Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-11-18

concerns before his departure, could not fail to
subject him to serious embarrassment ON his ar.
rival at his station. tits not contended that ne
failed either there or elsewhere, to apply the
sums necessary to support the credit OF the sta
ton. whence il must follow, as the salaries al
lowed to our Ministers, especially to the prln-
cipal Powers, are altogether inadequate, Tor
below, not even one fifth Of the salaries which
those Powers respectively allow to their Minis
tiers, that he must have been straitened every
where. That he was SO at home, is apparent
from the sale, if not the sacrifice OF his proper
" in his absence; and that he was so abroad;
nav fairly be Inferred by the debts which now
press on him, and which threaten to absorb the
residue.
When Mr.. Monroe's account was settled, tor
this his second mission, ii appears, that tor the
mission to France, he was allowed nothing, ex-
eept his salary: that no allowance was made to
enable him TO settle mis- affairs at home before
his departure, nor TO bear his expenses from
home to New-York, nor for his detention there
for his instructions, and for his voyage and
Journey thence to Paris, nor Tor the heavy ex-
penses incident to his arrival and residence In
Paris during the negotiation, except the salary.
The money which had been advanced to him
for these latter objects, was diverted from them,
and charged TO his outfit to England, with
which mission he was unacquainted, until all
those expences had been incurred. BY the set
Element iii this mode, he was brought in deb,
rather more than $4,000. Had the settlement
been made on the principle on which the money
was advanced, making due allowance for those
expenses, and for the sum paid for his passage
/ in vessel in which he did not sail, the balance,
doubtless, would have been less by nearly SS,-
900, which sum, whatever it might have been,
would have been deducted, and by which the
balance would have been reduced in equal a
mount. But, by allowing the outfit in the set
Element, and thereby changing The principle on
which the money was advanced, that sum was
excluded, and i'll consequence, the balance aug
menled in equal degree. AS he fell in debt at
the time of the settlement, little more than the
every cent which he had received IN his several
missions, in satisfaction of which debt the out
fit was then admitted, it follows that, if it had
been advanced at the time Of his appointment,
he would have owed nothing, and would have
avoided, in other respects, great embarrass-
ment and loss. II is further to be observed,
that if the sum expended in his journey and
voyage to Paris, and the salary due him OH his
arrival there, are deducted from the amount adj
vanced before he sailed, although the outfit had
not been allowed, the accommodation afforded
TO him by that advance would have been trif1ing.
To withhold money from him, on principle
which was admitted to be untenablc and given
up; by the Withholding of which he vas brought
in debt to the public, and to give TO such debt
the character Of an outfit which had been dis
claimed and refused, and, on such assumed cha
racter, TO refuse interest on the outfit for the
time it was withheld, and interest on the a.
mount thereof at the time it was allowed, from
The injustice of it would be the greater, and
more manifest, from the consideration that, if
the proper allowance had been made when the
account was settled, for the extra expenses in
cident to his detention in England, the two
years and four months after his return from
Spain, the equity Of which was then admitted,
the Governme emit would have been considerably
in his debt.
The difference between the allowance of the
outfit at the time of his appointment, before his
departure, and at the end Of his mission, on the
settlement of his account, and for the payment
of debt, besides the modification of being
placed in that state, may readily be conceived.
Had it been allowed in the first stage, the mo-
ney would have been his own. He would have
been accountable to no one for the application
of it, and he might have avaied himself of it for
his private engagements, as well his public du-
ties, according to aust calculation, and correct
sense Of the obligation in each instance. But,
by refusing the outfit at the time of his appoint
ment, on principle of economy, and making
the advance for special purposes, his hands
were tied up in the use Of it, and i. may be dis
tnctly seen from detailed view Of the account,
as settled on his return, as we'll as by the effect
produced on his property at home, that small
sum Of the money advanced to him on his APP
pointment, was applied to his private purposes
Although his expenses to Paris, and at Paris
on his arrival, and in the negotiation, had
been considerable, yet it appears, from view
of the account, when he received his appoint
ment to England, that the public were in
deb,ed to him portion Of his salary, or ra-
Their, that he had not drawn for it on the bank
ers, from whom he was authorised TO receive it.
1t appears also, that, at the end of the year,
while in England, although no allowance was
made TO him in the settlement, on the princi-
pie on which the money had been advanced be-
fore he sailed, and that advance was charged
against him on new principle, and applied to
his outfit to England, that they were still in
debted to him. 1t was by his long detention in