TWENTY-NINTH CONGEESS, 1845-1847. 409 



faith. [Mr. Adams went on to explain the provisions of his substitute 

 for the bill.] He proposed that no appropriation for the purposes of 

 this institution should be made a tax on the people of the United 

 States. Should this be agreed to and become a part of the act, he 

 believed that it would be more effectual in persuading the people of 

 Arkansas to pay this money than would be the thunder of the line-of- 

 battle ships with which we have been lately threatened in the British 

 Parliament. No application of force was proposed by him. He 

 would speak to them only as friends to friends. He would say to 

 them, we would not tax our own people to pay the sum for which you 

 are indebted — which j^ou ought to pay — and which you can pay almost 

 without feeling it. 



Mr. Arch. Yell said, with the leave of the honorable gentleman, he 

 would make some explanations. The remarks of the gentleman left it 

 to be understood that the interest of the Arkansas bonds had not been 

 paid, and that the State was not disposed to pay its debts. He wished 

 to let the House know the state of this matter. Half a million of State 

 bonds were (in 1838) sold, and the proceeds invested in the Real Estate 

 Bank of Arkansas. The bonds invested were to be paid in twenty -five 

 years. To secure them was pledged the bank capital of a million and 

 a half, and real estate which had been valued at three millions. In 

 addition to this the State took the bills receivable and the assets of the 

 bank. The State at length saw its error, and the whole country had 

 opened its e3^es to the evils of such a system. The State acted as hon- 

 estly as the nature of the case would admit. It wound up the bank 

 and determined to pay, first, the outstanding notes, and, second, the 

 special deposits. All these had been paid. At the expiration of the 

 time for which the bonds were given he had no doubt that they would 

 be paid; and if the assets of the bank were insufficient the State would 

 pay them. 



Mr. Yell also showed, from an official document, that about 190,000 

 had been paid toward the interest on these Arkansas bonds. He went 

 on to show that the State of Arkansas had been greatly misused by 

 the General Government. The distribution act passed in 1841. He, 

 as the executive of Arkansas, recommended to the legislature not to 

 accept the share of that State. That body, though one-third of them 

 were good Whigs, unanimously refused to accept it. But the Secre- 

 tary of the Treasury credited the sum not to Arkansas, but to the 

 bank. The bank received it, and there it remained. When Arkansas 

 came into the Union, 5 per cent of the proceeds of lands sold in her 

 limits were given to the State. Till 1842 the sum was promptly paid. 

 After that time the Government retained the amount. He argued 

 that they had no more right to take it than they had to take the lands set 

 apart for the support of schools. When the Government was disposed 

 to do justice to Arkansas, the people of that State would be better 



