"In the commission of every trust there is an implied tribute to the
integrity and intelligence of the trustee, and there is also an
implied call for the faithful exercise of those properties to the
fulfilment of the purposes of the trust. The tribute and the call
acquire additional force and energy when the trust is committed for
performance after the decease of him by whom it is granted; when he
no longer lives to constrain the effective fulfilment of his design.
The magnitude of the trust, and the extent of confidence bestowed in
the committal of it, do but enlarge and aggravate the pressure of
the obligation which it carries with it. The weight of duty imposed
is proportioned to the honor conferred by confidence without
reserve. Your committee are fully persuaded, therefore, that, with a
grateful sense of the honor conferred by the testator upon the
political institutions of this Union, the Congress of the United
States, in accepting the bequest, will feel, in all its power and
plenitude, the obligation of responding to the confidence reposed by
him, with all the fidelity, disinterestedness, and perseverance of
exertion, which may carry into effective execution the noble purpose
of an endowment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among
men."

The report concludes with recommending a bill, which passed in both
branches, vesting authority in the President to take measures to
prosecute, in the court of chancery in England, the right of the United
States to this bequest.

CHAPTER X.

MARTIN VAN BUREN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.--MR. ADAMS' SPEECH ON
THE CLAIMS OF THE DEPOSIT BANKS.--HIS LETTER ON BOOKS FOR UNIVERSAL
READING.--ORATION AT NEWBURYPORT.--SPEECH ON THE RIGHT OF PETITION.--
LETTER TO THE MASSACHUSETTS ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY.--ADDRESS TO THE
INHABITANTS OF HIS DISTRICT.--HIS VIEWS AS TO THE APPLICATION OF THE
SMITHSONIAN FUND.--HIS INTEREST IN THE SCIENCE OF ASTRONOMY.--LETTER
TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE ON AN ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY.--LETTER ON
THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.--RESOLUTIONS FOR
THE LIMITING OF HEREDITARY SLAVERY.--DISCOURSE BEFORE THE NEW YORK
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.--ADDRESS ON THE SUBJECT OF EDUCATION.--REMARKS ON
PHRENOLOGY.--ON THE LICENSE LAW OF MASSACHUSETTS.--HE ORGANIZES THE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

On the 4th of March, 1837, Martin Van