Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1828-1831, 1830-07-02

THE ANSWER OF MILES KING,
Late Nary Agent at .tortode.
20 the Report of The Fourth Auditor upon the sub
49,. ,s.,,,s.,. jcct Of his accounts.
Having answered the Letter of the Honorable So.
cretary OF the Navy, conc to nuke few re-
x12rke upon the Report OF his friend and colleague,
the Fourth Auditor And here, am aware, It will
be expected. and almost demanded Of me- that rld
handle the writer of such paper this, With the
utmost degree or severity. But injured and insulted
as have been by this man, really cannot bring my
sell To ftol any great resentment against hm--for
several reasons. In the frst place, is evident,
the facc Of his document that he only inborng
", his rocation," and doubtless considers himself
bound by the tenure IF his Office land perhaps also by
the terms of his private contract,) TO serve his
poycr in all possible ways, and by all possible means.
He has besides been so long accustomed, the edi
tor Of party paper aud otherwise, to fabrcnte oil
sorts Of ISLANDERS. that II hardly be expected that
lie should be able to change his hand of a sudden,
out OF any regard to official decency, from any
spect to justice, or to me. Add TO this, there is
sort of honesty in the open and barefaced audacy
with which lie vents his oaumnies, (very different
from the style OF Instruction of his h1uora lie
ciate) that almost forces my respect And, over ALL
his character and The manner in which he OBJ
taided ond - continues to hold his Office under
the Government, are so generally known. that his
words can have no weight with any one, without
least some colour of TACT to support them / shall
proceed therefore, with the perfect coorcss to
examine this famous report which he has given Us,
and which shall easily shew is piece Of the merest
and grossvst imposure from beginning to end. And,
10 begin at the begtnnnglt is addressed, of course,
land with great prupriey to the honorable Secreta-
~, and opens with an imposing statement of my
count. as follows:
Tho balance appearing due to The Gov
eminent from Miles. King the books of this of
hcr, Is $685. 20
: The Bank of the United States hoe pre-
sented TO you claim for moneys over
drawn by him while remitances were
suspended. previous to his removal of 40,I4l ~
The same Bank has presented to me
q similar claim for money paid Ichabod
Scranton, for stone, 500 co
Si4,d79 81
AID, going little OF tie way of his duty to pay
compliment to his friend The Secretary, for saving
the Government from nv intended fraud, our Audi
tor proceeds to say: Mr.. King had presented 10 this
Office, claimed and obtane credit for most of the
items contained inIhe claim Of the Bank before that
claim presented Had the rcmtanocs called for
by hun before his removal been made he would have
paId the clam of the Bank, and his whole default
would then have been to the Government The sus
pension Of his cal of money by you, and the Conf
dence of the Bank which induced them to suffer him
to overdraw, shifted most Of his default from the Go
vernnent TO the Bank.
.'The actual amount OF default tn the Government
ond to the Bank is, above stated Sii,479 81
He has presented to this Office claims TO
the amount of $4,000 10: 2359 e5 Of
which. it is certainly aecertained have
been passed TO his credit hong ago, leaving
Sio,s5o 81 claims for extra commissions,
interest clerk hire, sc. presented to you
and rel -ctcd. SCI $40 &C. 3a,A9l 90
: Thus, if every dollar claimed by Mr..
King, except what has actually been al
lowed, were passed TO his credit, he would
still be in default SiI 1888 81"
Now, in making this ST statement, il appears 10 me-
and will probably appear others, that our ad
venurous Auditor has made rather loo large al oSe-
dra)t upon the supposed ignorance of Congress and
the public. For is it not obvious every one, ct
single glance. that he has been able to make ont Tho
appearance Of default against me- snly by sheroing off
what is called the claim of the Bank for the largesun
Of S40.1A IL, as If 1t were really part of my &c
coun,? Boz with wfru property. ssis, is the claim
OF the Bank introduced INTO nv account with tho c.
vernmcnt The Secretary il will be remembered. has
s ated expressly that tbs claim, which be had re-
quested the Bank " Stelc to HIM, Swas under no view
If tho case. admissible" He adds too that to hove
allowed it 10 the Bank, would have been to allow me
to nse that institution instrument 10 throw the
whole weight Of my default upon the Government;
and evidently takes small credit tn himself for the
Ingenuity with which he bsffed my design, by pro-
testing my acquisitions for the money aud so leaving
the Bank to beat ITS own part of the burden rs il
might Now it is observable thot our WHY Auditor
who kaoOs his nan, echoes his words on this point.
lf indeed be did not suggest them) aud hatters his
honorable friend into the notion that his refusing nv
drafts for the money which had borrowed from the
Bank for the public seruce, in the way that have al
ready explained really masterpiece of political
CeXtery that Could not faH tD cover bIm with lmmor
tai glory. He adds. moreover, himself, as another
reason why the claim of the Bank. as he also affects
to call it, should be allowed the Bank that in
fact the larger part oft had been allowed rue be-
fore the claim of the Bank was presented" This
hts out, by the way, what l have stated, that the
Bank has, in fuct, never been forward "to set up"
any CLAIM for this money but has always been willing
to let me 60 on and settle my account with the Go,
vernment in my own way in the full assurance that
was both able and willing, as am, to fulfil all nv
engagements with itself in due tme.) And, finally
our Auditor does not even pretend that this claim Of
the Bank has been presented to him. who is the
proper accounting officer, for he says distinctly, she
Bank of the United States has TO you claim
for money overdrawn" &c fact which he could
not officially know, and which did not appear on
his record ought not to have appeared in his report
indeed he yet more expressly says this very state
ment ITSELF thn "the balance now appearing due to
The Government from Miles King on Inc book of his