TWENTY-NINTH CONGRESS, 1845-1847. 401 



Mr. Adams remarked: A propitious interruption of the few re- 

 marks — worthless, in comparison — whicli I was addressing to the 

 committee!] 



When Mr. Adams had concluded — 



Mr. John W. Tibbatts rose to propose an amendment, which, not 

 being at the moment in order, was not presented. 



Mr. Andrew Johnson expressed himself favorable to the adoption 

 of the substitute amendment of Mr. Adams; but proposed, if that 

 substitute should be voted down, to amend the first section as follows: 



Strike out all after the word "next," in the eleventh line, to the 

 word "be," in the fourteenth line, and insert the following: 



And actually paid into the Treasury of the United States by the States which have 

 borrowed and used said fund. 



Mr. Johnson was satisfied [he said] that a large majority of the 

 House was opposed to taking this sum out of the Treasury, for the 

 purpose of establishing such an Institution as was contemplated by 

 this bill. It was true that the money had been received b}- the Gov- 

 ernment of the United States; but if the Government had been acting 

 in good faith, and had vested these funds in bonds of the States, and 

 these States had repudiated or refused to pay, was there a man here, 

 who at this time would be willing to take this amount out of the 

 pockets of his constituents for the erection of an Institution of this 

 kind? Was this Government bound to levy a tax upon the people for 

 such a purpose ? If it had been acting fairly as a trustee, if it had 

 acted in good faith, and if this fund had been lost and destroyed, and 

 not intentionally perverted or misapplied, it was no more responsible 

 than any other trustee under such circumstances would be. 



Some conversation took place between Mr. Johnson and Mr. Sims 

 of South Carolina as to the legal liability of trustees in certain cases. 



Mr. Johnson insisted that there was neither authority for, nor jus- 

 tice in, taking this sum of money from the pockets of the people for 

 the establishment of this Institution, and he contended that no sub- 

 stantial good could result to the mass of the people, and that an annual 

 appropriation would be necessary from the Treasury of the United 

 States to keep it in operation. 



Mr. George Rathbun said he knew very little about this subject. 

 He had taken very little pains to examine the bill before the commit- 

 tee. He had read no reports from previous committees. He had heard 

 what had been said in relation to the project generally. And there 

 were a few things connected with facts known to everybody which 

 would control his vote. 



We had received a fund of half a million of dollars and upward, and 



had pledged the faith of the Government to execute the trust in the 



manner directed by the will of the testator — a solemn pledge in which 



every department of the Government had united. The fund was 



H. Doc. 732 26 



