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That feature of Mr. Owens plan which provided for the use of Mme Pruss? was the nearest approach to the great desideratum which had been made. But its efficacy would depend upon the mode of distribution. If the Publications of Mrs. Smithson Pruss? were to be distributed as gratuities, they would be worse than useless_they would serve chiefly to buy votes with. If they were distributed in such numbers as to reach the millions, it would require half the revenues of the country. If they were to be sold for a price by agents of the Institution_it would so complicate the Machinery that it would run down_it would open so many leaks that the funds would disappear. What that gentleman's views were upon this point, I do not know_but I think we may confidently affirm that his scheme, though the best that had been offered, still embraced too many objects, and was too complicated in its machinery to have worked well. It would indeed serve to diffuse knowledge among men, but not to such an extent as to redeem the unclear faith of our Government. The Bill of Mr Owen was superseded by another, brought in it should seem with little reflection on the part of the mover, and adopted with still less on the part of Congress. It is truly a Bill of Abominations, providing amply for wasting the income of the Fund, & scarcely [["without even" struck through here) pretending to provide for the Object of Mr. Smithson, the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.