Madison Whig advocate. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1839-1841, 1839-05-25

| years, hundred cases of defaIcat;o
have occurred more outrageous in prir
clple, more profigate in character. tina
the one we are recommended to invest
gate; that the President has continue
defaulters in office, knowing of their vi
citations of duty, knowing of their an
preparation of the public moneys to pri
vate uses; that the Secretary of III,
Treasury has, during that whole period
habitually connived at these defaIca
tons, and extended over them the man
tie of his protection; if | should tell yo,
That these defalcations constitute a por
ton of the "spoils systemn-that sys
tenn which has been to this administra
ton what his flowing locks were tt
Samson--the secret of its strength; if
should tell you all this, should tell vor
no more than | conscientiously believe
no more than | shall attempt to prove
before this House and country. These
defalcations | shall trace to their origin
and not stop to inquire SO much into
their amounts, as into the causes which
have led to them. 1t is not the question
Where is the money? but, Where is
the guilt? that | wish to investigate,
The recent developments to which our
attention is invited, are but some of the
bubbles that are every day breaking
upon the surface of the still and man
Ting pool. | shall not stop to measure
their relative size or color but will, I'M
pleasant as the task may be, dredge for
the corrupt cause which lies at the bot
tom. These cases are but the windfalls
from that tree of Sodom-executive
patronage. Heretofore, the representa-
tives of the people have, in vain, urged
an examination into the character of its
fruit; but it has been guarded with more
vigilance than were the golden apples of
the Hesperides. Now, our attention is
solicited to it by the President. Is he
in earnest? Let him but give us chance
to shake this tree, and he will find his
rotten pippins falling from every limb
and branch.
But our attention is called, particular
ly, to the case of Swartwout. The ad-
ministration has delivered him over to
our tender mercies; they have dropped
him, as the bear, when holly pursued,
drops one of her cubs, for the purpose
of distracting the attention of the hun
ter, and so escaping with the rest of her
young. |, for one, shall not be thus d.
verted from my purpose, but will follow
the dam to her den, and there, if posi-
BILE, crush at once the whole brood.
Swartwout has been found out. This
is the objectionable sin with the pre-
sent party in power. Their morality is
The Spartan morality: not the theft,
but the discovery, constitutes the crime.
Sir, if every office-holder's mantle
we're thrown aside, how many, think
you, would be found without a stolen fox
to the girdle2
Mr. Chairman, | have no confidence
that the President has recommended
this investigation in good faith, or that
his partisans here intend to permit it.
They dare not do it. They are not yet
maddened, scorpion-like, TO
dart the sting into their own desperate
brain. No, sir, it is mere ruse. Re-
CARELESS of the maxim that "there IS
honor among thieves" the rest of the
are very willing TO turn
States evidence against Swartwout, to
gain immunity for themselves, and favor
with the commonwealth. Let the ad
give us a fair committee,
favorable to investigation, not packed
by the Speaker; throw open to US the
doors of your Departments-those viii
ted sepulchres, within whose secret
vaults corruption has SO long rioted and
revelled; let your insolent subalterns be
taught that they owe some allegiance
to the laws; compel them to submit their
official conduct to rigid examination
by this House: then, and not till then,
will believe them IN earnest; then,
aud not till then, shall Iexpect any good
to come of investigation. But, sir,
though little is to be expected from the
action of this House, anticipate much
good from the discussion. This hall is
the ear of the nation; what is said here
touches the auditory nerve of the whole
Before this mighty audience
DO impeach both the President and the
before the Senate-no,
sir; but before the people-before fiji
teen millions of freemen.
| charge them with knowingly APP
and continuing in Office public
who had appropriated
the public moneys to private use; who
had committed, in office, acts of as great
moral turpitude, and deserving of as
much odium, as attaches to the case of
Swartwout; acts which the President
now processes to think are deserving
Of the penitentiary. charge the Sc
,retary, directly, with having caused,
Dy negligence, and knowing, ,ciLful con-
nivance, some of the most important
lefalcations which have occurred.
charge him specifically with having, in
one case, literally watched a defalca-
ion through period of more than two
years, and seen it gradually swell, dur
ng that time, to upwards of 500 900!
charge him with having permitted, IN
instances, the repeated and
continued neglect and violation of what
he himself asserts to be the paramount
lmy, without removing from Office, or
even reprimanding the delinquents- |
charge him with having, in his official
n nacity received and fayorablv con-