Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1839-08-30
From the New York Courier and Enquirer
EXECUTIVE OPPOSITION TO CON

EAECU OPPOSITION TO CON
GRESSIONAL INQUIRY.
Nothing can be more obvious tina The
right of The People, through their repr, sen
ta'lvcs, to investigate the conduct of pub
lie officers, and the condition of public de-
par'men's. This right is so clear. that i,
is difficult to conceive of its being qucs.
toned, and yet there is none, which has
been more syslematcalI lily and perscvcringly
opposed by the ascendant dynasty. When
Mr.. WIsE's committee entered upon lis in.
vcstigations 10 1887 Notwithstanding the
packed Tory ajorliy Of which it was in
part composed, it was met at the threshold
by the insulting nnd menacirg letter Of
Gen. JACKSON, which pretended to treat its
inquiries as "an illega and unconstitutional
call for information" If that committee
had been suffered to continue its research.
es, if It had been allowed free access to the
departments, and unemharrassed inquiry,
there is no doubt, tina, it might have un-
yelled to he People, the manifold lniqulties
Of their public servants. 1t is more than
probable that Price and SwARTwoUT
would have been seosonably exposed; that
the numerous and alarming defalcatons in
the Land Office would have been arrested /;
and TINT the "profllgate manner in which
the Treasury has been plundered," would
have been confessed by the Globe in 1887
rather than 1889. But the cry was then
full.mou,hel against the committee. Mr..
WISE was branded as a caIumnlator, set
upon by all the blood hounds of the Admin
is,rallou and we regret to say, that some
even Of his friends, who should have stood
by him in that exigency, were disposed to
abandon him TO the fapgs o. that sanguina,
~ pack.
The Administration obtained a partial
triumph. 1t succeeded in covering up for
while the delinquencies and the abuses OF
Its agents. IT succeeded in dlvcriinr the
public mind from the unsatisfactory drvel.
Opemenls of the committee, aud ~ creating
an Impression among The People, that tho
black was not altogether white, 1t was Ger.
tainly not quite SO black as 1t was represen
ted. The majority Of the committee re-
echoed and endorsed the assertions of Gen.
JACKSON in reference 10 the condition oil
the departments, declared that there was
no just cause Of complaint in any quarter
as TO the mode in which they had been ad
minis,ered, and sent the General out o
Office with flying coIors--and a Congress
sional certificate Of good behavior!
Months passed on, and still the buriher
Of the Tony press was abuse of the Com
mittee Of Investigation, and particularly o
Mr.. WISE. He had llbeIed the venerable
Hero of New Orleans-the SCARED chief
tain Of our revolutionary battles, who Dor,
upon his person ''enduring memorials" o
our first war for Independence. The gal
liant and generous Virglnian. who hat
thrown msef, in the impe,uons ardor O
youth and devoted patriotism, into the from
ranks of opposition, aud defed the embat
tied Iegions OF power-toing month ahe
month, and year after year, with a patien
self sacrifice, that nothing but an elevate,
sense o. public duty could have sustaine,
was held up daily to public indignation
and defl.lon, as The foied and baffled as
sassln of a great mans fame. The charac
Ter Of Mr.. WISE was in The dmness of o
eclipse. His enemies pursued him wit
deadly luminosity. We have no doub
that good Tory mammus used his name /
frightcn children with as another synon
yme for the devil. Meanwhile, TIM
Whiggery had it's doubts. 1t considere
Mr.. WISE as injudicious and indiscree
and began 10 suggest the propriely c
leaving him TO his fate.
And now comes another change. 1t
ascertalned that all the departments or
not immaculate; and in spite of The Gener
ais certificates and the Committees, it
more than suspected that LEVI WooDBUR
is no Saint. Some sixty land Offices ar
more than suspected Of defacalion-an
there is sound of continuous explosion
from Iowa to Mississippi, along the Who'll
line OF the majestic father of water.
Wait moment, and still another crash O
the Atlantic coast-and before Tamman
can recover from the confusion, and cleans
it's garments of dust and ashes-lo!