The Republican ledger — Portsmouth, N.H., 1800-08-19 00:00:00, page 1

i PORTSM °UTH, (NEW-HAMPSHIRE) PRINTED BY NETTING & WHITELOCK, MULBERRY LANE, ADJOINING ROUSSELEr's MUSEUM.
NUMBER 52. —VOL. I.]
1 =" .. ^. ,— — —-- ^tt-c—g, I rat —— "-^^rt-^fcr*^^
2 WHEN YOU SHALL THESE DEEDS RELATE, SPEAK OF THEM AS THEY ARE; NOTH! NG EXTENUATE NOR SET DOWN OUGHT IN MALICE."
from the AURORA.
A WINDING UP
OF
Jonathan Dayton's Public Affairs.
WHEN we published the accounts of
Messrs. Dayton, Pickering and o
ihers, we informed the public that they
were transcribed from the Treasury booh kept
according to law by the remitter, ahd the
'copies taken in preface of three refpeflable
witnesses.
Not only the authenticity of, those ac
counts, as ,üblifhed by its, has not been denied
by the Treasury Department ; but Mr.
Wolcott, in his defence of Mr. Pickering
has been compelled to acknowledge that “the
balances, to which the publications in the
Aurora refer, are the aggregate amounts of
films which have been remitted to public
agents."
Mr. Stockton has also acknowledged
that " the (um which was Rated in the Au
rora as a balance remaining in his hands
the 7th May, 1800, agree with his Quarter
ly returns to, the Secretary of the Treasury
to the ift April, 1800." He has gone far
ther : he has produced a letter from the
Comptroller, Rating that his accounts as agent
for paying invalids for the quarter ending
zlt of April, 1800, had been adjusted, and
a balance of dollars 2339 29 cents (the pre
cise sum fated by us) was due from Mr.
Stockton to the United States, for which
he should be debited on a future settlement.
And even Mr. Dayton, in his extrava
gant and unequalled letter to us fays, '' you
charge the monies advanced for compensa
tions in the course of three whole sessions
of Congress, and credit in return, the com
pensation of members for two sessions on
ly." He tries indeed to Shelter himfelf un
der the dates at which the account had been
fettled at the Treasury, but he deles not deny
the accuracy of the sums charged and credit
ed, as Rated in the accounts We published.
:It might have been supposed that so ma
hy internal proofs, and collateral acknow
ledgements might have fatisfied thp most in-'
credulous partisan. Yet, we must acknow
ledge, that we have been neither disappoint
ed nor displeased, al feeing the Bojion Cen
tinel, the New-York Royal Gazette, the Phi
iadelphia Gazette and iimilar papers, boldly
affecting that the accounts published by us
were FORGERIES.'
Although evasive explanations might be
given in the cases Where the accounts were
yet unsettled, and the amount of credits
which the party might claim, was unafeer
tained ; And this has been attempted by Mr.
WolcotT in jollification of Mr. Picker
ing : yet, in those instances, When the ac
count had been fettled, and every credit
which the party might claim given to him,
and a balance found due by him, nothing
fhoft of a fat denial of the account itfelf
Could leave a doubt of the delinquency of the
public agent, and of the Gait, of the Treas
ury affairs.
We were not, therefore, disappointed
when the attempts to deny the authenticity of
the accounts were made. But,where so ma
ny proofs of the authenticity did exist, a de
nial became a complete proof that the case
was desperate.
However, another ,atyalte and indisfeWa-
He demonstration of the accuracy of our
statements, is now within our reach, and
we are not sorry that those who are deeply
interested in the perpetuation of abuses,
should have entangled themfelvcs by the at
tempt, tinparailed in its boldness, of circulat
ing the idea that our statements were forged.
We will now Submit to the cool con lid
eration of the people of the United States,
some extra&s fomthe 46 Public account laid
by the Secretary , Treefury before Congress as
PUBLiSMfeb'foD printed by order of
Congress." In these we have fought- for
information, for we thought it molt extra
ordinary that Congress thould have been
kept in complete ignorance of the fads we
have lately published, and we find that the
g 4 accounts of the receipts and expenditures of
the-United States," yearly laid before the
House of Representatives, and published as ;
,late as, and including the year 1798 ; con-|
B tain all the payments made by the Treasury
Rating the date and numbers of warrants,
the sums paid, the name of the agents to
, whom the payments have been made, and
the purpose for which the monies have been
paid or advanced. And in them we find
'fo accurate fatement of the monies advanc
11
The Republican Ledger.
ed to Mr. Pickering, Dayton, &c.
which for the years to which they relate,
agree precisely with the accounts published
by us. But, there the acebunts of receipts
and expenditures do flop ; for although they
Ihew to whom the money has been advanc
ed, they never Riew (one infante excepted
which we shall notice) how the money ad
vanced has .been applied by the public agent ;
they, do not ffiew how or when the accounts
of those receivers of public monies have been
fettled- And it is, perhaps, from a know
ledge of that mode of ftatihg public ac
counts, that certain vehicles of truth anti tb.-ir
prompters have ventured the assertion that
our Dublications of statements of accounts
transcribed from the regifer's books were
forgeries. They may have thought that
no direa proof of the authenticity of our
publications could be drawn from the public
printed accounts ; they may have thought
that it was impraaicable from those ac
counts to disprove their assertion. In this
they were miftakeh. ,
There is one exception to that general mode
of Rating the accounts to Congress, to which
we alluded above.—ln one instance the Se
cretary nates not only how much money
has been advanced to the public agent, but
also how the agent has accounted for the mo
ney received. And by the most Orange and
fortunate accident, that one deviation from
the general rule, is that of the Legifldtive
Department, in which'Mr. Dayton appears
the conspicuous ador. It is strange that an
exception should have been made in relation
to that department ; for of all expenditures
of public money, it might be supposed that
there is none with which the members of
the federal Legislature are more intimately
acquainted, none in which they require less
information from the Treasury Depart
ment, than the Amount of their compensation.
It is however; the only expenditure where
the money is paid to ah agent accountable,
of which they receive an official yearly ac
count in detail ! ! 1
Thus in other-ca fes they areonly inform
ed generally that during the year 1798, mo
nies were paid to certain public agents; for
instance :
To Tench Francis, purveyor of
public supplies (page 40 &50) Dols. 298,256
To fames O'Hara, contractor
for supplying the army with
provifrons, (page 40) ' 230,000
To John Wilkins, fan, quarter
maiter-general, (page 40) 120,619 98
But the accounts there go no farther, and
do not fpecify whether nor how those public
agents have accounted for the public money.
That part of the information is not communi-'
cated to Congress, unless they should think
fit to apply for it and to institute an investi
gation! Whilst, on the tidier hand, the
public accounts state not only how much mo
ney the Secretary of the Senate, and the
speaker of the House of Representatives
have received, in order to pay refpeaivcly
the compensation due to the members and
officers of both Houses, but also how they
have accounted for that money, Specifying
how much every individual from long John
Alien to mftrJpfeph Wheaton, has received.
Thus Congress obtain no information on
those fubje&s on which they want it, and
receive a full, official a^d detailed account
of what they knew before. But, if the ex
ception is strange, it is not less fortunate, in
the present instance. We have thus an of
ficial printed document, dating at large for
the years 1797 and 1798, the accounts of
the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
one of the accounts we have already publish
ed, and one of the accounts actually fettled,
and on which a balance was found due on
settlement. We-have thus a demonstration,
indifpytably authentic, and which may "he
verified in every state of the union where a
member of Congress fefides, both of the
corrc&nefs of our ftat§mo"s,^pd of Mr.'
Dayton's deliriquencff''v
Those documents entitled refpeaively,
" An account of the receipts and expendi
eures of the year 4797" and 4 <f& the year
1798," published by order of the House of
Representatives, and printed' 4f Philadelphia,
by John Ward Fenno," are now in our
;poffeffion, and open to the infpe&ion of anv
Citizen who may doubt our accuracy : they
'are in the possession of every member of
Congress, and acccffible to every citizen
who lives in the vicinity of a member of
Congrefs#,:
. In those documents, the accounts of Mr.
Dayton for these two years, are thus stat
ed/
tu^Dwr, AVGUST i 9, 1800.
In the accounts for 1797, pages, 27, 28,
and 28. Continuation of the Second session
of the fourth Congress.
To Jonathan Dayton, Speaker of
the House of Representatives.—To enable
him to) pay the compensations due to the
members of the said House.
Dls. Cts.
Jan. 5. Warrant No. 6816 15,000
Feb. 2. do. 6874 15,000
*4. do. 6014 30,000
60,060
From wh:Wi dedua this
lum per warrants on Jo
nathan Dayton, in fa
vour of the Treasury,
viz.
Warrant No. 216, for 2611 60
do. 233 19 80
2631 40
57^9^66
Amount of monies ad
vanced to Mr. Dayton
in the year 1796, expen
diture of which was not
accounted for in the lad
Statement 15,000'
:. , , 72,368 60
For which he has account
ed by the following pay
ments, viz.
(Here follow the names of the members of the
House, chaplain and ferjeant at arms) and sums
received by each refpettively, for their compensa
tion, I f °.
Making altogether Dols. 72,368 60
On the account of that session, which ap
pear balanced, we will only remark, that
the account was originally fettled at the
Treasury, on the 4th or sth of March, at
which time the payment made by Mr. Day-'
ton of dollars 2631 40, Wayot yet made.
The balance was Stated as due byhim to
the Treasury books; and carried to his new
account, which we published; as its faft item
was by the Treasurer's account; that Mr.
Dayton did repay that sum in March, a few
days after the adjournment of Congress.
The small balance of ho dollars 80 cents
was repaid in July following. It is only
from the extraordinary session of May '97,
the firft session of the sth Congress, that Mr.
Dayton's real delinquency begun, as will ap
pear by the continuation of the public print
ed accounts of receipts and expenditures.
In the accounts for 1797— page 29 —30 —31
Firfl Seflion of the Fifth Congress.
1 797, To Jonathan Dayton Dls. Cts.
May 16—Warrant—No. 7212 15,000
June 13 do 7397 15,000
July 3 do 7404 31,000
61,000
For which he has accounted by the
following payments, viz.
Making altogether 53/08 68
Balance remaining to be ac- ^ ^
counted tor by the Speaker of 2!
the House of Representa
tives, the expenditure where
of will appear in the next
annual Statement ~4ot 32
- 61,000
Second Session of the Fifth Congress.
1797. To Jonathan Dayton, &c. Dls.
Nov. 16. Warrant No. 7721 15,000
Dec. 14. du.. 778/ 15,000
30,000
* The expenditure of this sum will appear in
the next annual statement.
, —-—=
In the account of receipt and expenditure for
'9B, pages 25, 26, 27, and 28.
Continuation of the Second Seflion of the Fifth
Congress,:
17,8. To Jonathan Daytou, &c. ~ Dls. Cts.
Jan. 12. Warrant No. 7899 05,000
Feb. 7. do. 7948 15,000
March 12. do. 8059 15,000
April io. do. ' 1 $lB2 15,000
WUy 3. do. " 8216 15,000
——26, ,do. 8280 15,000
June 20. do. 8362 15,000
-July 12; do. 8491 15,000
— +l6. do. 8517 33,000
153,000:
From which deduct this fumi
repaid into the Treasury, per
warrant No, 2,7, on the
Speaker, 9,000
144,000
Balance due by Mr, Dayton,
for the public accounts tor the +
year 1797, page 31 7,401 32
Amount of monies advanced
him in the year 1797, the ex
penditure of which was not
accounted for in the lift anuu-'
al ilatement, 30,000
131,401 32
1 .
[1 DOL. 50 CTS. PER ANNUM.
r f° r ,'bich he accounted by the
following payment, Oonukis al
togetber , ..164,483 80
Balance remaining to b^fy a
counted for by the Speaker «
the House of Representatives
(per auditor's report, No. 10.
784) the expenditure whereof
will appear in the uext annual .2
statement 16,917 52'
181,401 32
Third Sefton rs tide Fifth Congress.
Jonathan Dayton, &c.
Dec. 7. Warrant No. 8983 15,000*
*The expenditure of this sum will appear in
the next annual llatement.
From these documents it results that Mr.
Dayton kept in his hands a balance of
dols. 7401 32 cts. from 3d July, 1797, to
Nov. following; that during the Sqlioa
commencing in Nov. 1,794, ipffi^ of ap
plying that balance to paying the compen
sations of members; the public monies ac
cumulated in his hands to the amount of
dols. 25,917 52 cts. the balance due by him
on 16th July, 1798 : that he repaid dols.
9,000 of that sum ; some, perhaps, a ihort
time after that day (the warrants No. 277
for that repayment being included in the re
payments for the quarter ending 30th Sept.
1798, as per Treasurer's accounts) and that
he did not repay the remaining balance of
dols: 16,417 52 cts. during the course of
the year 1798.
The detailed account and expenditures
for the year 1)99, has not yet been publish
ed, but by the concise extra& laid before
Congress of the accounts of that year, it
appears that Mr. Dayton did not repay
into the Treasury any part of the balance
during the year 1799 i as the following is
an account of the repayments for that
year.
r+ Dls . Cts.
' r ° m ,* Smith executor of Thomas
Smith, late agent tor paying in
terest in Pennsylvania 1084
From W. B. Grove, executor of
Robert Rowman, do. do. North
Carolina 374 x g
From Benjamin Harwood, agent
for paying the late Maryland line 5394 57
From Wm. Ellery, do. purchase of
°" 924 11
Jos. Winiams, on a settlement of
accounts T g 50
Sam'i. and Jos. Sterret, do. 172 58
— — X
And the accounts we have heretofore pub
lished (hew that the balance of dols. 16,917
52 cts. had during the Session ending 4th
March, increased to dols. 18,142 52 cents.
To the people of America we now com
mit Jonathan Dayton, Brigadier that was
to be S,«&xhat has been, Senator that is—-
what he ought to be, we leave to the law,
having put him upon his country.
Extraordinary Honefly.
In one of our Paris papers we find the following
account. “ Yellerday the cashier of one of the
principal banking houses in this city foot himfelf
on account of an error of 25 thoufatidfofa which
appeared in his accounts. The oftffi^examin
ed them the more terrified he becare,%r,d the less
able was he to difeover whence the error arose.
After his death, the bankers with whole affairs he
was entrusted had them fettled and found them
perfectly in order.'' Such uncommon sensibility
for the character of honefly merited a better fate.
When Edmund Randolph went out of office, #
suit was commenced against him for a balance "of
50,000 dollars unaccounted for—the suit was com
menced by the Comptroller of the Treasury we
do not hear of a suit commenced againftbis Juc
cejfer in pOTm for ten times the amount-but the
former was supposed to be partial to France—the
latter was known to be converted to an admira
tion of the Kritifh.'
A wag when the fubjeCt of the late Banding:
army was talked of, remarked that it was necessa
ry in the opinion of the Anglo-federalifls to
Urengthen the hands of the Executive, therefore
we were obliged to resort to a Banding army and
Lifl-en.
. A PRODIGr.
The following is an extract from a letter receiv
my a gentleman of Peterfburgh, from a corres
pondent in the city of Raleigh, North Carolina.'
" A most curious fpeCtacle was exhibited in
this city a few days ago. A female of the canine
Ipecies was delivered of the most perfect lusue
nature that has ever been beheld in this part of
the world, or I believe in any other, I will give
you as accurate a description of it as I can. Its
shape more resembles that of a child than an,
thing else I can compare i' to-Hndeedit appears
to be a composition of the human and brute crea
tion. It has three, heads, viz. one on each fhoul
der^and another between them—the one i,the
exaft representation of a human lace: those o#
the Moulders no way different from those of 4
dog. it has fix legs,two of which Band upright
on its back, and four tails. I forgot to menttoll