sixth section of 

 the West Point appropriation act of 7th July, 1838, which 

 requires the investment of the accruing interest in State 

 stocks, and substituting the investment of them in stocks 

 of the United States — though this has been attended, much 

 against my will, with authority to the Secretary of the 

 Treasury to reduce the interest from six per cent, a year, 

 which the State bonds now bear, to not less than five. The 

 Secretary of the Treasury has obtained one million, or a 

 million and a half, of the twelve-million loan authorized at 

 the recent session of Congress, at five and a half per cent.; 

 but he wants already two millions more, and has no pros- 

 pect of obtaining them at a rate lower than six per cent., if 

 at that ; and I said if there should be an investment of the 

 next semi-annual interest I hoped it would not be taken at 

 a lower rate of interest than six per cent. But I was ex- 

 tremely anxious that the United States should not assume, 

 but resume, the whole responsibility of that fund, and look 

 themselves to the States for their punctuality of payment. 



Mr. Tyler, in general terms, approved of these observa- 

 tions, and assured me that he would co-operate cordially 

 with me for the faithful application of these funds to the 

 purposes of the testator. He said he had my letter to the 

 late Secretary Ewing, and had read it. 



I spoke also of the call of the House on the Secretary 

 of the Treasury for a report on the State debts, and gave 

 him some of my views upon that deeply interesting public 

 concern. 



He certainly did not concur with them ; neither did he 

 controvert them. When I suggested to him the certainty 

 that the European Governments will ultimately hold the 

 United States responsible for these State debts, he looked 

 grave, but made no remark. 



