The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1839-01-19

/ a.
cent OF ~ That Is not my creed. Why, sir in this
case OF Swartwoui, the money was all pundered be-
lore ever Il reached the banks ! here ask the gen
o',' , iroin view YORK IN his place, do the banks
owe the Government, al this moment one single cent
OF this money! Have they moi paid every dollar
mat was entrusted 10 lhem2 Yet thew are 10 be held
responsible The default Is chargeable on the State
oanh system, ana NOT on The Sub-treasury SYSTEM
Mr.. CUSHMAN said that the aspect oftbe oues-
lion before the House was materially cbanesd 49,
.he gentleman OF New York MIR Cambrelen gl came
forward TO move inquiry in The regulations Or he
r collector o. New York. That motion he (Mr. q
sataea as an event, an epoch in the history of The
unes. II stood strkngly in contrast with what ne
CURED only two years ago. AT that time the Presi
The United States undertook to certify n ,be
mesray Of Inc Departments and officers ofthe Go
seinmenl' The administration claimed 10 be snot |
eSsi y seemed to challenge scrutiny Of its ac,s. !,
nsia se up as immaculae as If there was no faint
u Us hact purity, no blot on the wbiteness of lis er
a;. Say, When committees of investigation were |
aPpVinted oy The House the administration assumed
ne ioi.y tone OF indignant innocence and renelled
49, ~ ne iofce OF lis power the accusation then
naae " me gentleman from Virginia The same
ed ,ha, ~ 40 w more garng, whenit was consider
ea ha me administration Of his honorable colleague
lMr .Adamsl had been assailed with every sneeies
~ ihPu'a.ion oy those now in power and the most
rs a, acs q that period were dealt with as the
greatest political enormities This administration
had come in over The ruins OF thai upon ne nrofes
SION, loud and confident, Of The hgb-spired purity
OF us purposes and spirit. What n specta Gle was
INV presented, when the particular organ OF the
administration himself came 10 the House h ASH for
COMMITTEE 70 investigate facts Of extraordinary o
.,al corruption happening under that adminiStra.
I'm. is friends, IL would seem were driven bv the
resis, ;n Impulse Of circumstances no longer 10
800 investigation. They could not withstand The
nssounans exposures which had risen IN in iudg
,;,I ~ ns mem Accordingly they put on the al
;an,ir,a 'd1,nes' ana proposed inquiry But trhat
HYaHHs ~ was OF secondary consequence ,wba, |
were The defaults Of individuals Thnre ~. Mn i
thing 10 examine IN the specific case Of Swartwon,
All the facts. were proved and established there
they were, authenticated upon the official panars ~
! the Treasury All that remained of that case was
trivial in itself and little worthy of the special agen
| cy OF select committee of the House. II was ma
4 terial to inquire what other dffaueTs there WERE
not yet detected that the Treasury might be saved
from further losses. II material TO look into the
dishonor such acts brought on the country. And il
was material TO see whether the deialcaons Of which
4 Thu one was but specimen, and which reflected so
4 much discredi on the country, did not devolve in
delibe disgrace upon the administration under which
| they happened. These were the pinching points in
the relations of case Of official enormily unheard
! of in the annals Of the nation. ,.a~ .
But did the gentleman from New York (Mr Cam
brelcng) himself propose investigation of these, the
true objects Of such Investigations Not AT all. But
now, since such further inquiry had been proposed
TO The friends Of the administration, a change had
come over the spirit Of their dream They begin
\ TO shrink from the consequences Of the ascerlained
facts, and OF due inquiry into all the relations Of
those facts. But here the facts are gross as noun
tain, open palpable And " what trick, what device,
what starting whole slhere TO escape from this open
and apparent shame Z" The House now begins to
what this device is. II is clear what the train of
thought is, passing through the mind of the gentle
man IRON New York. II has been limited before
Swartwout, we are told, is Conservative. and OPP
posed to the administrations and thus gentlemen seek
to shin from their shoulders the present load of ig
nomny. The answer is obvious. Whether he be
Conservative not, his defaults happened by the
fault of the administration its gross neglect make
atnFr.
worse BY reason Of which these regulations had run
through space of years, and had swollen from hun
dreds to hundreds of thousands II mattered not,
therefore, what party Swartwout belonged to- Wing
or Tory, Conservative or Destructive STILL for his
peculaon the administration responsible before
God and man. But was 1t not amusing enough TO
hear the gentleman from New York throwing off
this Swartwou case upon the opposition? Was it
not notorious that that individual was of the spe-
cia pets Of Andrew Jackson-appointed as his par
ticuar friend-apponted memorial Of their an
cient association in Burrs conspracy-appointed
because of his distinguished services as election
eerng partisan, actively instrumental in behalf of
the late President? And had not his defalcations
gone on for seven eight years before Swartwout
wavered in his allegiance to the powers that be p
Under these circumstances, 1t was absurd, il was
more it was superlavely ridiculous, say that the
Wings, the wicked Wings, the cunning Wings were
laboring to screen one of themselves. No such
thing This device will not avail the admnstra-
ton. Vainly will they say, with Lady Macbeth,
stepped in guilt TO the very elbows; There is not
water enough in the deep sea wash them clean of
the indeble proofs of their corruption
And again Is Swartwout the only peculator be-
fore the House To pass over the lesser names of
Boyd and the rest is there not William NJ. Price,
the crack orator Of Tammany Hail. the peculiar |
party adviser of Mr.. Van Buren, in the city of New
York the special friend there Of The gentleman him
polls the thousands Of the faithful of New York in
solid columns in his behat2 Do these artful Wings |
desire to screen him? They cannot screen Swart-
won't without screening Price. They are par Mobile
fyatran,-Arcadcs anabo. They have risen together,
and fallen sether and together they linked for
good and for evil. But the gentleman from New
York seems to think that the Appointment Of com.
mee, By ballot, is TO screen the guilty. Was there
ever any thing more absurd How to screen the |
auity2 Why, such mode of appointment iswork-
ing in the dark, forsoolh. In the dark? What
Here in the face of Heaven, and of this bright sum-
and these assembled crowds OF spectators gazing
upon us,--is vote here an act performed in the
dark2 Preposterous! Whether by ballot or rira
roce (and Mr.. C. said he was Indifferent whch) |
such mode of appointing was not in the dark An
appointment by the Speaker, in his private apart
ment, alone, with no eye on him but God's,-that,
and that alone, was an appointment in the dark
But again. Early in the session. when this defalca-
ton was first discussed here or elsewhere, we heard
something of Presidents committee The Rich |
mond Enquirer told US there TO be Presidents |
committee. That is what the country does not |
want. II wants no Presidents committee but |
Peoples committee; and such committee the House
means to have; to do its duty not to the Presi-
dent, but to the country. Strike where il may such
a committee there ought TO be; one 10 probe corrup-
ton to the very boom penetrate the very vitals Of
guilt; 10 denounce punishment on the wrongdoer,
whoever he be- high or low, friend foe, and wher-
ever blow may be advantageousy struck 1t can
be done 1t will be done Such committee must
do its duty TO the nation, whose eyes would be upon
it with slcepless jealousy It's members will have TO
take heed to themselves, and explore all the crooked
ways of corruption and unearM the guilty, without
| fear, favor, or affection. He that linches in the
hour of trial will be dashed into the path Of duty by
the whips Of general indignation, and, il he fails
win become mark for the finger of scorn to the
end Of time. Therefore it is that there should be
- r., al h, tbp nTt Iyatl