Liberty advocate., 1839-02-07
CONGRESS.
nppATP IN THE HOUSE OF REPREsEN
TATlVES.
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 10, 1888.

AR Cambreleng having moved that the Ex-
o,Ntive communication respecting the delalca-
-c Samuel SwartwVut the late Collector OF ~.
" VI except so much thereof as relates TO a
,,odifcation of the revenue laws, be ierred
~ select committee
Mr. WISE moved that it be referred TO Com
nitlee of the Whole on the state Of the Union,
This motion taking precedence OF that for a
select committee.
Mr.. WISE rose and addressed the House in
,unoort of it. When Gen. Jackson (said he3
IN his last message 10 Congress, left behind him
. certificate Of the honesty, problty, and good
demeanor Of all his Departments, doubted the
ruth of it. believed then that corruption
was the order Iof the day." and so charged.
believed then that the officers Of the Depart
uents were not merely picking and stealing in
small way, that they were guilty oil petty
larceny, but that they were sweeping oil the
The public treasure by millions, and were gull
" Of grand larceny on grand scale. IL
.aems now that Swartwout, the Collector oil the
Civ Of New York, q point where two IhrSs ol
the entire revenue OF the Union is collected,
had been embezzling hundreds Of thousands al
The very hour when that message was delivered
10 us, notwithstanding that certificate OF homes
~ under the word Of Cesar, that was good
against the world. told the country then
that honest Lewis Department was rotten to
the core and asked for committee to Ptooe
il. The committee was raised, but the Fresl
den, let this House, the grand inquest oil the
nation, know that his officers were above Its
,crutiny, and the doors were shut in our faces
Z n tho Z ha hnrSn ia Qtnlpn-tle
Gan of the Administration in this House proPo
ses pruvely to shut the door What good VII
it do now. If you had let the committee 60 OF
with its examination in 1886, you might have
saved from half million 10 a million and quar-
ter of dollars. | mean in this one case. Bu
this case is but one out of thouSand--ay,W ~
teen hundred cases Of default. What can be Ih
objec. of raising select committee now, grave
Iv to enquire into the truth of fact which eV
cry body knows The leg-sub-T Treasury ha
4 departed and you will never be able unes
n YOU put q stop TO steam navigation across IN
Atlantic, 10 hold any Of them long enough t
u investigate their accounts. What is TO he gam
\ edY Do you want to see how the thing wa
done, and show how II may be done again u
you want TO institute a rogues college to teac
al! the rest of the sub-Treasuries how to stea
the public money! 1t is for that you woul
raise a committee would rather inVestlSat
the accounts of the present Collector, not tha
s have any ground Of allegation special
against him in particular; but if we are 10 ea
anime let US examine those who are nc
4 of, Let US pin them down, ! say, whll
we have got them. can conceive bt
one object in view in asking for this con
mittee 1t is not to ascertain the detacatol
the Secretary has ascertained that. But ther
II is another question-who is to blame Hd
8 this happened with the connivance OF the Be
retary of the Treasury Is that the questlc
for this committee Sir, have had some Il
ls experience in this business OF investigation
and ask that if you give US committee,
shall not be a stocked committee Let it not
stocked pack.-But what time is there f
such an investigation ? If the object ls boz
fde investigation, it cannot be done this sesslo
But suppose the real object is to whltewa'
Levi. The committee is to cast all the odIu
on Swartwout, who is laughing at you in h
sleeve, and laughing your inquiries to scor
Why not investigate Price 4? Why not Gr
totH Why not make tho investigation gen
raj and sweeping! If you do the task, wa
you will be immense. Two months 1t
work for years. Your committee cannot get
work till after Christmas, and then there W
but about fifty working days remain. Is tn
period in which to examine the accounts
the Collector Of tho port OF New York Tor
period of seven or eight years
Why do you want committee TO prove Tn
Levi is not 10 blame 1t is vain. 1t is i'd
1t would be useless 10 demonstrate that ne WI
Was it not demonstrated in the case OF Rec
less the Collector of Amboy Was he not &C CO
victed by that upright and honest man Mr. RI
ker Of New Jersey ?-Was it not proved IN
he had embezzled the public money =
and proved so clearly, and brought home
closely, in spite Of every occasion that IRE
dent jackson himself was convinced ard ordC
ed him to pay back the money But wi
then? Reckless had been one of the most
tive partisans of the Administration, and he v
retained in office, and may be hourishingI
collector to this day, for aught know.
Randolph Of New Jersey, here intimated to
Wise that Reckless had resigned last sprln
Mr. Parker felt delicate and sentitive in
case as his own character might have be
compromitted and after fixing the fraud VI
n nm, he demanded his removal; yet he was
removed. And shall never forget the rema
VI OF Mr.. Parker made to me at the time. 81