372 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



events, now beyond our control, and no portion of it has been yet 

 applied to the noble ends of the bequest. The difficulties which have 

 thus far prevented the application of the fund to its proper uses still 

 exist, and are of a character not likely to be removed. Our Govern- 

 ment has no department which can be conveniently charged with the 

 administration of the charity, and must therefore begin with the organ- 

 ization of one for that special purpose. In this incipient step we 

 meet with obstacles at every corner. Questions are at once raised 

 that are not yet solved, and are certainly in themselves of no easy 

 solution. How far can, how far ought, Congress to act in the direct 

 control of the charity how far should it make specific what the will 

 of the testator has left general? If Congress shall direct the particu- 

 lar uses to which the fund shall be applied, what shall those uses be? 

 Or shall we, on the other hand, delegate the trust; and, if so, shall 

 we impose its duties on departments already too heavily burdened 

 with official responsibilities, or shall we create a corporation or other 

 special agency for the purpose ? Is there not danger that the institu- 

 tion will be abused for party ends, and merely serve to swell the 

 already overgrown patronage of the Executive ? A previous sugges- 

 tion of these difficulties might well have led us to hesitate before we 

 contracted obligations of so delicate a character, and I fear they are 

 yet destined for some time longer to impede the satisfactory action of 

 Congress. 



But it is now quite time that we apply ourselves in earnest to the 

 work of redeeming our country from the reproach of infidelity in the 

 discharge of so high and solemn a trust, and that at the earliest prac- 

 ticable period, and before the subject shall become an element in our 

 party dissensions, we strive to make available to our fellow-citizens 

 and to all men a gift as splendid as its purposes are noble. 



The delay, long and unwarrantable as it is, has not been without its 

 issues. It has afforded abundant time for the collection, comparison, 

 and concentration of opinion; able men in every walk of scholastic 

 and professional life have been consulted; many of the wisest Amer- 

 ican statesmen have brought the energies of their intellects to the 

 examination of the .subject; it has been largely discussed in both 

 branches of the National Legislature; numerous studiously considered 

 plans have been suggested, providing in different ways for every inter- 

 est which can be supposed to be embraced within the views of the 

 testator, and the bill now before us is a compilation, an anthology, so 

 to speak, from all these, though possessing original features valuable 

 features the credit of which belongs to the chairman of the special 

 committee (Mr. Owen), by whom the bill was reported. 



In a case where there is room for so great diversity of opinion as in 

 this there can be no hope of the adoption of any plan not conceived 

 in a spirit of compromise; and on this, as on another larger question, 



