408 CONGKESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



proper mauuer the duties of trustee^, and with i)roper preciaution 

 invested these funds. Clearly, if this investment had thus been made 

 and the duties of trustee faithfully performed the Government could 

 not be held to assume the debt and carry out the intentions of the 

 testator. 



He could not agree with Mr. Sims that this fund could ever ))e 

 replaced in the chancery of England. This Government was now a 

 trustee in regard to this fund. By its acceptance of it it had obligated 

 itself to make a disposal of it according to the intentions of the testator 

 and was incapable of divesting itself of it. 



If it had been properl}' invested, as a trustee should invest it, the 

 Government was not bound for the sake of keeping up its name to 

 make an appropriation of the money of the people of the United 

 States for the support of this charity or an}' other. The question was, 

 whether this investment had been made in good faith — whether at the 

 time there was a reasonable probability that it would be returned or 

 the interest on it paid regularly. 



That question he was not able now to determine, and he presumed 

 this was the case with other members of the House. Hence, in the 

 absence from the Treasury of this fund, he was willing to postpone 

 action on the subject for the present. 



Mr. J. Q. Adams had, he said, a few words to say. In regard to 

 the purposes of this bequest and the obligation and duty of the United 

 States to carry them into effect, he agreed with the honorable chair- 

 man of the committee who reported the bill. Both had the same 

 object in view. In regard to the mode of reaching the object he did 

 not agree with the gentleman. He regretted this difference of opinion, 

 but in all the public discussions of this question hardly any two per- 

 sons had been found to agree. If he differed from the honorable chair- 

 man, the honorable chairman had also differed from all who had pre- 

 ceded him in the investigation of this subject. This bill was entirely 

 different from any that had been reported heretofore. The chairman 

 had done him the honor to refer to his (Mr. Adams's) former views on 

 this subject, but did not propose to carry them out. It was important 

 to the argument to consider how the fund was expended. He admitted 

 that at the time when the fund was invested in Arkansas stocks those 

 stocks were at par, as were all the State stocks. The banks after- 

 wards suspended, and not only the Arkansas stocks but all the State 

 stocks depreciated. The interest on these bonds was not paid, and it 

 was the same case with the bonds of other States. He entertained 

 and cherished the hope that, b}' means of what he called moral sua- 

 sion — by considerations of justice between State and State, and man 

 and man — the people of Arkansas, having this subject presented to 

 them year after year by the President of the United States, would, for 

 the sake of their own honor and interests, pay the debt. He had that 



