45G CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



had failed, would the Government be bound to make good 



the fund ? 



Mr. RATHBUN had no objection to answer, as he said ; and, 

 -as a lawyer he would say, that a trustee investing money in 

 execution of a trust, and in good faith, would not be bound 

 to return it if it should be lost. But a Government pro- 

 fessino- to be the first in the world, ought not, in his opinion, 

 to avail itself of a legal and technical excuse, but should 

 proceed to see the trust faithfully executed. 



Mr. ANDREW JOHNSON contended that the same moral 

 reasons applied in both cases. The bill itself, he proceeded 

 to show, did not hold the Government to be responsible, if 

 it acted in good faith ; for it provided that all the invest- 

 ments on account of the fund be pledged to refund the 

 money to the Treasury. This proved that the bill did not 

 appropriate money in the Treasury, and it was not bound 

 for the money. 



There was something a little farcical and amusing in this 

 system of normal instruction, which was to provide the 

 country with school teachers. He would like to see a young 

 man, educated at the Smithsonian Institution, and brought 

 up in all the extravagance, folly, aristocracy, and corruption 

 of Washington, go out into the country to teach the little 

 boys and girls to read and write! Those young men, so 

 educated, would steal, or play the little pettifogger, sooner 

 than become teachers. Ninety-nine out of a hundred of 

 those who received the benefit of this institution would 

 hang about a law office get a license become a pack of 

 drones, instead of schoolmasters. Washington city was not 

 a place for such an institution. He believed that it would 

 result in an injury to the country instead of a benefit. 



Mr. OWEN asked if the gentleman was aware that the will 

 of Mr. Smithson designated Washington city as the place 

 for the establishment of the institution ? 



Mr. A. JOHNSON objected, he said, to the entire scheme. 



Mr. JEFFERSON DAVIS asked whether the gentleman would 

 send the money back to the court of chancery ? 



Mr. A. JOHNSON replied that he objected to the whole 

 principle of the measure, and that he would send the money 

 back to the source from whence it came. 



Mr. JEFFERSON DAVIS followed, with some remarks in sup- 

 port of the measure. The Government was bound, after 

 solemnly accepting the trust, to execute it faithfully. 



Mr. BELL spoke on the same side of the question. It was 

 eight years since the United States (he said) had accepted 

 this trust, which was one of a delicate and important char- 



