Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1839-08-15

(Conciuded from our last.

/ COhcfuded JI'0m our ldSt.
2D. The CILLEY DUEL AND D--INvEsTIGA
Il Mr.. Cranston voted against that nvcs
ligation-such as he firmly believed il
would be. And he gave his reasons lol
so doing to his friends at Washington
at the time, and also to friends in Provi
dence by letters, one Of them writer
April Sd, 1888, before the Committc,
had reported; the other, May 4th, 1888
IA fortni ght alter The report had beer
made, and been under close debate
nearly all that time both which letter.
are now before the public. His opin
ions upon that subject therefore, are no,
now made up to answer any present oc-
casion. They were clearly expressed
at the time, and before any of the events
by which they were to be confirmed or
invalidated had taken place. Those
opinions were, that no good waS intended
By The proposed investigation, dnd none
~ouid result from it. Thai IL ras prompt
cd Ly party spirit, IN its confinuers, and
designer solely 10 ansrer a party purpose
.4nd That, after much gaste Of time and
money, nothing ,eould come Of ii. This
last opinion, that the whole proceeding
would come to nothing, which had been
expressed by him in the beginning, was
again repeated in his letter of the 4th of
May, above alluded to, and we find by
the journal of the House, that, on the
10th of May, six days after the date of
that letter, the whole proceedings were
laid on the table by a vote of l03 to "a,
and upon motion Of one of the most vio-
lent ofthe promoters of that nvestig
Mr. Cranston was never opposed to any
fair and honest investig cation, from which
any good might be expected. 1t was
mat investigation and those proceedings
thus condemned by the majority itself,
against which he had voted.
And now let me ask, if the opinions
by which MIR. Cranston was guided were
correct, can any man say that his vote
was wrong F.? And can any man now
deny the correctness Of his opinions,
when they have been fully confirmed, in
every particular, by the very ma jority
which at first differed from him Nay,
are we not bound to believe, that the
whole of that great majority who on the
10th of May, voted to annul that invcs-
tlgatlon and suppress the whole proceed
Ings, and did annul and suppress them
would, had they foreseen as he did what
those proceedings were to be, have vo
ted with him in the beginning, against
them 10 suppose otherwise would be
lmparllng to them gross inconsistency
and insinceri'y Of character.
Mr.. Cranston voted az ainst laying the
business on the table. For, when the
investigation had been made and the
Committee had reported, he thought that
the people ought to be fully informed OF
all that had been done, and he was
strongly in favor of printing a sufficient
number OF copies of the whole proceed
ings TO give them that information. lie
wished that the people might be enabled
10 Judge for themselves, of proceedings
which, he was convinced, had been got
up solely for the purpose of producing a
popular effect. But the majority had
now got TO be afraid of the Judgment oil
he people, and were anxious only TO
race back their steps and smother upI
heir proceedings. Mr.. Cranston sin
,erely believed, not only that the inves-
igaiion would produce no good, but that
no good was intended by il. His vote,
With srnnll minority, did not prevent or
~ the least obstruct the Investigation
i took place, aud the whole manage.
ncni Of II was Ia the hands and under
he control OF great majority, who had
in'l' IN their power 10 do good il they
lclhcd cr intended II. What wus the u