Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1824-05-06
ADDRESS.

n
To the honorable House Of Representatives of the
Congress OF the United States
As certain proceedings al the last session of
Congress, under the authority of the House
o' Representatives, and recent report To your
honorable body, by the Hon. VIM. H. Craw-
ford, Secretary ofthe Treasury seem to have
been intended, and are calculated to east up
on me imputaIions Injurious to my character,
which know To be uuldst, and which, think,
can demonstrate 10 be 50, trust no apology
can be necessary Tor my requesting leave to
present my vindcatiOn against those inputa-
TONS, directly Ia your honorable body in or
der that il may be conveyed To the nation
through the same channel by which | have
been assailed.
This is right which, under similar cir
cumstaDces, should suppose, ought not to be
denied to the lIumbiest individual IN the Union
In this case, IL is due To the nation itself in
consideration of the stations lately held and
that which now have the honor To hold and,
owing 10 the peculiar circumstances ef my
case, ii is emphaticaly demanded, on my ac-
count, by every principle of honor, and = very
regard TO justice. Nor is il unpre cedcnted 10
either House Of Congress, in cases which
certainly had no greater claim to sachindnl-
gence.
IL will be seen tbatI was called upon by
2 comniitee Of the House II Representative
OF tbcsasi session, 10 witness 10 testify be-
fore Il /; that was subjected 10 IN exsiriins-
tor, '5hlcb has uotits parallel in the records
OF apy free country and that, after the lapse
OF ahnu, tyeiye months, and Just as was on
The eva OF my departure for \ foreiga country,
an attempt has beeu made To- i,npeach my
credIbi!lty, on grounds which must have
been, At all times since my testimony was Civ
en-, within The command of the honorable gem
teman by whom they have been oPportune-
tyal'cged.
To refuse to permit me TO repel such an
attack, IN the D1aDntr proposed, would be to
overthrow the longest established precedents,
and TO establish in their place, The odous, OPP
pr essive, unjust, and iDdef4nsible principle Of
allowing the credibity Of d witness to be i'm
peacled, and yet denying to him the right to
support II before the tribunal under whose au-
thority he had been called on 10 testify.
But, independent OF all considerations, in re.
gard TO myself, personally, / humby conceive
that your honorable body might well desire
10 receive my viudicstiou, and every corrobo-
ration which can give 10 my testimony, on
yONr oicn account, in order To enable YOU the
more clearly 10 ascertain the truth of, and the
more satisfactorily and correctly 10 decide
upon, statements now before you, and not YET
acted 0n.
Notwithstanding all the eanting about an
F" B. plot" the Ingenious attempts thai have
been made, and the stratagcms that have been
adopted, BY certain newspaper editors and
others, Ia mislead and deceive the public
mind into belief that the comtnilices, APP
pointed atthe last Session on that subject, had
thoroughly investigated all the statements
made by writer under The signature of A. g.
IN regard 10 certain suppressed documents /:
aud that Mr.. Crawford had been "trimDphant-
iy acquitted" in relation to the whole of Them ),
l assert, without The fear of contradiction.
fnat ii is known 10 your honorable body that
neither of those committees extended their
Investigations into those statements, beyond
about four paragraphs, which were mere bag
aces in comparison with other letters and
matters that we're expressly charged, and in-
contesfbIy proved, by The documents furnished
by Mr.. Craieford himself TO have been with.
held contrary to the resolutions -of The House
which required their production.