THIRTY-THIRD CONGRESS, 1853-1855. 521 



Regent by the vote of the Senate, and occasionally as a citizen at large, 

 clothed with the high honor (for it is a very high honor) of an admin- 

 istrator of this trust, has declined further service; and has assigned 

 as one of the reasons, and as this paper alleges the dominant reason 

 for declining it, that he does not agree with his associates in their 

 mode of administration. I do not feel at libert}' to say that such a 

 course of conduct would not. be expected of one so honored, because 

 tlie gentleman who wrote the letter is absent, but I should sa}^ that, 

 according to my ideas of what is due to the trust, if he believed there 

 was maladministration, it was the very last occasion when he should 

 have resigned; he should have remained there in order that the inquiry 

 which he has provoked might be conducted in his presence and, to some 

 extent, under his guidance. 



But, sir, he has resigned the trust, and in doing so he has shot a 

 Parthian arrow^ at those who were associated with him. What is the 

 character of his letter? None can read without being struck with its 

 tone, which was so justly animadverted upon by my co-regent, the 

 honorable Senator who has just addressed j^ou. I have been accus- 

 tomed, Mr. President, to find in that profession to which I belong, 

 and of which I am a verj' humble member, that, whether at the bar 

 or on the bench, the surest, the soundest, and the ablest intellect gives 

 its judgment with diffidence, courtesy, and respect for the opinions of 

 others. I have ge .erally found, too, in my experience of the world 

 that the soundest judgment is the judgment which is. accompanied by 

 such diffidence. Now, what is the tone of this communication ? The 

 conrid.ent tone of Sir Oracle — of one whose judgment can not be 

 impugned, and should not be questioned. " I can not be wrong," 

 says the writer of this paper, in substance, "let others vindicate their 

 judgment if they can." This is what he says, and he has assigned as 

 the startling reason for resigning this trust that he differed from his 

 associates in the construction of an act of Congress; there is no impro- 

 priety even hinted in the conduct of his associate Regents; but he rests 

 it exclusively on the ground that thej^ have misinterpreted the law 

 which created the trust, and there is no appeal from the decision 

 of the learned gentleman who pronounces the judgment. That is 

 infallible. 



Sir, I have known instances — others, more experienced than 1 am, 

 have known of more — where the judgment is found darkened in the 

 flashes of a brilliant mind; a mere rhetorician should never aspire to 

 the judgment seat. I would appeal to the experience of the world to 

 sa}^ whether there is not an infirmity attendant upon such minds, which 

 never admit that they may be wrong. The calm, sedate, deliberate, 

 slow, and cautious mind brings you to a correct conclusion; and, when 

 attained, submits it with deference and respect to those who are to 

 pass upon it. Confidence — that confidence which precludes doubt — 

 does not belong to those who are capable of pronouncing judgment. 



