Newspaper Page Text
■*m.) 'wn*i»
Buren. AH were treated alike. .The same
rule was. applied to the expenditures under
each one. The aggregate was given in every
case first; and then the extraordinary, sepa
rated from the ordinary expenditures, und the
.same items charged and credited in every case.
In looking at the aggregates, it will be seen
that every Administration needed this classi
fication; that the aggregate under Mr. Adam’s
administration was not thirteen millions, as
repeated,so many millions of times, but aliout
i lie double of that! and that this thirteen mil
lions for that gentleman’s administration was
only nttained by deducting extraordinaries !
by going through the very process which re
duces the expenditure under Mr. Van Buren
to thirteen and a half millions. The smallest
aggregate in the whole table is that of 1835,
under Gen. Jackson’s administration, when
the Indian
the public debt had ceased, and
wars had not begun. The aggregate for that
year is seventeen millions and a half. Even
including the extraordinaries of that year, and
the a" tr rcgale was but seventeen millions and
a half!° And so it will be again. As soon as
we are done paying the Treasury notes, which
are issued in lieu oI our misplaced revenue,
and sosoou as our Indian troubles are over, and
the payments completed for removal of Indians,
and purchase of their lands, the aggregate ex
penditures will come down to about what they
were in IS35; and the ordiuary expenses will
be within fifteen millions.
• Mr. B. demanded who ever deemed it an
expense of the Government, when Mr. Jeffer
son purchased Louisiana at fifteen millions dol
lars? And who could think of charging as
an expense the large sums which had been
lately paid in extinguishing Indiau titles, and
in removing Indians? One would as soon
think of charging, among the expenses of a
family, the outlay which should be made by a
prudent mid thrifty farmer in purchasing addi
tional land, and inclosing it with fences, or
covering it with improvements. The extinc
tion of the Indian titles—the acquisition of their
lands for settlement and cultivation—and the
removal of the Indians themselves from all the
States, was one of the great measures which
illustrated General Jackson’s administration,
and was beneficial both to the Indians and to
the States. So great an object could not be
effected without a large expenditure of money;
and who is there now to stand up and condemn
the Administration for this expenditure?
tv IIO WUIIIS IIIC3C IIIUIUHO —
Georgia, Alabama, M ; ssissij.pi, and all the oth
er States, again incumbered with the ludians
which have left them ?
That the expenses of the Government had
increased in the last twelve or fifteen years,
Mr. B« said was just as certainly true as it was
naturally to have been expected. The coun
try itself had increased in that time: several
new States had been admitted into the Union,
and several new Territories had been created.
An additional impetus had been given to the
public defences in the increase of the army and
navy—wars with several indiau tribes had in
tervened—vast purchases of Indian lands bad
beon effected—whole tribes, nay, whole nations
of Indians, had been removed, and removed to
a vast distance, and at a vast expense. This
latter expenditure was chiefly for the benefit
of the Sonth and West; but where is the man
in any quarter of the Union that can stand up
and condemn it ?
Sir, I admit an increased expenditure; and,
***** fwm 1 AvItiKit nnrl nr<v*Uim it
1 display the items; they are spread out in the
statements now tiuder discussion; I point them
out to the country. 1 say they will be found,
principally, in the navy— in the army—in the
Indian department— iu the pensions—in the
light-house establishment—iu Indian wars—
in the defence of the frontiers, North and West
—in fortifications—in preparing arms and mu
nitionsofwar—in the legislative department-
in permanent and durable fire proof public
buildings—and in assuming the foreign debt,
and making other expenditures for the District
of Columbia. In these brunches of the service
will the increases be principally found, and I
supported them all except the increase for pen
sions, harbors, some ol the light-houses, and
the book printing part of the legislative ex
penses. 1 supported all except these: but the
gentlemen of the Opposition supported all that
i did, and these liesides; and now go forth to
wise a cry of extravagance!
Mr. B. .said the Opposition not only voted
for these increased expenditures, but in some
instances greatly augmented them. This was
the case in the Indian expenditures, and espe
cially among the Cherokecs. The Opposition
sat themselves up for the guardians of these
Indians: they seemed to make political alli
ance with them. The Indians became parties
to our politics: the Opposition became allies to
them; and the result was double trouble, and
double expense, and double delays, and double
vexation of every kind with those Indians;
until it required a military force to compel them
to comply with treaties which gave them mil
lions more than they ought to have received!
The Opposition not only voted for all the
increases, and caused some of them to be aug
mented, but they attempted many enormous
expenditures which the Democratic members
opposed and prevented. Let any one look to
the bills which were rejected, cither in the
Senate or in the House of Representatives; let
any one look to the number of these bills, and
the tons of millions, iu the aggregate, with
which they were freighted, and then say what
the expenses would have been if the Opposi
tion had been in power. One of these bills
•lone, the French spoliation bill, was for five
millions of dollars; others were for vast sums,
espccinily the harbor bills. They were reject
ed by the votes of Democratic members; and
if they had not been—if they had passed- they
would have swelled the thirty-seven to near
fifty millions; and would have been charged
upon us os reckless, wasteful, horrible extrava
gance
Mr. B. said that the financial statements were
a difficult subject to handle—hard for a speak
er to understand himself, and harder still to
make himself be understood by others. It was
a point at which the most unfounded impres
sioos might be made on the public mind—on
which the greatest errors might he propagated
Yet it was a point on which correct informa
tion should be disseminated—on which every
citizen should be informed—which every one
should make it his business to understand.—
Economy should be the cardinal virtue of a
free Government, and the whole body of the
eritizens should be guardians of that virtue.—
They should guard the national finances; and
for that purpose should understand them.—
They shoula know how much money was
raised, for what purpose, and how expended
They could-not be too jealous of the raisappli
cation of the public moneys; they could not
scrutinize too closely the public accounts
Those accounts could not be too often present
ed to them, nor in a form too simple and ob
vious. It has been my endeavor, said Air. B.
both in calling for the statements which had
just come in from the Treasury, and in what
1 have said upon them, to present the difficult
subject of our finances in a plain, obvious, and
intelligible form. My object has been to elu
cidate, and not to mystify—to enlighten, and
not to confuse. I have endeavored to present
a lull, plain, and authentic statement of the
public expenditures; such as every citizen can
see and comprehend. Our adversaries present
an aggregate—rush at the passions, and en
deavor to alarm, or to enrage, the people. 1
present the particulars, and ask for their de
liberate judgment. Sir, 1 have confidence iu
the capacity of my countrymen. I have con
fidence in their capacity for self-government;
ill their moral and intellectual capacity for
governing themselves—for sustaining and car
rying on the frame of Government which our
ancestors provided for us. 1 believe that my
fellow citizens possess the requisite qualities for
self-government—judgment to understand—
virtue to choose—and patriotism In sustain—
the principles anil the measures which are best
for themselves. Ido not believe in the mon
archical idea, that the people arc ignorant,
venal, factious : that they have no enlightened
views of men or measures; that reason, truth,
and sound argument, arc lost upon them, as
sion, and to what end was it reared ? More
than forty years have now elapsed since the
building was erected, at the charge of more
than half a million of dollars to the nation, and
from that time to the present, it has been oc
cupied in the manner iu which it is now used.
Congress, through ail this intervening period,
have voted the sums for furnishing the house,
as they had previously done for its construc
tion. If it were intended that the occupant
should himself provide the furniture, where
fore these grants ? They commenced before
the house was first taken possession of by the
elder Adams, and the occasions for further sup
plies have since been voluntarily anticipated
upon every succession to (he Presidency. Be
sides, the spacious halls and lofty ceilings of
such a mansion require much which would
be suited to no other residence. The reason
ableness of compelling a President elect to an
outlay exceeding bis annual salary in the pur
chase of furniture for a house, the occupancy
of which, lie has not the election to refuse, and
the tenancy of which, at the expiration of
every four years, is at the disposal of,the popn
lar voice, with the certainty of the sacrifice
upon the cost of the property in the attempt to
dispose of it for any oilier place or use cannot
gravely be contended for. The credit ol the
country itself would suffer by such an arrange
ment; for cither the officer, by the absorption
pearls thrown to the swine ; that the only way of his salary in the purchase of suitable and
to govern them Is to bamboozle and debauch
them. I believe in none of these monarchical
opinions, and have never praciisoil upon them.
I have never addressed myself to the supposed
ignorance, venality, faction, or caprice of my
countrymen, but always to their intelligence,
virtue, and patriotism. Theaigumenlum ad
ignorantiam has had no place in my speeches:
the argumentum ad judicium has been iny
sufficient furniture for the house, would be dc
prived of the appointed means for-proper sup
port in the office, or, by the neglect of such
provision, would exhibit to the world, in his
public station, the discreditable, contrast of
magnificeut apartments meanly destitute or
scantily furnished with whatever was appro
priate to their occupation. It is a great mis
take to suppose that these accommodations are
aim. I cannot say that I have spoken with for the personal relief or to the private advati-
jndgment; but I can affirm that I have always I tnge of the President. He is made by them,
paid my countrymen the compliment of speak- and by the amplitude of his salary, emphati
ing to their accredited judgment—never to their tally the host of the nation. His guests are
supposed folly. I have spoken to the rational the guests of the people. The Executive
minds, to the virtuous hearts, and to the lofty, mansion is the place for their reception..This
generous, and patriotic feelings of my country- house of the people is the silting position in
men: and 1 am too well content with the effect which, in the person of their Chief Magistrate,
which this plan ofspeaking has had, to change they receive from the representatives of other
it now. Facts, and reasons, are my materials people the homage due to the sovereignty of
—simplicity my style. Away with exordium this great Republic. Here ambassadors and
—away with peroration—away with holyday ministers, the accredited messengers from the
phrases—away with theatrical display—away proudest and most powerful, the enlightened
with all figures, but figures of arithmetic; and and most refined of the kingdoms of the earth,
-*o : r , ...j ™nr<> than in -,■-<> rpreiveri and entertained iu the name of
this short speech. This has been my plan of the hospitality of the nation! And ncrc, ioo;
speaking, and this it is now. I have procured ] the courtesies of offir.ial station arc exchanged
ploy of the Government for the continuous pe
riod of fifteen years, having been first engaged
in IS25. I will rend the certificate here, as
notice that I shall offer it on the trial of the
issue between the member and myself liefore
my constituents:
“Office of the Commissioner of Public iicn.tii
“It appears from the books of this office that
John Ousley was appointed gardener at the
President’s square on the 1st ot August, 1825,
at a regular salary ol four hundred and fifty
dollars per annum for his services. He has
received that salary quarterly, up lo the 31st
December, 1839, and is at tins time the gar
dener at the President’s square.
“NV. NOLAND.”
In respect to the grounds about the Presi
dent’s house, they, in common with those
around the Capitol, are, at all times, open to
the public. They have been laid out mid or
namented at the public charge, and if not now
cared for by Congress, will soon become a neg
lected and unsightly waste. The President
has no motive to the expense of their improve
ment. Like the spacious walksand cultivated
borders of the beautiful enclosure within which
we are here situated, they are for the enjoyment
of the people, and in the frequency of resort to
them, and the freedom with which they are
used, it is daily seen how little they are regard
ed as private. They are, indeed, accessible to
all, and I would recommend to the member
himself, at some pleasant eventide, to repair to
this quiet retreat, and indulge in the meditation
to which it invites
There was one remark of the member from
Pennsylvania made and dwelt upon with ap
parent complacency, so extraordinary in itself,
(I was about to say, so atrocious, to my mind
in the only application which can possibly be
given to it,) that 1 cannot permit it to pass un
noticed, in referring to the furniture and cul
tivation of the grounds in the use of tiie Presi
dent, the member said, “ the receiver was
plain statements to be made out, and have de- ]
livered a plain speech upon them. I have eu-!
deavored to make myself intelligible on a sub- ]
ject in which intelligibility is somewhat diffi
cult—on which it is easy for the speaker to get
both himself and his hearers into a fog. I
between the high functionaries of the Govern
ment, and exteuded to all classes of the citizens.
The House, it is well known, is open to all,
and is daily visited by many. Is it too much,
then, that the place and its appendages are be
yond the requirements of private station ? 1
have aimed at perspicuity, and flatter myself venture the assertion, that so far as the person-
that I have been understood. I wish the coun
try to judge the expenditures of the Govern
ment—the particulars .ns well as the aggregate
—and therefore place the whole before the pub
lic. Our adversaries attack the aggregate:
Let them examine the particulars, and name
the one to which they object, and for which
they did not vote!
Mr. B. then appealed to Senators of the
Democratic party to name the number of extra
copies of the report which they would propose
to print, professing himself ready to agree to
any number that was satisfactory to his friends.
M- UCBBL^HTt orarw.sorl thirty thousand
Mr. BENTON accepted the proposition,
al interest of the President is concerned, (I
speak not of the present incumbent, but of
whoever has been or may be in the office,) it
would be preferable, far preferable, to him to
occupy, at his own cost, a smaller and more
humble dwelling, than to submit to the incon
veniences and heavy exactions which his re
quired residence in the Executive mansion ne
cessarily imposes. Sure i am that, in a pe
cuniary point of view, it would be much better
for any incumbent in the office to receive ten
thousand dollars, and furnish his own habita
tion, than with twenty-five thousand to main-
tain th* «»y|p of living and public hospitality
which every President in succession has deem
and moved that thirty thousand extra copies of ed but iu conformity with the design, as well
the report be printed for the use of the Senate.
REMARKS OF MR. LINCOLN,
OF MASSACHUSETTS,
[Copied from the National Intelligencer.]
In the House of Ifepreseutatives, April 16,
1840—In reply to Mr. Ogle, upon the pro
position of the latter to^ strike out of the
General Appropriation Bill a small item for
alterations and repairs of the President’s
ns the liberality of present provisions.
But the member complains of it as a mon
strous abuse, that the President of the United
States, iu addition to his salary, and the use of
a furnished house, should have the grounds
about the latter kept in order at the public ex
pense. He says the President ought to fur
nish his own house and employ Ins own gar
dener, as his salary is amply sufficient. I have
only lo add to what I have before said on this
House, &c. 1 subject, that such has not been the judgment
When Air. LINCOLN obtained the floor, it or the pleasure of the people. For forty years,
was late in the evening, and, perceiving that their Representatives sitting iu these halls,
bad as the other man.” Sir, we all know
the words of the adage—“the receiver is as
bad as the thief.” Aiid who is the receiver
and who the thief? From the days of Wash
ington, through a log succession of illustrious
men, every President of the United States, in
eluding the elder Adams, Jefferson, Aladison
Monroe, J. Cl. Adams, Jackson, and the pres
ent incumbent, have received the benefit of
similar provision in their official station.-
The house, the furniture, the garden, and the
cultivated grounds have been alike the enjoy
mont of oaob 7 and at tlic public charfifo. I
may be instructive to this committee to be in
formed of the grants of Congress for some of
these objects, during the several periods of the
respective administrations. 1 have now be
fore me a statement, collected from official doc
uments, of appropriations for the purchase of
furniture for each Presidential term, after the
removal of the Seal of Government to the Fe
deral city.
By a law of the 2d of Alnrch, 1797, just pre
vious to the commencement of the administra
tion of the elder Adams, Congress made the fol
lowing appropriation :
Proceeds of sale of old furniture, and so
much in addition thereto, as the President may
judge necessary, not exceeding $14,000.
During the administration of Mr. Jefferson,
the appropriations amounted to $29,000.
In that of Mr. Madison to $28,000.
It was in this period that the house was
sacked by the British upon their incursion in
to Washington during the war, and the furni
ture, which, from the"beginning, had cost the
nation upwards of seventy thousand dollars,
was wholly destroyed.
After the repair of the House, in the years
1817 and ISIS, during the administration of
Air. Monroe, the records show appropriations
for re-furnishing it to the aggregate amount of
$50,000.
In the administration of Mr. John Q.. Adams,
the grants amounted to $20,000.
In that of General Jackson to $39,000; and
In that of Mr. Van Buren, they have been, to
this time, $20,000.
The statement from which I read gives the
he was fatigued by the long sitting, it was pro- without division iu sentiment or vote,have pro
posed to adjourn the debate to the following vided the house, supplied the furniture, direct-
day, but Air. L. preferred saying at once what ed the enclosure and improvement of the
he had to say. He began by replying to some grounds, and required their occupation by the
remarks of Ogle incidental to the main debate, Chief Magistrate. The salary may be suffi-
taking occasion, in the course of his reply, to cicnt for the officer. On this point I take no
state certain particulars in which his remarks
on a former day had been misstated, probably
because misunderstood, by the Reporter Tor the
Globe newspaper. After disposing of this pr
liminary matter, Mr. L. proceeded to the main
subject before the Committee of the Whole,
upon which he spoke as follows:
The member from Pennsylvania (said Mr.
to make it known. Where is th6 recorded
vote at a call even for a division upon the ques
tion. Sir, the truth is, such grants were
thought proper upon the original consideration
of them, and subsequently they have been of
course and usual. If the people will no lon
ger approve them, Coilgfess must refer back,
by legislation, to their orcasion; dispose of
the “White House;” send the furniture to
met ion; and leave the President to provide
for niruself his place of residence and menus of
accommodation. When this shall appear to
be the judgment of the people, 1 shall be found
among the last to withstand their will.
There is another topic upon which the mem
ber has harped loud aid long—the style and
fashion of the articles which have been pur
chased under the appropriations. In my im
perfectly reported remarks, to which themem-
ier so freely refers for a text to his folio anim
ations, with the reading of which, for hours,
lie has occupied the time of this committee,
not a single article was particularly specified
or justified by me. Wherefore, then, does he
attempt to make me responsible for such as he
has chosen to designate, and lor the extrava
gance of which, upon the fidelity of his des
cription only, he asks a sentence of condemna
tion? I did say, however, generally, 1 have
already to-day repented, and 1 now reiterate,
that to a casual observer the furniture appears
neither too rich nor too abundant for the size
and magnificence of the mansion, nor too good
for the use of the first representative officer of
a free and sovereign people. But of this I make
no matter of personal controversy with the
member. 1 understand him now to say that
he has never been at the house. How well,
then, it may comport with a becoming modes
ty, or a sense of justice even, to denounce un
seen that which prudent and honorable men
have sanctioned, 1 leave for others to consider.
He condemns the articles as the exhibition of
aristocratic pride and splendor. Well, sir, I
defend not the purchase of these articles, but
take my position behind the character of those
by whose authority they were procured. 1 in
sist that whatever fault has been committed is
with those who furnished the means of such
extravagance—if extravagance there be—with
the Representatives of the people, who, again
and again, under every Administration, with a
full knowledge of the manner iu which the
money would be expended, have voted the ap
propriations without restriction or qualifica
tion. I have shown that whatever reproach
attaches to the procurement and use of such
furniture, has been incurred by the head of
each successive Administration. If, indeed,
the fashion of the House be a display of regal
splendor, stern and sound Republicans have
been betrayed into this foolish error.
Thomas Jefferson was once accounted a
plain and unpretending Democrat, and passed,
in his day, for an unostentatious Chief Magis
trate, and yet we have seen that the sum of
$29,000 was expended for furnituredunng the
period of his Presidency; and this, too, in ad
dition to the $14,000 previously granted to his
immediate predecessor. The purity and Re
publican simplicity of Mr. Aladison’s life and
manners have never, to this time, been ques
tioned ; yet to the 43,000 before appropriated,
$28,000 more were added to the royal pageant
ry in the eight years of his Administration.
Col. Monroe, too, was he a vain glorious aris
tocrat? He has the credit, in history at least,
of having resisted to blood, in the Revolution
ary conflict, a Government of royal pride and
arrogance, and by a life devoted to his country,
contributed as largely as any other to the es
tablishment and support of institutions of equal
rights and political equality; yet, in his ad
ministration, a greater expenditure was made
iu refurnishing the house, after the late war,
than under ail his predecessors. What say
you, Mr. Chairman, of my venerable col-
! ivague ? Is he not a good Whig in principle,
; and a plain Republican in manners? And yet
he received whatever benefit resulted from the
• appropriation of $20,000, during the four years
' of his Presidency, added to the large expendi
ture made by Coionel Monroe. But think you
or thirty thousand, as in that of General J nc i7
son, or twenty thousand lor Mr. Van u ur '„
the ornamental was to be excluded." Ti"'
The
i i nwy
I a-now nothing 0 f
well excite his Wonder,
their fidelity. But the carpets and the curtain,'
the candlesticks and the catidelabras, the oltn ’
mans and the divans, the tables, mahogany and
marble, the tabourets (tabby cats, in ffm , nem
ber’s nomenclature) were all doubtless in t|,' e
estimates. They may be names of startling
souud to an unpractised ear, but they are Ur,,,,.
of use and no uncommon appearance in many
a private parlor. ’
One thing, above all, seems to have created
amazement with the member. He has found
in his manly and dignified research, nti in’,
voice of “cups and saucers,” which were iii
the closets of Mr. Adams; and he cries out
with astonishment at their number. What ti>o
need, he demands, of so many dozens of cur*
and saucers ? Sir, 1 will tell the member.-.
They vycro wanted lor a purpose which fe
could never conjecture—the hospitable entr-
tainment of visiters and friends. They were
a means, among others, of offering the courte-
sies of place to those who called upon the Pres-
ident as the Representative of the people-.
They were used for the refreshment of the na
tion’s guests. To such ns witnessed the nolle
hospitality of my honorable colleague, in Ins
high official station, it need not he told how en
tirely the accommodations of the house were
made but mere appliances to his personal li
berality. Sir, 1 advise the member to study
better the manners of the past, before he pre
scribes a rule of conduct for the future. The
public residence of the President of the United
States has been, and should ever continue, the
seat of a generous hospitality; and represent
ing as I do a free-hearted and liberal constit
uency, the incumbent in office, whoever he
may be, shall never find in my vote an excuse
for its neglect. If General Harrison shall sac
ceed to the occupancy of the White House, as
1 trust he may. and which l shall labor as zeal
ously as any one to effect, my speech shall fur
nish no argument for leaving him there with
only the worn out and cast-off'furniture of his
predecessor. * * *
date of each law, and the precise appropriation my honorable colleague would have consetit-
Lincoln) has insisted that the tendency of my place ? Has he no Government stationary in
remarks was to justify the purchase of extra- his room? no Congressional penknife of cosily
vngant articles of furniture for the President’s extravagance at this very moment in his pock-
house,
issue with the member. So may the per diem
of eight dollars tic ample compensation for a
Representative in Congress. But does the
scrupulous member himself receive nothing
more ? 1 demand of him to say if eight dollars
day is not abundant recompense for the
value of his labors here ; and yet, does he keep
his hands clean from all the perquisites of
1 repeat that I attempted no such jus-1 el ? Has lie never ordered to his lodgings the
tification, for I had neither seen many of the beautiful “embossed and lacc-cdged note pa-
exceptiouahlc articles not inquired into their per” and “ fancy sealing wax,” lor the use of
price. The argument, so far as it went, was any of his family, or received to his own use
against that false standard of economy which | a distributive share of the “spoils,” in costly
measures the value of a thing by its cost, and editions of books printed at the expense of the
decides upon its fitness with no reference what
ever to the place or occasion for its use. The
Treasury? Sir, let me not he misunderstood.
1 do not condemu him in this, for ihe legisla-
selection of furniture for such an establish-1 tion of the House allows it. But I say he rc-
ment is matter of taste, about which minds may j ccives these things by a more questionable nit-
well differ; and 1 said that while some would thority than does the President of the United
consider as most appropriate the rich and
showy, others would prefer tlieplaiu andsim
pic in fashion ; but that, for a mansion so spa
cious and so magnificent as that which the na
tion had provided for the residence of the
Chief Magistrate, the furniture, so far as I had
thority
States the accommodations which arc made
the burden of his complaint. When, there
fore, the member goes to his constituents and
to rniue with the objections that the Chief Ma
gistrate of the nation is (in his most courteous
language) robbing and cheating the people in
seen, was neither too good nor too abundant, receiving, under an appropriation of Congress,
:. n „r S .’. »™.not aware that 1 am alone among | the use of a furnished house mid the care of
the \\ higs,although I may not indeed besohaj- a garden, in addition to his salary, let him, at
flit rtC *jT\ inoot Inn - /* ! 1 n .• • . * . . 1
py as to meet the approving voice of all. But I the same time, honestly admit, that to his own
ocs such a difference imply dereliction of pay lie adds, at the public charge, perquisites
principle any where? The member suggests of considerable value, and which a colleague
that my manner of life and habits of thinking of his, [Air. Petrikin,l on another occasion, an-
mav nnvp otivpii mo «» »«*,•« r... r I ... . . . 7
| • ■* '"J I J I Wll I1I1WI » VVVlhJIUUt till’
inay have given me a taste for articles of cx- nonneed, although 1 think by gross exaggera-
Irnu.'ifrnnnn Whni rlnm. ». » •- I .• . • ° . * © _.
r f a , Vi f g ? nC o : VV hot docs he know of my habits I tion, equal in amount to the per diem. Sir,
ol ltte # Sir, 1 can tell him they have been as the President is much rather to be justified in
honorably laborious, and as plainly republican, the use of his furnished lodgings than the mem
station. 1 have been taught to toil as faithfully, 1 the Government, cannot be declined?
and to direct my thoughts ns uprightly, as the
least proud one here. One lesson more have 1
learned, that, in rciereuce to the conduct ol
others, the tongue is an uninly organ, which
an evil spirit may indulge, but which candor
and love of truth should at all times restrain.
Mr. Chairman, it can only be necessary to
review the remarks of the member to show the
absurdity of their intended application. While
he condemns the extravagance of the furni
ture, lie is silent in respect to the appropria
tions through which it was procured. These
appropriations are the grants of legislation
by the Representatives of the people. Whose
was the work of constructing the costly man-
1 regret, Mr. Chairman, that it is necessary
for me to pursue this ungrateful subject further.
I fear, in doiug it, I shall exhaust the patience
of the committee. But Ihe member cavils with
me for sustaining the appropriation for the sal
ary of the gardener at the President’s square.
In my remarks, on a former day, to which he
excepts, 1 said that this had liccn a itsual ap
propriation for many years, and that ,1 saw no
new reason, at this lime, for its discontinuance.
I have now in my hand a certificate from the
Commissioner of the Public Buildings, show
ing that the gardener, the very same individual,
with the same character of service, and at the
same rate of compensation, has been in tlieem
under it.
Such, Air.Chairman,are the sums—wheth
er lavish or not, I shall not stop to consider—
which, from time to time, have been voted by
Congress; and these are the “ receivers’’ to
whom the member refers—men who, for ac
cepting the accommodations provided by law
for the office which they sustained, are charg
ed with “robbing the Treasury and fleecing
the People.” These are they of whom it is
said “ the receiver is as bad as the thief!” The
eldet Adams,the dauntless asserter of American
freedom: Jefferson, the co-patriot of Adams,
the draughtsman of the Declaration of Inde
pendence, the groat apostle of liberty, the very
chief of Democrats; Madison, the champion
of the Constitution, the patriot statesman and
sage; Monroe, the soldier of the Revolution,
the brave defender of the Republic in the first
war, the inflexible and uncompromising ad
vocate of national honor, rights, and interests
in the last; these arc they who received the
appropriations, and to whom the adage is ap
plied. Names deathless in fame, immortal iu
the history of their country’s renown! My
venerated colleague, too, the learned civilian,
the accomplished diplomatist, the incorruptible
magistrate, he who on this floor is the most
fearless and faithful of the servants of the peo
ple, together with the Hero of New Orleans,
“the greatest und the best,” and the more
humble “follower in the footsteps”—they nl
so are within the obloquy of the same reproach.
And who is the thief ? The Congress, of the
United States, the Representatives of the peo
ple, in succession, though a series of more
than forty years. These arc the men who, by
making the appropriations, in the sen»in»ent
of the member from Pennsylvania, plundered
the Treasury and robbed their constituents'.
Is there an individual within the souud of my
voice whose cheek doss not burn with indig
nation at the bare recital of the charge? IV here
were the sleepless sentinels of the people’s
rights, the dragon guardians of the public
chests, when these spoilers roblted it of its trea
sure ? Was no arm raised for its protection ?
Search the journals of either House of Con
gress, and neither voice nor vote is found
against one ol those appropriations. If they
deserve the character now attempted to be
given them, how happens it that in forty years
there has been no resistance to their passage ?
How happens if, indeed, that, in the last Con
gress, of which this Pennsylvanian, ot more
than Spartan virtue, was a memlier, no oppo
sition was offered to grants precisely similar to
those contained in the present bill ? They
passed without objection then.
[Air Ogle. No; a member near me says he
objected.]
Mr. Lincoln. Who is the man ? I heard o!
no dissentient. If nuy had the virtue, at that
time, to think it wrong, he had not the cotjrage
ed to this, with a consciousness that it was in
tended for mere empty display ? or that, by
doing it, in the language of the member, he
was robbing the Treasury and fleecing the
people? Sir, my colleague has no occasion
to make professions of honesty or respect for
the rights of the people, to entitle his course of
official action to the confidence due to eminent
public services and distinguished" private vtr
tnc. Of nil men, hs would be the hast to in
dulge in matters of ostentation and vain show
[Mr. Oc.i.e. I deny that either Adams or
Alotiroc ever had such trumpery as Van Buren.]
Air. Li ncoln. And I undertake to say that,
during the Presidency of Air. Monroe, more
“trumpery,” as the member is pleased to term
it, was carried into the Presidential mansion,
than under every other Administration, to this
time,” put together.
Mr. Chairman, it was not my wish to enter
at all into this subject. But upon the denial
of the member now, 1 feci bound to refer the
committee to the fact, apparent upon the bills,
that many of the very articles which have been
pointed out as most objectionable, were pur
chased from the appropriation of $50,000 in
the time of Air. Monroe. In point of truth,
they were procured by him, and for his own
account, while Minister in France, and were
afterwards taken for the Government, by ap
praisal, on his accession to the chair of State,
Ay, sir, this famous golden plateau, and most
of these gold spoons, aud knives, and forks,
and vases, which have so bewildered the ima
gination of the member, and shocked the sim
ple virtue of his heart, were the purchase of the
Republican Monroe! And, in application to
these even, there is a lesson of infancy, which
may profitably be remembered, that “all is not
gold which glitters;” for, il lam not greatly
misinformed, the plateau, and spoons, and
knives, and forks, arc but silver gilded, and
the golden vases but china painted !
But the monstrous extravagance of such
tilings! exclaims the member. What is done
with the vast amount of these appropriations?
he inquires. Sir, l have not peered into the
windows of the palace, or moused through the
kitchen or the garret, to see whether the people
have got their money’s worth in the purchases
which have been made. This is not the pro
vince of the committee of which lam a mem
ber ; nor, if it were, would I perform the ser
vice. Does it require, he asks, such large
amounts for mere plain and necessary furni
ture? No,sir, no; nor is it to he supposed that,
by the large appropriations which have been
made from time to time, Congress could in
tend the purchases should lie so restricted.—
Simple, indeed, must he be, (1 had almost said
a fool) who could imagine that, in the authori
ty of an outlay of fifty thousand dollars, as in
the case of Mr. Monroe, or of twenty thousand
dollars, as in the administration of Mr. Adams,
IN SENATE.
Saturday. Jnlv IS, 1S40.
EXTRA ALLOWANCES.
Air. KNIGHT, from the Committee on the
Contingent Expenses of the Senate, reported a
resolution, proposing to make various extra al
lowances to the officers, messengers, and other
attendants of the Senate.
AIr. FULTON having proposed to amend
the resolution, by adding the Secretary, clerks,
and various oilier officers employed in and
abom the Capitol, and discussion custiii>,»
thereon— "
Mr. LUMPKIN said: Mr. President, as a
member of the Committee on the Contingent
Expenses of the Senate, I consider it my duty*
to state that I do not consider myself in the
j slightest degree responsible for the report of
the committee just made to the Senate. In
deed. sir, (said Mr. L.) 1 entirely dissent front
that report. Moreover, sir, 1 feel it io be my
duty to slate that the report is directly adverse
to the agreement and principles laid down by
the committee, when in conference yesterday
on tins subject.
1 have, sir. fully examined this subject, and
have been surprised to find the loose and care
less manner in which the contingent fund set
apart for the expenses of the Senate is Applied,
so far as the payment of officers, messengers,
and other persons in the employ of the Senate,
is concerned. And whatever of impropriety
there may h? ill this matter, l consider justly
chargeable to the Senate, and to no one else.
The officers, messengers, and others, in the
employ of the Senate, have salaries and per
diem pay, fixed either by law or resolution,
which appears on your statute book, iu plain
and explicit terms; but, sir, this practice, now
proposed to be continued, of giving extra al
lowance and gratuities, by the introduction of
a resolution, at the close of each session ofCon-
gress, has wholly changed the real amount of
salary and compensation received by these ol"
ficers and messengers. Their nominal pay,
and real pay, is altogether different.
My desire was, and still is, lo give to these
persons a reasonable and adequate compensa
tion forserviees, and to fix and define that com
ponsation by law, and leave nothing to the un
certainty and confusion of such a moment as
the present, it is Known to every {Senator pre
sent that on the near approach of the ad journ
ment of Congress, it is exceedingly difficult M
obtain that due consideration and strict atten
tion which is always desirable lo a proper dif-
chnrgc of the important duty of fixing salarir,
and appropriating the public money. 1 have
no disposition to withhold from any person con
nected with the service of the Senate a justand
equitable compensation; and I consider the
most certain mode of ensuring this object, is
to leave nothing to uncertainty. 1 consider
my plan the best calculated to ensure the ends
of justice, both to the Government and the in
dividuals vhosc interests are involved in this
subject. But,sir, I do protest against the prac
tice of giving to salaried officers and per diem
agents and messengers of the Government, ex
tra allowances and gratuities. It is onr duty
to investigate and determine Ihe value and
amount of services rendered the Government
by each officer and agent, and fix the compen
sation accordingly. Wc should not veil or
mask appropriations of money in a vague or
ambiguous manner. Salaries aitd compensa
tion should be iu reality what they appear to
be. Under the system now in practice, in re
gard to the payment of persons in the employ
ment of the Senate, it is difficult to asrcitain
what is the amount of pay of any one ot these
individuals.
From a paper which I now hold in my hand,
and which exhibits the facts, names, and items,
it may be seen, that the clerks, officers, messen
gers, and others, in the service of the Senate,
from the 1st of December, 1S38, to the 1st ot
December, 1S39, inclusive, in every instance,
not only received allowances forextra services,
but gratuities of from two to three hundred
dollars each—making an aggregate in gratui
ties of about five thousand dollars in one year
to these persons. The principal clerk in th®
office of the Secretary of the Senate is allowed
bylaw a salary of $1,800 ; yet, in the last year,
he actually received $2,700. The Executive
clerk’s salary is $1,500 : whereas he actually
received $2,200. Four other clerks/whose sa
laries are $1,500 each, received, during th®
last year, $1,700 each. Aud in a similar pro
portion will be found the allowances made to
the messengers, and others.
Air. President, how can we justify this mode
ofdistrihnting the public money ? Sir, ify 0 ’)
employ persons to do your own private work
or business, do you not have some definite un
derstanding upon the subject of wages ? nitd