Western courier. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1837-1838, 1837-07-06
Startled at seeing such an enormous ad-

diion recently made TO allowances which |
Congress had just then so severely con-
demned, and denounced to the county,
through numberless copies of the COM
mittees' report, and alarmed for the effect
upon the finances Of the Department, al.
ready beset with embarrassments, the un-
dersgned, without going into their merits,
directed them all 10 be suspended from
the credit of the contractors. Afterwards,
at their pressing solicitation, he examined
into their merits, md came TO the conclu>
sion that the chief part of them was un~
authorized by law, in which opinion he
was subsequently sustained by that OF tho
Attorney General.
AT the next session of Congress, the
contractors applied to be relieved from
the effect of that suspension. il was not
to be expected that Congress, after con-
demning, as we have seen, the allowances
known to them through their committees,
would proceed TO add so or 100 per cent.
to the same allowances, without the
slightest change in the circumstances or
in the servi,e. However. without max
ing any call on the Department for the
facts in the case, they proceeded to pass,
without any information as TO the nature
of the claims. the act OF July 2. 1856,
vesting the settlement of these new claims
in the Solicitor of the Treasury.
Now what WAS ihe object and intention
of this act! To ascertain that, we must
look at the state Of things on which it was
based, as we'll as its language. Certain
sums Of money had been suspended from
the credit of contractors, and TO obtain
the restoration of those credits was the
only object of the contractors solicitude,
SO far as known to the Department or to
Congress, through their letters, memo
rias, and representations, /. has yet to
appear that any one ever believed or i'm"
agined that their object was to open a
door for additional claims neveryet heard
of, and least of all, for services which
they never rendered, nor pretended to
render. Or, if such were their object, it
is impossible that It could have been the
purpose of Congress to sanction it. Af>
ter all that had been said and published
about the extra allowances made in this
very case, at the moment they were pros
viding in another law for suit against
the contractors to recover back the mo.
ney, it is impossible they could have in"
tended to vest in another executive officer
an unlimited & uncomfortable discretion to
make new allowances ofprecisely the same
| character, TO the same men, upon the
same contracts, and for the same services.
To suppose the legislative body intended
70 confer such a power, would be TO make
them guilty Of the absurdity of ordering
men to be harrassed by suits in one act
to recover back illegal and unjust allows
ances, and at the same time in another
act lega,zing greater injustice, by an
thority an indefinite extension Of the same
allowances. 1t cannot he but surprising,
after what had passed, that Congress in
terfered at all. 1t can only be accounted
for on the supposition that they did II un-
der belief that no additional allowance
would be sanctioned under their act
They had right TO suppose. aud proba-
bly, did suppose, that the Solicitor OF the
Treasury would come to the same con-
clusion as had their own committees, and
that their act would be practically dead
letter, having answered the purpose OF
putting an end to these claims. But it is
not credible, after their denunciation oi
previous allowances, and while they wei c
employed in restricting the discretion in
which the mischief had originated, that
they intended to vest in another quarter,
without appeal, check, or control, a
power 10 pick up and allow old claims
that had been rejected; or new ones that
had never been heard of in the Post Office
Department or in Congress. Such an idea
would be wholly Incompatible with the
whole action of Congress on this subject,
as well as in reference to public accounts
generally.
Though worded SO as to be difficult Of
comprehension, there is inherent evidence
in the nc, for the relief Of the contractors,
that it was intended TO embrace only GER
tain known and definite claims. 1t au-
,horlzes the Solicitor of the Treasury
ITO settle and adjust the claims OF Will
liam b. Stokes and Richard c. Stockton
of Maryland. and Lucius w. Stockton &
Daniel Moore of Pennsylvania, for extra
services performed by them as contrac-
tors, for carrying the mail under and by
virtue of certain contracts therefor, by
them aledged to have been made and en-
tered into with them by William +. Bar
ry, late Postmaster General of the U. S.
and for that purpose to inquire into and
determine ihe equity Of the claims ol
them or any Of them, for on account oI
any contract or additional contract with