Richmond palladium., 1839-04-06
F.am d. snrln.i.la tohisl r.eu..r.
CUMBERLAND ROAD.
AIEssRs. EpIroRs

of the Pioneer, BRET statement. IN explanation
of the causes that contributed 10 the loss of the
Cumberland Road bill. | am impelled 10 tins
: course from sincere respect for The opinions o
my constituents. and not from any hope or desire
to conciate that class OF men whose vocation
consis . traducinr the character, and misrepre
senting The motives, OF their political opponents
without the least regard to truth or justice State
ments founded the authority OF the Globe
and certain letter writer from Washington
City have been industrously circulated design
ed 10 charge me with being the cause of The
failure of that bill The repor. III the Globe Is
tissue of misrep: esentatIons. Speaking OF those
who. it saws were in the city at the time the
vote was taken. 1t states. that 'anong these
were Messrs. Thompson, Worlhn gton aud Ma
son, of Ohio, all of whom bad left the city. and
all voted in the affirmative" these votes. i,
was ascertained, ii counted. would take up the
bill; If omitted, the majority would be in the
negative Now, IN The first place, the reporter for
that mendacious print knew, when he penned
these lines, that Thompson had delivered speech
against the bill only few days before in which
he denounced in the severest terms OF rcproba-
| tion-and the reporter also knew. that he had
never voted for the bill and never would vote for
II. under any circumstances whatever. South
Carolina Nullitier for internal i'm
! provemenis.
! But. these votes, i ascertained, ii count
| cd, roUid take up the bHl,' &c. The vote
then announced ayes a; noes II: the House
| refused TO 90 into Committee on the Bill" BY
| some rule of calculation taught III the new school
of Locotocoism. the initiated are enabled, by the
process of adding three TO seventy -four, 10 obtain
| a greater sum than seyenty-seven, thereby pro-
ducng the extraordinary result of majority,
| from equal numbers But this exploit exceeds
the powers of their political arithmetic, without
resorting to that species OF management BY which
| one OF the deadiest enemies of the bill is made
to IN its favor. Wha,!-carrv a PROPOSE
| ton. bv equal vote. for and against It-thut
| is To saw, by tic2 The assertion was known by
him who first made 1t, and by all who have since
| repeated it, be an mpudent filsehood You
| may have noticed, at the time they appeared In
| the Statesman. and other kindered prints along
| the line of the road certain letters from Wash
| lngton, III which the writer predicted, several
weeks before Congress acted the bill, that 1t
would be defeated, and charged that If IT did taIi,
It would be owing 20 the misconduct of the West
rn Wings, in not voting to suspend the rules
TO receive motion 10 make the apprnpriati ION
bills the special order of the day. Respecting
his motion, and the vote on II, have nothing
70 say, neither the one nor the other had
hin. do with the subsequent fate OF the Road
Bill. Nor have | any thing to do, at present,
with this letter writer, further than remark,
hat it is well understood that a certain loater,
whose trade is politics, formerly political scrIh-
BIER for his party IN Dayton, afterwards Clerk to
the new deftInct Board of Public Works, and who
ship in one of the Executive Departments at
Washington, is the author Of the caInmnies
gainst myself that have regularly been trans
mited from Washington CITY. for the last few
lie has doubtless, performed with fdeI
the part assigned him,n the van Baren svs-
TEN of political management, which Is known 10
consist in having a corps OF Executive officers,
with comfortable salaries, at the seat of Govern
ment. to dragoon the representatives. of the pcn-
pie into submission Executive will, and to de-
nnunce and Willy them, If they presume to DISC
bev.
Bat, it is natural 10 ask. how this writer be"
came possessed of information. at that early day.
which enabled him to foretel the defeat of mea
sure that had been steadily sustained by every
administration since the days of Mr. Jeffer p
and, why il was. he labored in advance TO pre-
pare the pubic mind to expect the loss of the bill,
and to excite the Indignation OF the people against
those who he knew, the unlinching friends
of the roads If this writer was not a member of
the House, from whom did he obtain the knowl-
edge of "a conspiracy 20 defeat the measured? And,
If he had been more anxious for the success of the
bill than for that of his party IN the approaching
elections in the State of Indiana, would he not
have gone the frieuds of the road in he House,
and communicated to them the existence of
plot to subvert the interests OF the West? Would
he, if actuated by patriotic motives. have made
the attempt. the first ever made, TO bring the pol
icv of this truly National enterprise within the
WnIrpOOl OF party p'hltlCS! tOdiu any Dtt ~
tritle with the best Interests OF the country. II he
really loved that country better than his party!
II sincerely attached to the success of the work,
as he wishes the public TO believe. why has he no
thunder bults. red with uncommon wrath. to
launch al the heads of that portion of the party
who have treacherously abandoned the road, and
gone over to the enemy? Why does he exhaust
all his rnalignitv on the friends Of the measure,
and maintain the silence Of appreciation Ia
those who opposed, and finally defeated IT? These
are pregnant questions, to be answered by those .
whom it most concerns.
Last wear. the Democracy as il delights TO
call itself, invented and propagated the daring
faIsehood. that | had been concerned in the duel
that resulted in the death Of Ciliey; and. thus E
year. with an equal regard for truth, am charg-
ed. from The quarter, With defeating the
Cumberland Road Bill Now, what the facts?
Mr.. Thomas, of Mary land. Chairman of the Ju-
dietary Committee, and one of the most Inffnen-
tiaI members of the Van Buren, party in the House
of Representatives. who has heretofore supported
the appropriations for the road. made speech
against i; on Thursday night, :he last day OF en-
ruarv He is distinguished leader oi bis party,
and hitherto friend of the road, and therefore
deserved for his treachery, ono would think,
share of the abuse that has been bestowed on me
for a sneech made. during the evening. IN
faror of the road Also. Mr.. Howard of Balt
moro Chairman of the Committee on Foreign .