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the rear of the bull by putting liim w ith small j
shot in the shape of winter pippins.
This holy war lasted three quarters of an hour, I
and the bull seemed likely to win the day. Icha
bod fancied himself already reduced to the ne
necessify of taking up his quarters in the tree for
the night; but luckily at this moment a reinforce
ment arrived, and the bull began to retreat; the
assailants, headed by Bill Mugs, pressed their ad
vantage, carried the stone wall by escalade, formed
a solid column, and in a short time the bull was
driven from the field without the loss of a single
man. And thus the victory being achieved, Icha
bod came down from the tree.
But it was all over with him. His sermon was
gone, the afternoon was gone ; and he soon found
that his hopes in a pulpit, were gon3. The bull
wes never out of his mind. He never had the
courage to attempt another sermon, and at the
very thought he imagines, to this day, he hears a
boo-booing and sees a pair of horns.
A SERMON,
BT REV. MR- TAPPAN, 1.. L. D. AtSD A. S. S.
The tex in Adams—“We laid stone wall eber
since we build brush fence.”
Dis scripteryou will find accorded in de belev
enteenth .omething, I shant teII zackly
where bouts, cause dose ob you dattegd de scrip
wuluut tallin. and hab no bisness
10 KIIU'V auuut. nunvwci, i oiinii urrjrrco spinifl
it to you, and may be de Lord bress de frnfe to de
eberlasting salvation ob your mortal souls; cause
widout de Lord’s bressings it will he like de pun
kin seed planted among de blackberry bush, neb
cause and« toms choke cm. I spose vou all
know if not I am gwinc to tell you dat niter de
Lord done makin dts cireumnlar globe, and enter
ing on it he made man, and at ter he made hint he
look at hir»a minit, hesayall berry good. Well
dare he made c!e fust inan jist like he own image
pictur—de bible say, arter he own image, but he
mistake ob de translation, caus de Lord savs dou
shalt not make graven image, cause he dimt like
to see him, and sartin if he do likes de looks ob
etn, he neber makes em heself. Well, nr ter he
makes up some clay and makes em de right shape,
be lay em down on a bord, and blow in him nose,
end he, gush he mighty ! he jump right tip like
3 stufl Irog. Sense de comparison ment, cause J
xvant to hab you all understand. And %o dare
stood de first man dat eber libed. And de Lord
put on specks on arter he look at him. he say him
good, so he chaistendiled him Adam, as it was
summer, so he put him in de best garden he had,
where dare was all sorts of fruitihat eber grew.—
Well, de next day he see him look a kind alone
some, so night come he gib him dose laudnnm for
put him sleep, just like de doctors do wlyn day
going to amplicate mans leg, dat means, cut it off.
And when he got sound sleep de Lord gouged out
he rib, and fore morning made it right into' a wo
man ; well, when come day light he put he specks
on he Took at her a minit, he shake he head,
much as to say, dats a spilt job. So he chfisteu
diled her Eve, cause she was made in de cbesing,
or else she looks best in de night when so dark
vou cant see her. Well, de Lord tell Adam and
Eve day might eat any ob de fruit in de garden
except one apple tree in de middle ob it, but if day
eat one ob dem apples day shall sort inly cite. So
as day were doing well, so you see about dis time
de debil hapen long dat way, so he thought he
would play a trick, so pretty soon found Adam was
sleep out de toder side de garden, so lie kill a big
snake and put on de skiu and walked right up to
, i. e u nd axe d her very perlitelv how she dn : and
fe}) her what fine lot she hab to lib on. and axed
her w-edder she rnay eat any ob do apples dat she
liab to lib on. As mind to know you see, if Adam
had only been dar he would known better den
stana talking wid de snake walking bout on two
legs, and jist as like as not him pictard de debil
de fence. }>ut dis foolish woman went to
felling satan all about what de Lord tell em, how
. if day eat any ob dem apples on dat tree in de mid
dle ob de garden day would sartinally die of col
lammbus Well, de debil tell her dis was all lie,
ajid dat tree was de best one in de garden; so nr
ter while, he talked to her so, sl.e took one and eat
it up, and den she carry one to Adam, widout tel
ling him where she got em, and so he eat one too.
What exemplification! Dis was ob dal text, sar
tiu goes bout like a roaring lion seeking whom lie
ketch somebody. Or as de samist hartfully spres
ses it, now sartin like a roaring iioutravils about
, eaithly sfion, sometimes he pretends to gib poor
sinners daie a beating. Well, darede Lord come
along in dc aiternoon, he Sec two apples missing
from de forbidden tree. Sto he ax Adam and Eve
right off what clay bin done. So Eve tel! him de
snake tell her to eat dem apples—don de Lord
curse dc snake and tell em day should always
crall on de ground, since it aint zactly known how
day use to go fore dat time, but 1 spose its more
likely day use to go on fore legs like de rest ob
de brute creation. As for Adam and Eve de Lord
pictured em hcek ober head right out ob de gar
den, aud say shall work lorlibing, and dat always
“ hot wedder day shall sweat. You see my dear
bredren dat some ob you hub to carry de hoe, and
some hab to make mortar, and some hab to bh.ck
hoots, and sweat yourselves almost to death dis
hot w-edner to git a libing, all tor dat one foolish
stupid woman dat rudder belebc de debil dan dc
jjord. But dare is one consolation for you my
breoreu, aud dat is, dare is more chance for
you to gtt to heaben arter your work is done, but
as for all woman dare aint one text in de whole
bible dat say a woman shall eber go to heben.
De bible says he dat belebes shall be sabed. it
neber says she dat belebes one time, cause woman
always rudder belebe de debel dan de Lord. You
know de postle Soloman says, dat in hebben day
neder marry uor be gibea in manage. Well
dare be bery good reason for dat, cause dare is
no woman dare, and I tink it is bery reasonable to
spose dat day will hab to go dare for eber widout
de woman, cause if de woman dont go to heben
da must go to hell, and if da tarfllant us so in dis
and, its likely in de udder, if any ob tts should
he so unspeakably miserable as to be cast off a
ynong de goats and de women. I see great many
, track wear foes hnb got m wearing de trousaloous
■7 C tall em panter letts, arid l spose
uay ealclate to dress as much like de gentleman
-3S dr» e'tn.nnd so slip into heben dat way. But
it wont (io, <te Lord will know yon de minit lie
gits on his specks, so you need not to try to cheat
aim. J
Froin dis subjiet we learn two very inj larntil
tmgs, in de first place nebertalk wi Ia snake- u ni
on? finding out if de debil aint in him, anti se
condly, nebertalk wid a woman widout finding
out whederor not she aim been talking wid.de
debil, and may be He Lord will h ive mercy on
vpu, and save you all finally to kingdom come,
wiier-wiii sing hull.ilujalis an.l keep batehe
-1 nail, to eboi iast.ug salvation, world widout
eftu, Amen.
yfy. dare bredren, let tts inpltrde by srnginj de
iventy lebenteenth him, tickler meter. Please i
sing it to Jim Crow.
- Dare will he a fore days meeting in dis house
ebery ebening dis week, except Weusday arter
noon.
EXTRACT FROM THE
SPEECH OK MR. BELL (of Tennessee,)
On the Message <f the Pnsident of the U. S.
YV eon esimy, Dec.‘JO. 183d.
I now propose to uotiee mother part of the
Message, which, from its connexion with the sub
ject of grealest interest at the prestnt time, will
be regarded as the most interesting and important
of the whole.
After adverting to the defalcation of the late
Collector of the port of New York, (Mr. Swart
wout,) and very naturally associating with it *ie
idea of the necessity of a more “secure and sale
system lor the safe-keeping and disbursement of
the public moneys,” the President insists.
‘ That the application of the public money to
private uses should be a felony, and visited w ith
severe and ignominious punishment.”
“The Government, it must be admitted,” (says
the President, in the same paragraph,) “has been,
from iff commencement, comparatively fortunate
,CT,..0r,-
Here, then, is a fair admission that until recent
ly but a small portion of the public moneys has
been embezzled by the officers charged with its
collection ; yet the method of collecting and safe
keeping heretofore in use is denounced and re
pudiated; anew system is projected and insisted
on; and the further security is suggested of se
vere and ignominious penalties. The enormous
abuses successively brought to light under this
Administration continue to be imputed to any but
their trite cause. The system of collection and
disbursement is detective; the method of ac
counts is defective; the laws are defective! This
has been the re idy apology of the late and pre
sent Administrations for all abuses. There were
no serious complaints of abuses or defalcations
in the Post Office Department until the party
now in power undertook, as they said, to bring
about a general reform of the Government; but
when a few years of maladministration had brought
about a general derangement aud the most corrupt
practices in that Department, it was immediately
proclaimed that the laws regulating the Depart
ment were eminently defective; the system of
accountability in use, was a bad one; in
fine, that nothing could retrieve its condition but
anew organization. The same excuses have re -
peatedly been urged in defence of the gross abu
ses which have prevailed in the War Department,
in the Departments of Indian Affairs ami of the
Public Lands. Bad laws and a bad organization
are the only causes of abuse ever admitted by the
friends of power; and the only remedies proposed
or applied are new laws and anew organization.
But I now take leave to notify the gentlemen fioin
New \ oik. (Mr. Camberling,) that when he shall
introduce his bill to provide the remedies sugges
ted in this Message, I shall insist that the rules
of this House be strictly enforced, and that his
bill shall rake rank in the rear of a bill now on the
calendarof the House, entitled “A bill to secure
the freedom of elections;” but it might with more
propriety be called “A trill to secure in future a
skilful at and honest administration of public af
fairs;” a bill, sir, which provides the very best and
the only effective remedy in the power of Con
gress to adopt, for all the abuses in the public
service. Lest the provisionsof this bill may have
been forgotten, 1 hope the Clerk will be allowed to
tea.l it.
[The Clerk read the bill, which proposes in
the preamble to declare removals from office ufion
political grounds, or for opinion’s sake,” a viola
tion of the freedom of elections, an attack upon
the public liberties, and a liigh misdemeanor.”
The first section provides a penalty of not more
thou Si ,000. removal from office, and perpetual
disability to hold office, against any officer, agent
or contractor 1 , under the Federal Government,
convicted of intermeddling in any manner with
elections, State or Federal, except in giving his
own vote. The second section provides a penalty
of $5,000, removal from office, and perpetual dis
ability, against any officer of the Federal Govern
ment. having, under the Constitution and laws,
the power to appoint, or nominate and appoint,
any officer or agent of the Government, who shall
be convicted of promising or bestowing any office
or agency, Upon any agreement on the part of the
appointee to render political or other services in
elections or otherwise; and a penalty not olkeee
ding SI,OOO, dismissal from office, and perpetual
disability, against any subordinate officer convic
ted of receiving office upon such terms. The
President and judges of courts are excepted as to
the penalty of removal from office.]
The remedies proposed in this message are ap
plicable to evils iu subordinate offices, which are
but the consequences of greater ones which exist
in higher places. 1 insist, sir, that when we be
gin again to apply remedies, we shall begin higher
up on tiie calendar; that we Shall begin at the
head of the list. There exist a canker at the core
which must be eradicated before we can expect to
heal the eruptions on the surface of affairs. All
the remedies devised by the Administration are
applicable to others and to subordinates only,
while the radical vice is in themselves. It is the
spoils principle—it is the principle of corruption
itsell which has been adopted by the party in pow
er as the only effective party cement —it is the
false, corrupt, and corrupting principle upon
which the appointing power has been and contin
ues to be exercised under the present scriptive
dynasty—it is the practice of appointing desper
ate, worthless, and unprincipled men to office
men who, in general, possess no other merit than
their partisan services and efficiency in “lections.
This, then, sir, is the great and fundamental evil.
And now, sir, when most of the offices of greatest
trust in the country are tilled bv this class of men;
by clamorous and needy favorites—when their
abuses and defalcations have become so monstn ’is
that their own patrons are compelled to acknowl
edge that nothing but the fear of the penitentiary
can resfrtln them, a vain aud idleattempt is made
to substitute ignominious pains and penalties for
an honest course of Executive appointment and
supervision ; and a hope equally idle and the de
lusive is thrown out to the Public that unprinci
pled public officers may be made honest men by
law ! And who are they who are set to watch—
whose duty it is to watch defaulting receivers and
collectors of the public moueys? Men, them
selves, who acquired and now hold their stations
by the successful operation of the same false and
corrupt principle of appointment which placed ali
those who are subordinates to them in office.—
The one class cannot be supported without the
, other—all must be sustained or fall togctlcpr.
TIIE GEORGIA MIRROR.
But, Mr. Chairman, this is an old and thread
bare theme with me. i have employed my time
for years iu an effort to attract the attention ot the
Public to this subject iu vain. I have often re
peated all the arguments which have suggested
theinseves ujxm this subject on this floor, and, I
am sorry to say, with small effect. I have ever
believed, since I became advised of the extend to
which the appointing power continued to be
abused, that there could be but one result, under
the gross abuse ol the appointing power which
lias prevailed of late. I have never doubted that
time wouid develop an amount of fraud, specula
tion, and corruption, which would amaze aud
arouse the Pdoplc, if the system should not ef
fectually undermine the public morals, and des
troy all sense ol national pride aud honor before
their eyes could beopened. I mav claim to
have penetrated still turthet into the probable re
sults of this system. I foretold, upon this floor,
that other results besides mere injury to the public
service, would necessarily, indue course of time,
follow in the train of the spoils system, as estab
lished and acted upon in some of the States in
the l niou as wellasat Washington. I predicted
that the time would no me when those contest lor
the spoils, into which all elections would sooit re
solve themselves, would be decided by the sword.
We have receipt}' had a very fair illustration ol the
working of this system at Harrisburg; & that, sir, is
l !“ ttac i fteginniugahe first-fruits of ihe system.
W e sha 1 sec the same scene exhibited bv and by
upon a larger theatre. When this detestable prin
ciple ol party aggregation shall extend itse'f into
nil or nsfcrly all, the States of the Union, as it pro
mises soon to do, we shall see our national elec
tions eoitested and settled by the direct interven
tion ol odice-holders and olficeseekers, backed by
their respective partisans, made furious and desper
ate by th» prospect of losing their share ofthe pub
lic spoilt, and resolved to incur every hazard to
themseljes and the country in asserting their clai ms
Rot, having so often urged the abuse of the ap
pointing power as the true cause of the gross a
ouses kripwn to exist in the public service. 1 am
unwiilma that the ground assumed, shall rest upon
iny own assertion, when so many proofs are at
b ind to confirm what I have said. In tiie report
olthe committee of the Senate appointed so inves
tigate the condition of the I’os‘t Office Depart
ment in 1834. (page 8,) it will appear, by the ad
mission of the head of that Department himself,
(Mr. Barry.)that, between the Ist of April, 1849,
and the Ist of September, 1834, there
had been one thousand three hundred and
forty removals from office in that Department
alone ! The eommitte resolved to inquire into
the grounds of so many removals; and, that there
might be no want of specification, they took up
the case of John Herron, who had been appoin
ted postmaster at Putnam, in Ohio, in the place
of Henry Salford, removed.
[Air. Bell here read so much of the report of
the eommitte as relates to the case alluded to, by
which it appeared, from the statements furnished
by the Post Office Department, that Herron was
appointed in July, 1825, and continued in Office
until Nov. 1831, when he was dismissed. The a
monnt due from him to the Department, during
die time he continued in office was estimated at
$558 64, no part of which had ever been paid, and
he had finally absconded. The committee then
called upon the Postmaster General for the grounds
upon which Salford had been removed, and Her
ron put in his place; but the Postmaster General
denied the fight of the Senate t) go intosnch an
inquiry.]
But, said Mr. 8., the committee of the House,
appointed in the same year, (1834,) and charged
with the same duty, resolved to take up the in
quiry into this case, where t!_e Senate’s commit
tee were stopped in die inquiry. It appears from
the report of the minority of the committee of
the House (Doe. 103, p. 215) that the Postmas
ter Geueral promptly communicated the letters and
other papers on file in that Department relatin '
to the removal of Salford and the appointment of
Herron ; but the majority of the eommitte, con
sisting of Mr. Beardsley, of New York, Mr.
Connor, of North Carolina, Mr. Stoddert, of Mary
land, and Mr. Hawes, of Kentucky, passed an
order t tat they should be returned to the Post
master General before they were copied. In this
way it happened that these papers have never been
communicated to the Public ; but the minority
of the committee, consisting of Mr. Whittlesev,
of ()l)i», Mr. Everett, of Vermont, and Mr. Wat
tnough, of Pennsylvania, state the contents of
them from memory, they having heard them read
in committee ; and by that statement it appears
that an application was made to remove Salford
upon the ground that although he was a profes
sed friend of the Administration, yet he was be
lieved not to be thorough in his feelings, llis
friends, hearing of the attempt to get him removed,
represented to the Department that lie was a true
friend of the Administration. There was no ex
ception taken to liis capacity or integrity, yet he
was removed, and Herron, whose party fidelity
was unquestioned by auy one, was appointed in
his place. Here is a pretty specimen of this evil,
in the bud, which has since expanded into such
monstrous shapes of abuse ! But there is yet a
more important circumstance connected w ith this
inquiry. Besides the strange development, that
a Postmaster General sliouid not appear to be
conscious of any misconduct in having dismissed
an honest and competent public servant from
office upon such grounds, the still more astonish
ing fact appears in the shape of an order adopted
by the majority of the committee that they sanction
the principle ol thisremovai. r l he committee de
clare, in express terms, that they can see “nothing
in the letters and petitions transmitted by flic Post
master General, touching the removal of H. Saf
foid as postmaster at Putnam, Ohio, and the ap
pointment ot J.Herron as his successor, which in the
slighcsl degree, impeaches the motives or criminates
any act oj the Postmaster General, or is, in any
inspect, material to any object of legislation, or of
2’uolic interest or concern."
neie is the solemn opinion of a majority of the
committee of the House, composed of some of
the most prominent men ot the party in power,
pronounced in favor of the principle of removals
for opinion’s sake ; nor did they regard the ques
tion as of any frublie interest or concern Though
the successor, brought into office upon the
ground of his superior fidelity to the party, had
turned out * ( > be knave, and had actually run away
with every cent of the revenue collected at his
office in his pcckef, still the Public were declared
to have no inteiest in the principle upon which
the appointment had been made ! This case also
presents a good specimen of the refinement upon
simple prescription which prevailed with the late
Adminstration, in the footsteps of which the pre
sent one treads. It was not sufficient that a man
should be a friend of the Administration ; if he 1
■ was susjvrcted of lpketyartnogss by *ny ngpi of
undoubted standing w ith the party, it was enough'
to destroy him. i hese are the principles upon
winch the appointing power has been exercised
iu tins country; and this the manner in which the
patronage ol the Government has been distribu
ted for the last nine years. Is it auy wonder that
the loss ot millions of the public treasure should
be the consequence l We have seen, by the order
adopted in the committee of the House, how the
further progress of the inquiry into the grounds
upon which the great number of removals iu the
Post Office Department was urrested. Further
inquiry was, iu fact, useless, if the principle as
sumed by the committee was well founded.
I am not willing to lay aside these valuable re
ports, without adverting to the facts which were
incidentally brought to light before the commit
tee ol the .Senate, relating to the removal of Wy
man, postmaster at Lowell, Massachusetts, and
the appointment of Case. It belongs to a class of
abuses which are now well known, 1 suppose,
in every part of the Union. 1 alkide to the cor
ruption ol the public press, and the direct con
nexion which exist between the Administration
papers generally and the Post Office Department.
It appers by the report of this committee, (page
11,) that William Wyman, an honest and com
petent postmaster was removed from office, on
the recommendation of the “Democratic Com
mittee” of Lowell, without any other reason being
assigned than that lie was not a friend of the Ad
ministration, and Eliphalet Case, the editor of
the Lowell Mercury, a paper zealously devoted
to the Administration, was appointed in his place.
It was a condition of this appointment, plainly
implied in the arrangement made between the
several parties, that Case should continue to edit
the Mercury for nothing, he having formerly re
ceived S6OO per annum for tiiat service; audit
was proved that he complied with his bargain.—
How many hundreds of worthy men have been
removed from their employment in this Depart
ment, upon pretences and suggestions equally
repugnatto reason and equally corrupt, the people
ot this country can never be informed; lor, while
the evidence was in existence, the Postmaster
General either refused to allow the papers in his of
fice to beinspected, which in general, was the only
evidence that could be reached, or the parly in the
majority in Congress refused to investigate. But,
sir, the door w hich might once have been opened
upon a mass of evidence and proof is now closed
fbrever! The papers in the office of appoint
ments have been consumed by fire! Still enough
remains to stamp with shame and dishonor the
character of a party which could sanction a prin
ciple so intolerant, so tyrannical, and so utterly
subversive of all public virtue.
It is a fact which ought.to be more publicly
known, that he who is now President of these U.
States was the first man of any great political dis
tinction in this country who, as a party man, open
ly and shamelessly proposed that the Post office
Department should be administered upon party
principles, ami the immense influence of the ap
pointing power connected with that Department
should be prostituted to such uses. But this fact
will sufficiently appear from the correspondence
which took place in 1822 between Air. Van Bureu
and President Monroe, and also with Air. Meigs,
the Postmaster General, upon the subject of the
appointment of a postmaster at Albany, in New
York. There every observant reader will find
the germe of the spoils system. In that corres
pondence it will appear that the appointment of a
political partisan was claimed as a matter of right
on the one side, and of duty on the other, (the ap
pointing power.) in order to give to the dominant
party in New \ ork the advantages of a political
partisan at a point so important as Albany; but
the patriotism and independence of Mr. Monroe
anil Air. Meigs resisted the application. They re
fused to act upon any such principles ; and when
a man was appointed, who had the misfortune to
be a federalist in politics, an appeal was taken
from the decision of the Postmaster General to
the People. A public meeting was held in Alba
ny, vindicating their right to have a republican
appointed to the office in question, and calling
upon the President to apply the constitutional
remedy in such cases for their relief. And what
do you suppose, sir, these republicans meant by a
constitutional remedy in such cases? It was the
remedy of removal from office for opinion’s sake!
But to return to the Message. Why consume
our time in debating the remedies proposed bv
the President ? Why pursue with relentless ven
geance the incumbents of subordinate offices,
particularly the miserable speculator w ho has only
made off with a few thousand dollars ? Why
pursue such small game, when the great delin
quents are still allowed to revel in the uninterrup
ted enjoyment of power, possessing neither the
principles nor the capacity to be useful to the
public, and daily absorbing their trusts, to the
infinite prejudice of every public inteiest ? 1 al
lude, of course, »o the leading Executive chiefs,
and, in a party point of view’, the most influential ;
the very men who are the original and responsible
authors of all defalcations and abuses committed
bv the subordinates, to whose zealous and efficient
support in the public elections they owe their own
elevation, and without which aid they could not
remain a single day in office, but for the impedi
ment which the Constitution interposes to prevent
their immediate downfall. 1 repeat, it is small
game w hich we are pursuing, in an economical
point ol view. I had occasion to speak of the
defalcations disclosed in the report of the Secre
tary of the Treasury made to the House at the
last session, and I made an estimate of the gross
amount for which Hawkins, Harris, Boyd, Linn,
and others, were deficient, and found the aggre
gate about -8400,001). If we set down the defal
cations of Swartwout and Price both at a million
and a half, the entire sum of the late defalcations
will not exceed two millions—perhaps the ultimate
loss w ill rmtexeeed one million of dollars. Now
I conjure honorable members to reflect that this
sum, though large, is but a fraction of the losses
in dollars and cents, which this country has sus
tained by an incompetent, unprincipled, and elec
tioneering Administration, and he will at once
see that our business now is with higher game than
that upon tiie track ot which we have been put by \
the 1 resident. A\ ffhout pretending to estimate ‘
the indefinite injury, the hundreds of millions in 1
losses, which a few years of great commercial
oud financial derangement must have inflicted up
on a great nation like this, let us take a more
practical view of the-subject. Let us set down a
few of the leading items in the account, whichthe
People may, upon clear and tangible grounds,
state against thso- great national defaulters to whom j
I have a,luded, and who have not been removed
or dismissed from office.
First. There was the Black Hawk w ar—a war
which originated in the sheer neglect and culpa*
ble negHgenceofthe Administration, md which
stor’ihe country ‘JOO dolfsrs.
Second. There was the late Creek war a war
notoriously caused or instigated by the specula
tors iu Indian lands, and which might have been
averted, but for the imbecility of some, and tii
want of principle iu others, of the public agents
intrusted by the Administration with
cution of the treaty of 1833. 1 estimate the cost
of that war at $1,500,000.
Third. YVe may safely estimate the extra cost
ot the b lorida war, or the clear excess above wriiat
a competent aud laiihlui system ol administration
would have expeuded on this war, at •5l2 > 000,000
I, sir predict that the entire cost of this war, tci
the country will not be less than $20,000,000
And when it is borne iu mind that this disastrous
war Would have been prevented by a judicious
selection of agents in the management of the
Indians, the charge which 1 moke against the
Administration of an excess of expenditure up
on it will be considered moderate. This, it must
be recollected, was purely an Executive war—a
war commenced and Waged entirely af Executive
discretion. Congress was only appe; led to, from
time to time, to vote the sums of money which were
said tobe essential to its successful prosecution and
these appeals were ol’cn madealtc: the troops were
in the field, and no alternative was left but to vote
the money. 1 take this occasion to remark that
it was for voting for such appropriations as these
and occasionally for large sums stimulated in In
dian treaties ratified by tbe Senate, that the V\ r hi<Tj
in Congress have been charged by the apologists of
the Administration as equally to blame with'theni
seives fur the large expenditures incurred under
these heads,with what justice the Public will decide
Fourth. The iucreased cost of Indian treaties
and Indian emigration, in consequence ol the un
necessary multiplication of officers and agents em
ployed, the incapacity and dishonesty of many of
them and the general want of skill and fidelity in
the superinteudency—l estimate the loss cmder
this head at $5,000,000 at least.
b ilth, and last. I will mention the item of sl,-
000,000, which the country has been taxed with to
suppress disturbance* or the Canada frontier. Eve
ry cent ot this expenditure, 1 maintain, would have
been saved to the nation if the President, instead of
temporizing and waiting to see what public senti
ment would be, and suffering the feeble proclama
tions of the Governors of States to go forth as a
substitute for his own, had, upon the first indica
tion ol disturbances in that quarter, issued such a
proclamation as he has only done within a few
weeks (r.ist But, sir, that did not suit the poli
cy of an electioneering Administration. It was
hazarding quite too much to take around in ad
vance of public opinion throughout the Union;
and so the inhabitants on the border not being ad
vised of the real intentions of the Government,
many of them became committed, of course, ac
cording to their natural sympathies and feelings,
and t lie national character has consequently suf
fered with the I reasury. These few items, sel
ected only because they’are the largest and most
obvious, make, in the agregate, a loss of upwards
of $20,000,000.
Let us, then, instead of wasting our energies
in the pursuit ot small detaultcrs, direct our in
quiries, and point the indignation of the country
against tiie great official delinquents—against
those who, being the real authorsof all the abuses
which exjst in the land, still h.vld their places, and
arrogantly seek to gain credit with the People by
proposing remedies for evils of their own creation.
1 his country is peculiarly situated in reference
to a weak and unprincipled Administration. In
England, a bad ministry can be brought to the
bar of public opinion at once ; and upon the heel
ot any great official delinquency, judgment is pro
nounced upon them, and they are hurled from
power before time shall have softened public in
dignation, or afforded the offenders the opportu
nity of diverting public attention to some oilier
subject. Here it is only at stated times, fixed, bv
the C onst if utien, that a bad Administration can
be brought to account, or be removed from their
places; and they may go on for years in a constant
course ol administrative:abuse aud imbecility—
they may commit the grossest infractions of the
Constitution itself—they may prostitute tire pat
ronage ot the Government to the vilest and most
selfish purposes, and, after all, escape the sen
tence ot an injured People. Ample time is affor
ded to enable them to court and flatter when they
find they have given offence, to get up some new
subject of excitement, and turn away the stroke
of popular wrath before it is allowed by the Con
stitution to fall upon the culprits.
I, therefore, admonish the Opposition in this
House not to be sanguine of the results of recent
developments, whatever impression they may
make for the present. It is yet two vears before
the People can decide finally upon them; and
flic puny defaulters, whom it is proposed to pursue
and hunt to destruction, will soon be forgotten.—
1 hey will, at best, only become the scape goats ot
their superiors station. It is against the princi
ples and practices of the Executive Chief himself
that opposition can be made effective. It is by
carrying the war into the heart of power, and ex
posing the defects and corruptions whic.i exist
there—it is by administering a corrective to the
original fountain of evil, alone, that we can expect
to bring about real reform and confer a lasting
benefit upon the country.
\\ e published some days since, from the Bal
timore Patriot, an interesting sketch of a debate
in the House of Representatives, on the motion of
Air. Wise to print 20,000 copies t fthe correspon
dence between the Secretary of the Treasury and
his agents in the Custom House and Land Offices.
YY e have since then seen the debate, reported at
length in the National Inteligencer, and one more
sparkling more creditable to the speakers, and ot
more importance to the public, we have seldom
perused. Messrs- Wise, Thompson, Menefce
and other Whigs shone forth with more than wan
ted effulgence. Mr. Wise and Mr. Thompson
were particularly happy, cogent and effective.
AY e doubt whether either ever deliverd better
speeches than on that occasion.
1 he subject of the debate as already stated wn3
the motion to print, for circulation among the peo
ple, an official Document from the Secretary of
the 1 leasuary—a paper, from all accounts, the
most extraordinary that ever emanated from no
officer under any Government. It was prepared
last session, in reply to a call made by Air. J unes
Garland. It contains a list of Defaulters to the
<loveriuncnt, and tlie correspondence between
Mr. Woodbury and those of Defaulters, previous
to thoir resignation or removal. This correspon
dence is the important matter. It exhibits Air-
YY oodhurv Tinder his own hand as cognizant ot
several defalcations at the time he swore before
a ( onimittee of Congress that he knew of none
it exhibits him rc-appointing defaulters to offico
knowing them to be defaulters and refusing to re
move others because.to use his on weeds iff relation