Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1840-04-21

law strictly. are satisfied thai there has been neither
rnpton espionage" i'll the Richmond office present
Postmaster our sefresIcct would prompt rcp such
an pua'on upon Ives and from situation could moi
from his doing any thing Of The kind he has been
lousy particular avoiding every that might hr tortured into
impolrleiy oi official conduct Of any character.
Relieving that Mr.. H la"rs under msaprccmsi"n. his
subject, We have thought that truth and Justice required this public
statement from
i HGE%fG :; cE ERExSi
?. S-The mail which brought Mr. Bolts speeches,
sroeh, bag containing parcel Of documents sereiss
and distributed M' The same time with noi"
speeches TO this fact we believe called Mr.. Bots attention
on the 18th February, when he called at the office.
e ahbbEp & f4 HHaRE
How far MIR Bolts clears hmselffrom his abuse of the
ranking privilege, in sending his bag Of blank franks
with Davis posthumous letter. addressed to Mr.. Nc
Farand mot Mr. Southall, crrodeousy stated
by our Correspondent will appear from the following
structures of Il Correspondent
| TO THE EDITOR OF THE ENQUIRER
! RICHMOND, April IL, 1910
Sir: | perceive in the Wing Of yesterday a long tdn
faronade the signature Of John Minor Bolts in
ation TO the abuse OF the ranking privilege, the
rupton of the Department. and his berality in paying
freight rather than bur,hcn it with his frank, &c
This is all very plausible to one who is not acquainted
with the subject and the but it is the ames effort
for would-bc great man thai have witnessed to
screen himself from public Indignation lie says "Mc
rfason he sent tie baG reieh rus, because hc hdd
confdsncc IN those 10 nhOm ,coud be entrusted, anil
for tar c mattcr coptaincd rOnid rearh its place
Of doSttnaiiom, &c How very precise Every frank he
sent after having received the supcrScrption of the
Wing members Of the Legislature, was mailed in the
Richmond Office, thus burthenng the Department with
the very matter which he was afraid TO trust II with
The fact of the business is THIS II he had sent the bag
TO the Post Office in Washington, made up as il WAS,
violating the law in every essential particular ii gt
have been returned to him in an official manner, which
would have placed him before every honorable man in
light not TO be cnvicd The law creating the frank
/ ing privilege does not allow members 10 furnish Janh
franks to be filled up by Tom Dick Harry yet Mr.
Bolts admits he did send the Sach containing the speech
of Mr. Davis directed to the care Of w II Mactarand
to be directed and forwarded by Wing members of the
Legislature through the very department he afraid
TO trust, His object to disseminate the speech Of
Mr. Davis, before Mr. Buchanan could have time /"
countcract lis influence and bascness nt purpose This
| is what a sportsman would call "hcd@tMg, and what
Mr. Bolts perfectly understands. J would sooner de-
pend upon his Judgment i'll of this Kind than
would upon public policy, of which think him entirely
| ignorant.
In the case above reciled of his sending Mank froakS
| to members of the Legislature as frCgM, he ad-
mts, he has violated known law which he, pub
lie man. and lawmaker, is bound by every principle
of moral policy 10 protect Inviolac. This attempt al
special pleading will not do, when intelligent
munitv is left TO investigate the premises. The most
insignificant county court lawyer could have stated his
case better than lie has; or, al least he would not have
plead gritty 10 the rh@rgc and then debated c ease
Bolts IS ruv OF violating the Thanking privilege in
the most shameful manner, but attempts 10 Justify him
self IN dong, because others have done 80 before
and attempts, justification in not mailing his franks
| al Washngton to convince the people lhl; h. was
afraid IL do so, because they would not reach Their
place of destination: but, after having been distributed
! bv their committee Of vigilance to the Wing members
OF the Legislature for snperScrpton he had no longer
any doubt Of the integrity OF those through whose
| hands they had TO pass This the and sub
| aCrh letip ,yhi
of The Wing calls patrotic if is patriotism for man
to acknowledge his own guilt, then have been igno-
rant Of its true Interpretation
Very respectfully,
MORE ANON.
And now 4 word about 0gr arm "ccnSurablc conduct.
We are charged with day practising" the grossesi and
mos, objectionable frauds, by sending his newspapers
and other documents 10 members OF Congress 10 b"
iramkcd BY them throughout the | $
Tlcrc are say, Hpcrabs J. VI E;i> at tbs nomf, my
pounds weight "crs and proceedings aud address oi
The Convention, lying on the counter "ithe Post l'
House of Representatives IN l'mdl"s weighing not is"
ounces pounds and rs" pounds and half each, direct
ed {" Congress Of The Administration party
all received the mail Of this aud by YESTERDAY
mail there were bundles the Cri>i directed Ia single
n"S m|f sa r. ' aHa n" as ers peak i
their weight had them weighed myself in the Office
all by Mr. Richie ron i- ONCE ana oi course
cit appears licn Tia, the seventy pounds printed
cccdng pcn"craic Conventions packages ar bundles
weighing pounds aud upwards each, have hrcn received
through the mail al the P" Office oitc House," Representatives.
! IN t,ro dfa. and M postage charged.
81 under stand from ii" PC>,n mat The regular rate Q" pn
established by law world require r">a" at IN" rates OF my
'r an mn;y y nGn s w" M %""an 1y"" hundred ouu<
,cr being thirty packages; only two ounces IN EACH or sixty ~
at"'' 81 ~, ns '? III ,iaI ~ IN, rn, ",r pr,amrIt
entitled receive from gsari and OF winch has been
deiraadcd and robbed ly sons6odg'
# is really most amusing TO see how this ridiculous
gentleman has conrivcd TO make a mountain out OF
noe-hill ls Mr. Hopkins writes TO us 10 send HIM 900
f,l,o NJ, oFt b.,( rllIcb hrs
letter to his Constituents. We direct the copies 10 be
sent, according to his commission. We do not I'M
dertake frank them; To abuse the irankng PRIV
ege We leave il to the Post Master OF the H. OF r.
to settle the question Of postage with him. The Post
Master could not in any event have right to
charge him more than and a half cents Tor
each paper, not fifty cents an ounce, as tins wise
arthmctcian Processes to calculate. So that instead
of 1910 the whole bundles could have been rated
at only seven dollars and half But any thing
be charged under the act of Congress of March 3D.
I~y5; After specifying several officers, among whom
are the members of Congress- Postmasers, &c that
act SAYS: "Eac may newspapers by post, Tree
of postage Proridcd, That Fostnastcrs shall not re-
ceive free Of postage, than one daily newspaper
each or what is equivalent thereto; nor shall members
of the Senate of the House OF Representatives,
&c, &c receive newspapers Tree OF postage aitef
their privilege of ranking shall cease These were
newspapers evident upon the face OF the bundles, each
, tied up with wrappers as newspapers usually are
not packets sealed up, and subject 10 the postage
Of 80 cts the two ounces But whatever was the duty
Of Mr. Hopkins and the P NJ at Washington, where
is the gain where the censure uponn we had not
slighcs profit TO make by the ranking prvllege-we
had no interest i'm it-nor had III sending oil to
the Republican members few copies of the Address OF
the Conventions We sent them 70 the members OF
Congress, just had sent them all over the State
under the expectation that they would consent 10
; pay any moderate postage which the law would
levy upon them. And this, teow-citizens, IS the
: huge outrage, which we have committed This is the
great abuse of the ranking privilege, of which we have
been guilty. We undertake to say, that no man OF
common discretion would have dreamed of making such
a mountain of such a mole-h 1t is apparent, that
we have violated law-madc no proft-We have
asked no man to frank any newspaper for us, Crisis,
Enquirer Address, call it what you please We have
never circulated the Crisis under frank, to single
subscriber. As 10 Mr.. Hopkins, no man will deny
that il any member Of Congress has right to use his