Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1824-07-13
Replication to Mr.. Crsi,efo,,n, ron,,..;.r.:.

I
replying Ia MIR. Crawford.s communicates,
10 uie committee on the 9Th tlt the subitt.t tina,
Seems nrst 10 demand notice, la the o-dp,. \,
WINCH he has presented il. Ia AIS attemnt IN trca
himself from The iInputation of having taken adj.
vantage "oi the moment OF my departure. tc
arragu The testimony which had been given BIZ
me before former select counties Of IN.
Housc.n In this, however, he does M, n-r+ Sn,,
to deny any OF the facts upon which that hmm
,''ion was predicatcd, and. consequently. may
DE iairiy considered as admitting them. For.
seeing how ready he has been TO advert 10. and
d'iate upon, other minute and uninportant par.
ticniars, he would hardly have been silent i,
regard To the circumstances which had ,elied
on to prove that nc must have been apprized @;
my intended departure, had he not been consci-
GUS their truth.
Laboring, as he has done in his comnunica-
ton, TO prove that no such letter as Is,co,,c I
saw The Receiver at Edwarisylle write, could
have been written, and that no such directions
to continue the deposites, as those mentioned
IN my testimony, had ever been given. il can
no longer be doubted by any one that the OBJ
!ect OF his report was to i,npcach my CREDIBLE.
ity.
As nothing could Justify so serious an ins;nu-
alton upon light and II voious grounds, he oupl,t
not to have made it without the most tl.oroue h
convection that 1t was we'll founded; and. beiiIp-
SO convinced, If he felt il his duty TO aege il ali
1t should have been done in distinct, ,,nambion.
Gus, and ineligible terms. Making it ia a
doubtful and cqnivocal manner, shews dispo-
s.tion 10 Infiict the injury, and, at the same
.ime' TO secure retreat from just responsible
ity tor IT. His delay would, under any circum:=
stances, render his motives suspicious. Under
the particular circumstances of this case, if af-
lords the strongest presumption that he intend
ed 10 take advantage ofiny absence. The facts
"hich ne now Affects to question, had asserted
10 himself two years, and, with his knowledge.
had sworn to them more than one year, before
ne Thought proper to indicate the slightest doubt
OF their truth How, then, is his silence ON tho
subject, during the whole of this period, to he
accounted for? Can any one, who knows his
disposition towards me, believe that he would
nave delayed this imputation moment if he had
believed he could have sustained it in fair and
honorable contest His having so long for
borne to make it, when he knew / could have
had an opportunity to defend myself, affords
reasonable ground to believe that he would no,
have made 1t at all if he had not supposed had
actually lost that opportunity by having taken
my departure for a foreign country. Why did
hcnot question any of Che facts to which. had
depQsed, IN his letter of February, 1923. which
he addressed to the chairman Of the select com
mite alluded TO, eleven days after my cxarn-
nation? Had ,herealiy believed that had rot
sworn truly, there was then a most suitable oc
his conduct being then under investigation.
there would have been every motive for making
and none for Withholding, if.
But, tins was not the only opportunity he let
pass by uninproved. On the eth February.
1923, ne made partial report to the House. in
obedience to the very resolution of the 9th Nav.
1922, ofwhich he ayaiIed himself to make his
recent attack upon me. This he might with as
much propriety have done on the former as on
L: -
oftie subject, the letter in question, being from
Receiver OF Public Money, was not embraced
by ga call only for the correspondence between
certain banks and the Treasury, :" and, of course
1t "no such letter was called forn his official
duty did not require him to make any refer.
ence whatever to it. His communication on
that subject was, therefore, wholly gratutous,
and might just as well have been made without
any resolution of the House as under one that
had no relation to it. But, even supposng it to
be otherwise, it is certainly poor excuse for
his not having transmitted the information call
ed for on the 9th May, 1923, before the god
March, 1924, that he could not get the cores
pondence copied sooner, when, from the swarm
ofaPplicants for employment, competent to this
business. with which the city constantly a.
bounds, it cannot be doubted that he might. at
any time, have had the whole of the corresron-
dencc copied in less than one MONTH From
been employed on ii at the same time; and with
call so imperative, and his own plghted word
afterwards, that he would have the corrcspon.
denCe "prepared and transmitted TO the House
at the commencement Of the last session of Con-
gress," he should not have felt himself at liberty
TO have made profitable job of this business in
favor of any individual so far as to have delay
ed it till the ED March last.
But ] shall not conclude this replication
Without exhibiting still greater difficulties TO
overcome, before he can successfully exempt
himself from the suspicion of having contempla-
ted some advantages by postponing his attack
to s'the moment Of my departure" At present
will proceed to brief ex animation of some of
the new grounds, and arguments thereupon, by
which he has deliberately endcayored to prove
me gully OF perjury.
InmeetiDg bin upon this accusation, must
protest against the deytrous use he makes of
the same facts to establish directly opposite
conclusions in his favor. I am perfectly will
ling TO yield hiia one side of the argument, and
have no right 10 object TO his taking choice, but
more than this it world be unreasonable i'm him
TO ask, and iinprIden: in me to concede.
lie attempts to infer, that ''Iny publication,
announcing my intention of withdrawing from
the dictatorship of tue Bank of EdwardsviIle -
as mentioned in my ssoath,r could not have
been communicated TO lin by the Receiver at
EdwaTd5Yillc, and even that il could not haya
existed, because it was not referred TO in the
letter of the Receiver at kaekasIsa, Of the 9Th
September, 1910, who, if it had existed, was
bound by the Secretary'5 Instructions TO COM
municate it," as ga circumstance affecting the
character of the Bank OF FdwardsviIIe;n and vet
he contends, ''tbat even if both the connuni-
cations (my publication, and he letter in cues
tion.) alleged, had actually been made, there
was nothing in The fat for the Secretary to con
ccal. MIR. Edwards has stated, on oath, his