THIRTY-THIRD CONGRESS, 1853-55. 553 



interpretation of the law, which has been given by the 

 board, be a correct one, until I change my opinion, or until 

 Congress shall modify the law, I must adhere to my original 

 convictions. 



I regret, sir, that there should be the slightest feeling dis- 

 played in this discussion. Really, a charitable fund for such 

 high and noble purposes, ought to be administered in a spirit 

 of Idndness and charity. 1 cannot accede, therefore, to any 

 intimation that those who act with me, or those who do not 

 concur in the interpretation which has been given to the 

 law, are actuated by any but the highest and purest mo- 

 tives. 



Mr. MASON. Does the Senator understand that anything 

 fell from me to question the motives of the gentlemen who 

 differed from us in that matter ? 



Mr. DOUGLAS. I do understand that the Senator from 

 Virginia supposed it to be prompted by improper motives 

 to get possession of the fund, on the part of some persons. 



Mr. MASON. I thought I was understood. I said that, 

 unless I misconstrued the signs of the times, this great and 

 eager anxiety out of doors, manifested by popular and in- 

 flammatory addresses through the public press, showed that 

 there was an earnest design outside to get hold of the fund. 

 I never expressed, for I certainly never entertained, a doubt- 

 that honorable gentlemen who differed with me in our 

 judgment as to the construction of the statute, were actu- 

 ated by as stern a sense of duty as I was. I have always so 

 expressed it. 



Mr. DOUGLAS. Mr. President. Then I understand the 

 Senator as not impugning the action or motives of any of 

 the regents with whom he has been associated ; but I must 

 Bay that I have not seen anything to leave an impression on 

 my mind that whatever action was prompted out of doors, 

 meant to get possession of this fund, or to squander it, or 

 to apply it to any improper purposes. On the contrary, I 

 believe it arises from that same feeling which has been 

 evinced in the differences of opinion which have existed 

 from the time the institution was first proposed to be organ- 

 ized up to this day, as to what was the true application of 

 the fund. Those who supposed tliat their opinions had re- 

 ceived the sanction of Congress in the organic law of the 

 institution, now think that that object has been defeated by 

 A wrong construction given to that organic law. It is a firm 

 conviction, as I believe, on their part, that the law lias not 

 been carried out according to its terms. It certainly has 

 not been according to their understanding of its terms. I 



