Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1830-07-07

senfed heretoforss" Reply: OF the necessity" the
Agent was not to Judge, ne ac'ed in obcdlencs to the
order OF Com. Sinclair. The account has not only
been presented, but q~6sotufeig passed. by order q the
Secretary Of the Many! 10 thus tact MIR. Cass,n, IT
alive, could and would give ample tes; inony; why 1t
acas not placed to my credit is beyond my KEN. Oo'
serve, the fact that II had been allowed by the former
is here proved To have been stated and IN
sisted upon by me, and not discorered, rs he would pre-.
tend, By himseH, and the representation that 1t had
not been passed to my credit, must have come from
him. as it could have been derived only from the ex-
animation of his own books, and expressly say, "why
1t has not been passed to my credit, las you tell met
has not is beyond my ken. 1t is thus EVIDENT that
if he was deceived" lie must have dece'veh himself;
trying to deceive the publicly & the compliment, too,
which he intended to pay his friend the Secretary
again for his ''abused decasion," though very cieSetiy
got up, turns out to be q satire upon that poor gentie-
man, who vas 80 ready to reject a claim winch was
most manifestly just, and which his predecessor had
actually aUoDed.-ISee document marked +. 2. So
30. II
My second attempt 60 deceive tue honest AUDITOR
was N the case of the stone, which IS thus reported
by him: eft appears that Mr.. King, last winter, put
lnso the hands of bis friend and counsel, receipts ior
$500 paid Ichabod Il. Scrauton, tor coping stone,
and informed him that this claim had been reJecteu
by the accounting officers. His counsel mace un ar
guuent of considerable length in favor OF the claim,
treating its supposed rejection as an instance OF great
iufustice.-Au this Was. wholly gratuitous, because
these vouchers had never been presented, aud OF
4 course ldQ never USSQ- IC1eC-Cu. ANuOuHh LIN oi-
ginalvoucher purported to be a receipt from Mules
King, and the duplicate was @ receipt from the ".
States Bank, neither having the approval OF the
commanding officer; yet, such was the confluence
with which the claim was urged, That | thought MIR.
King was honestly entitled to the credit, and told him
I should allow it whenever he thought proper to pre-
sent his vouchers. 1t now turns out that the stone
was never received by the u States. On The con-
trary, it ives found, On inspection, to be wholly unit
for the use designed, was condemned in September
last, ard was long before the last presentation OF The
claim, If not before the first, delivered over to the
disposition of Dir. King Al this. Mr.. King mnst
have known when he took the advice of Counsel;
when he urged his claim upon the President, anu
when he lately assigned it over TO the Cashier of the
Bank at Norfolk; but all this he concealed from the
accounting officers and others who were called on to
pass upon his claims in this city. Indeed, it now ap
pears that neither Mr.. King, nor'the Bank, paid the
money. 1t wa paid by the Cashier. 1t vas inclu-
ded in q list of accounts paid in a similar way which
was handed over to the present Navy Agent, on his
entrance into Office; he called Tor and received money
TO pay it, but it was never presented, because not
only the approval of the commanding officer could
not be obtained. but the Agent knew the facts.
/ When, on account of these circumstances, payment
Was not to be expected at Norfolk, the claim was
| brought to Washington, and through a conceaIment
of the true state of the case, might have been alloy
ed. Ii was not until a few days ago that the truth
vas known" Nov the true facts of this case, as
they might have beea reported with much more ac-
coracy, are lust these. On the 18th of dune, 1929.
in pursuance of the power and directions given to
nue. by the Board of Navy Commissioners, I entered
into q contract With Ichabod L.. Scranton, of Con-
n~ecticut, for him to furnish the coping stone required
for @ certain wall which was then beng built in the
rear Of tho Navy Yard, OF the price Of twenty five
cents q foot, running measure; the stone to be deiy.
cred here, and took 4 written engagement from him
accordingly. On the same day, l addressed a letter
to hno requiring him TO send 1000 feet of the Stone
contracted for, to be delivered at the Navy Yard; and
TO be subject 10 the inspection Of the Yard: and an
other letter to Com. Baron, tho Commandment of the
Yard, enclosing a copy OF the contract to hiu. On
the eth of August thereafter. Scranton delivered the
eooo feet of coping stone at Tylor's wharf, (which
was rented by the u. States as a landing place to the
Navy Yard,) to Jefffies Wilkinson, who had been
called upon by the Commodore himself to inspect it,
and to receive 1t 1t 1t were fnnnd &c lg accoydinn to
: e ae Contract. Inc said Wiikinson accordingly iook
the stone as it was handed out of the vessel, aud in
spccted and measured it piece by piece, and, ascer-
tanning that it was according to the contract. "a copy
Of which had been put into his hands by Com. Bar
ron himself) recired it; md therenpon reported what
he bad done to the proper officer. At the same time,
tho carriers of the Yard took the stone as 1t WIS re-
ceiyed into their carts, and carried it round to the
wall for Whicb it was intended; bat neelectinp. IT.
seems, the directions Of Wilkinson to take il out a.
gain by hand. aud choosing rather to shoot it out of
their carts, to save time aud trouble, they broke, and
otherwise damaged a good deal vi it very badly in the
act. After this, az the stone Us uor' inspected and
rereiced, I paid the freight of it, by Scrantons order,
to Kelum, the skipper of the craft which brought It,
amounting to S6l, as so much CD account, for which
l TOOK his receipt Scranton himself afterwards pre-.
scnted Pe his account lin duplcate) in which ha char
ged the exact quantity of stone delivered, 1000 feet
at 25 cents, 1.-THE price fixed By con,ract,) o,noantlne
to $500, aud asked me for the money. 1t was but
right, of course, that ! shonld pay 1t: bat having none
il hand at the time applicable to the case, and BEING
yet unwilling to keep him waiting here far from his
home and at daily expense, until | could receive the
SOM from Wushington, l subIoned to each of bis do
phca.e accounts a proper receipt for $500, as receiy-
ed from me- and suggested to him thnt the Bank of
the United States here would probably advance him
the money upon his executing these receipts and
leaving the papers in their hands. To aid him in
this, and at the same timo TO guard the Bank against
advancing the whole Gum mentioned in the rece,pts.
a part of which l had already paid, 1.-THE Sol for the
freight, / endorsed upon each of them a memoran-
dom that s459 oply 1.-THE balance of the S5Oo) vas
due; and which | would pay as soon as | received il
from the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES went accordingly to
the Bank, where the Cashier readily paid him the
S43e, upon his signing the duplicate receipts for $500,
which 1 had subjoined to bis accounts; at the same
firpo oru.inD my nnrnp from, mi oF tho roox.-.- a