National gazette. — Philadelphia [Pa.], 1793-02-20 00:00:00, page 1

To the Edi or of the National Gazette.
S 1 R,
THE peculiar situation of F.nlign
Morgan, of the tfl United States Regi
ment, having excited many enquiries, you
are requested to publish ia your paper,
without any comment thereon, the fol
lowing extract of a letter, from him, dated
at Charleston, S. C» November lit 1792.
" T AM equally fatisfied with you, my
-*■ friend, that the Prelident of the
United States has no with to alfume arbi
trary or despotic au'thortty; but as you
think with me that the Secretary at War
has done fa, by ordering me to Fort
Wafliington (900 miles) for trial, at a
time when the pretext was unfounded in
truth, and when my accuser was to re
main, and has remained ever since in
Philadelphia, or in such parts of Pennsylva
nia as his pleasure or his inclination led,
I confefs myfell" at a loss for the motives
either in point of policy, honor, or juflice.
Moreover, the evidences which I called on
the Secretary at War for, have been dis
persed over the continent, as though de
iignedly to render it impossible for ine to
derive advantage from any. Major Gai
ther, for inltance, a moll important evi
dence, is sent to command among the
Creek Indians, where his testimony is to
be buried; for by the icth article of the
appendix to the rules and articles of war,
no teftiinony of an officer in the army can
be admitted but filch as shall be delivered
in pei fin before the Court Martial:
now, my dear Sir, how can I procure such
testimony at Fort Washington, when the
Secrctarv at War has, delignedlv or tin
defignedly, scattered throughout the coiiti
nent, the officers whose evidence I cailed
upon him for lalt March or April ? And
liri one of whom ha< been at Fort Wafti
ington'fmce my being ordered there for
trial; but all have been at Philadelphia,
or near it, where I have in vain solicited
to be tried 1
Tile 16th Article of the fame appendix
ordains and directs, that no officer (hall
be detained in arrest longer than 8 cbys
without a trial, or longer than a Court
Martial can be convened: and the ill
article of the fame appendix declares, that
live commiffioiied officers lhall be fufficient
to conflitute a general court martial :
Yet I have been injuriously held in arrelt
two hundred & fifty days, * and upwards,
■when there has scarcely been a day, since
the date of my arrest, that double that
number might not have been assembled at
Philadelphia ; and frequently four time;
the number lieceffary, within a small
distance, doing little, and fonie 110 duty.
You know my friend, that I have in vain
made application to obtain a trial, even
at Pittlburgh, the head quarters of the
army, and that it has been rcfufed me.
On the 19th or 20th of September, I
found a. general Court Martial setting al
Philadelphia-; whereupon I prefentec
mvfelf immediately in person at the Wai
Office, to infill upon my trial before thai
court: but my application was rejected
YOll have seen my correspondence witi
the Secretary in co:ifeqnence. It is theft
circumstances, my friend, I call fymptovu
»f tyranny and dcjptrtifm : lor what i
tyranny or despotism but a difcretionarj
use of power, without being legally amen
able. for the just exercise of it? How
degrading will the situation of gentlemen
in the army be," it a Secretary at War,
a Commander in Chief, or a Prelident.
can at his diftvetion dispense with 01
evade the "articles of war, when inclined
to oppress an individual in it. It t.i
Secretary or Prelident, at his discretion
has a right to order me for trial from
Philadelphia (where my accuser and
evidences are, or may be ealily collected)
to Fort Wafliington, where neither my
accuser nor evidences are, lie will have ar.
equal riffht, to order my brother officer
in like situation to thelake of the woods !
Thi'my dear Sir, is not my cause alons :
It is the cause of the army and the nation,
-wiiich I am refol'ved rather to fuffer in.
than betray.
My business here was to obtain a renew
al of Major Gaither's very important
testimony ; the original whereof I lent tc
Major Butler, who tranfmittea it in lall
May or June to Mr. Brown, Editor ol
the Federal Gazette, for publication, ir
whose office it was mislaid or lofi : I wa
in expectation of overtaking major Gaithet
liere,butlie is gone on to the Creek Nation
* At the prefen't date, Febry. 20, 1793,
about one year.
Numf.. 33 of Vol. ll.~|
By P. FRENEAU: PubliJlied Wednesdays and Saturdays, at Three Dollars per annujn.
a xl therefore I mil ft w ait to hear f. tjm
hinf, go to him there, or return witlvnt
his tellimony. Thus you fee me involved
i:i expences 1 which have in a few momii
amounted, and will amount to feveial
years, pay of an Enlign !
When I firft entered on this bufiucfs
last February, my sole object was to
juflify the honor and reputation of r.iy
deceased friend General Bur ler : A4d
having done it to the latisfaction of l;h
country, and his family, I disregard the
trouble 1 have been involved in by lr
enemies. To me he was a friend, and t
his country, a faithful, ptinttual and abls
servant. ' JOHN MORGAN.'
Forth: National Gazette.
No. I.
To ALEXANDER HAMILTON, Secre
tary of the Treasury of the United
Staces.
S I R,
nOLD and unfounded allertion will
*• not pass current although it proceed
from a Secretary of the Treasury : when
:herefore, in your letter to the House of
Iteprefentatives of the 4th of this mouth,
low befoie the public, in answer to cer
tain resolutions brought forward by a
virtuous and independent member from
Virginia (Air. G les) you undertook deli
berately to declare in the face of the
world, " th t uutill those resolutions, no
11 call had been made upon you, which
■' rendered.itproper to exhibit a general
" view of the public monies and funds—
■' or to (hew the amount and fitua'ioit
" of fitch as were unapplied.' I '' —Where
then I a(k, was the conscious blush of
public integrity, which even the immaculate
mind of a Catullus might display ? Had
Mr. Jefferfon hazarded such an a'ffertlon
in the face of so many opposing aud fhili
born facts as I (hall here prel'ent to the
public, he would have been, as indeed he
ought, eonfigued to that merited infa
my and contempt, which, on another
occasion, the virtuous Catullus, without
a shadow of cause, fought to place him
under. But I forbear to recriminate ;
Catullus is fully competent to make or to
take an inference.
Attracted from all other confederations,
and svithout yielding to the force of an
inlinuation, as insulting to the legislature
of the United States as it is derogatory to
their honor, but which inevitably results
from the afTertioi) in your letter, will it
be believed by the public that during four
years of your liscal admi nitration, 110 call
hid before been made upon you, no
solitary occasion afforded, in which, if
merely emanating from a sense of clut
only, it could hive been " rend-:: a
proper to exhibit a general view o'" the
public monies and funds, or to li e.* the
amounfand situation of fm.li as were un
applied ?
I will not however, expos yam* aller
tion, only from its unguarded latitude of
cxpreCion ; want of recollection, it a
Secretary of the Treasury will stoop to
the apology, might be pleaded perhaps
against that express and poi ited demand
contained in the refolirion of the House
of Representatives of the 19th January
1-92, in which you were called upon
" to exhibit such a view of the public
finances as would enable the LegUlature
to judge whether any and what additional
supplies were requisite for the service of
the current year."—Neither fliall I now
animadvert upon the very faithful and
ascurate, flatement, which
you then exhibited, ball memg the public
revenue; to the end of the year 1792,
within a few thousand dollars—Utlio' now
when you profefs to (hew a real and not a
conjellural flatemeutof the fame revenues
to the end of the fame year, you present
to public view an excefi of income beyond
the expenditure, to the enormous amount
of 5, r 16,897 dollars—Wide difference,
indeed, for a financier; the caufe&of which
(hall be fully explained hereafter. I will
only now hint that further aflumption of
debts was then 011 the tapis.
My present purpose is, to recall your
recollecti m to what lias pafi'ed during the
present feflion, and uotwithftanding thai
treachery of memory with which you are
afflicted," to compel you, by a fair recur
rence to fhibborn fails, to acknowledge
your allertion, as above stated, to be
utterly unfounded, and to throw yourfelf,
as or. a late occasion in another place up
on tKe candour -and (orgivenefs <>( tllofe
whom so rafii an allertion was addrefied.
WE DNESE 1 A Y, February 20, 1793.
The fa£ts to which I {hill refer, are
prefentcd i.i the trite form of queries,
that yourfelf or your friends may the bet
ter a'iftver them.
" Did you not on the 14th day of No
vember lift, report to Congress an_efti
inate of 1,500,000 dollars and upwards as
necelfary for the current service of the
year 1793 ?"
" Did you not, in that report, state to
Gongrefs the ways and means for railing
that money, and by way of explanation
refer them to a comparative flatement of
revenue to the end of the year 1793,
marked D, without bringing into the
\ ie\v of the Legillature any part of the
s ery large luni of 2.504,76; dollars, which
j you had. at that time, a£hl-illy drawn
! over from Europe out of the monies arif-
I ing from foreign loans, and of which
! monies two funis to wit, 605,883 dollars,
lii cents, iocafh, and ;Ke filni of 611,593
ioM-irs for proceeds of bills (which yon
lince acknowledge, began to be received
iii October last) were then deposited in
the ba.ik.?"
•' Did you not. under the fame circum
stances, report to Congress 011 the 30th of
November lalt, a p'an for the redemption
of the public it bi, propoling therein a fyf
ftein of loans predicated 011 the idea of fur
ther immediate and permanent taxes,
without bringing into view of the legisla
ture one Ihilli;;;; of the money ariiing from
'•jreign loans ?
" Did not Congress, at their present fef
[ion, direst you to report the ways and
meaiii to re-imburfe of two millions
of dollars obtained by the President of the
bank of the United States on account of
the public's fubfeription of lhares in the
bank ?"
'• Did you not on the 30th of November
tad, report your opinion to Congress " that
power be given by law to borrow the said
two millions of dollars"—without inforin
iijg the 111 that there was then in bank up
wards of 1,300,000 dollars of the monies
ariiing from foreigu loans, at the disposal
of government
" Were, or were not, any of the fore
going occalions to be regarded as so many
calls upon you, or as affording one oppor
tunity, " which rendered it proper to ex
hibit ageneral view of the public monies
aucf fundi—or to (hew the amount and
situation <>f such as were unapplied ?"
But I turn, with disgust, from a view of
the subject so insultingly derogatory to
common sense. Let the convictions of your
c.vn mind supply the answers.
One thing is manifeft, that at the dates
of all the preceding circuin(lances, it might
01 be expedient to bring into the view of
thelegifl I'ture the situation of the 2,304,769
dollars drawn over from Europe: until
the 3d of January last, you refilled the in
fluence of any preceding calls, which under
the .strong circamftances I have stated,
ought to have produced a voluntary disclo
sure oi'it; and then only, in obedience to
apofitiv; and Jpecinl call for that purpose,
reported a flatement of the foreign loans
the 1110 ft ambiguous and evasive, that ever
disgraced the ability and talents of a man,
ambitious of the character of a faithful fi
nancier. When called upon, too,for further
explanations, in consequence of the reso
lutions moved by Mr. Giles, your letter of
the 4th instant is produced in r.nfwer,
teeming with all the peevilh petulance of
in angry man, and containing little eva
fioiis of the inform tion asked for, by tic
mean? indicative of that anxious desire to
meet the fubjeft With decision and explicit
ftefs, so emphatically declared in the be
ginning of the letter. Quixote like, to raise
a windmill that you may attack and de
stroy it, is very amusing. To account for
unaccounted millions, when not asked to
do it, thro' the means of that wizzard's
wand, CONJECTURAL STATEMENTS, is
one thing: But to account for unaccounted
millions, when required so to do, and that
too, thro' the means of plain, simple direct,
and real statements, is quite another thing.
In doing the firft, you are prompt and
dexterous beyond measure. In doing the
last, firangsly dilatory, ignorant, andun
fkilful. Whence this extreme disparity of
talents.as applicable to the one or the other
cafe ?—Can it be poflible. that the plea now
so industriously circulated by your friends,
of incapacity to slate Jatisfatiorily public
accounts, is well founded ? Or is there 110
man allbciated with you in the department
of which you are the head, competent to
the talk? Strange situation, truly, in which
to place the United States. Pofiefied of a
,financier, with the mofl fertile imagination
and {kill in all that relates to systems of per
manent and irredeemable debt, permanent
taxes, permanent loans, the distribution,
expenditure, and applicability of public
monies, who for four years past has pos
sessed unlimited confidence and- exercised
unlimited controul over 14 millions of dol
lars of the public money, and who, whe;*
called upo.i to render a fair and true ac
count for about two millions of that mo
ney, mull submit to the mortifying infinti
ations, propagated by his friends, of uttir
incapacity so to do !
Mvfterious as this appearance is, perhaps
the following brief review of fails, pre
sented from your own letters, (latements,
and explanations, may furnilh the folutiou
of it.
You began to draw bills on account of
the 2,304,769 dollars of foreign loan- :
brnught into the United States 011 the 15th
of December, 1 790, and continued drawing
until the 28th of Decern. 1 792, two months
after the prcfent session of Congress com
menced. You employed, as you fay, tlie
refpeflive banks to be the agents in thefales
of those bills. The bills were drawn by
the treasurer of the United States, in fa
vour of the respective calhiers of the banks,
at what fight is r.ct mentioned, and in sumS
of florin; of, from ioo.oco and less, to one
million and more. The bills so drawn,
were again reduced into smaller bills, by
the banks that disposed of them, for the
convenience of purchasers, and fold at dif
ferent rates of exchange & different terms
of credit. But the precise nature and ef
fect of this twofold operation you have not
thought fit to explain. Whether the re
fpeftive banks obtained an immediate or
eventual credit, and when, with the com
mifiioners in Holland ? Whether the re
fpe&ive banks became debtors to die public
from the time of such credit in Holland,
or merely from the refpeftive dates, when
the proceeds of the (ales made by them,
came into bank? or from what other date,
they became so debtor, does not appear.
Who drew the bills disposed of by the
banks j when the bills drawn in favour of
the banks were paid in Holland—and when
the bills.draivU by the banks,were paid for
here, are also not exhibited. Whether the
banks whom you represent merely as the
agents of the public jn the sale of the bills,
derived any and what advantage or emolu
ment from the manner of negotiating them,
is a circumstance which they and you arc
equally bound fairly and explicitly to state,
not by vague allertion, but by a full, pre
cise, and circumllantial detail ol all the
particulars ofthis very curious and, to the
public, deeply intrrefting business.
It is not my present purpose to pursue
you thro'' all those wanderings of tlie ima
gination, to which the public are led, by the
further defence or apology contained in
your letter of the 13th of this month. Ch.t
of this apology, two questions arife,equally
awefnl and important for you toanl'wer.— '
FirJ?, Whether you had, or ever possessed,
any fufneient authority to divert two mil
lions of public money from its express ap
propriation by law, and hold it, or any part
ofit,(as you express it )applicah!elo another
purpofe?—and, Secondly, Whether ) .hi
can now account for the w hole of this mo
ney, not only by (hewing where it actual.v
is, but also, the reasons whyabout i,300.cc0
dollars part thereof, has never yet been
paid inro the treasury, but has been ke. t
in a state of abeyance between you r.r d
the banks for periods of from three
to twelve months, or upwards ?
—On both these questions« further a 1:i
----madverlions will be offered in my next
letter. It may not be impertinent, how -
ever, here to remark, that no arrogant
affmnption of importance can avail you
in the further progress of this enquiry,
and therefore that all those reprefentat ions
of a supposed discretion as financier of tie
United States—of the propriety and re
certify of your having ;:t all times'half a
million of the public money at comma;:-.:,
of those great and comprehensive views
of policy, by which in an efficient ftip
port of public credit you hove maintained
the existence of the Constitution, pro
tected us again!! Indian wars,siid guarded
us from all other dangers, foreign and do
mestic, mult be disregarded & laidalide "s
thefrivolous weakneliesof a vain man, v. ho
in themiftaken idea of his own confequen. ■
fancies himfelf the great pivot upon whirli
the whole machine of government tin :: ,
throwing out of view, as comparatively
little and infignificant, the Preiident,
Legislature, and the Constitution itfelf.
—" Regard thyfelf as thou art, arid t'.ou
[Total No. 137.]