Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1829-05-15
THURsDAF MORNING. MAY "a. Ias9.

Richard Henry Lee, of the expelled cler,,r n,
! w ashington. Mr.. Van Buren, and Mai. Eaton m.
have cause to regret their tyrannlcal emulsion -,
able men and able officers The letters of Slado rJ
Lee, are seed sown in gsound well prenared bv ,h;o
discomfort and Indignation, aud will nro,,ce fr,;,
Jackson fanatcisn has already died v;,,o,t doa,,
and his popularity is declining more sep;,iv than it
ever advanced. We are informed upon unidentified
authority that through all the revolutions in France
from 1879, to 1878, that the four thousand clerks
IN the employment of Government were never pro
scrIbed for political opinion. In England the same
rule IS observed in regard to subordinate Offices In
ehose legal Governments, the enquiry is not what
are mans opinions, but if he is a faithful and
vgilant officer. Frequent as are ministerial reyolu-
tons III France and England, thei, consequences ex-
tend no farther than to The Heads of Departments
subordinate officers not punished for being either
Republicans or imperallsts, Wing or Tory, Cath
olic or Anti Catholic i'll the' opinions. In the U.
Statcs-in this Republic ony, are men prescribed
for the freedom of opinion, ard punished for the indie
pendent exercise of their cledive privileges.
1t is Impossible TO characerisc the proscriptiye
policy, otherwise than ,ndisguiscd, unnitieatea
| tyranny-tor which nothing can be pleaded but the
tyrants reason, that IL shall u SO.
.aiesS7S Ed3Eo1S: \ GU did the favor a few davs
ago, to publish my ainoig those of INV honor
ed fellow cltizcs who have been elected from public.
employment ior the sole Reason that they preferred
one citizen to another, for the Chief Mugistracy OF
their country.
reproach unprecedented IN our Official Papers.
anu forbidden by all the prouretas of the elevated
OCCASION was pronounced, on the fourth Of yWarch o.
ga'nst that truly lliustrous citizen who lately presided
over the Republic The terms of this reprouc in
simulated that the reform OF ls corrupt admins
tration would require the dismissal from Office of
'unialthful and incompetent ncunbents. Thus,
more than half million ofcitizens were insul,ed nv
n general charge Of Willingness to support .scpr-
rupt" Administration; and the stigma is affixed by
the act OF dismissal, 10 individuals. owe it to self
respect to resist this implications by saving that not
a pretence OF upfathnlness Incompetence has
been made by those with whom had been officially
connected; and equally to truth and gratitude to
vindeate Mr.. Adams from charge NOV publicly as
it had been heretofore privately made) of using his
official influence 10 place III Office, in violation
OF principle and the gust claims OF others.
1t was alleged, as ground OF renoustraRce to the
present Secretary nj Nar, against my appointment
that 1t had been made by his predecessor lat the
request of Mr. Adans) in violation of princule of
equitable advancement which obtains in the De-
partments OF the General Government, that when
place becomes vacant, the extincumbent is advan-
ccd to 1t, and the recently appointed person is as
signed to the lowest grade of duty and salary and in
disregard OF the claims otsnothef applicant.
1t became my duty Mr. Adams, and to the late
appointed, to present To- his successor statemcnt TO
sustain the proprety of the appointment thus made
subject OF resonstrance, and to acquaint him with
the patriotic considerations which induced bis prede
cessor to make 1t, and which were said to have been
dlsregarded III the person of another. In that state
nent, showed conclusiveiy, that no such violation
as that alleged had been made ty my appointment
nasmuch as 1t was indisputable, that the principle Of
advancement just mentioned not uniform in the
several Departments and had not been invariably Oh
served, even IN those in which had obtained; tina, it
had been always s0ary with the Presidents to re-
quest the Heads of Departments to make appoint
ments precisely similar to mne that tney had never
been considered as violating the rights of Heads of
Subordinate Departments, who. on tho contrary had
always acquiescei IN them, and that there good
reason as well as courtesy IN this acquescence of
the Heads Of Departments and Sub departments In
answer to the topic OF the personal claims of another
gentleman. resulting from his relationship TO Rcvo-
lutonary soldier, it urged that the late Secretary
having the legal authority to make the appointment
had the right TO compare the claims of applicants and
the patriotic considerations which induced Mr.. Ad-
ans to mention my name 10 him, and which had deci-
dcd his mind were presented to that of his successor
by recalling to his historic knowledge, that Richard
I Henry Lee (whose descendant no was told was adj
dressing h) had devoted his life to the cause of his
country that he the mover Of the Declaration of
Independence, and had, in the field and in council
throughout the entire Revolutionary contest partici
pated in the hazards and pers of that wonderful
struggles that brother Of that Patriot had in Lon
don, while yet citizen of Great Britain, and within
the reach of her Ministry, sought, uninstructed and
aone and obtained those conferences with the French
Ambassador, which led TO our Treaty of Alliance
with France, and had afterwards negotiated secret
alliances with Spain and Prussia that another bro
Their had served his country during the whole war as
one of the Board of War of the glorious "old Con
gress" that another brother had negotiated with
patriotic fidelity in times of deepest distress and ne
cessity, relieving loans, in Holland and Germany;
and that the father of him. whom the present Secre
tary, was asked to remove from the itry share
of public patronage before asked or received b7
any IF The decendnn Of these PATRIOTS had served
in the Southern campaign under the great and good
Lafayette, mad been made Of his Aids, and had
shared with him in the dangers and the gores of the
siege of York.
The generous reader viii pardon this recurrence
by me, to this topic. They we're alluded to, and
are repeated, onlyto vindcate others from, un-
, rnerited reproach
But whatever, Mesrs Editors, might have been tire