Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1846-05-07
CONGRESS.

twice and ordered to be printed, togethe with a
report accompanying IT.
In the House ]. G. Ingersoll reiterated lis odous
calumnles against Mr.. Webster, repeating what he
had already charged, but which has evey where
been received with indignant contempt, by all hon
orablo men, and which were LIST, unlawful use of
the secret service fund; I'd, misapplicatoi of said
fund to corrupt the party press Sd, Leaving the
Department of State a defaultcr and went on to
show that the secret service fund was always kept
in the hands of the " discussing agent" Of the De-
parment of State, and that during the first twelve
months of his administration OF that Office, Mr.
Webster drew from that fund, on his own orders,
payable to himself the sum of $4,000, and there
was evidence in the Department of State to show
that this proceeding did not receive the sanction
of the President. OF this $4,000, Mr.. Webster
returned $4,000 on the 23d of June, 1872; and
$ll50 was settled by Presidents certificate in July,
1912, the greater part of which was applied to the
corruption of the public press, through the agency
of Mr. f. o. j. Smith. Mr.. Ingersoll slid that
after crediung sundry other items, Mr. Webster
was still delaulor to the amount of $4,000 when
he left the office, and the account was not finally
settled until the 18th February, 1915.
This pi,fu and malignant assault was most tr-
umphantly met, and the tables turned upon the ca
umniator, by Hon. George Ashmun, of Mass. who
was permitted TO reply by vote of l25 to p. He
rcbuked in the severest terms, the unproyoked and
unjust attack of lngersol, and then going back
into the slonderer's own history, he exposed the
repeated instances Of like offences.
Need lie remind the gentleman Of the name of
Stockton? That noble minded man slandered
to his face-openly fnlsilied in this Hall; and
could the gentleman soon forget the reributon that
follow the scariiying process so memorably in
nicted on the sanderer? Tradition told to this day
of the whitening, scathing, blasting eoquence
poured forth by injured and indignant virtue in the
presence of the House; it continued to tell that
tho ,noD l,o Ind utto tlo hnco ibpl uuoblp n
endure the agony that consumed hun, rose up and
left the Hall, crying like whipped school boy
NJ. a. should have thought that this might have
proved a sufficient warning not to repeat the com
mission of the same crime The lesson however,
seemed not to have been wholly thrown away-lt
had at least served to teach this gentleman never
again 20 make a sanderous attack of that descrip-
ton in the presence of the individual sandered ;
and Mr.. a. agreed with his friend and colleague
(Mr. Adams) that the gentleman from Pennsy lvania
would have sooner bitten off his own tongue than
have dared to utter what he had done, had Mr..
Webster been present TO hear and reply But Mr..
Webster was not here. and forany immediate reply
to remarks however injurious. he must rely on Il
few friends IN this Hall. The course which this
gentleman had pursued toward Mr.. Stockton was
followed again in the case Of the pure, the ire
proachable the incorruptible Chief Justice Mar.
shall, on whom, together with other Judges of the
Supreme Court, he had made the charge Of direct
personal corruption in the case of the Bank Of the
lion and slonderons ob,,se seemed in have hnrned
within his breast even to this late day; when, with
tLo s"rnn Is1rocofn conrsn in lie oil ngo
Mr.. A. proceeded TO point out the gross and pal
pabe miscellaneous of Ingersol making him
fairly squrm in his seat The light in which lie
held up his prying INTO the secret papers of the
Stnte Benartment was nerfcctlv cycpriating Tie
CHARGED back UPON Inperso the crime of necula
ton. committed during the administration Of lack
son. which Mr.. J. r. InoersoH. n WHO brother Of
the hbeler. sought TO explain awav. Now. contin-
ued Mr.. A., it is by such person. and under such
circumstances. that these CHARGES AGAINST such n
man as Daniel Webster had been BROUGHT; and
charges of 2ecuaton, TOO charges of the misuse
of public money and Of being turned out of office.
and found defauler What proof or shadow of
proof had been adduced of the chief charge of uil
viz: that Mr. Webster had applied the public mon
ey for his private use Mr.. Webster had pronoun-
ced the charge utterly false, and ii had not pagcle
Of testimony to support it.
At length, goaded almost to madness by the
crushing philippe of Mr.. A., ngersoll interrupted
him with the gross charge of lie. Mr. A., how
ever, had the true courage and real manness to
treat the backguard with the contempt such Ian
guage deserved, and concluded as follows:
! have done all undertook TO do ] have done
what believed TO be my duty in the case. have
gust and contempt. | know, indeed, until human
nature should be changed, that there would be
some disposed to uphold the gentleman from Penn.
sylvania yet have confidence that all honorable
and upright men would do full justice in the case,
and would fix on the author of foul ISLANDERS like
these, sentence of condemnation aud reprobation,
which would stand unrcvoked and unavoidable,
until repentance, long, deep, and sincere, should
claim mercy for the offender.
Mr. Schenck, Wing member from Ohio offered
IA resolution, which, subsequently modified, was as
follows, ana which was adopted without opposition.
LIST. ReSoiued, That Select Committee OF .
members be appointed to inquire how the seal OF
confidence imposed by law and heretofore uniform
y preserved, IN relation to the expenditure OF SAID
secret service fund, has come to be broken; and
how the said Charles j. lngersol has obtained the
information which he has communicated to this
House and to the public, and through whose agency
such information has been procured whether by
the act OF SAID lngerso himself, or by any officer