Liberty advocate. [volume] (Liberty, Miss.) 1835-1866, 1839-03-28
DEFALCATIONs.


Wopromsed TO call the attention of our ron.
ders 70 this subject again, and we proceed TO
Inc redemption OF our promise. II is source
OF much gratihcatlon to find that the Wing
presses generally, throughout the country, are
urging this matter home upon the public--,hat
they are endeavoring TO rouse the people TO a
proper view Of those appalling robbcries of the
public treasure, which are daily and almost
hourly taking place. For the honor of the
country, we trust that their exertions will be
untring, until the whole robbing and thieving
herd that now iniest the public offices, shall be
driven from the stations which they disgrace
and made to earn an honest livelihood by hon.
est means, or else to do their stealing in private
and not in public. Peculaton after pectulation
is heard ofin all parts of the land until il has
ceased to astonlsh--untI it has come to bc re-
garded as so entirely matter of course, that
the people are most astonished 10 hear Of public
officers leaving their stations with untarnished
hands The pententiaries Of the country are
crowded with these gentry; and yet the nut
sance, so lar from abating is evidently on the
increase
few years ago, even under the aJministra-
ton of Andrew Jackson, the public officers paid
somcStte attention to appearances; they rob-
bed, 10 be sure, 10 the amount of hundreds, and
occasionally got up to one or two thousand dol
lars. The after populations however were con-
sdered by some as enormties, and AN OCCASION
al flash Of indignation was emitted from the
locoloco press against the daring marauders.-
But use has rendered the people less FESTIVE,
and the official bandtti now think nothing Of
stealing million or so; thirty, or forty and
eighty thousand dollars are mere common mat
ters-and he is small game indeed who does not
use over ten thousand. He is scarcely regar-
ded as decent company for ofice-holders. And
thus flies the revenue to line the pockets of as
gracelcss set Of plunderers as ever infested u
land! And yet who are there that brawI more
loudly about the rights of the people, who are
they that talk more furiously ON the subject Of
the expressions of the poor by the rich than
these same well-ied olfice-hoIders? One would
think them the depository of the last hopes of
man, the conseryatorsof the poor mans rights,
the bulwarks Of democracy, to hear their noisy
in favor Of those, who give them
access to the national crib. But the illusions,
with which they have SO long cheated the pub
lie, are fast passing away under the fearful de-
that are constantly occurring
The indignation ofan outraged people will hurl
them from their i'll gotten places. The wide
spread devastation Of the public treasure de-
mands remedy, and, fortunately the people
have that in their own hands. Let the Wing
press do its duty and all will be right.
1t is unnecessary to inquire deeply into the
causes Of this general dishonesty among the
feeders upon the public bounty; for the people
are chiefly concerned in the fact of their rogue
res and not in any theory as to the cause of
them. 1t is sufficiently obvious, however, that
much Of the evil has grown out Of the new
qualifications demanded by the administration
for office; personal devotion 10 the President
and hatred to the things he opposes have filled
the land with spectators and plunderers, and
we seriously doubt, whether, if all the public
officers, who have been consigned to the Peni-
tentiaries under his rule, and all who deserve
a place there, were congregated together, a
house large enough for their accommodation
could be erected upon the ten miles square I'M
der the jurisdiction Of Congress-
These robberies, or defalcations, as they are
called, are reduced to regular system by the
plunderers They apply themselves to the
work scientifically, and their ingenius devices
for pocketng the public funds would put old
loot-pads to the blush. They manage to work
themselves into the idea that their services are
vastly important TO the country and that they
are not half paid for their abors: and, resell
wing that ''the laborer is worthy of his hire
they coolly take enough to satisfy their own
estimate Of what is due them. Fished up in
many instances from the most fGted pools of
society, and placed in officers OF trust and emol-
ument, they forgot their origin while handling
the peoples money, launch forth into extrava-
giant expenditures, and, on salaries scarcely
sufficient to support family, they accumulate
property, swell with growing Importance, play
the petty tyrant to show their power, and deal
forth their maledictions upon all who do not
Bow to their pompous consequence.
There are matters in connection with these
things, which we are not permitted to make
public. From several sources we have recev-
cd hints, which we are determined 10 under
stand; and events are in rapid progress 10 en-
tighten us on the subject. The public mind
shall be informed as soon as we have it IN our
power to present the matter clearly and fully;
we shall then make astonishing Developments,
which will starte the public, accustomed as 1t
is to things of this nature. lfCongress appoints
a Committee of inquiry, that Committee shall
he nut upon this unbeaten track, and 1t Will
then he discovered where thousands upon thou
sands Of the public revenue have travelled
We owe this to the country, and to that party
with which we have so long acted, and which
has been battling so long against the ROBBERS OF
the national treasury. we pledge ourselves
to the discharge of the duty, and we beg our
Al ,Nmh