The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1811-07-23

November, 1904, The authorization before adver- |
Ted to, which was in these words.
&c Your observations on the reesonablcness of
some remuneration for your services have, as
you wished, been submitted to the President.
The.result Of his reflections for the present is,
that should suggest that you retain out Of the
next instalment, in its passage through your
hands 10 the Earrings, per centage OF 2 i-2 on
the awards ACTUALLY received, and to be re-
10 your account with the pnblc.--This will
bring the equity your claim regularly before
che government, scd Willis the way open for
che choice OF modes and funds, as msy finally
zppear mcst proper" -
The cor, mission Of 9 10 per cent. herein al
lowed, as you viii perceive, was not chargeabie
on all the Awards made By the board Of commits
sinners, but oaly OF that portion ofthem, where.
IN had been made ,sayee; whichEreduced 1t in
fact to commission upon about ope-third of
che business which die at the board com
mission to that extent, however, would have
been full compensation tor the loss of the as
sessorshp but DESTROYS Of sdhering to the strict
kstter OF the Secretary of States instructions,
Seducted only that portion ofthe awards made
payable 10 me, on which finally received pay
n,ent from the British government, which sup.
pose was only about two thirds of the awards III
which WAS made psyee, one.tbird OF them ha-
InS been previously transferred by me to the pri-
vate SCENTS or tue respective warders; so that
an eiiect had not more than about Upper
cent. on the business which did at the board
OF commissioners, mot to mention that which was
done in the court of admiralty Thus this COIN
mission now stands charged pursuant to the
strict letter of the instruction) against the a
yards ON which I ,ecei0ed lpayfaene OF the En-
8ilsh government. IN what is called the award
account" though as it was in fact compensation
Tor the whole business transacted at the board,
1t might with propriety have been, and probably
II shoaid have been, deducted out of a sum Of
A6s,OoO dollars paid by me into the treasury,
upon what waa called the "spolation account"
AS the case stands, there has been carried 10
the public credit from the last mentioned &C
count too much, by the amount Of the commits
sion; thai fund Of $50, 900 dollars owes there
FIRE, & should pay back TO the award fund"
she same amount.
TINS IS the point now submitted, and on which
A explanation TO the Secretary of the Treasury,
Nom the Department of State, is requested.
have the honor to be, sir,
With the NEST perfect consideration
and respect,
xour most obi. servt r.
GEORGE W. CRYING.
y And now, Mr.. Smith, let us ask you,
where did you get the original and duplicate
ct this private letter of Mr.. Madison :, Did
You at last discover it in the Officer Then
Il was public document. Did Mr.. Ma
Olson or Mr. Erving furnish you with CO.
Ply, or did you find it annexed to Mr. Err
wings accounts as a public vouchers Ifyou
did, II proves that neither Mr. Madison nor
MIR Ewing considered it in any other light,
chan as public document; for Mr. Erving,
however incomprehensible il may be to some
people, is an officer of too high sense of
honor, to divulge confidential and friuate
communicative.
rev extracts of letters, the publication al
which will be quite harmless to all the
world. unless it be to Mr.. Smith and to
him they can be no otherwise detrimental,
shan as a proofof his imbecility in publish
ing them for of his laxity Of principle in
hetraying confidence, both public and pri-
vate, we could not want this additional
proof.
de is now servant out of place. And
while he is Offering himself Tor further SER
vice with the usual cry of iJho zyarts me,
ne naturally concludes, that we shall re.
quire character from his last place. I'm.
luckily, Mr. Smith, by this confession that
ne stood In need of a character, and this
mode OF raking one together. has taken a
lower stand III the scale of public estimate
on than we should have assigned him. We
knew, Indeed. his want of capacity. but did
not suppose The fact would be put by him
self in SO glaring point of light. What
= pity that during his eight or ten years OF
public service, he could no. have done some
useful thing (; some one act that would mark
him as noun substantive, and enable him
20 stand alone. Ask Mr.. Jefferson whether,
90 his retiring from ile same department
OF state some years ago, he Thought il ne
cessary to print himself into our good Opt
ZION aB a man-ei talents in business, by pub.
lishing scraps of old letters from his CORES
pondents And if he says yes, ask him if
khey were private aRa confidential letters.
not intended for the public eve
There is one little trick of deception, tn at
Mr.. Smith attempts to play off upon as in
shis very act of hunting up a chafacter-
The mangled extract of MI Jeferson's let
Ger Of September, 1910, is given Us to create
abe belief, that the letter was accompanied
BY the manuscript of a literary work. to be
corrected and amended for the Press Ro.
bert Smith correct the writings of Thomas
jefferson No, gentle reader: the work in
question was an official document Intended
for publication, 20 be supported and eluci.
dated, probably corrected, BY facts deposit
ed in the department OF state, Of which Mr.
Smith was then the official and only de-
positary. He is called upon, therefore, as
q public officer, and moi, THANH God, as q
man nj LETTERS