Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1824-05-08

| tories of public money, it had been usn,ln
refer all such calls 10 Mr. Jones, his chiercler
but that, in these cases, another clerk had bre,
selected 10 collect the letters, Sc. which were
e"ieu ior. why this change was made, ar
that particular juncture, (being wholly mac
counted for by Mr. Crawford is left TO con.
lecture. Was Mr.. Jones incompetent to m.
discharge of tits duty The very station bs
holds In the Department forbds such a SIM.
position. Had he proved himself uowor,b,
ofc"nfdence II so, he Could not have rc'
tanned his station; and such is ackpowIedped
To be his stern, unyieding. inGexible integritv
'nat no one could have supposed him capabi,
., suoser'iency IN any unfair purpose. I
confess l regret that the charge was made
Tor had II not been, l cannot resist the belier
,hat should have been spared much of the
labor of tins vindication. But, without yieidin.,
TO nnavaillnS regrets, must be- content To taxi.
things as find them. |, therefore. proceed ~
exaniine the testimony that is offered agains,
me.
This is substantially, lst. That no such
letter from the Receiver (as that tn.p,;onad
IN my examinationl is TO be found in the fies
81 the Department. Q. That the officers EN-.
pioyed IN II have no recollection of the rece;o.
at sucha letter. And g. That the records of
The department do not show that il was an.
swered.
Surprising II To be true, that this letter can.
not be found " In the files Of the Department"
II by no ansproyes that il was not RECEIVED
by Mr.. Crawford
This is not the first occasion on which ?
nave had TO regret that letter received bv
nm could not be found, when il became necps.
sary for my defence.
Finding myself grossly misrepres scented in
relation TO letter / had written 10 him
and being determined to vindicate myself
against the insinuations that were predicat-
rata. 20 4,
i6Zi, requesting copy Of it. In his reply
Gated ION january, 1891, he says, The let
Ter winch you have described in yours of m.
3ih instant, has been sought for 10 vain Mr.
Jones states that, according TO the best of his
recollection, he considered il not o a descrin-
ton I" 80 on The flies, and that consequently
II was not filed. If his recollection is correct
II accounts for the absence Of tn. letter from
the files, and for its being lost or mislaid ~
NY letter being thus disposed Of Mr.. Crau ford.
IN his answer, implicitly repea' ed one Of the
lnsinualiUns above referred to- This was
promptly repelled by me-; and, since then, /
| have heard no more on that subject.
From this case alone, il might not be un-
reasonable to presume that some similar
disposition may have been made of the
letter now In question. But, with every mo-
tive to make such an assertion Mr.. Crawford
mas not ventnred to say he did not receive this
letter 1t will not BE- difficult To shew thar
other letters, of Infinitely more Importance.
have been received by him, about which, if
might BE- truly said, $40 such letters are TO be
found IN the files oflhe Department" He has
sometimes another depository for them. in
winch the letter mentioned in my examination
| may also have been placed II may have been
addressed To him without the addition of
Secretary of the Treasury" which we have
seen gravely insisted on as giving him light
to consider any letter as ga private paper."
though exclusively relating tn matters ofoificiaI
duty Or he may have " considered il not of
description Ia go on The files - and thus
may lis absence from the files" or +" its
being lost or mislaid," be very naturally ac
counted for, according TO the practices of the
Department.
The probability Of this superstition is greatly
strengthened by the following case:
Between 1916 and the 3lsi December, 1919
he received important communications ON the
snhJeci OF the Illicit introduction ola large num-
per oi African slaves into the United States,
which strongly implicated one Of his particular
friends. BY resolution of the House of Re-
personalities, of the last mentioned date. he
was directed to lay before the House ,opies
OF such communications as he had received
since 1916 and such Information as he possessed,
inrelatlon 10 The Illicit introduction of slaves in
to the United States. But. notwnhstandine
this positive call upon him, L assert, and
| challenge Investigation, that he did withhold.
letters and information upon this subject i'm
pIicating his friend, which ought to have been
| communicated to the House. and some of
which he did not e, en- permit to go on the
| flies of the Department" Ofcoursr, il might
be very truly said of them that no such let
tiers are to be found on ;he files of The Depart
ipent and that the officers employed in it
have no recollection of The receipt Ofthem :"
Tor, having been deposited in his own private
bureau, those officers could have no means Of
| asceTtanng tine fact, and the very motives for
Withholding them from the Giles, would rem
der fruitless all attempts 10 find ansiSers'
| To them by an examination of the records of
the Department" And yet, there is 40 doubt
OF their having been received, and the strong
est probability that they were answered also.
II the authority Of the House of Representa-
tves was not sufficient TO obtain their predsic-
| tl0n, the non-producti0D Of the letter of<the
Receiver al EdwaIdsyille ought not 10 excite
| n moments surprize.
| But, IL also appears that he, and his +" Off
GERS Of the Treasury Department" have not
been able 10 find great number of other let
| tiers, and even some of his own official ones,
when required by other calls Of the House !;
or, " they could have been found, they were
| suppressed Of this, the documents furnished
by himself afford both abundant and conclu.
sive proof. Many instances might be stated.
For The sake of brevity, will aIlude to few
Of them only.
Several cases Of this kind are presented by
the correspondence with the Bank OF Hunts
vile. will refer TO but one of them This
lS tao conclusive for any artifce to elude it !;
and 1T requires but bare inspection Of the
documents themselves to be convinced of IT,
In his letter l.. No 7, TO the President of
| the Bank Of Huntsville dated the SOih July,