National gazette. — Philadelphia [Pa.], 1793-03-13 00:00:00, page 1

Numb. 39 of Vor_. ll.] - WEDNESDAY, March 14, 1793-
For tk; National Gazette
To the PRESIDENT of the UNITED
STATES.
SIR,
%/OU are again called to execute the high
and dignified trull of a firll magiltrate
of a free people, anil that by unanimous
ronfent. I his is the greatest homage that
If i be paid by freemen, and is the molt
fettering diltinition which can be offered
in a land of liberty.—As the friend of free
dom you were resorted to, and placed in a
sphere which mult communicate the mod
exquisite gratification to a mind that sym
pathizes in the happiness of man—Partici
pating in the general blessings which your
i'ervices, aided by the exertionsof the pa
triots of America, have dispensed, you have
an opportunity of giving a zeit to your
portion of enjoyment by a rigid exercile
of the duties which are annexed to your
station, and an attentive guurdianihip over
the privileges that the Revolution has be
llowed—your duties are important, your
ilation is delicate, and your example ol in
finite confequence —Americans have done
ample jnftice to your merits and to your
virtues ; they have rewaided them with
their affections, and ha ve given you the firfl
place among freemen ; their affections and
their gratitude will call forth the liveliest
feelings to theirinterefts and to their willi
es, and preclude eveiy exercise of fnperi
ority w liich can give diffurbance to their
confidence or tranquility—Equality is the
foul, & Simplicity the ornament of 3 republi
can government ; whatever has a tenden
cy to affect the living principle or to deck
it with falfe or fantaftic ornament, 11.lilt
excite abhorrence in the man of the people.
We have made an experiment in politics
which is a phenomenon in the hiilory of
human nature, let us perfefl otir system
.vjd baiiixh t'- ' t.-nn as well as the CublUnce
«f governments founded on inequality,
andgive a lelfon to the world of rulers and
ruled being of one family, having one wiJli
and one intgrell; and having no hostility
but for the enemies of their country —you
have this day given a specimen of republi
tanifin which will chafe away every jea
lousy if perlifted in, and as I have been the
firft to comment upon the afl'umption of
diltin£tion, in julliceto you and to my own
feelings, I will be the firft to approve—let
not the freedom of the stile 111 which I
address you be conllrtied intoprefumption,
it is the language of liberty, and cannot
offend a freemen —The foft accents of flat
tery belong to the eunuchs of a court,
the republican mind knows not to cull
the flowers from the green house of mo
narchy.—Tho' I disdain to flatter, it is a
relief to my mind to give merit and virtue
their due, after having arraigned their
weaknell'es at a bar not less scrupulous
than that of Rhadamanthus, the bur of re
•publicanifm ; and as I conceive it human
ts> err, I fhoulfl consider it as the error of
a great mind if the specimen of this day
should matvifeft itfelf in actions of another
kind, and the beginning of yourfecond ad
ininiftration should prove the end of every
royal cultom.—Pomp, parade and l'aflidi
ous dijlance are the enligns of royalty to
cover wcaknefs, and very often vice ; the
mind fortified by virtue & dignified by in
tellect, needs not the trappings ofa butter
fly to command refpeS or ailmini(lr; tion ;
true worth encreafe • our refpeel and ef
teemthe nearer we approach it, and the
wore we are familiarized to it ; fictitious
qualities alone should retreat behind cere
' inony and reserve, as a shelter from dis
grace anil contempt —your fame can ac
quire no addition, your character no in
creale ; already have they received their
tribir - even from the encmiesof our coun
try ; nothing is therefore wanting to your
£,loVy, nothing is requisite to makeyou live
, iii every American heart, but adeportment
in unison with the principles of our govern
ment—your conduit 011 this day has im
prefled inc with this anticipation, that the
simplicity which has heretofore marked
your character will again manifelt itfelf,
and every jealous republican spirit will be
liuflied into peaie, by this accommodation
to their feelings—thefplendour of a court
suits not the meridian of the United States,
and fnit- not the meridian of your mind,
which c'elipi;rs in simplicity and tranqui
lity Americans have emancipated theiv
felvcs from the trammels of monarchical
falhion. as ell as from the trammels of
monarchical government, and they would
be inclined to suppose that every attempt
' to introduce the one, would be but as the
Jiarbingtr of the other; they art therefore
By P. FRENE A U: Pubhjhcd Wednesdays and Saturdays, at Three Dollars per annum.
alarmed at every appearance of inequali
ty—in you, fir, their hopes, their affecti
ons. and their confidence center, and they
feel a perfusion, that your heart will keep
pace v. ith their wishes, and your actions
with their feelings.
MIRAB E A U.
March 4th, 1793.
Debate on the Official Conduct of the Se
cretary of the Treasury, (continued
from our last.)
Friday, March 1.
Mr. Sedgwick opened the debate, by
:alling for the reading of a letter from the
secretary of the Treasury to Mr. Short,
jf thefirft of September 1790, /hewing the
ibjefls and general views of the Secretary,
dative to the negociation of the loans
inder the two a£ts authorizing them.
Mr. Bar/lu's/i, then rose, and addrelfed
he chairman as follows : —
Before I proceed to discuss the obferva
ions which yeflerday fell from the gen
lemen who introduced the refolutionsnow
>efore us, I cannot refrain from faying,
hat I am extremely happy, that in palling
through the medium of that gentleman's
examination, this fubjefl: has changed its
luefrom the foul stain of peculation to
he milder colouring of an Illegal exercise
if discretion and a want of politeness in
he Secretary of the treasury. I feel hap
ty because I always am so when any tnan
narged with guilt can acquit himfelf; and
lie more so now when a man in a high ref
jonfible office aud high in the estimation of
lis countrymen, can reduce a charge from
i quality calculated to have excited an
ilarm, even in Pandemonium, to such a
h ipe as I fancy will scarce serve to fitif
"y the uncommon cnriofity which it ap
pears to have excited. As. I have never
ifeivin the habit of talcing nojes, I ihall
lepend upon memory in answering the gen -
;leman from Virginia : although I imagine
as that gentleman usually flicks very close
10 his point, whatever it may be, that in
3urfuingl«s charges 1 shall substantially an
swer his arguments. In commenting np
-311 the two firfl resolutions to which I am
iy order confined, I shall consider in the
Srft instance, what regards the right of
Jrawing money into this country—the gen
leniau appears not to have considered tiie
aw properly, for there cannot be a doubt
that the President had a right to nnke what
irrangements he pleafcd in order to attain
ivhat he might consider a proper modifica
tion of the debt due by the United States
abroad ; he might have borrowed the mo
ney here or have paid here ; he might have
borrowed the money in England, or wher
ever he thought fit. I will alk the gentle
man by what precise authority he borrow
ed the money in Amlterdam and Antwerp
anil paid it in Paris ; certainly by none,
but that discretion which has been depend
ed upon to modify the debt in the manner
most copducive to the Jntereft of the Unit
ed States. I take it then for granted, Mr.
Chairman, that the right of the President
to draw the money borrowed hero, or to
fend it any where mull be conceded : The
quellion will then arise, whether the Se
cretary of the Treasury had aright to do
this or 110, and whether this lias not been
done without, nay, ngainft the inftruftions
of the President. I really consider this as
one of the mo£- extraordinary cases that I
have ever known exhibited. Let us con
sider its form ; a highly important trufi of
no lefl'er import than the discretionary use
of i4,ooo,ccoof dollars is placed in the
President of the United States. He hv a
general commission and by special instruc
tions, deputes this power to the Secretary
of the Treasury, dating that he is to con
form to these and whatever inftrufHons lie
might from time to time give him. Let
any man seriously examine these powers,
and ] am of opinion thattheSecretary un
der these had a right to draw if he thought
proper, unlcfs inlfruffed to the contrary :
l-'or the President conveys a compleat pow
er to modify the debt, provided that it
fhonld be with all convenient dispatch ap
plied to pay the principal and interelf due
to France ; for where the payments are to
be made, is certainly left to the Secreta
ry. If this has not been exercised aclvanta
:;eoiifly this is another circurtiflance which
the gentleman himfelf has not queflioned.
But fays the gentleman, the Secretary un
der these inilruclions had no special autho
rity toxlraw, notwithstanding which he be
wail to draw in 1790 and has continued to
draw at different times into this country
the enormous sum oi" 3,000,000 of dollars,
and therefore he fjluft havedone this with
out, nay, againfl: the inftruitions of the
President, who it is prelnmed having dele
gate! this great trult, has .never for three
years enquired into the performance ot it.
Can this be the inference of common
fenfei—can this be the inference of the ex
perience which we have had of the Preii
dent, one of the prominent features o!
whqft character always has been an indus
try ki? investigate particulars, as remarka
ble as hi? lagacity to frame generals. 11
then in!lru£iions have not been given 01
have been exceeded, was it necellary 101
us to come in aid of the President, he whe
by our law has the power which we onr
lelves cannot exercise of removing any o]
the executive officers ot pleasure ; it cer
tainly cannot be neceflary ; for as this of
ficer continues to ail, we mull conclude
thathe has either acted by infh uflions, 01
in ftich manner as to have given fatisfa&i
sn to his principal without them. Really
Mr. Chairman, I cannot but believe thai
if suspicion had not led the gentleman fron
Virginia allray, the usual corre&nefs 01
liis undcrflanding would have preventet
!iim from pursuing such an ignis fatuc
is this.
Thus fir I think I hive (hewn that th<
Preiident of the United States certain!;
the authority to draw the funis bor
-owed here, and that both under his com
million and his inflruftions given, and ine
vitably implied, the Secretary hadalfatlii
jower, to do this. I (hall therefore nov
>roceed to a more special coniideration o
:he firft charge, that the Secretary has vi
jlated the law in applying a portion of tin
principal borrowed to the payment ot tin
inteccll failing due upon that principal
which was not authorised by law.
Bfffare I proceed, Mr. Chairman,
ivotid wish to remark, that whiilt 1 con
lider-jio principle in legislation more cor
that no money fliall be draw:
from the Treai'urv but under ap|tropffati
3ns by law; yet I conftder, both as imprac
ticable and mifch'revous, the dottrine, tha
the money arilii'.g from a special tax fell
in 110 inllaaice be used for any other thai
iliat special purpose for which the Tax vva
mpofed, but am of opinion that the I lira
-ailed ought rather to be conlidered as ai
aggregate fund-applicable to aggregate pur
Doses, and indeed if a rigid adherence t<
:!ieprecife letter of the law is uecefl'ar
:here has been no occalion to go abroad t<
"earch for violations ; for our governmen
it home has been able to a£t only by thi
violation. It is well known, that the du
:ies of impolt andtonnage are appropriate
iril to produce the sum of 600,000 dollar
for the civil lid, then to pay the interell o:
the foreign debt and so on ; so that by ;
rigid observance of this law the fecretan
niuft have firll collecled the 600,000d015. ii
Co the public coffers & then a sum futiicien
to pay the interell of the foreign debt, ;
process which on'vrequires Hating to shew
itsabfurdity and which must neverthelef
have been comieifed with a minute con
llruclion of the law. Indeed Mr. Chair
man, if the acts of common life bear am
analogy with public management, which 1
believe, what could be conlidered as beinj
more extraordinary than that ail individu
al Ihould appropriate the proceeds ot' on«
farm to pu; chafe bread, of another drink
and to declare in the lace us contingencies
that happen what may, he would flaiv.
Ihould the bread crop fail rather than uft
the surplUS of that appropriated to pur
chase drink, for its purchase. But tore
turn. what is this charge, a sum of monei
was due abroad for the interest of 1791
and 175s to be paid out of the domefti: re
venues of 1791 and 1-92 ; the Unitec
States had an offer to make a payment ii
part of what was due Frince, for wliicl
money had been borrow cd and v as alrea
dy 031 hand abroad, in a supply of pro; :li
011s from here to tlieifland of St. Domin
go, the Secretary therefore, and doubtlef
with Ihe consent of the Preiident, infleac
of txanfmitting either bills or money froi:
this country to France in order to pay tlit
inter ell due there, and bringing the monej
borrow td to pay the !• rench debt into thi:
country, in order to ftirniflj I'upplies for St
Dum'uigo, has committed the great ytrimt
of dissecting the money borrowed and al
ready qpon the spot to be applied to the
payment of tire interell due, and has ta
ken the Aims applicable to the payment!
of that interell. which was already here,
and made vie of it to pay the debi due tc
France in the produce oi the United States.
So that apparently a portion of
the principal borrowed hasiieen applied to
pay an due jel in reality it . tapa
city to be thus used arose from its conflU
tilting in this country ail equivalent sum
applicable and which has been applied to
pay off the principal of the French debt,
the object for which the money was bor
rowed Let candor invettigate thistranf
a£lioji and sure lam its deductions ill b
directly the contrary ot a charge of crim
ination. 1 (hall conclude with observing,
that I flioultfhave proceeded to examine the
other refblutions which I conlfder as weak
a> those I have made tliefe fliort comments
upon, were I not retrained by the rules of
the house. But this I will venture to fay,
that they will be proved unfounded in their
invertigation, and will merit the witty ob
servation of a celebrated writer, that
though they rose like a rocket, they will
fall like the (tick-
Mr. Findley next rose and exprcfi'ed
himfelf nearly as follows :
Mr. Chairman, Being ftrangly impreflett
with the importance of our time which is
now so near an end, though 1 had the ho
nour of seconding the resolutions Itook no
part in the debates of yetterday ; nor will
I now detain you with replies to many of
the arguments which have been offered
againlt" the resolutions now under difcuf
lion.
Upon one argument, frequently introdu.
ced by the gentleman lall up, viz. the
greatness of the Secretary's character, &c.
I will only make a fmglc remark ; there ia
no charaiter officially known in the execu
tive departments of this government, who
merits pre-eminence or to whom a degree
of greatntfs can be ascribed, but in pro
portion to Ins prompt execution of the
laws and the attention with which he dis
charges the duties of bis' office. From
this rule the President himfe'f is not ex
.mp ed, much lefsa subordinate Secretary*
ivhoft appointment i 3 during pleasure, and
"Tie duties affigne<l hurt of a changeable and
icmporary nature.
But to come to the resolution before us;
.he firft enquiries hat offer themfdves are,
.vhether the mondy in quellion was ap
propriated to special and dillinft purpo
ses ? Did the Secretary of the T'reaiury
ipply the money to other uses than the
aw directed ?
In answer to the Gi ft it is only necessary
:o advert to the law authorising tl.e loans.
The law authorising the twelve million
loan, appropriates whatever amount may
be borrowed folel'y to the payment of debia J
then due to France and Holland.
The law authorising the two million
loan directs the applic tion thereof lo the
redemption of the domellic debt, in aid of
ibout ■ dollars, aiiling from there
venue previous to the f:r!t ot January.
These appropriations were precise, dif
tindl, ;nd unconditional ; with refped to.
the uses no room wa« left for the exercise
if discretion ; the will of the legislature
was express and clearly defined- it left noi
room for evasion nor any excui'e for mis
take ; nor did the President transfer to
the Secretary any other authority or in
fh nftioii than what the law txpreffed.
But the gentleman from South
fays, that the prefumptiits is, that the Pre
sident did give other inftrutfionj than h<i
has communicated ; ilia? in this caie pre*
sumption should be admitted as concTuiive
testimony > and that >he Secietary or the
PreCdeiit are not obliged to communicate
the inHunftior.6 or authorities to us.
'1 h: gentleman is a lawyer ; I will ap-.
peal to himfe f, I will appeal to al! t'e
profeflional members on the floor, whetl er
presumption can be admitted as proof
where in the nature of the cafe pofmvetel
timony can be procured.
Surely in courts ot juilice positive lerti
rr.or.v is always required, and presumptive
is rarely admitted ; but in this c-fe the
preemptive is by the gentleman let in op
position to the positive. However, this is
not the cafe in fa ft. The President did
givecomm (Tion and inftruftions, and thtf*
are fully.communicated to us. It he con
ceived we had no right to derr.anc them
he would have us so, if he had kept
any part of them bat!", be would have in-,
f rmv'd us, »r-d afligtied hi* reafco« for tio»
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