Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1839-01-31

piundefefs, VINO have acted literally upon the maxim,
that " TO the victors belong the spoils." is one Of the
most powerful papers that we have ever me, with
powerful in argument, powerful in inyectvc. bu, FAR
more powerful in fact. Occupying abou, rs of the
broad columns and fine type of the National Intel-
hgencer, we mud II impossible to transfer il to our
less ample pages; and, on attempting to condense
IT, we IND 1t equally impossible TO discriminate be-
tween It's several parts-We mus, therefore very re-
luctantly content ourselves with brief extracts from
1t occasionally, as time and space may serve u.s.
For the present, we invite the attention of our rea-
ders 10 the subjoined extract, in which a most pa
thetic allusion is made to Tobias Watkins, the per-
secuted victim OF Amos Kendall, whose suiierings
one might suppose, were OF a vicarious character,
atoning for the long list Of deiaullers. Some OF
whom have been since even rewarded BY a high
er Office for their rogueries in u less elevated station,
while a still more numerous band, though not pro-
NOTED for their rascality, have escaped, unwhipt of
justice.
FIRST came the explosion VI the pet banks-noae
come the explosions, one after another. in quick sue
cession. Of The sub-tteasurers who were, or are to be,
substituted for banks, and | will show YOU that they
prove all l ever charged 10 be true.
| said that in December, 1886, when Gen. Jackson
gave his ceftitic ates that all was we'll. honest, fair,
this very leg treasury, Swartwout, al New York, was
in delaul, $780, Well, sir, now ii appears that.
in twelve months after, he was in default to The tune
OF Sl,0l6,955 and, three months after that time.
was a deiaulter in the still larger sum of 81 ,2o5, 7o5
60 Prcrious 10 my attempts al investigation, he
had been stealing public money at the rate OF $56.-
900 per annum. After The cat uas beiiied, he stole
in one year ESQ, 1856 63, and in the next three months
206.I60 SO. les, sill, after the President had gwen
him a certificate OF honesty, and you, sir, and he
House, and the committee, and the Executive, had
shielded him from al scrutiny, he stole in one year
the sum OF $500, 2}6 So, and in the next three months
at the rate OF more than 500, 900 per de-
falcation averaging, throughout his official career,
the sum Of more than 10000 per annum, for seven
years-and this, Too, ace are noc told, teithoutth the least
suspicion! "a jew may believe il: but ] don't -
Sir, said the other day that | did not rejoice in
these losses and %calamities, though | confessed | did
feel a thrill of triumph at having gained a victory
for the truth. The pet bank system and the sub
treasurets have exploded, as l said they would, and
exposed their hidden enormiiies, concealed until
they could be concealed no longer but | do not re-
joice al it. ! made mt no booth to sit and wait for
the destruction of corrupt Ninevch. But, sir, there
is one poor human being on this earth-alone
now in the world-wrecked in reputation,-
blasted-sighied by men not half as worthy
as he is-whose soul at scenes like these does re-
lolce must exult. Who and where is he =! Sir, il
you will 60 down Pennsylvania avenue to the corner
of Four-and- a-half street, beneath MIS-. Peyton's
DOdIuluS uOuSti yOu viii u Il gray-Htdueu H0un,
stricken in years +: his name is-Tobias Watkins
That man, for borrowing money of public officers,
funds IN their hands, not converting funds in his own
hands 10 his own use, was imprisoned on the l4th OF
August, 1929, and tried on three several indictments,
on all which lie was convicted and fined, on one the
sum of $3.50, on another $500. and the third So, 600.
He was sentenced to be imprisoned three months on
each Indictment, in all nine months butihough i'm
prisoned in August, 1929. he was not released until
March, 1888. Kept in Jail three years and six months
for a real or fictitious defalcaiion of So, O50!!
Where are now the defaulters of this reform Ad-
minislration ? Where is Swartwout, embezzling
public money for eight years in succession. uli
he had taken and carried away a million and a quar-
ter? Where is Price Where is Gra,ct? How
long since their carriage wheels proudly hurled the
Olympic dust OF the fashionable streets and avenues
of your metropolis of court and Of fashion! No
marshals at their heels-no district attorneys pros
ecuting against them triple indictments they ran "a
way, or walked away, unforbidden, and none to him
der! Where is Boyd ? that land office delaulter, who
applied TO "Me misfortune Of specuiations' to elect
him to the Senate of his STATE Of Mississippi p
These arc all innocent and unfortunate or escaping
defaulters! These are full handed public plumber
ers, and go unwhipped of justice" Sir, SO was To-
bias Watkins unfortunate. He was born and bred
a gentleman dAzzled by the tinsel glare Of this me-
tropolis of splendid misery and shabby splendor,'
las it was once, with equal force, truth and beauty,
described by that un equaled orator of Virginia,
John Randolph)-oi liberal mind and habits, too, he
lavished some three thousand imp think
ing in his heart that he should be able to replace
that sum, and more, and" all straight" and he was
imprisoned for his imprudence for rearly four Yeas,
and made to bear a felon's brand All sir. but he
was a genHemGn-he belonged to "dH the decency,'
10 the a silk stocking gentry'-he was not of your
Locoioco defaulters-he was not unfortunate to the
amount of millions-be was no ro6ber on a large
scale-he was not one too full handed to be touched
by the rude hands of the tipsaff-he was not a de-
faulter oflhe great democracy, and, poor fellow, he
suffered for being a gentleman By the by, sir, that
word reminds me of the fact that it was during, OF,
not until the past summer, your party first discover
ed that your President was a gentleman! The discov-
cry was made first, | think, by granny Richie. That
venerable gentleman took me to task for finding
some gentlemen in Petersburg, and. as a set off, it
seemed, boosted that President Van Buren,. too, was
actually a gentleman! Very strange that a man
whom they made President, the successor Of the
"iiiuStriouS'' in 1887. they did not find out TO be a
gentleman until the summer of 1888 They must
surely have been trying to make him out a Whig.-
For myself, | always knew he was, in the ordinary
sense, a gentleman and it was Notifying to mt TO
sec the Enquirer, by implication at least, had sup
posed until lately that the President of the United
States could be other than a gentleman-judging, |
mean, from its boast of the sudden discovery but
my colleague there, I'M. DRoMGooLEO will not,
however, recognise Mr.. Richie as a genuine Loco
fOco editor. Mr.. DRoMGooLE said, No, no, he is
a Conserratire1. There is cheering consideration
connected with this discovery, though by the Ad-
ministration press; il is the brightest omen which has
occurred for years of MIR. Van Buren's DOWNFALL
Yes, sir, that cry OF ''genHemdn'' upon him by his
friends will finish him-with the party which sup
ports him, they might as will have cried /" maddog -
1t is a certain prognostic that he is going down.
From the hour that father Richie made that fatal
discovery, the mans doom was sealed. But, sir, the