Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1824-06-01
WHEELING, (vA.) APRIL 6, 1924.

WHEELING, (vA.) APRIL 6, 1924.
SrH: have the honor to request YOU TO
present the address herewith transmitted,
with its accompanying Notes and Documents,
10 the House of Representatives of the Con-
gress of the United States.
have the honor to be, very respectfully
Sir, your most obedient servant,
NiNIAN EDWARDS.
= Hon. HFNRY CLAY, Speaker Of the
II use OF Representatiyesofthe Congress U. S.
To the Honorable die House of REPRESENTATIVES of
the Congress Of the United States:
As certain proceedings, at the last session
Of Congress, under the authority Of the House
of Representative, and recent report to
your honorable body, by the Hon. VIM. Fl.
Crawford, Secretary Of the Treasury, seem
to have been intended, and are calculated, to
cast upon me lmputations injurious to my cha
racter, which know to be unjust, and which,
think, can demonstrate to be so, trust no
apology can be necessary for my requesting
leave to present my vintlication against those
impntations, directly to your honorable body
il order that it may be conveyed 10 the ma
ton through the same channel by which have
been assailed.
This is a right which, under similar circum-
stances. should suppose ought not to be de
MED to the humbIest individual in the Union.
In this case, it is due to the nation itself, in
consideration of the station lately held, and
that which have now the honor to hold; and,
owing to the peculiar circumstances of my
case, it is emphaticaly demanded, on-my ac-
count, by every principle of honor and every
regard to Justice. Nor is it Unprecedented IN
either house OF Congress, in cases which GER
tainly had no greater claim to such indulgence.
will he that | wi called Ify a
committee of the House OF Representatives OF
the last session, as witness, to testify before
it; that was subjected to an examinations,
which has not its parallel in the records of any
free country; and that, after the lapse OF
about twelve months, and just as was on the
eve of nv departure for foreign country,
attempt has been made to Impeach my credl-
bility, on grounds which must have been, at
all times since my testimony was given, within
the command of the honorable gentlemen by
whom they have been 50 obborulely alleged.
To refuse to permit me to repel sucA an al
tack in the manner proposed, would be to
overthrow the longest established presidents,
and to establish in their place, the odious, OPP
pressye, unjust and indefensible principle Of
allowing the credibility of a witness to be I'M
peached, and yet denying to him the right to
support it before the tribunal under whose
authority he hadsbeen called on to testify
But independent OF all considerations, in
regard to myself personally, l humbiy con-
ceive that your honorable body might well
desire to receive my vndication, and every
confederation which can give to my testimo-
ny, on youl' oaon account, in order to enable
you the more clearly to ascertain the truth OF,
and the more satisfactorily and correctly to de-
eide upon statements now before you, and not
yet acted on.
Notwithstanding allthe cantng aboutan "A.
u. plot" the ingenious attempts that have
been made, and the stratase MS that have
been adopted, by certain newspaper editors
and Others, to mslead and deceive the public
mind into belief that the committees APP
pointed at the last session on that subject, had
thoroughly investigated all the statements
made by writer under the signature OF A. B..
in regard to certain suppressed documents /;
anil that Mr.. Crawford had been triumphant
" acquitted" in relation to the whole ct them ;
l assert, without the fear OF contradiction,
that it is known to your honorable body that
} neither of those committees extended their
investi CATIONS into those statements, beyond
about four paragraphs, which were bagatelles
in comparison with other letters and matters
that were expressly charged and mcontesti-
bly, proved, by the documents furnished BY NJ.
Crazvfora himself to have been withheld con-
trafV 10 the RESOLUTIONS vi llc ttouoC WhiSh g
CURED their production.
These important statements, and the mat
tiers and things contained in my testimony,
have neither been investigated by any COM
mittee, nor acted on by the House, and if my
testimony had been, it is now revived by Mr..
Crawford himself; and surely if it be con-
petent to hin to attack it, it cannot be fair or
iilst to withhold from me tine equal right OF
defending and supporting it.
By referring to the resolution OF the House
mote ~ under which the second committee
Of investigation was appointed, and to my
examination by that committee ~ it will be
seen that the latter fully merits the character
1 have given to it; that it was wholly unautho-
rized by any powers delegated to the com
mittee; and that it evinced far greater dis
position to inplicate me in some kind OF CEN
sure, in regard to the public deposites in the
Bank Of Edwardsvlle, than to investigate the
conduct of Mr.. Crawford, or to inquire into
those subjects for which the committee had
been professedly appointed. Whatever may
he thou eht by those who may be at the trou-
BILE to examine the list Of inerrogatories that
were put to me, as to the source from whence
they originated, none can read some OF the
following statements and documents, with
out being convinced, that very small portion
of candor would have rendereda part, at least
of those interrogatories unnecessary and use
less, even in the opinion Of the committee it
self. 49, :.
Whatever may have been my agency ir
procuring the Bank OF Edwardsyille to b.