The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1843-01-28

Mr. Charles J. tauett 10 appear ooivie 'iN"' -
give testimony under oath in regard 10 the mat.eis
referred 10 them which is hereunto annexed Ger
tain notes written by tie acting President Mr. y'el,
were also produced before US, copies OF whieh We
also annex These, together with the testimony Oh
the witnesses, Will explain the whole case
Examination Of Mr. Albion A. PARIS, before he Com
uaiilee on Public Expenditures Goth May, io42
Being sworn, MIR. Paris states That as TO the
directions the President may have given, hey all aP
pear here so far he knows and It was moi o" ms
directions that he mn Paris acted bul on inc opin'on
of The Alto, nsy Gen raj Received no veroai eommu-
nicatIon from the President Mr.. Catlett frequently
said 10 him what the President said Mr. said q
good deal does not recolleet that MIR. Catletl told
him that the President aid that If The accounting OIL
fcers did not allow the claim, he would md some
body that would. The great question oas, whether nc
proofs brought the claim uin The purpeao Of the lao' q
1916 and 1911
No message toas brought TO him. from The President 10
iOio The claim and u he had reeirsd any, ne ho"id
not hare obeyedu.
MIR Catlett said good deal about what the Pre-
sident said that the President said this, and 'he
President said that but cannot recollec what he sau
particularly
Examination Of Charles j. Catien, before he Committee
on Public Expenditures, May 70, 1872
Mr. Charles J. Catlett being sworn and examined,
states that he got friend TO call the President,
to ask him TO lay his papers before the Attorney Gen
eral. After the opinion Of the Attorney General was
given, the President gave Mr. Catlett note to the
accounting officers. MIR. Catlet could not tell what
the difficulty with the accounting officers was. They
refused to act till they got an explanatory opinion
Mr.. Tyler gave Mr. Catlett the letter to the officers,
dated 2lst September lS4l, which he MIR c. show
ed to the chief clerk in the Third Auditors Office he
then went back to the President, who made some re-
mark of this kind namely that if they would not al
low the amount, he would could find somebody
that would Does not know whether he mentioned
this in the presence Of the accounting officers or not,
but his impression is that he did he did not mention
it to others Mr. Catlet states that Mr. Miller, First
Auditor, present when the President made this
remark.
Copies Of memorandums and Instructions Of the Presi-
dent.
Let Mr.. Catlett procure a statement of the amount
Of his debt to the Government
Let him have contingent statement made of the
value of the tobacco lst at the war price ID, at
the peace price and let these be reported to me.
JOHN TYLER
Mr.. Hagner will make the statement early as
possible.
The President has carefully examined the opinion
of the Attorney General the report from the Third
Auditors office, and the leading facts attendant on
the destruction of the tobacco, and can reason
TO differ with the Attorney General in the conclusion
TO which he has come, that Mr.. Catlett is fairly
titled to remuneration for the tobacco destroyed and
the only difficulty being to ascertain whether he is
entitled to receive the war or peace price and either
the the other exceeding the claim of the Gov
eminent against him, think it proper that he should
receive quietus or discharge from the Government
for its claims. Such discharge will therefore be Civ
en- and credit be allowed to that extent the books
of the Treasury
JOHN TYLER.
SEPTEMBER 81, lS4l
Memorandum copied from the original by j. H. Smith.
The President has examined the claim of Charles
j. Catlet, under the special act passed Tor his relief
and, believing to be merorious claim, directs the
accounting officers to re-eXamne the case, and II
they cannot admit the cain, TO report the case spe-
ciay TO him. with their for their disallow-
AS soon as practicable.
SEPTEMBER 90, 1912.
This, fellow-citzens, is the case npon which
Mr.. Bolts POUNDS his first charge and this !.
the sole accusation which be can bring againstth
President of having ordered thousands to b,
drawn from the public Treasury without the au
thorityof law" II will be SEEN however, that The
above report is very meagre one, and what i.
more, very unfair one, and does no credit or homo
TO the Committee who made it, Why did the,
suppress the letters of Mr. Crittenden, the Their
Attorney General, by whose opinions" Mr.
Paris acted2 Why have they not stated il
their report all the facts in the case
1t highly improbable that any further re
port will be made by that committee, as it ha
ceased 10 exist, but their names ought to b.
handed down 10 posterity, as highly honorable
men, who, when the character of the Chief Ma
gistrate Of the Union was in their hands, suf
Tered report to go from them, satisfied as they
were of his entire innocence) which was
gaIbled and incomplete.
Committee on Public Expenditures
Mr.. Shepperd, of North Carolina
" Linn, of New Yo,k;
" Hudson, of Massachusetts
" Stuart, of Illinois
q" Merwether, of Georgia;
GREEN, Of Kentucky
Llttefeld, Of Name
=" Mcclellan OF New York.
We will now briefly state the facts in tn,
case. During he last war with Great Britain
Mr.. Charles }. Callett, Of Virginia, was possessed
OF a certain number of hogsheads of tobacco
""'N' "''N 7NN'Su III MS warehouses; on lht
river Potomac. The British troops are wei
known TO have come up that river for the pur
pose of injuring the citizens of the United
States, by destroying or carrying away all o
their property they could lay their hands upon
To repress their aggressions, the militia along
the coast were called out, and at one pauicula
point of attack, the hogshesds of tobacco belong
ing to Mr.. Catlet were rolled out Of the ware
house to form a breastwork for the defence o
the militia, and with their assistance they wer,
able TO drive off the enemy. After the enem,
retired, the militia returned to their homes, an,
The English, taking that opportunity ofreturnipg
themselves, destroyed the tobacco which hat
formed the breastwork for the defence of tn