Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1830-06-22

was asked otbs between his acquisitions and
return. lSee letters ofthe 18Th May 1927 No salts
factory explanation given" Now the explanation
which gwen to the hon ,rable gentleman III my
letter ofthe 18th May, IN answer to his OF the 18TH
and which humbY think ought to have been salts !
factory TO him If it was not,-and which trust will
DO entirc.y to the public, substantially this:
that the apparent balances under the particular heads
which he mentioned in his said letter. to wit the heads
of"Provislons" and Gardua Improvements were not
real ones, bot had bcen made by the Departments
having sent the money uudeIthose heads which
had drawn under others, andd isbursed accordingly,
by the express direction of the Department ITSELF 70
explain this to those who acquainted with the
SUBJECT 1t IS only necessary to observe, what must
be known 10 the Secretary by this time, IT 1t was
not when wrote,) thut the money furnished by the
Government to the Navy Department for the service
OF the Navy, appropriated by law to be lard out
der and charged the books Of the Treasury to par
ticular heads, such as Pay" "Provisons," Navy
Yard" "Gradual Improvement "ContingencicS,
&C., and the accounts of tho Navy Agents must, or
course, be Kept IN correspondent manner. As 1t OF
ten happens, however, that money is wanting for
particular branch ofthe when there is mo-
ney IN the Treasury under that head although there
Is more than IS wanting under some others, the prac
tlce ofthe Department. in such cases, has been to
borrow the money required from any bead that re
dnndant for the OF the that is lacking. while
the sum 30 obtained is charged to the Navy Agent
on the books of the Treasury and of credited
on his own books, under the head from which it is
drawn, though is in fact to be discussed under
other For example, the North Carolina arrives in
port, and the Captain calls ME for $4,000
| to pay Oft his men, and having money in
hand under the head of "Pay' / make re-
QUESTION upon the Department for the sum- But
the department also has no money in the Treasury
| under that head, but has enough and more than is
wanting under the head of"Provsions" Now what
10 to be donee Why the Department draws money
from the treasury under the head Of provisions,
ana transmits 1t to charged to my account under
that mead, to be credited of course in my account
under the same head but yet to be dsburscd for the
service IN hand, that s. under the head of .spay
But, In so dsbursing it, must be remembered am
not at liberty to charge to the head of provisions"
and can therefore only charge It money oserpaid
unasr I It's mead OF pay; Accordingly, in making my
monthly return to the Department, my statement will
show balance of $4,000 in hand under the
head OF provisions" with corresponding CHARGE
OF over-paymen nnder the head of F'pay,''] though
IN fact have not cent in hand Again, l have
occasion to maize requistion for several sums OF
money, for various objects, at the same time say for
contingencies" $1,000, "Nary Yard" SaCOo, re
pairs $1,000 "ordnance' $1,000: making in all $4,000
ana the Department sends me the required un-
der two heads only. 5000 dollars under the head of
REPAIRS and 5000 dollars under the head of sord-
nance, and L disburse it, of course. under ali tho
heads for which | required it. II is obvious here
that my monthly return will shew balances in favor of
the heads of repairs and ordnance" land over
payments against the heads of contingencies" and
"i'avy Yard, y when have nothing left. 1t follows
mat II money is wanting Immediately afterwards for
4 nOf
real balances is found, be necessary to draw
upon the Department-for it. Nothing can be pIaner
then this and The Head of The Department IF there
is any head there) must from the previous
return, why the money drawn for, Notwithstanding
the apparent balance which he may find accounted
tor II he chooses to look, in the charges for over
payments under one of the other heads in
eha' very SANE, or some previous return Now this
or something very like IL happened to be the case in
the instance which the Secretary refers to- thou b
Is true that my return for April showed as he saws
large balances under the heads of provisions, and
gradual improvements, yet, in fact. the money fur
nisned under those beads had heen required BY me
under other heads, and dgbursed accordingly by the
express direction of the Department itself and this
that return and the two preceding it most dis
tnctly showed (it may be proper for me to add
here, by the way that both that return and all INV
former ones had been necessarily submitted to- and
approved by, the Board of Navy Commissioners be.
lore they came to The Secretary Il was, therefore
necessary for me to draw upon the Depa rtment as
did, early in May, for some su1aU sums mot yerv
considerable" ones,) Of real money for the use of
the beads Of provisions" and gradual Improve
mens," those apparent balances under them to the
contrary Notwithstanding. This is what 8, ated
substantially, to the Secretary in my answer to bis
letter. and really thought that it had satisfied him
entirely especially bound to suppose that he
knew, or would make himself acquainted with, the
course of business of his Department But the hon
orabe gentleman, seems having but lately left his
PlantatIon and hardly at home in hts new Office did
not hnd my explanation satisfactory" Indeed it
appears that 1t even excited his suspicious for he pro-
ceeds to say:
ut was then deemed proper to examine into the
state OF ms accounts with the Treasury, from which
appeared that whilst bis returns to that Department
to the 3oth June, 1885, exhibited balance to be due
from Mr. King to the U. States of S25, 56s ss.the
monthly returns to the Navy Department, ending on
the same day. stated balance to be due from the IT,
States to him of S2oo65 II, making difference
between the returns of S45.6e3 06." Now this is
literally true, and yet deceptive again; for the honor
able Secretary has chosen to overlook or to conceal
Tue ADDITIONAL fact, which he knew, ought to have
known it was apparent the face of the Abstract
Advances accompanying the return to the Treasury
according to usage) that from that balance of
zo,oG9 there was to be deducted the of S14 500
you'd have left the actual balance only 4IO, 769 :
gut even this sum was not actually due to the United
States, because against it had claims on accounts
nos yet ID proper form, but in progress to be made
3d. amounting to about 1000 dollars, and accounts