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mm wonKl 1 attempt a vindication
of the prodigal expenditures of the
present Administration. They
have been extravagant and waste
ful enough, in all conscience, and
furnish an exhaustless theme for
t-he severest auim-ad version. When
I had the honor of addressing the
committee, on a former day, I dis
tinctly presented, in connection
with the subject now under discus
sion, some of the most crying abuses
in the construction of the public ed
ifice in this city, the deceptive esti
mates, and irresponsible profligate
management of those who had di
rection of the work and, as I deem
ed, the wanton and lawless diver
sion of funds by the Executive,
from other and more important ob
jects, to their completion. At the
proper time, and on a suitable oc
casion, I shall be as prompt as any
other to take the Administration to
task for any and all other of their
misdoings.
There was one remark of the
member from Pennsylvania made
and dwelt upon with apparent com
placency, 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 I cannot permit it to pass un
noticed. In referring to the furni
ture and cultivation of the grounds
Lu the use of the President, the
member said, ‘ the receiver was as
bad as the —other man.” Sir, we
ail know the words of the adage—
‘the receiver is as bad as the thief.’
And who is the receiver, and who
the thief ? From the days ol Wash
ington, through a long succession of
illustrious men, every President of
the United Stales, including the el
der Adams, Jefferson, Madison,
Monroe, J. Q,. Adams, Jackson,
and the present incumbent, have re
ceived the benefit of a similar pro
vision in their official station. The
house, the furniture, the garden,
and iiio cultivated grounds have
been alike the enjoyment of each,
and at the public charge. It may
he instructive to this committee to
be informed of the grants of Con
gress for some of these objects, du
ring the several periods of the re
spective administrations. I have
now before me a statement, collated
from official documents, of appro
priations for the purchase of furni
ture for each Presidential temn,after
i: e removal of the Seat of Govern
ment to the Federal city.
iiy a law of the 2d of March,
1797, just previous to the com
mencement of the administration
of the elder Adams, Congress made
the following appropriation:
Proceeds of sale of old furniture,
and so much in addition thereto, as
the President may judge necessary,
not exceeding 514.000.
During the Administration of Mr.
Jefferson, the appropriations a
mountod to $29,000.
in that of Mr. Madison to $28,-
000.
It was in this period that the
house was sacked hy the British up
on their incursion into vVashington
during the war, and the furniture,
which, from the beginning, had cost
tiie nation upwards of seventy
thousand dollars, was wholly de
stroyed.
After the repair of the House, in
the v ears 1817 and 1818, during
the administration of Mr. Monroe,
tiie records show appropriations for
refurnishing it to the aggregate
amount of $50,C00.
In the administration cf Mr.
John Q. Adams, the grants amoun
ted to $20,000
lu that of General Jackson to
SS9, COO; and
In that of Mr. Van Buren, they
nave been, to this time, $20,000.
The statement from which I read
gives Oie date of each law, and the
precise appropriation under it.
Such, Mr. Chairman, are the
sums—whether lavish or not, I shall
not stop to consider—which, from
time to time, have been voted by
Congress; and these are the “re
eon ers” to whom the member refers
—men who, for accepting the ac
commodations provided by law for
the oiiice which they sustained, are
enarged with “robbing the Treasu
ry and fleecing the People.” These
are they of whom it is said “the re
oi\ ris as bad as thief:” The el
>:• ‘ Adams, the dauntless asserter
oi American freedom; Jefferson, the
cocatria of Adams, the draughts
man rfthe Declaration oflndepen
i.tie great apostle of liberty,
” vi.r y chief of Democrats; Mudi
:, t.*e champion of the Constitu
n, inn patriot statesman and
. -e; Monroe, the soldier of the
j Motion, tiie brave defender of j
toe Republic in tiie first war, the
jiiUettmie and uncompromising nd-j
v t :'e of national honor, rights, i
interests in the last; these are they
\ no received the appropriations,’
and to whom the adage is applied.
Names deathless in fame, immortal
in the history oi their country’s re
nown! My venerated colleague,
\( ) ti.e learned civilian, theacoom
piislied diplomatist, tlie incorrupti
•> e:o filtrate, he who on this floor
is the most fearless and faithful of
the servants cflhe people, together
with the Hero of New Orleans,
“the greatest aud the best, ’and the
more humble “follower in the foot
steps”—they also are within the ob
loquy <*f the same reproach.
And who is the thief? The Con
gress of the United States, the Re
presentatives of the people, in suc
cession, through a series of more
than forty years. These are the
men who, by making the appropria
tions, in the sentiment of the mem
ber from Pennsylvania, plundered,
the Treasury and rubbed their consti
tuents! Is there an individual with
in the sound of my voice whose
check docs not burn with indigna
tion at tire bare recital of the charge?
Where were the sleepless sentinels
of the people’s rights, the dragon
guardians of the public chests, when
these spoilers robbed it of its trea
sure? Was no arm raised for its
protection? Search the journals of
either House of Congress, and nei
ther voice nor vole is found against
one of those appropriations? If
they deserve the character now at
tempted to be given them, how hap
pens it that in forty years there has
been no resistance to their passage?
How happens it, indeed, that, in
the last Congress, of which this
Pennsylvanian, of more than Spar
tan virtue, was a member, no oppo
sition was offered to grants precisely
similar to those contained in the
present bill? They passed without
objection then.
[Mr. Oglu. No; a member near
me says ho objected.]
Mr. Lincoln. Who is the man?
I heard of no dissentient. If any
had the virtue, at that time, to think
it wrong, be had not Pne courage to
mnkerit known, IV he. eis the re
corded voice at a call even for a di
vision upon the question. Sir, the
tiuth is, such grants were thought
proper upon the original considera
tion ol them, and subsequently they
have been of course and usual. If
the people will no longer approve
them, Congress must refer back, by
legislation, to their occasion; dis
pose of the ‘-White House;” send
the furniture to auction; and leave
the President to provide for himself
his place of residence and means of
accommodation. When this shall
appear to be tlie judgment of the
people, I shall be found among the
last to withstand their will.
There is another topic upon
which the member has harped loud
and long—the style and fashion of
the articles which have been pur
chased under the appropriations.
In my imperfectly reported remarks',
to which the member so freely re
fers for a text to his folio annota
tions, with the reading of which, for
hours, he has occupied the time of
this committee, not a single article
was particularly specified or justi
fied by me. Wherefore, then, does
ha attempt to make me responsible
for such as lie has chosen to desig
nate, and for the extravagance of
which, upon the fidelity of his de
scription only, he asks a sentence of
condemnation? I did say, however,
generally, I have already today re
peated, and I now reiterate, that to
a casual observer the furniture ap
pears neither too rich nor too abun
dant fur the size and magnificence
of the mansion, nor too good for the
use of the first representative offi
cer of a free and sovereign people.
But of this I make no matter of per
sonal controversy with the member.
I understand him now to sav that
he has never been at the house.—
How well, then, it may comport
with a becoming modesty, or sense
of justice even, to denounce unseen
that which prudent and honorable
men have sanctioned, 1 leave for
others to consider. He condemns
the articles as the exhibition ofaris
tocratic pride and splendor. Well,
sir, I defend not the purchase of
these articles, but take my position
behind the character of those bv
whose authority they were procured.
I insist that whatever the fault has
been committed is with those who
furnished the means of such extrav
agance—if extravagance there be—
with the Representatives of the
people, who, again and again, un
der every Administration, with a
full knowledge of the manner in
which the money would be expend
ed, have voted the appropriations
without restriction cr qualification.
I have shown that whatever rc
ptoach attaches to the procure
ment and use of such furniture has
been incurred bp the head of each
successive Administration. If, in
deed, the fashion if the House be a
display of regal splendor, stern and
sound Republicans have been be
trayed into this foolish error.
Thomas Jefferson was once accounted a
plain and unpretending Democrat, and pass
ed, in his day, for an unostentatious Chief
Magistrate, and yet we have seen that the
sum of §29,000 was expended fir furniture
during the period oliiis Presidency; and this,
too. in addition to the 014,000 previously
granted to his immediate predecessor. The
purity and Republican simplicity of Mr.
Madison’s life and manners have never, to
this time, been questioned; vet to the §43,000
before appropriated, §23,000 m ire were ad
ded to tiu* royal pageantry in the eight years
of his Administration. Cos!. Monro?, too,
was he a vain-glorious aristocrat? He has
the credit, in history, at least, of having re
sisted lo blood, in the Revolutionary conflict,
a Government of royal pride and arrogance,
and hy a life devoted to I.is country, contri
buted as largely as any other to the estab
lishment and support of institutions of equal
rights and political equality; vet, in his ad
ministration, a greater expenditure was made
in reiurjaisiiing ti e h after the late war,
than under all his predecessors. What say
you, Mr. C 1 (.airman, of my venerable colleague?
h be not a good Vv nig i t principle, and a
plain Republican in manners? And yet he
received whatever benefit resulted from the
appropriation of $29,000, during the four
yearsyi jjis Picsidencv. added to tine large
expenditure made by Colonel Monroe. Eul
thick you my honorable colleague would
have consented to this, with a consciousness
that it was intended 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 j
no occasion to make professions of honesty or
respect for the rights ol the people, to entitle |
his course of official action to the confidence j
due to eminent public services and dislin- j
gulshed private virtue. Oi all men, he would ]
be the last to indulge in matters of ostentation
and vain show.
[Air. Ogle. I deny that either A lams or
Monroe ever had such trumpery as Van Bu
reuj
Mr. Lincoln. And I undertake to say
that, during the Presidency of Mr. Monroe,
more ‘trumpery,’ as the member is pleased to
term it, was carried into the Presidential man
sion, than under every other Administration,
to this time, put together.
Mr. Chairman, it was not my wish to enter
at ail into this subject. But upon the denial
of the member now, I feel 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 purchased from the appropriation oi’
.$50,000 in the time of Mr. Monroe. In
point oi truth, they were procured by him,
and for Ins own account, while Minister in
France, and wer# afterwards taken for the
Government, by appraisal, on his accession
to the chair of State. Ay, sir, this famous
golden plateau, and most of these gold stjaons,
and knives, and forks, and vases, which have
■so bewildered the imagination of the member,
and shocked the simple virtue of his heart,
were the purchase of the Republican Mon
roe! 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, if I am not greatly misinformed,
the plateau, and spoons, and knives, and
forks, are but silver gilded, and the golden
vases hut china painted!
But the monstrous extravagance of such
things! exclaims the member. What is done
with ihe vast amount of these appropriations?
he inquires. Sir, I 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 province of the committee of which
1 am a member; nor, if it were, would I per
forin the service. Does it require, he asks,
such large amounts lor mere plain and neces
sary furniture? No, sir, no; nor is it to be
supposed that, by the large appropriations
which have been made from time to time,
Congress could intend the purchases should
be so restricted. Simple, indeed, must he he
(I had almost said a fool) who could imagine
that, in the authority of an outlay of fifty
thousand dollars, as in the case of Air. Mon
roe, or of twenty thousand dollars, as in the
Administration of Mr. Adams, or thirty
thousand, as in that of General Jackson, or
twenty thousand for Mr. Van Buren, the
ornamental was to be excluded. The sched
ules which the member exhibits may well ex
cite his wonder. I know nothing of their
fidelity. But the carpets and the curtains,
the candlesticks and the candelabras, the ot
tomans and the divans, the tables, mahogany
and marble, the tabourets (tabby cats, in the
member’s nomenclature) were ail doubtless in
she estimates. They may be names of start
ling sound to an unpractieed ear, but they
are things of use and no uncommon appear
ance in many a private parlor.
One thing, above a!!, seems to have created
amazement with the member. He has found,
in his manly and dignified research, an invoice
ol ‘cups and saucers,’ which were in the clos
ets of Mr. Adams; and he cries out with as
tonishment at their number. What the need,
he demands, of so many dozens of cups and
saucers? Sir, I will tell the member. They
were wanted for a purpose which he could
never conjecture —the hospitab'e enteitain
men t of visitors and friends. They were a
means, among others, of offering the courte
sies of place to those who called upon the
President as the Representative ol the people.
I'iiey were used for the refreshment of the
nation’s guests. To such as witnessed the
noble hospitality of my honorable .colleague,
in his high official station, it need not be told
hour entirely the accommodations of the
house were made but mere appliances to Ills
personal liberality. Sir, I advise the member
to study better the manner of the past, before
he prescribes 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 representing as I do a free hearted and
liberal constituency, the incumbent in office,
whoever he may be, shall never find in tnv
vote an excuse for its neglect. If General
Harrison shall succeed to the occupancy o!
the White House, as I trust he may, and
which I shall labor as zealously as any one
to effect, my speech shall furnish no argment
tor leaving him there with only the worn out
and castoff furniture of his predecessor.
Mr. Chairman, I thank the member that he
has left us in no doubt of the cause of bis
grievous complaints in these matters. I un
derstand him to say that be was or.e of those
who joined in the notorious East Boom clam
or; and by reason of the imputed extrava
gance of mv venerable colleague, in the pur
chase of a billiard table, some cues and chess
men, at the cost of a few dollars, assisted in
displacing one Administration, which taxed
the Treasury but twelve millions a year, to
introduce a dynasty which now requires more
than thrice-told that amount lor its annual
expenditure. If for such cause he would hurl
from place one of the most pure and faithful
patriots that ever served the country, there
can be no surprise at the weapons he has
chosen with which to assail the men now in
power. The member once belonged to the
school of these same political reformers, and
much 1 fear, it) the fault of his early lessons,
gives less heed, at this t : me, to the alarming
principles and flagrant misdoings of a vicious
Administration, than personal attention to a
macroscopic search for minor delicts m the
boastful economy of it; disbursements. Sir, 1
solemnly protest against these thing- being
brought into the politics of the day. They can
be made to have no just or proper bearing
there. It may seem to us that the salary ol
the President is too high and the kon >e and
its appendages too splendid and costly; but
they were the appointments of wiser and
better men than ourselves, in the purer days
of the Republic, and they have been sustain
ed and enjoyed as the measure of every Ad*
ministration’ end in turn by all parties. For
myself, I am free to confess tua , were they
at litis time original provisions, with present
experience, I should be the advocate of nei
ther. But while the salary continues and
the house remains, I will not consent that the
| President shall hoard the one or live l.ke a
| recluse and niggiru in the other.
But one word more, Mr. Chairman, and
I have done. If, in sustaining the oppropriu
lions to which except ons have been fade?, I
differ in judgment from others, it is because I
regard the original design of the Government
in the arrangement which requires them, and
not that I advocate extravagant grants, or
have the slightest reference to the benefit of
their recipient. Os the particular manner in
which the money lias been expended. I pre
tend to know nothing, and I have said no
thing. With Mr. Van Buren personally, I
have nought to do. Upon his temper and
bearing, his habits and manner of living, in
private, and with those of his family, wheth
er at home or at the Court ol Queen Victoria,
the member may as freely descant rs his taste
shall prompt, or the patience of oth rs bear,
without reply or heed from me. Te Mr.
Van Buren politically, and to Ins Ajrolftl&fa- 1
tinn, I am opposed upon other, and, I trust,
higher grounds than those which are taken j
in the speech of the mem her-*-upon He i
broad grounds of constitutional principles, l
national interests, and the people’s rights; and ;
I shall continue that opposition until it shall!
end in the restoration of the supremacy ofj
I law and representative government over j
[Executive usurpation and power,
j Mr. Chairman, for the indulgence of the
committee in their kind attention to what I
j have had to say, I pray leave to return my
sincere thanks. F>r detaining them, after
the fatigues of a lung sitting, to so late an
hour in the evening, 1 owe them an humble
apology.
SENTINEL & HERALD.
COLUMBUS, AUGUST 15, 1640.
“ This Institution is one of the most deadly hostility
existing against the principles and form of our Consti
tution. The nation is. at this time , so strong and united
in its senti.ne its, ihetii ea vwl be shaken at this mo
ment. But suppose a series of untoward events should
occur, sufficient to bi ir, i into doubt ike competency of a
Ilepublican Government to meet a crisis of great dan
ger, or to unhinge the confidence of the people in the
public functionaries; an institution tike this, penetrating
by its branches every part of the union, acting by com
mand and in phalanx , may in a critical moment, upset
the government. I deem no government safe, which is
under the vassalage of any self -constituted authorities,
or any other authority than that of the nation, or its reg
ular functionaries. I Vhat an obstruction could n t ihis
Bank of trie United Siah s , with oil its branch bunks,
be in time cf war ? It night dictate to us the peace we
should accept, or withdraw its aid. Ought we then to
give further growth to an institution so powerful, *sy
hostile ? —Thomas Jefferson.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICAN TICKET.
FOR PRESIDENT,
MARTIN VAN BUREN.
FOR VICE-PRESIDENT,
JOHN FORSYTH.
FOR ELECTORS OF PRESIDENT AND
VICE-P RESIDENT \
WILLIAM B. BULLOCH, cf Chatham.
JOHN BATES, of Murray.
MILNER ECHOLS, of Walton.
SAMUEL BEALL, oi Wilkinson.
WILLIAM B. WOFFORD, of Habersham.
JOHN ROBINSON, of Jasper.
SAMUEL GROVES, of Madison.
THOMAS WOOTTEN, of Wilkes.
SEABORN JONES, of Muscogee.
EDWARD HARDEN, of Otaik.
JAMES ANDERSON, of Burke.
FOR CONGRESS.
ROBERT W. POOLER,
!>. C. CAMPBELL,
A. IVERSON,
JUNIUS HILLYER,
JOSIAH S. PATTERSON,
JOHN K. LUMPKIN,
E. J. BLACK,
WALTER T. COLQUITT,
M. A. COOPER.
OCT* We are authorised to an
nounce Colonel ALEXANDER,
M‘DOUCALD a candidate for the
Senate, and THOMAS WATSON
Esq. THOMAS LIVINGSTON
Esq. and Col. JOHN L. LEWIS,
candidates for the House of Repre
sentatives of the Georgia Legisla
ture at the election in October next
in Muscogee county.
The address of Colonel John L.
Lewis to the voters of Muscogee
county, which is contained in today’s
paper, deserves tlie attentive peru
sal of the inhabitant of every part
of our State, as the subjects treated
by him are of general interest, and
will not soon be investigated with
more perspicuity or profundity of
thought.
.Tv* ■% W k
sgr ■ ‘f ?,
-fyU
•■■uiuu.n
INTERMENT OF TIIE CONSTITUTION.
On Saturday last at Macon, the
federal with songs, har
j ungues, grimace and such like fus
jtian, deposited the United States ’
! Constitution in a grave, six feet
deep, dug for the purpose, and bu
ried it up. They then put a stake
into the earth, to* mark tlie place of
its repose, in the same manner that
the graves of suicides and malefac
tors are designated in some parts of
Europe. It is inferred that this un
hallowed ceremony is intended as
portentous of the action of the big
federal whig convention in that ci
t tr
Another instance <j Harrison's
veracity! —ln a recent letter Gener
al William H. Harrison declares
Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer to
be the conqueror of tiie British Gen
eral Brock at Queenstown Heights,
j Upper Canada. Goodrich, in his
! history of the late war, gives a dif
jferent version. The following is
an extract:
“Early in the morning of the 13. h Oefj’er, 1212, a
detachment of about one ihovsand nu n. !>.,• the arrov
of the Centre, crossed the river N> ..era, anl attacked
(he British on Queenstown Heights. This detach
ment, under the command of Cos one! Solomon Vat;
Rens> uer, succeeded m di.-lodging tic cm my; but
not being re-enforced by the militia from the American
side, as was expected, they were ultimately repulsed,
and obliged to sun cutler. The British General, Brock,
was killed ’during tiie engagement.”
That the portion of the American
army..engaged acted gallantly, is
not to be controverted, and that
their capture by the English was
occasioned by no neglect nor want
of prudence or persona! bravery on
the part of Van Rensselaer, is e
qualiy certain. Sr!!! as the Ameri
can combatants were forced to sur
render, it is a gross departure from
truth, on the part of General Har
rison, to style Van Rensselaer the
conqueror of Brock, and shows with
what shameless facility the hero of
the North Bend can falsify the re
cord, and attempt to deceive the
public on a subject wali known, in
order to promote his personal inter
est. Do such disregard of truth
and proneness to low fibbing enhance
his claims on the confidence of the
American people, or qualify him for
the high station to which lie now
aspires? Though they certainly fit
him for the editorial chair es the
p.;an lhat prefers truth to partisan
success, am! apprehends up unk&p
ipy influence on the morals ot the
jrising* _ generation from investing
in it Ii dignity and power a man steep
: ed in falsehood and prevarication.
! CASE OFHOoiT
! The editor of the G .zette, print
ed at Lexington, Virginia, (a
staunch whig of the modern school,)
treats this case in a manner in strict
accordance with honesty and honor.
He contends successfully that it
would hate been as improper in the
President of the United States, to
set aside the finding of the court
convicting the accused upon charges
and specifications to which the
negro testimony was not applicable,
as it would be in an ordinary court
of criminal jurisdiction to set aside
a conviction of murder on cue in
dictment, because improper evi
dence was admitted on another. He
thus continues his illustration:
By lhe common law anil the uniform practice
in the navy under it, negroes are competent witnesses
against white men. They are not permitted to testify
against white men in Virginia, because that is very
properly foi bidden by an express law of the State.
They are good witnesses, howevei, in many of the
iree States. They were, then, competent legal wit
nesses in the case. The question then arises, what
right has the Federal executive to repeal the laws ot
the land, merely because he may deem them inexpe
dient? Are our Whig friend—arc the freemen of tins
land—prepared to surrender this monstrous and des
potic f.u horrity into tne hands of the Federal Execu
tive? Vet this is the very principle involved in the
ca?e, for the President is universally censured by the
V\ lug press, because lie would not repeal the law of
the land authorizing lmgrocs to give evidence against
white men Asa Wing, as a Republican, intensely
jealous of Federal encroachments, nav more, as an
American freeman, we, for one, enter our protest
agaiti'i such a monstrous usurpation cf power by the
Federal Executive.
“Let us not bo misunderstood. We are no advo
cates for negro evidence against white men. On the
contrary, wo are strong!y“opposed to it. But iet the
loathsome, the disgraceful, the degrading law be re
pealed by Congress—by the Representatives of the
people—not by the Federal Executive. What free
man can tolerate the bare id=a of Executive legisla
tion? Give this power to your Executive, and he is
a despot, and you are his slaves.”
The reasoning is as just as it is
cogent, and as honorable as it ex
plicit. The very men that assail
the President for not perjuring hint
self, by usurping legislative power,
the very men that during the last
session of Congress dejeated, by
parliamentary quirk, th efforts of
the democratic members to change
the law martial so as to exclude ne
gro testimony, would have been fore
most to charge him with perjury
and usurpation, had he reversed the
decision in question.
The editor of the Gazette ap
pends the following magnanimous
remarks, on which we advise our
puritanical brahmins of the Colum
bus Enquirer to ponder:
“ YVe have, been told by some cf our friends that ii
was very imprudent in us to e:-press tjii.s opinion; that
it might be used to injure the Whig cause. To ibis
we have two brief replies. First: we shall always'do
justice, we trust, even to .our worst enemies, “the’ the
heaven fail.” We scorn that’ pusillanimous, criminal
prudence, xvhi h, for party purposes, would counten
ance injustice even to a toe. We were taught by
maternal piety that honesty was the best policy, that
the riiiki was always the most prudent; and may the
lightnings of itoaveu blast us if we ever forget the les
son. We owe a higher allegiance to truth than to
party.
“Our second reply is, lhat we can’t help blabbing
right out whatever we think. We abhor all coucea,-
nv.nt amt scorn ail trickery. A manly fianknt-ss. a
lofty independence, an ingenuous candor, we estimate
above ai! pace, as cr:e of the noble: t traits cf the hu
man character. In a word, such utiiltlunauly is cur
moral co:i million, that.
I TVc can't be silent and ice will not- lie. 1
‘•'We hope our friends are satisfied. We need not
say that the columns of our paper are open to the
freest discussion of the whole auhj; ct.”
Without tiie remotest expectation
of reforming the practice of the En
quirer, or awakening a feeling of
compunction or shame in the minds
of its editors for the numerous false
hoods which they are weekly in.the
habit of perpetrating, we again re
publish the letter of the Attorney
General of the. United States on .the
subject under consideration, con
clusively establishing the fact that
Lieutenant Kooe was not convicted
on negro testimony, of which the
Enquirer men have long been aware;
lint which his reverence dare not
admit loi jijletu lixiicct ccl sujeidfttivs
reasons.
Attorney Gmncral's OJtce tf April ZBth, 1840.
Sir:—i had the honor to receive your letter of the
27th lust, enclosing a copy of that of the- lien. J. Tal
inderro, of the House of Representatives, together
with the record of proceedings of the Court Martial,
convened for the trial of Lieut. George Mason
ii'joe, on hoard the United States ship Macedonian,
in the Bay of Pensacola, on the £S It.of M.ucli. Icd'J,
tnd the opinion of the Attorney of the United States,
for tide District, thereon.
In reply to your request, for my opinion, on the
point submitted ly Mr. Talliafeiro, tiiat the procee
dings anJ judgment of the Court Martial ought to be
set a-'ide, on ‘die ground, that it admitted the testimo
ny of two negroes on b sard the vessel, who were pro
duced end examined as witnesses, notwithstanding ao
objection was made thereto, I have to say, f at, on a
cu-. ful vx animation of the record, 1 find that the testi
mony objected to is in no respect raa'c iial to t;t find
ing of the C-.urt. That testimony \chted to the se
cond charge , of which las accused was entirely acquitted
an l a/so to the fourth specification in the,first and se
cond charges, the finding, in regard to which, was fully
sustained, in all particulars, iy other witnesses whose
competency was not denied. Indeed, the only J act
sou-i-i by the Court, under any portion of the charges
io which this testimony relates is the punishment e.f a
person n board the ship by direction of Lieut, llooe,
a ia"t mentioned by -many witnesses, snJ ti t at c.ll de
led in the defence, which rests nut ut on the fact itse.f,
hut the authority of tlie accused to diiect the punish
ment. ts, therefire, we adopt the well establish and
and r- asonablo rule laid down in regatd tositnilar
a p!■ a i r-, In common law proceedings, ‘‘ti:a
‘.vr.cre, up n the whole case, jus tice has been a- ne.and
the verdict is substantially right, no new t ial will be
granted, even though tAre may have been seme n;i -
ake- committed,” sufficient jusafeati ;n for absenting
to the pre.-ent application will not be found. This
makes an inquiry unnecessary, in tegard to the objec
tun itscif. The papers are returned.
Very respectfully, yours,
H. D.GILPIN.
The Hon. Secretary of the deary.
The most felon-part of this trans
action remains to he noticed. Mr.
Betts, ;i federal whig member iron!
A irginia, introduced, into the lower
house of Conga ess, ;v batch of res
olutions, condemnatory of the ad
ministration, and calling for 1 he pa
pers relating to the trial of llooe.
In order to forestal public opinion,
several thousand cop.es of these
resolutions were printed and circu
lated by the federal whig conspira
tors. The papers demanded, com
prising a letter from the Secretary
of the Navy to the President, and
the opinion of the Attorney Gener
al of the United States, were
promptly furnished, which, instead
of receiving immediate eonyid-era
titon, were referred to Uie committee
ot.* the judiciary. This body, con- <
sisting <fa majority of federalists
and a minority of democrats, placed 1
the papers under lock and key, nor
could they be induced to hazard a
report, as they were aware, that, 1
iu such a case, from the fulness ofj
the testimony, they would he com
pelled to exonerate the President:
from censure, and consequently set
the seal of reprobation on their own
conspirators. Indignant at the ne
farionsness of their conduct, Mr.
Chapman, of Alabama, moved toj
| suspend the rules of the houses
I (which requires a majority of two
|thirds of the members) that he
| might introduce a resolution requir
ingthe jadiciary committee cn the
■case to report, and if the naval law
(which is in a great measure, deriv-
Icd from the lex scripta of England)
’ needed amendment, to report a hill
for excluding negro testimony in the
naval service of the United States,
a point which the democrats of the
Earth as well as of the South arc
anxious to accomplish, but which
the whigs dare not concede, from
fear of offending their abolition
brethren. Every whig present from
north the Potomac voted against the
motion of Mr. Chapman, thus
proving their determination to sus
tain the right of negroes testifying
against white men on board our
ships of war; and, if some of our
brimstone or southern federal whigs
did vote for the motion of Mr.
Chapman, it was with perfect know
ledge that their votes would he un
availing against the action of their
abolition brethren, and from a de
sire to evade the just indignation of
their insulted constituents: for, if
they were sincerely opposed to the
views of tiiosc miscreants, they
would not, in most instances, ho
found acting in conceit with them.
It is almost needless to say that Mr.
Chapman was supported in his at
tempt by the whole strength of
the northern democracy. Os the
’ truth of this outline we challenge
contradiction, and dare that un
principled print, the ally of the ab
. oiitionists, the Columbus Enquirer,
to controvert a point of the state
i merit.
Who then is the advocate of ne
gro testimony, Mr. Van Boren and
his friends, or the federal whigs?
Only one answer can he given. The
abolitionists and their allies, both in
the north and south, we mean the
leaders and their understrappers,
are committed in favor of the c
quality of the negroes, at the very
moment that they are defaming’ their
opponents, who have exerted them
selves to defeat their unholy machi
nations v With God and posterity
these manworshippers, these foes of
civil liberty, these political jugglers,
these opponents of tire white race,
the federal whigs, have a fcaifu!
account to settle.
The rcpoit that Mr. Poinsett lias
taken charge of the Navy Depart
ment, and that Colonel Benton will
immediately enter on the duties of
tlie Department of war, turns out
to be a whig truth, i. e. one that has
no existence in fact. No such
changes are contemplated.
THE WHITE HOUSE.—In to
day’s paper wiil be found the speech
of Mr. Lincoln of Massachusetts in
reply to the scullion -like strictures j
of Mr. Ogle on the subject of ap
propriations by Congress for furni
ture, &c. for the President’s House,
it is corrective of most of the inis- ]
representations made by Ogle, and 1
contains rebukes so withering lhat I
the defamer, seared and callous as I
his conscience is, twisted and writh-1
od with all the agony exhibited by I
the crotalus horridum at the touch ofj
eryngium aquuticum. When it is
recollected that Mr. Lincoln is a de-!
cided, even bitter, federal whig, ‘
uncompromising in his opposition to i
tlie administration, the exculpatory’
parts of !iis statements will receive i
their proper weight and the force of
his argument be more fttily cstima-j
ted, while the tirade of Ogle must
be confessed to be a non scquilcr.
In addition to the exposition bv
Lincoln, the Richmond Enquirer j
remarks cn the accm alien by Ogle j
of the President having overlooked j
the American workmen by import-I
mg from Paris a mahogany and rose-:
wood bedstead, “that they are only
oulU and Fiench bedsteads, because
the pattern was originally imported
from Franco, and that nothing is
now more common than to make
such bedstead:; in the United States.’
With regard to the coach which
Ogle represents as having been im
pelled frern England to the order of’
Mr. Fun Buren, the Globe asserts I
that lie never imported a carriage in
his life, nor owned or possesed one j
built nut oi the United States; and!
the New Haven Register declares!
the President’s coach to have been J
furnished the President by Mr.
Jame Brewster of New Haven, Con
necticut, and that it is cf Yankee
manufacture.
So infamous has Ogle become,
that the decent portion of the w hig
presses in Philadelphia and New
York have denounced both him and
his labors—even Bennett’s Herald
refuses to pollute its columns with i
his falsehood. —Wc believe that the
very flshuornen in Wapping, were <
he among them, would expel him
from their society, and unless it be i
with the brimstone federal ed'.iw\-
of the Southern States, no set
men or women on the face of the
earth, we think, would he willing to
degrade themselves so far as to
countenance and applaud this
white Hottentot.
Federal Logic. —A federal thutnb
; paper, published in a neighboring
‘State, which endeavors by its vehe
i mence, malignity, blackguardism,
I and disregard of truth, to atone for
jits stupidity and ignorance, says
‘ Ilanison and reform are the mag
ic words that are to lead the people
; hack to their duty.’ It thus appears
that magic and not truth, is the
jcollyrium by which the purblind
j people are to have their eyes open
ed, and he enabled to enjoy the
beauties and extacies of federal
uliiggism combined with the black
art of incendiarism. What a pro
found project, in the nineteenth cen
tury, when the sun of science and
truth is dissipating the clouds of
superstition and ignorance over a
large portion of the world, to at
tempt to revolutionize one of the
most intelligent nations in existence
by magic or the black art. The
idea however is worthy of the brain
that conceived if. But another /w
----thetic morccau follows:
‘‘The people have been deceived h_v the present
Adiniribtration as long as they intend to be. They
have witnessed the dwindling away of their country’s
and their own prosperity. They have seen their
dearest, and most cherished institutions exposed to
the withering bla.a of Northern Fanaticism, with no
guarantee of protection, but a paltry, flimsy (kibe
* to veto.”
If tiie spirit of stupidity had in
dited the passage, it could not have
been moregrotesque and ridiculous.
The very first sentence admits, on
the part oft lie people, in intention
to lie deceived for a period new ter
minating; and therefore that the in
tention of wearing the yoke of im
position occasionally is consonant
with knowledge and civil liberty.
The second peiiod—the diminution
of their own prosperity and their
country —is evidently designed to
be fastened as a millstone to the
neck of the administration; because
Martin \an Buren could not pre
vent the foreign cotton market from
being over-stocked by the Brazil
ian, Egyptian and Indian staple ar
ticle, nor force the consumers to
wear out six shirts in the length of
time in which two have hitherto ser
ved them. What an aristocrat, de
: ceiver and traitor must this same
i Van Buren he; because he cannot
“ compel the English, French and
, Germans to purchase at whatever
price we may designate any quanti
ty of cotton we may lint! it conveni
• out to send them.
The third compound sentence —
uegro-slaverv is exposed to the scar
ing breath of abolitionism, with no
oilier protect ion than the pledge cf
Van Buren to vela —is another tis
sue ot absurdity. If the only guar
antee that the slaveholder lias for
this security of his property, he
Mr. Van Burcu’s pledge to veto, it
follows that every attempt to de
stroy that guarantee by removing
Mr. V an Buren and elevating Gen.
Harrison who is know n to he inim
ical to black slavery, and declares
that he will veto no law passed b}
tise majority cf Congress, evinces a
most reprehensible spirit of indif
ference toward the prosperity of the
slaveholder and is morally, if not
legally, treason against our country.
I The South is not however as yet in
a condition so forlorn ns to have no
other security for its institutions
than the pledge of our present Chief
j Magistrate ‘to veto.” Half a mill
ion of southern rifles are competent
| to preserve tranquility at home, and
repress irruptions from without.
! ft is not the dr?nd of subjugation
j nor any d< u't of our ability, as u
j people, to preserve our property
land liberties, that causes the south-
i ern democrat to deprecate insurrec-
J lions at home and collisions with the
j northern States, but the loss of in
j inutile, female and senile life in the
i explosion, the severance of the con
federacy, the necessity of large
standing armies, and the scandal
that republicanism would incur in
| the estimation of the world. For
this reason, he is desirous, by every
j peaceable* expedient, that comports
; with honor, to compass the tranquili
ty of the country and the integrity of
ft insritu: ions. With this ii tcution,
ihe labors to elect a President ad
verse to the wishes of the abolition
ists, nr.d pledged to veto their mat
ricide! attempts, while he selects
senators and representatives ready
and able to defend him in debate or
aid in battle. But he has antipodes
in bis neighbor. The federal whig
coalesces in political operations with
the very miscreants that would fire
lour houses at midnight and extin
guish the flames with cur blood be
i fore morning, to prostrate a high
j public functionary, our plighted
friend, in order to make way for a
dotard and brawler, destitute of ci
vic talents, and distinguished only
by duplicity, and a morbid tender
ness towards the black race. What
stronger proof is needed to fix on
the brimestone whig leaders the
charge of being totally indifferent to
the prosperity and peace of the
South, than their untiling and im
passioned exertions to crush an of
ficer who is our friend by plight and
principle, in order to elevate anoth
er who is by nature inimical to our
institutions and sc movents? How
stnpid, false and iuq --tinent is it