798 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 



of professors of agriculture and horticulture, and for the 

 establishment of teachers for normal schools, both of which, 

 however, were carried by a vote of five to two. There was 

 in the bill an appropriation of five thousand dollars a year 

 for the formation of a library. I moved to strike out in 

 4his section the word "five" and insert "twenty;" believ- 

 ing this better adapted to promote and increase the difltusion 

 of knowledge among men than the waste of the funds to 

 pay the expenses of schools for children — a duty which I 

 believe incumbent upon the American people themselves, 

 who will be disgraced by recurring to a foreigner for charges 

 which they ought to support themselves. 



My motion was, however, rejected, and the committee 

 were prepared to report the bill as the majority of them 

 have shaped it. A question was, however, reserved for the 

 next meeting on Friday next. 



February 20, 1846. 



I attended this morning a meeting of the select committee 

 on the Smithsonian bequest. Present, Owen, chairman, 

 Adams, Sims, and Jenkins. There was some further dis- 

 cussion upon the amendments proposed to the bill, but with- 

 out coming to a conclusion. The committee adjourned again 

 to meet next Frida}^ with a view then to direct the chair- 

 man to report the bill as amended. I said I should not 

 object to this, but should not hold myself bound to support 

 it in the House. Mr. Sims said that his objection to it as 

 unconstitutional remained in full force in his mind. 



February 27, 1846. 



At ten o'clock this morning I attended a meeting of the 

 select committee on the Smithsonian bequest. Present, 

 Owen, chairman, Adams, Sims, Jenkins, Marsh, and Jefier- 

 son Davis; absent, Wilmot. The chairman, conformably 

 to the order adopted at the last meeting, had prepared a 

 report to be submitted with the bill to the House. It con- 

 tained a statement of the embezzlement of the fund by in- 

 vesting it in the stocks of the States of Arkansas, Illinois, 

 and Michigan. I had moved to have this statement made 

 and provided for in the bill ; but, excepting Mr. Marsh, no 

 other member of the committee would consent to it. They 

 were unwilling to uncover the nakedness of the States. 

 They consented, however, with reluctance, to have it made 

 in the report, which Mr. Owen had rather awkwardly done, 

 with an expression of the opinion of the committee that 



