Lincoln telegraph. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1836-1846, 1840-09-03

be from frauds as that which pertains 10
fishermen's receipt of the protecting
,unties allowed them by law. They
low very few instances Of irregularities.
Notwithstanding the frequent charges a
ainst them by Custom House Officers, the
.ecords of the government show they them
telves, the Custom House Officers, deiraud
he treasury out of thousand dollars for
syery one dollar wrongfully obtained by
ishermen This is susceptible ofproof by
records in the Treasury department:
The charge was further attempted TO be
proved by DR.. MoRIARTY of Cape Ann,
IGloucester,) an Officer OF the Customs,
who privately wrote slanderous letter
about the fishermen, to Mr. Benton. The
following is the material part of the letter:
90, oucEsTER, Massachusetts, December q, 1859:
SIN. Several years since, had the honor OF
,,onr acouaintance through the politeness OF the
Hon. Mr.. Hill, of New Hampshire l shall not
apologize, then, for the course now take IN ao-
lressing you. r. tho Ga
IN Advertiser, which contains an exposure re-
live to bounty fraud which, in my oplnIon'
onlv one of the many cases sotich groD on @ .ae
Arese1t suste,n of bounty. l Do CAND!Dn1aI,
IELIEVE THAT THE u. s. GOvEkNMEdNyI1
ANNUALLY WR0NGED OUT OF IH ~,
ANDS OF DOLLARS BY THE ihEoEnI
SSTEM, Such being my belief, do hope that
Cngress will ABOLISH 1T ALTOGETHER; io,' III
til end, the fishermen wiH be as yell, y mol oelter
| off Living in fishing community, IN village
anost entirely dependent on the fisheries, have
ben led 20 look at the subject IN every ngh''
and cannot bring my mind to any other coh'i"-
| Son.
have, % doubt that, year after year, fishermen
are auoreo 70 SUGAR that thy hare earned me
bounty, 'ohen ne ceatrary is The fact: ABOLISH
then, the preset sy,tem, and you destroy lne
chance, WHICH Mha"Y NOW IMPROVE.
TO PERJURE THEaSELVES.
| If there any facts Connected with the pres
ent bounty system, necessary to abolish it, will,
which you may be unacquained, should be glad
to communicate them at any tine.
Very respectfully your obede,t servant.
JOHN nj. MORIARTY, M. ID.
Hon. Thomas III. Benton, U. s. Senate"
This letter was one Of the documents OF
which democratic Senate ordered 10000
copies to be printed, thus giving circula-
ton to 10000 SANDERS and accusations, OF
perjury against the fishermen, as a class
without distinction.
At Gloucester as soon as they saw that
publication the people treated this Custom
House Surveyor as he deserved; though
we do not approve of using or threatening
any personal violence. They surrounded
MoRIARTY's house and threatened to give
, him coat Of tar and feathers. They were
deeply indignant towards him for his mia
nous accusation agans, them Of fraud and
perjury. They made stuffed image OF
the man and hung it up in conspicuous
place as warning to overbeaiing, SANDER
ing and debating Custom House Officers.
This DR. MORTALITY is a supporter OF Mr.
VAN buren,, and whether he appointed HIM
to Office on account of his kind feelings
towards Mr. Ben,on's shook and Inc men,
is not known.
But what will be thought of Custom House
charges against fishermen, when it Is known
that MoRIARrY's "bounty fraud Of which
he informed Mr. Benton, turns out to be a
fraud Gf any existed in fact) committed by
the Custom House itself against the fisher
men, and not fraud committed by the fish
e,men against the government! 1t was
case in which the Custom House Officer
charged to the government large sum OF
money as having been paid for bounty,
which never was paid and whichthe usher
man never received! We are told that
there have been many such cases.
The Gloucester Telegraph, Wing pa
pers contained several columns on this
subject. In reference to Moriarty's letter
we extract the following from that paper OF
March last
| "This infamous attempt says the Telegraph to
destroy the character of our fishermen, and TO de-
prive them ofthe Bounty by false accusations, will
most assuredly reco upon the head Of lis author
And here we will remark, tina: more honest and
hard working class of men than our fishermen, does
not exist Their peris and deprvations IN the pur-
suit Of their business excite in their behalf the sym
pathy of all possessed of the least humanity, and
should entitle them 10 the continued encouragement
of the Government. Indeed the Bounty cannot be
withdrawn in the present state of the fisheries, with
out serious deriment to the interest, and causing
much suffering TO the crews who prosecute it,
What would have been their condition the very
past winter, had they been deprived OF the forty
thousand dollars bounty money? Want, actual
want, would have been an inmate OF their humble
dwellings, and the families of many made miseIa-
ble-and yet one Of their professed friends has the
efrontery to tell them and the Government that they
would be better off without than with the bounty
and 10 CHARGE them with the high and wicked
crime of PERJURY in obtaining i'll
"F1sHERMEN-As you would be just to your
selves, and solictous for your own interests and
weware, letnot this matter be forgotten II you
have been deceived by heartess demagogues and
unprincipled scoundres shake them off ere it is too
late. and give your support to men who will be true
to you and to the great interest with which you are
identified Remember that Benton, who threatens
to carry on the war against the Bounty until he is
successful. is but the mouth-piece of Martin Van
Buren-remember that Moriarty, who stabs you in
tho dark il the bosom friend of Rantoul-and re-