420 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



due, according to the promises on the face of the bonds given by the said States for 

 moneys bequeathed by James Smithson, a benevolent Englishman, to the United 

 States of America for the special purpose of founding, at the city of Washington, an 

 institution for the increase and . diffusion of knowledge among men, which bequest 

 was, by an act of Congress approved on the first of July, eighteen hundred and 

 thirty^six, accepted, with a pledge of the faith of the United States that it should be 

 applied to the purposes prescribed by the testator. 



SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That when payment shall have been obtained from 

 the said States of Arkansas and Illinois of the arrears of interest due on their said 

 bonds Congress shall forthwith proceed to appropriate said sums of interest so recov- 

 ered, together with the interest hitherto received, or hereafter to be received until 

 the time of making such appropriations, in such manner as they shall deem suited 

 to redeem the pledge of the faith of the United States to the application of the funds 

 of the bequest of the said James Smithson to the specific purpose prescribed by the 

 testator. 



SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That until the arrears of interest due by the said 

 States of Arkansas and Illinois to the United States upon their said respective bonds 

 shall have been received at the Treasury of the United States no appropriation shall 

 be made by Congress chargeable upon the people of the United States for the fulfill- 

 ment of the purposes prescribed by the testator James Smithson for the disposal of 

 his bequest. 



SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That within the first thirty days of each and every 

 successive session of Congress it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury 

 to report to Congress the then actual state of the Smithsonian fund, and particularly 

 the amount of arrears of interest due upon the said bonds of the States of Arkansas 

 and Illinois, together with copies of all correspondence, showing the result of the 

 means of moral suasion used during the preceding year to obtain payment of the 

 said arrears of interest; and the said annual reports shall be printed for the 

 information of the people. 



Mr. GEORGE W. HOPKINS moved an amendment to the amendment, 

 to strike out in its first section the words "of moral suasion and no 

 others." Agreed to. 



The third Section of the said substitute amendment being under 

 consideration, 



Mr. JEFFERSON DAVIS moved an amendment, to add at the end of 

 the section the following: 



Provided, however, That if the governor of the State of Arkansas shall make it 

 appear to the satisfaction of the Attorney-General of the United States that he has 

 used suitable means to obtain from the Real Estate Bank of Arkansas payment of 

 the debt due by said bank to the State of Arkansas, but without success, then, and in 

 that case, and until the arrears due by the said Real Estate Bank shall have been 

 received into the treasury of the State of Arkansas, the said State shall be, and is 

 hereby, declared to be absolved from the promises on the face of her bonds by 

 which the said State heretofore pledged her faith for the due payment of the 

 principal and interest of said bonds. 



The question being taken, the amendment was rejected. 



Mr. JOHN WENTWORTH moved an amendment, to add at the end of 

 the section the following: 



That the State of Illinois shall have the power hereafter, like other States, to tax 

 all lands within that State as soon as sold, providing the proceeds of said tax shall 

 be applied to paying the interest due the Smithson fund, so far as may be necessary, 

 and the balance, if any, to paying the interest upon her other bonds. 



