Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 182?-183?, 1832-06-22

POS~1 "oS SOhtCh ny DIT. isaac <1tL, Sc
cond Comptroller of the Treasury Of the U.
political partizans, and others specially inter
ested in the matter, addressed to The Secre-
tary OF the treasury, urging the central sit
uatlon of Concord as reason far the reno
val. do not understand that any fault was
alleged in the manner of doing The bust
ness here. MIR. Hills object, doubtless, is
TO benefit small Bank at Concord, ofwhich,
till his removal TO Washington, he was
President
In relation 10 the efforts then making 10
effect his removal, from the Presidency OF
the Portsmouth branch, Mir. Mason, in the
same letter, adds
81 have been lately informed, that me-
mortal and numerous letters have been ad-
dressed 10 the Parent Bank, complaining of
my official conduct, and that two agents
have been engaged TO enforce them by per-
sonal application. Ifthe memorial and let
tiers contain all the absurd untruths, that
were made use of 10 obtain signers TO them,
they must be extraordinary productions
| am DESTROYS of knowing the facts stated,
and by whom, TO enable me 10 repel them,
which, fear not, can easily do.
Nell-Mr. Biddle, whose anxiety to keep
the Bank not only free from Just reproach,
but like Caesars wife, free from suspicions
also, Immediately instituted an inquiry into
the truth and justice oftbe complaints made
against Mr.. Mason. And what was the re-
suit! We find it in the suhioined extract
from letter addressed by Mir Buldle to the
then Secretary of the Treasury written a.
bout two months after the first complaint
reached his ear:
"On the eve ofan election for an officer of
this Bank in New Hampshire, the Second
Comptroller from New Hampshire, the Lee
gislature in New Hampshire, the merchants
of all parties in New Hampshire, were all ar
rayed TO complain of his abuses. and 10 show
loudly public opinion demanded his removal,
just at the moment when the administration
bad declared TO the Bank that public opin-
ion was the only safe test of such accusations
Happily, the Board of Directors are but
little sensible to influences ofthat deScrip-
ton. Instead of yielding 10 these COM
plants, they examined them, and, after a
calm and thorough investigation they found
that all these accusations wore entirely
groundless t&ae the most jealous of his en-
emes did not venture to assert that he had
ever, on any occasion, been influenced by
political feelings, and that this public opin-
ion, so imposing in the mist of distance, de-
generated into the personal hostility OF a We
ry limited, and for the most part, very pref
udiced circle. Mr. Mason was, therefore,
Immediately re- elected"
The foregoing extract not only shows the
innocence Of MIR. Mason, but il shows also
the pitiful source in which the complaints
against him originated, and the object which
they were intended TO effect. They sprung
from limited circle of personal enemies,
and were magnified into weighty crimes by
Isaac Hill and his tool, TO operate on the e.
lection then pending ! As we remarked be-
fore, however, it was fortunate for Mr. Ma
son, that the government of the Bank was
in the hands of men differing in their sense
ofjustice most widely from those TO whom
the administration of the government of the
nation had been entrusted They were men
who examined into the truth OF charges a.
gainst individuals subject TO them, before
they condemned them-and did not, like our
great Washington reformers, adjudge every
man q worthy victim whom his enemies
might denounce as criminal The result of
their examination was as honorable to the
accused, ut is degrading 10 his caumnia-
tors. The necessary consequence, indeed of
his acquittal, is that those who arraigned
him, spa<e falsely. We have so bad an o.
plnion ofIIill as to be satisfied that he did so
wilfuIiy, and with malice prepenSe i; and so
good an one OF Mr.. Woodbury. as 10 hone
that he was imposed upon by men, worse
than himself
But our readers may enquire, why we de-
vote so much space TO the narrative Of a
transaction, which can have, for them, no To-
cal interest? We reply, because lis poIiti-
ical import is not diminished by the distance
OF the scene ofaction. In his correspondence
with the Bank, in relation TO this case the
President, through his Secretary of the
Treasury, set up claim, in behalf oflhe
government, of power 10 control and di-
rect the operations of that Institution-a
claim denied by the President of the Bank
and which every man knows 20 be wholly
untenable. 1t was thcn-when the Presi-
dent saw that he could not convert the Bank
lntoa political engine, for the furtherance Of
his views, that ne became inimical to tit
was then that he determined 10 oppose 4
renewal ofits charter, and TO recommend the
erection, on its ruins, Of a Treasury Mon
ster, based on the public revenues, and sub
Ject to the direct control and supervision of
the Executive Department! 1t was not be-
cause the Bank was political machine, but
because he could not convert ii into one that
he became hostile 10 it. We shall see ,wheth-
er The people are willing 10 put it down, in
order to crafty his anImosity in the teeth
oil his own express declaration, that some
such Institution is absolutely necessary and
with the fact before them that his ayowed
object is TO substitute for it a mere govern
ment machine To borrow one of Mir. Ad-
ams's figures, on another subject. (Which.
though not beautiful or chaste, is very forci
ble,) this would indeed be the "Steam- boat
governmental corruption
I. 1850. ill.,. ,,.aaJ