Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1824-05-07
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, FRIDAY, MAY !. 1874

inaceu' IL may have been addressed TO in
= without the addition of Secretary of the Urea.
sury, which we have seen graveiy insisted O,
as giving hun right 10 consider any :etter a:
ga private paper" though cxcsrsively relating
To matters of official duty. Or he NAV har,
" considered itno of q description to go on til,
hles:" and thus may sits absence from The
files, or 6 its being lost or mislad,n be very ma
turaily accounted for, according to the practice
of the Department.
The probability of this s,,pposition is great,
streng thenel by the following case
Between 1916 and the 3lst December 1919
he received important communications on the
subject of the illicit introduction OF large mum.
Der OF American slaves into the United States
which strongly implicated one of his particular
friends BY resolution of the House of Re.
representatives., of the last mentioned date, he was
|siirectcd TO lay before the House copies of such
communications as he had received since 1916
and snch Information as he possessed, in relation
to the Illicit introduction of slaves into the Uni
ted States. But, Notwithstanding this positive
call upon him, Eassert, and | challenge invcsti.
CATION, that lac did withhold letters and iniorna-
ton upon this subject duplicating his friend,
which ought to hive been communicated TO the
House, aud some OF which, he did not G, en- per
mt 'to go on the files of the Department Of
conrse, 1t might be Very truly said OF the.n,
'i''t si' Su<H iSltcfH To DC iDuni Tx.
iiies oil the Department.; and that the officer,
employed in ii have lao recollection of the re-
ceipt of item !" foT. having been deposited in
his own private bureau, those officers could
nave no means OF asccrtaiaiut~ the fact and t;i..
very motives Tor withholding hem from the iics
would render fruitlcss al attempt; to iiud an
s,oers" to them g by an examination of the re-
cords OF the Department" And yet, there is
no doubt OF their having been received, and the
strongest probability thai they were answered
also. If the authority OF The House of Repre-
sentatives was not sufficient 10 obtain their pro-
duction, the non-production of the letter of the
Receiver at EdN ardsville ought not to excite a
moments surprizc.
But, it also appears that he, and his officers
oil the Treasury Department. have not boon a.
bic to find n great number of other letters, and
even some ofhis own official ones, when required
by other calls of the House; or, ifthey could
have been found, they were suppressed. OF
this, the documents furnished by himself afford
both abundant and conclusive proof. Many in
stances might be stated. For the sake of brew
ty, l will allule TO few of them only
Several cases of this kind are presented by the
correspondence with the Bank Of Huntsville.
| will refer to but one of them. Thisis too con-
elusive for any artitce to- clude it and it re-
Guires but bare inspection of the documents
themselves to be convinced oft.
In his letter l.. No. r, to the President of the
Bank of Huntsville, dated the Both July, 1919,
he says, &C You will perceive, by the contents of
MY LETTER OF THE 9th INSTANT, that
the failure of the Nashville Bank, and its OIL
GERS, was, at that tiD,e, known to this DEPART
ment. 1t was then foreseen that the Bank OF
Huntsville could not fail to be iniuriously afFec-
ted by that event, and by others of similar ma
ture, which were then anticipated. 8 = = 4
T. The reasons stated in MY LETTER
OF THE 9th INSTANT, in favor of the
prompt adoption, by the bank, of the measure
necessary to the transfer Of the public money in
the possession of the bank, beyond the perIna
nent deposte, remain unmpaired.n
This letter Of the 19h July, 1919, is also re-
ferred to in letter l.. No. 8, from the President
of the Bank of Huntsville, dated September,
1919. Yet this same letter of the 9th instant,
whose ''releyancy to the subject matter of the
caiP' admitsof no question, 'swas not to be found
on the files of the department, "or it was DUR
posely suppressed, for it has not been com!nu-
nicated.-
BY an examination Of the documents No. &C.
and No. 110, it will be seen that more than
hall the correspondence with the Bank of Mis-
souri,, though called for by resolution of the
House, had been suppressed. The Importance
and very delicate import of a few of these let
tiers, will be noticed presently, in connexion
with another subject.
But, though there were two calls in this case.
either of which rendered it the duty of MIR.
Crawford TO have transmitted all the cores
pondence; and though, in answering the second
call, he expressly stated that he had transmit
ted SAL the correspondence required by the re-
solution, except two letters from the Receiver
at ST. Louis, which were of confidential ma
ture," yet, your honorable body will find very
strong reasons to doubt the correctness of this
| statement, and shall be much surprized if the
third call, with which he has so tardily COM
| piled, has been sufficient 10 draw from him all
| the correspondence, even with the Bank OF
| Missouri. The emission of letters, addressed
to the department, might be accounted for on
| the stppositon that they might have miscarried.
| i5ut this casualty to which the letters or CO.
| pies of the letters, of the Secretary himself.
which should always remain in the department
are not liable. They may, however, some
times disappear, as the letter of the Receiver al
| ElWardsviIle seems to have done. If not, il
will be difficult to account for the absence of a
letter of the 30th July, 1919, which is presun-
ed to have been addressed by TIr. Crawford Ia
| the Bark of Missouri, upon the authority of a
| report ola committee of tie Legislature of MIS-
souri,, at its session in 1922.
This was a committee appointed TO examine
into the concerns Of the Bank of Missouri
| Mr.. Crawford's letters TO that Bank were sub
mitted TO The inspection OF the committee. and
the report, which, haze tie honor herewith ia
transmit, (II) contains extracts from several OIL
| them, among which is one from his letter of 5Ou
July, 1919, Of which enough appears to prove
that if was embraced by the cali, and ouogTf tc
| have been communicated, unless. indeed, il is .
! iaorication by the committee, for which 40 INA.
| ginable motive can be perceived.
! have not time 10 dwell upon several curi
Gus particulars LAT arc disclosed by this report
| | beg leave, hOwcver, to refer, your honorable