The Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1822-1829, 1824-07-13

nan.r. FOR some fine past, towards the
nrf-ent administration, but from the par
f;cular manner In which they thought
proper, on Il recent occasion, 10 gafoie tue
publication of the documents relating 10
the Convention for the suppression oil the
African Slave trade.
That Convention, forming an essenfiai
part of \ great =, stem of n.y. slatlon WIN
all the principal Powers of Europe and a
me- icl, recommended by the voice, nearly
UNANIMOUS, 0f the House of Representa-
ti,es, and having for lis object one oi the
noblcst purposes that ever animated the
/ heart of man. had he.p concluded by slr
tue Of instructions sanctioned by the IRE
sidenf, upon great deliberations, aud WITH
! the unanimous assent of the members oil
/ bis Administration. lis ratification having
] met with an unexpected opposition In Inc
! Senate, the friends of the Administration
and of the measure in that body, were de-
sirous, after The final vote upon II had been
taken, that all the documents relating tn
ii should he immediately laid before The
public, and III that end the Resolniion, re
moving the Injunction of secrecy from
the proceedings concerning II, was adopt
ed
The Editors of the National lntelligen-
, Ger, after promising in their paper OF eth
of May, that the Whole OF the proceedings
in the Senate and Documents should be
given early as practicable, commenced
the publication of them the next day, but
omitted all such parts of them as they
were pleased to think immateiial which
omissions were Immediately represented,
Ia other Prints, as Intentional suppresSt0nS
I,,f ~ = GY,f. soil
from exposure.
Among the omissions, were two extracts
from Reports of Committees of the House
of Representatives, which formed a part oi
the important Message of the President To
the Senate, of the 2lst May, 18st. The
allegation for their omission, WAS" 1cad
Of roon,"--n bile an editorial, coIoam Of
the same paper occupying more space than
the two extracts would have required, MAS
reserved, for hear-sny statements of what
had been said in the Senate against the
Convention. 1t happened, also, that the
omitted extracts bore precisely rs orgu
mem an repiyto The objections, thus. scdu
ousls displayed against the measures of
the administration, upon the omg point Of
importance which had laboured in the
Senate so that the whole subject went
forth Ia the public, under the auspices of
the Nationhl intrGgencer with the whole
argument against the Convention exhibit
ed in full relief, and with the REPUTATION of
thai argument omitted foi want of roo,n.
The singularity Of this procedure was
mentioned 10 the Editors of the National
lnteRigencer, and the concerted aud Ella
borate efforts of other Presses, TO bring
odium upon the administration for the
| negotiation of the Convention, aided and
ahetied by their haJ publication Of the doc
nments, Was noticed To themsclves.-Th
published the immdt.rtdt extracts, but CAV.
no satisfactory reason for their conduct
| nor has solitary paragraph appea-'d IN
their paper either 10 apologize for their
partial selection of documents, or to defend
the administration against the aspersions
of IFS enemies partly founded or thetr oniS
SONS. Nor ave they In this day pub
lished IN their paper more than half the
documents communicated by the Presi.
dent To the Senate, with the Con,en
tion.
Under these circumstances II became
Indispensable TO seek some other vehicle
than the National IntellgenccI, for the
publication Of the convention and of the
hbIlltiltliS CDlihtlfu Will II. IltA were
accordingly, with the appreciation of the
President of the United States, published
in the National Government Journal, "a
title which the editor OF the paper had
chosen to assume, but with which the
Secretary of State had no note To do, than
with that of the National lntelligcncer.
That paper MAS selected for the pnblica-
ton, because IT was erclHSiretya compila-
ton of public documents, and as such,
better suited for such publications than
any miscellaneous newspapers.
From The same reason, il WAS also chosen
for the publication of the Report of the
Commissioners under the Florida Treaty
The schedule Of the awards, recommend
ed by them for publication, was immedi
ately, upon its reception, sent 10 the
Treasury Department, where il has been
ever since In constant use for the payment
of the awards This circumstance delayed
for some time the taking of the copy,
which the Secretary of State, when il was
transmitted, had directed SHOULD be talk en-
with view to the publication, and thereby
delay = The publication Itself The refusal
ot another copy of these documents to the
Editors OF the National lntelligencer, was
only tn spare the useless waste Of time s.
trouble IN making t,eo manuscript copies
of a Yoluminous public document, for one
publication Of IL
But while directing the publication of
the documents IN the National Govern
ment Journal the Secretary of State
caused the Editors of the National InteIi
gencer 10 be informed, that it was not his
intention 10 withhold entirely from them
the first publication of dortlnpnts i'm thpir
paper. lie has reserved 10 himself the
right OF publishing, with the appreciation
of the President, public documents under
the charge OF the Department Of State, in
such paper, and in such manner, as he
shall deem most conductive to the pub.
lie srrvicc,-in the case of the documents