The Hawk-eye and Iowa patriot. (Burlington, Iowa) 1839-1843, 1841-01-21


i ding the subject from, the minority re-
port, believing it to be the fault or error
,fof the executive and not of the acting
commissioner. Be this as it may, the
majority believe that man conversan'
with business and duly watchful Of the
i Interests conided to his charge, could
not have failed to perceive the impropri.
ETY. of using them; and would have taken
the responsibility of substituting therefor
a different form, though they might have
! been SEM to him under the direction Of a
thousand governors.
\ There is another circumstance, Sir,
which is not to be found in the complete
statement of the minority report. Al
these sales, instead Of exacting the first
payment in cash, as the law required,
the acting commissioner is so obliging as
to receive notes Of purchasers payable in
thirty and sixty days. This may be all
right. Ii is, the law is certainly wrong,
and of course should not be obeyed.
! Again Sir is there any thing said in the
complete statement of the minority of the
fact that William Watt acted as foreman
only about one half of the last month that
operations were carried on upon the capi-
to, and that the account of the acting
commissioner against the Territory run
ming through the whole previous year, a.
mounting TO near $500, was embraced in
i Watts receipt!
j To state these facts may be evidence
of "high coloring and one sided conclu-
sions" in the report Of the majority; if il
be so. the minority report is fortunately
free from these most criminal characteris-
tics.
And now for little "coloring' in
the report of the minority. He says:
ga copy of the testimony has been
submitted by way of appendix to the re-
port of the majority of the committee.
The undersigned would here remark,
that this copy is but partial report Of
the testimony taken by the committee;
and that all those parts which would APP
pear 10 the advantage of the Acting Com
missioner are either left out Of the copy
oftestimony or studiously evaded in their
report. 1t must also be remembered that
all the testimony taken; was entirely ex-
parte; and that when Mr.. Swan desired
to be present at examination OF witnesses,
the committee refused him that priv
ilege."
Sir this is an elegant extract. Mr.
Chairman if the Individual who charges
me with having given garbled, partial,
and one sided report of the testimony
taken before the committee, were men,
Der of this House should be plain with
him, and should pronounce this statement,
without the least hesitation, false-as it
is sir | pronounce it utterly unfounded.
Sir do not like to deal in harsh lam
guage towards any gentleman trust |
shall never Indulge in it without suffi-
cient occasion. But sir here is decla-
ration not thrown out in the order of
deuNte from a heated imagination, but
coolly and deliberately made, charging
the majority Of the committee with the
most vile and dishonorable proceedings,
. and | repel it. repeat it sir there is
not a particle of foundation in this state
ment.-Onr mode Of taking the testimo-
ny of witnesses was briefly this: The
questions were written down by me (as
| was requested to take the evidence) as
they were propounded to the witness,
they were severally read over to him,
and his answer taken down as it fell
from his lips, and then read over to him
to ascertain whether it had been taken
down correctly. Every question was
] put down on my minutes that was desi.
red to be put down by any member Of
the committee. And it was understood
and remarked at the time that the min
utes Of the testimony should be the COM
mon property of the several members Of
the committee. endeavored in all in
stances to get the exact meaning of the
witness and his language. And as took
it down so have reported it without the
slightest coloring, alteration of meaning,
omission, or addition--except an omis-
sion in one instance in matter of no i'm
4 portance, and which formed no part of
witness introduced by the acting commits
sioner voluntarily to prove that he had
paid Skeen one of his foreman, 800 for
which he had neglected TO take a receipt
observed at the time that we were sent
TO examine the vouchers of the acting
commissioner, and if he had paid money
without taking a receipt, it was matter
which he would have to make appear
!. when he should be called upon to set
tie with the Territory. Besides suppose
he had been able to prove by this wit
ness that he had paid the money to Skeen,
would it be testimony which would ap-
pear to his advantage? Would it not
rather be another instance Of the careless
manner in which the business of the
Territory has been sometimes conducted?
The minority of the committee heard
the questions and answers read over re
peatedly, had the privilege of reading
them himself if he pleased TO do so, and
. through the whole course of the investi.
CATION he never limited in any shape or
manner that the answers were not cor.
rectly taken down by ME. And now