The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1839-04-23


is honor among thieves the rest ofhe Office hold
ers very willing to turn States evidence agans
Swartwout, TO gain immunity Tor themselves, ant
favor with the commonwealth Let the Admins
traton give us fair committee favorable 10 Inves
tigaton, not packed by The Speaker throw oper
TO us the doors of your Deparlments--thoso whitet
u'chres, within whose secret vaults corruption
has so long riotcd and fevelled let your insolen
subalterns be taught that they owe some allegiance
to the laws compel them to submit their oifcia
conduct 10 rigid examination by this House >
then, and not ill then, will believe them IN earn
est then, and not till then, shall expect any sooc
to come Of investigation But, sir, though little II
to be expected from the action of this House, an
ticpate much good from The discussion. This
Hall is the ear of the uaton what Is SAID here
touches the auditory nerve of the whole country
Before this mighty audience do impeach both the
Pres dent and the Secreary-not before the Senate
mo, sir but before the People-before fifteen
millions of freemen. . a. IT,.
l charge them with knowingly appointing and
continuing in soflice spnblic defaultcrs-mon who
had appropriated the public moneys TO private use
who had committed in Office acts of great NOR a
turpitude, and deserving OF as much odium, as at
taches 10 the case of Swartwout acts which the
President now processes to think are deserving o.
the penitentIary. | charge the Secretary, directly
with having caused, by negligence, and knoacing
aoi!fIt connipance, some Of the most important de
falcations which ave occurred charge him spe
officially with having, in case, literally watched
a deialcation through period of more than two
years. and seen itgiadunly swell, during that time
TO upwards OF 100000 charge him with hav-
ing permitted, in numberless instances, the repeat
ed and continued neglect and violation of what he
himself asserts 10 be the paramount duty, without
removing from Office, or even reprimanding the de-
linquents. 1 charge him with having, in his official
capacity, received, and iavorabiy considered, cor
respondence degrading his high office, insulting
to him an honest man, and ola corrupt and prof
| ligate character ..Hf
Sir the Secretary only escape by the plea OF
''n0n cOnp0S mGntiS." Out of his own mouth
will convict him will but let loose upon him The
documents he himself has furnished, and, like The
hapless Acteon, he will be torn to pieces by his
own hounds
Mr. Chairman, the cases which am about TO Z
anime, in support of my positions, have been Sc
ected at random from the report Of the Secretary
himself: and present them merely as specimens
scores Of the same sort-the phosphorescent glim-
morings Of corruption-break through the darkness
| and illuminate the pa:h of the Secretary, from the
very moment he came into office, Should 1 treat
| of them all, the 4th Of March would find me here
and the chronicles of the defaulters still untin
shed.
! The first to which ! shall call attention is
that of Colonel John Spencer, receiver of pubi;e
moneys at Fort Wayne, Indiana, and which COM
menced in 1886 The report of the whole is
found in document l42 of the second session OF the
twenty -fourlh Congress. shall extract such por-
Under date of the 25th of April, 1886, the. Sec
rotary writes to Col. Spencer, among other things,
| as follows
GAS these statements for January and February
last have not been received at the Department, l
must claim your attention To the omission, land
insist on their transmission, in future, Immediately
after the close of each month AT the time,
would also claim your strict attention to the reg
ulaions of the Department in respect TO the peri
| odcai deposites Of the public money, and to the
duty of transmitting the usual evidences of such do
posites to the Secretary of the Treasury as the in
| struction require
| Immediately afterwards, the Secretary writes a
gain to the following effect
Treasury DEPA RrMENT. Nav 90, 1886
SIR Since the date Of my letter to you of the
10th ulllmo. your returns for the month of April
have been received, from witch peceive that the
public moneys in your hands on the Both utmo
amounted 10 the sum Or $247 25l Ga, which amount
IS the accumulated receipts of your office since the
first of January last. You cannot hut be aware
that the retention OF the public moneys in your
hands, beyond the period of one month unless the
receipts of such month be less than $4,000, is
violation OF yonr instructions. The object of this
letter is list. To require that the whole balance
on hand at the time of the receipt OF this letter
shall be Immediately deposited, and a certificate of
such deposte transmitted To tho Department with
out delay. Cd. To inform you that the Depart
ment cannot overlook the omission 90 so, or
your future neglect to dcposite monthly, and to
transmit your monthly returns, accompanied by the
evidence of your deposte in time to be received
at this office within the month next preceding that
for which the return is rendered. Sd. That any
neglect or .natenlion to these rcqui ements unless
satisfactorily accounted for, will require Of me-,
from a sense of official duty, that 'you be reported
TO the President, with recommendation that you
be removed from office. lam, very respectfully.
&c. &c.
LEVI WOODBURY., Secretary of Treasury.
Col. SPENCER.
On The 9Th of July, the Secretary directed that
Mr. West (who, it seems, was sort nf rotary por.
ton of the Department, called an examIner) should
proceed in person % to make special inquiry into
The matter, and report to the Department the
suit -
Accordingly, ilr West proceeded to Fort Wayne
to examine into the delinquency of the receiver
and having accomplished his task made areport to
the Department. Fiom this report it appears that
he met Col. Spencer, who was on his way TO Rich
mond to raise money to make up his deficit to the
Government. The following is an extract from the
report. in relation to charge of shaving" upon
the pubic moneys:
"Upon the subject Of using the money Of the u
nlted States, beg leave state, that find it nni
versaly stated and believed, and it is conceded 10
fact by the clerks in the receivers Office dhat
both he and As relative, Dawson, have been much
the habit, IN the office, of shaving noney,i. ex-
changing the money which could not be received
for puiic lands the rate of exchange scount
varying from three tofive per cent. | find, in the
of Isaiah Wells, Of Marion county, Ohio, that