Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1825-03-19
NO. GO

and for which demanded
an audience on the day that / received
it. The audience was given me on the
| st day of January following, it being
the first audience day after the receipt
of my letter Of recall. My pay was
stopped on the 9Th day Of December,
the day on which received it, and not
on the LIST Of January, although it would
have been breach Of duty, and might
have been eensured as such, had re-
tired without obtaining the audience,
and taking leave in the manner had
been directed. For fun information
on this point, l refer you to my cores
pondence with the Comptroller re.
speeding it,
If these claims, or any Of them, are
due, they were due at the time at which
the service on which they are respec-
lively founded, was rendered. The
withholding Of each claim was an inju-
ry to me, in the amount of each claim,
from that period. The admission Of
interest is necessary consequence OF
the admission of the principal From
whom did the delay proceed? BY
whom was the injury done I? Bv the
government itself. Tan the govern.
ment, then, render justice by paving
the principal, after Withholding it for
so long timel 1t does not turn on
the principle Of an unsettled account.
The account has been settled by the
government itself, except as to one
item, the 9th, in my second mission,
and by which settlement injustice was
done me, and the question now is,
Can Justice be rendered otherwise than
by placing me where should be, had
the allowance been made at a proper
time The 9Th item was suspended
by the special order Of the government
itself, in which state it has remained
since. The salary to our ministers
under any accommodation which the
law allows, and under the most favora-
bic circumstances in which any OF them
can be placed, is inadequate. The
reports Of all our ministers confirm
this fact. With me, therefore, it could
not fail, for the reasons stated, to be
eminently so. The deficiency ! al
ways supplied by the sale Of my pro-
perty and often by its sacrifice, and BY
loans, most of which are still due, with
considerable augmentation, while act
ing in the other departments of the
government, and especially in the late
war. On these loans have paid an
interest, which by the length Of time,
has in some instance amounted, nearly
to twice the principal. / will mention
two instances OF sales, because they
gave me most concern the first was
on my return from my first mission to.
France, of the land which had been
granted V me, for military service in
our revolutionary army, OF 5,333 a.
cres. The second was made by my q.
gent, while was at Madrid, in 1905,
in my second mission, Of the tract of
land of about 900 acres, lying above
Charlottesville, on which the Univer.
sity has since been established, by
which occurrence the value of the tract
has been incre ased ten fold, and which,
though casual, had / retained my land,
would have operated in my favor.
From the peculiar circumstances
attending those claims, l have long
thought that they could be settled only
by Congress. Though conscious Of
the injury which had sustained by
the settlements referred to, ! declined
pressing my claims on any admins.
tration, or ever mentioning them, pre-
ferring rather to bear the additional
al injury, which I sustained by the de-
lay, or even the entire loss, than to sub
lett either to the responsibility Of
passing, or the modification OF reject.
ing them. Ihave looked TO Congress
as the only tribunal which could, with
strict propriety, decide on them; and to
the period Of my retirement from this
Office, as that beyond which there could
be no motive for longer delay. Con-
gress may then examine each claim,
compare it with precedents, and weigh
every circumstance attending It, with
regard to justice only. Ithas been in
no manner compromised as to either,
and will, therefore, be free, let the Dc.
cision be as it may, from the imputfs
ton of partially or prejudice. And,
what is equally important, and much
desired be me, the inquiry beng pub
lie, the sense Of Congress will be, from
the nature Of our happy government,
that of our constituents, pronounced
at the same time. If, on full inyesti-
CATION, it shall appear that these claims,
or either of them, are not well founded,
let them be rejected. Task nothing
which, on the principles Of law and
1T is proper to add here. that that error was
then corrected, that is, in 1917, and that the
allowance was then made to me for the inteE.
val between the 9Th December, 17s6, and the
1T January, HN.