Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1824-05-18

AN orde, wa, sent to I.atagc Russell e. CO., |
for furniture for the Presidents house, and, |
| at the same time, the President directed The |
| ,nndry arucles commented upon by the gen.
tleman from Tennessee, fo, his own priv tie
use. Those articles for the public and for
he pirate use OF the President, were pur-
| chased, and the met chants, in making on,
their account, blended tho public account
with the private account Of the President
together, and forwarded il with a draft OIL
the President for the money. This draft
| arrived when Mr.. Monroe was absent in dis
charge "f an important aud useful duty 10
this country. NJ. Lane whn was the Com
| missioner of the Public Buildings, and the
proper person to pay the charge for tire
public furniture, paid for it, and at the same
time, paid for the articles for the Presidents
pripafe use, not out Of the public money,
but out Of his own funds, and charged MI.
Monroe with il upon his private accoupt-a
subsequent settlement, took place, in which
the President pai6 this sum TO MIR. Lane, as
a private debt. The other named cases are
precisely Of the same nature. Several years
| after these accounts were settled, Mr.. Lane
died, aud it appears by the report under
consider aiinn, that his estate is in debt to the
tne government. The genticman's argu
\ ment is this, that Lane Lereived money to
appropriate for the public, use, aud that
whist so, az agent, he advanced money to
the Pse:ident To pay private debt, which
was repaid TO him by The President but as
Lane is now defauIiet, we must presume
this money was out of the public treasury.
aud the Presiden, drew il, and therefore il
must be repaird by the President TO the u,
States Was such injustice ever heard OF
| before.
AS to the charge about the puIc chase of ths
Presidents furniture, these are the facts
AS there was no furniture which would an
swer for the Presidents house when Mr..
Monroe went into it, Dir. Lane proposed
purchasing, for the use Of that mousse, some
articles Of furniture which Mrs. Monroe had
and which proposition Mr.. Monroe agreed
| to, upon condition that he might re,ake his
| furniture when his time eXph ed, upon re-
| turning the purchase money-an agreement
was made, and reduced to writing, 10 that
effect. Gen. Van Ness, Of this city, and Gen
Mason Of Georgetown, assisted by two res,
pectabIe mechanics, were called upon to va
| lue the furniture, and at this valuation as
will be seen by refersnce to Mr.. Lanes let
ter, the property was taken al twenty five
| per cent less than similar furniture could BE-
purchased For. All these facts we're shewn
TO the committee, of which the honora able
| gentleman was chairman and why did he
not state them also I" this House, if he lie
actuatfd by no other motive than impartial
justice
| something wrong in this business, and that
he would not indulge in observations which
this attack might and did justify. Tue OBJ.
Ject OF il occupied too elevated a stand, was
| too well known to his country, end had ser
we'd her too faithfully TO be reached ny any
| ungenerous illusions, whether made i'm the
discharge Of public duty, or 10 ,g'atfy other
| tietcs. He then observed that Tho commit
| tee had acted correctly, in not blending
hoe of i'll, RI q, 4
of them by the House, and SIZE ed that the
committee had scharged their duty as far
a. practicable.
| MIR. Brent concluded by deprecating a
false impressions, produced by the observa-
tons Of The gentleman from Tennessee, I'M
jnrious to the President, whose conduct he
indicated, as not only pure aud honest, bui
as honorable in high degree, and express
ed his hope that the motion Of the gentle.
man (Mr. Cocke,) would be rejected, and
the report Of the committee approved; and,
| ther eby, an expression would be given OF tue
opinion OF the cation, as to the carrectues
uf the conduct Of the President. He wish
ed it SO TO be considere d.
| Mr.. Mercer took the floor in further reply
TO the member from Tennessee, and warmly
defended the character Of the President
| from the impuatinns thrown on ii scDrnng
the course Of InsinuAions. pursued by the
member in relation to these transactions
Mr.. Cooke replied.
| MIR. Stevenson felt satisfied that the 90
yernment was indebted tn the President in
relation to thi, business, and pledged him
| self to make this clear 10 every gentleman,
when the subject should come zap again.
He spoke, with a generous feeling of the
| nigh minded, upright and liberal course Of
| The President, and stated that This disii,,-
| suished individual, whose whole life had
been devoted TO his cnuntry's cause, when he
| !eit the Presidential Office, would retire from
her service in embarrassed and distressed
| circumstances.
Messrs. kremer, Mercer, Ross and Buch-
anan made some further remarks, when Mr..
Cooke expressed willingness 70 Withdraw
his motion, and to let the subject lie over ill
the next session.
The question then recurled upon concur
| ring with The committee in their resolution
and on this motion Mr.. Mercer called for
| the ayes and noes wishing To- have dis
-iinct expression Of their feeling and opinion
| Mr.. Mercer explained the reasons which
induced him TO take this course at tile re
quest Of Mr.. Forsyth, when
Mr.. Hamilton asked ;lic gentleman from
| Tennessee to state whether he intended Il,
assert that the President had been guilty o (
embezzling The public money airing from
the sale of these lots. He went or TO re-
mark that gentlemen who cast insinuatiops
upon others, should themselves lie exempi
from suspicion, and proceeded TO state that
charges had been made against the gentle
man rom Tennessee, in one Of the public
prints Of This city, and that it would become
him TO clear himself Of the suspiri ms which
had arisen from hrs silence, before nc under
took to make insinuaiious against others.
MI Cooke promised at proper time, TO
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