Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1832-03-02

commended the continuance Of tho establishment.
winch II declared Ia have been much misrcprescnt.
ca, and concluded by recommending the
employment of ten additional hands Yet, Mir. w
SAID, he had been blamed and denounced on that
noor Tor being concerned III contract which had
eech first sought by the Government ITSELF and
Dy which they had obtained timber les than
~oo acres OF the tract worth more than they had
PAID Tor the whole iGl0 acres. Such had been
The reform ofthc late Secretary of the Navy.
Mr. w. SAID he had received these statcmcnts
from The present Secretary of the Navy himself.
But There was another story connected " :th this
atai'; and as & c gentleman had thought fit To i'm.
troducc the subject, he would tell it. On the 18th
ofApril last, agent had been employed, in refer.
ence TO this timber, with salary of 1900 dollars n
year The gentleman vas a relative, hc believed
noar relation, ofthc late Secretary The day fter
the dissolution of the late Cabinet had been re solv
cd upon WHOM it was known who was to 90 o ut of
Office, the salary of that indiv dual had been in
creased, 600 dollars, by letter from the NAVY De-
partment; so that instead of 1900 dollars he was TO
receive 21OO dollars. This was a part of the
information which would be brought out by the
amendment lac had proposed The Secretary
having secured this relative, by raising his salary
10 ?Sloo, immediately appointed six more agents,
and all these had of course to be put upon the
footing; and III all, the sum OF $4,000 year was
given out Of the fund for the gradual increase of
the Navy, and this at the time when u certain
ancc, exhibiting the foot of very eminent indiv-
dual on the tail of certain rat. Ali these Off.
ccs had been created, and special favorites put
into them by the naked authority of letter
from the Navy Department Yet he had
been attacked and abused simply for ha.
wing sold tract Of land at the request
OF government, and at its own price. Mr. w.
stated, that the moment he found tho Adminis.ra-
ton were dissatisfied with the contract they had
made, he had expressed a wish to take back the
land but he had not been permitted to do SO. His
friend, Judge Breckenridge, had even gone so far
as to present petition to tho House that the
tract might be rcscndcd, but the petition had been
rejected by the unanimous recommendation of the
Committee OF Naval Affairs. AT the same time
no was publicly attacked the ground of his
contract, and several hundred copies of the Globe
had been sent in bundles, ranked by the late Sc.
creary, into his district, just before his election
More than one gentleman had offered to take the
land off the hands of Government at the same
price they had paid for it, and yet they still CONT
nued to complain that there had been specua-
ton On the u ovcrnment They took pains to pet
some report consuming the purchase, but they han
pened by accident, to employ an honest man, and
he reported in its favor The Department could
eXpend S4o,OOO upon agents to look after this
tract, which cost them $4,000, and could spend
in addition, nearly as much as the cost of the
land IN printing documents about it; and vet he
was to be attacked because he had sold it to them
lie was only astonshed that the agents mad not
made more unfavorable reports. He had obtain
ed the facts he stated from the Navy Department
ana lie was anxious to know the actual amount
of expense which had been incurred The first
agent had been dismissed the ground that Mr.
Southard had no right TO pay him out of the fund
Tor the gradual increase of the Navy; and vet the
Department which took this ground, had employ
cd seven agents, and paid them out of the same
fund. MIR. w. said that when the Marshal of Flo
rida had been here, he had recommended the Sc
cretary to employ that officer for the pro- ection
of the TIMBER and the Marshal had offered if
the Government would give him five hundred dol.
lars year, to give bond, with any penalty they
pleased, that not Il stick should be removed This
offer the Secretary refused, and Immediately en-
ployed four or five agents in the same district
where there was not three feet OF water to float
a vessel of any kind; in consequence of which the
agents were riding about doing nothing. The
formidable speculation of which the gentleman
spoke, was Il baIgain which the Government itself
had sought, and for which Commodore Rodgers
had offered two thousand dollars more. Yet Mr..
w. was to be publicly blamed, because he happen
ed TO own tract of land near the Navy Yard. He
had made no attack upon the gentlcman's ADM.
nistration. He thought that the President and
not the gentleman, was responsible for its acts
But II the gentleman courted the responsibility,
and chose TO take it all to himself, he would only
have to answer for SO much more of injury to the
public interest
Mr. BRANCH replied. The gentleman had given
plausible statement; but he pledged himself before
high heaven that it not true, and he deficd
the gentleman to the scrutiny. 1t is false, said
MIR. b. defy the gentleman to the proof. re-
peat that this statement is false. To give the
House some evidence of the cavilling temper of
that gentleman, will refer it to the law of which
lac spoke. He says that he incurred my displea-
for having detected my misconstruction Of the
act for the gradual increase of the navy 1t is true
that in my report there numerical mistake
(whethcr made by the printer L know not)
as to the section of the law which authorized the
preservation of live oak timber on lands of the u.
States. 1 referred to that section as the 5th in
stead of the Sd section of the law; and / will here
read the section, that the House may Judge whe
Their it did, did not, authorize the purchase ola
tract of land from private individual. Here
MIR. b. quoted the act
The gentleman before he himself owned the
land, enabled from the circumstance of his
representing the district Of Florida, to sell it for
two prices, and then, through agents at home he
got 1t for one price. Will the gentleman deny
Mr.. WHirE.-Ycs, do deny it.
Mr.. BRANcH.-Thc contracts will show it, and
pledge my self to prove it.
MT. WHrrE-Will the gentleman permit me to
explain.
Mr. BRANcH.-Ccrtainly.
(1he remainder Of tie Debate ton,orrop0