Alexandria advertiser and commercial intelligencer. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1800-1803, 1802-09-22

the intercouiis between the United States
q d foreign rasiors.'
II is truly Rated IN the report, that mo-
MES for defraying the expences of inter
courie with foreign nations, were " TIL
lately, paid 10 the fecretary of aa,e, who
uled to diiburfe the fame" From the
letter Of MIR. Gallatiss, it appears, " that
the fecrets5y of fare no louger,gxee'ves any
mssey y chat the fums required for this
Part 0! tie public {srvice, are paid imme-
dia ely at the trealury to The agents, or
other inli4iduals, 10 whom they were for.
merly advanced by him, and ,heic are at
once charged, and mate. accountable II The
t,salay." That "thois agents ara prin-
c;pllly the rurveyors CT public fupplies t
Philadelphia, and bankers in England and
Holland"
An obvious quea;on arifes: What con-
iequences are expected from this deviation
from prasiice commenced when Mr.. JET
ferfon was lecressry Of fate, and continu
ed TO the era of the preient adminiltrati-
on The only anfwer which can be given
involves dilemma which cannot recon
mend the new practice. Either the requi-
Gtions of the iecretary Of fate are implra-
tieve, or they aren't. IF they are mfe,0-
tips, if the fecreiary Of fate can delfgnate
the, agent who is 10 be the receiver, and
tb< /um to be odvaared; if he is moreover
competent to direct the mode Of atPJMg
ibe .mone, atler tbe aQvauce has been
made; 1.-THE treaiury, as formerly, are
merely to jadge whether there exses an
abtntriatiou By lnqos and afterwards to
adJyf the accounts ol tie /Serefary e1Rate,
then thesnew practice is mere change Of
form, without any real objeR Of ERA,
except that Of oblising the officers OF the
treafury, fopeyfsrm the duty effbe clerk
eftbe department sf fate. on the ether
hand, if the fecretary OF the tre afnry is TO
defsxat> the agents, judge of the expedi-
ency of making advances, or it any man
ner, to direct the /uLhquent abpl'eatios OF
the money,,io as TO esemft t5efscrese,y Of
Fac .f1om ,e9oaGdhb, then.she fecresaEy
OF the trealury has, indeed acquired a.ae7p.
01dEAa aeditvn Of feqv,r and inRueaee in
the government a, tbs expenee Ct q eo-or-
diaGfe department. Upon either fuppoti-
ton, IT may be doubted whether the iono-
vation does not tend toeQnJouad 0utks<Iicj
between which there ought TO be rTeierv-.
ed chrar and viA5le dyaMaion.
The committee proceed to obierye, that
/" the accounts Of MtRrs. ]eferien, Mar
lhall, and Madilon, who have, at yatious
periods" been iecretaries otltate, "have.
been iettled, and no balance is due there
on. A luit, not yet decided, has been
infituted againf Mr.. Randolph, formerly
iecTetary o!hate, for a balance unaecount.
ed for by him. The accounts of MIR.
Pickering are no, yet finally ic,tled. He
remains charged with fun of 1888
dollars and twenty GEMS, ey,oneeuQy PAID
by him, for the tIeighs of a veacl PIP
ts/rd to have been employed By the con-
fal at Ttipoli and with another fun of
$3.50 dollafs and 50 cents, being the.
balance OF an advance, made 70 Samuel
Hodgdon, fer the purpole Of being re-
mitsed to Mr.. Humphreys at Madrid, in
part Of his falary, which Mr.. Humphreys
did NOT receive. Both thefe fums, it is
believed, may and will be tscovered.from
the perions, to whom they were refpec-
lively advanced. But the briuopalree(u,
which appears to have prevented an ul,i
mate lettlemeRt with HIM, ariies from the
circumaance OF his not having applied the
whole ofthe money, drawn y him from
the treafury, to the /beeifc obieas, tor
which it was appropriated by law. For
the extent and reiult OF this myappAeati0u,
The committee refer TO the ua.ement
marked (C.) accompanying the comnori-
cltion Of the -fecr-tary Of the tteaGury, IN
der date of the I'd OF March. From this
lfatemens, it appears, ,has Mr.. Pickering