sas and appropriate it, as far as it would go, in payment of the
interest which had accumulated on the bonds of the State of Arkansas, in
which my predecessor, Mr. Woodbury, on behalf of the Government, had
invested the Smithsonian Fund; thus saving a small portion of the
interest which had accrued on these bonds. For this act I was violently
denounced by the Senators and Representatives of Arkansas in Congress,
as also by the Legislature and Governor of the State, and strenuous
efforts were made, unsuccessfully, first to induce me to revoke my
action, and, secondly, to have it overruled by the Government. But I
adhered to it, and declared openly, that if such a breach of trust were
consummated, and my action overruled in the premises, I would resign my
seat in the cabinet. My official action, however, was sustained by an
almost unanimous public sentiment of Congress, and of the country.
Indeed, beyond the limits of the State of Arkansas, and the circle of
the repudiators of Mississippi, my course was sustained and approved.

Now, then, let us see what was the action of Mr. Jefferson Davis on the
question of these Arkansas bonds. On reference to the journals of the
House of Representatives, of the Congress of the United States, it
appears that Mr. Jefferson Davis took his seat in that body, as one of
the members elect from the State of Mississippi, on the 8th of December,
1845. (P. 56.) When the bill was pending for organizing the Smithsonian
Institution, and making good for both principal and interest, the sum
bequeathed by Mr. Smithson that had been invested by the Government of
the United States in these Arkansas State bonds, Mr. Jefferson Davis, on
the 29th April, 1846, as appears by the official proceedings of the
House, page 749, 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 the State of Arkansas, payment of
the debt due by said Bank to the State of Arkansas, but without success,
then, 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