Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1846-04-24
UWR PRRSS
TIL DEBATE IN THE HOUSE or
REPRtSS ON THURSDAY.

mistake about them.
would not ak The indulgence Of the House fol
my personal vindcation, but the occasion involve.
the most precious privilege Of members Of this House
in which the people are represented. Its freedom o.
speech has been grossly attacked through me- by a
senator, Mr. Daniel Webster. OF HIM rs a senator OF
an individual, have never spoken here. OF Mr. Dan
lei Websier's misconduct as Secretary of State,
have often spoken, mostly TO censufe il, in the in
stance which provoked him this session with q sever.
~ which acknowledge, justties retort
All rise now 10 do. is 10 ask the House TO indulge
me with word Of explanation Of some resoutohs''o
which, suppose, there can hardly be objection,
II adopted, presume they may be answered oy
next Monday and then shall pray PERMISSION 10
speak on the subject.
One of them is designed to bring oihcialIy oeio'e
this House the journal or minutes OF the Commute
on Foreign AH'rs in February l5it wnen 'he no"
orable gen,leman from Massachusetts, MI haa"s'I
was chairman of the committee. -,
According to good precedenis and authorities, ! am
enuiled to read these minutes to the House. wthou'
it's leave. But, as doubts may be entertained, pre-
FIR to obvinte all objections by obtaining lis sanction
IN form. ,,,,
ster made known To members Of that committee, by
q written comm inicaton, the Presidents wish for
special mission to Great Britain, which special mis-
SION think 1t will sufficiently appear, was TO settle
the OREGON question, by yielding which, MIR Web
ster has lately denied our right to claim
The resolution for information, from the Depart
men' Of 5 ate will bring forth prOfs OF MIR Secreta.
~ Webstcrs mis- emeanors in office, his fraudulent
ms,ppllration and persona, use OF the public funds
and cOrruptng party presses with the money appro'
piaed by tor the contingen, expenses of FIRE 81,
intercourse When discharged, as he was from The
department To which he was % great disgrace. he
was delinquent public doan'tcr. tic did not &C
for IN public money he irauiu'enty abstract
ed from the department I'LL M than year alter
he expelled from it, and did not account for most
Of it then, by paying back the money he ahsractrd
bat by vouchers from VIGOROUSLY base agents Of his
choice, who reccipted or IT, 10 be rxpended in man
aging p,rty presses. Paper. from the Department oi
State, ne Of them signed by hun. will reveal the
mystery, of which nf hls corrupt agents IN let
ter TO hn marked 'prirdie," npplauds as MIR Web
stcr's new an admirable mode Of settling the North
Eastern uniiry e.ton, after 40 wears blum Ter
ing, however honest and patriotic. of Washington,
the Adamses, Jrfi.r Madison, Monroe Jack son.
and Van b ucn who did not consider il right 10 ex-
pend public moneys in corrupns the press and the
people.
/, is sckenng, if not sal reality, thntn man of fine
abilities. as preposterous'v rs profanrly misca led
God.like, should be exposed III his mean aud paitry
contrivances and associations with VIGOROUSLY ba e
fellows in the pnlpably vile misuse of the puhi, mon
ey. When spoke the offensive words Of the Secre-
tary which appear to have goadel him to the mad.
ness general y beravng the guilty, had no idea oil
the extent of his offence. Indeed have MT now,
for detection has only begun since he called me to It,
One OF his coad tutors writes 10 the Secretary of Sta e
that he presunes the contingent fund is ample, and
the Secrearys control over it complete
These papers. when made printed documents, will
show also, application of the same secret contingent
Webster 10 reported 10 have said IN the Senate th al
there only one letter that subject, three in one
and the same day will appear.
Whether, when possessed Of the proofs OF Mi Sec.
rotary Webster's malversaon, corruption and dcln-
quency, his offences will be deemed imreachable mis-
demeanOrs in office, conviction for which might re.
move him from the Senate and disqualify him 10
hold any Office Of honor, trust or profit, under the U.
States will remain 10 be considered.
Should 1t prove niece sary to 20 to that extremity
the simllitude will he wonderful with great English
lawyer called by poet The wisest and meanesi oil
mankind.
1t will lie perceived that the detection, il am NOT
mistaken which my :rmer disclosures may lead 10
merge my lndvi lual wrong, and even the injustice
done through me 10 the representative character,
freedom and the privileges Of this Hnuscin the much
greater importance Of mlsdrmcanor in office. When
Congress sees the proofs propose 10 submit, ttey
will Judge all parties aud do what is right. is use
less and would he worse than nse,s for me to apply
erihe,- to Mr. Webster. desire to try him, and be
tried myself by proofs.
l now offer the following resolution, to which
presume now objection will be made. ak that they
may he read for information.
The resolutions were then read. They were
subsequently modified in enc or two par.icu
lars, and to save repetition We give them here
Is they finally passed, instead Of in the form in
which they wtre first proposed
Reso'red Tina, the President of the United States
be requested to cause TO be Urnshed 10 this House
thca,es from the fund appropriated by law, through
the agency of the State Department, for the con,n
gent expenses Of foreign intercourse, since the 4tf
day of March, 1871, until the retirement Of DAME
Webster, Esq from the Department OF State with
copies Of all entries, receipts, letters vouchers,
orandums. or other evidence of such payment - Il
whom paid, for what, and particularly all concerning
tho North Eastern boundary dispute, with Grea
Britain. Also, copies of whatever communication
were made from the Secretary of State during tn,
last session of the 2lst ongress, particularly Feb
n ~ L A l.
bers of the committee of this House on Foreign Al
fairs, of The with of the President Of the United State
20 institute special mission TO Great Britain. Ais
copies Of all letters on the books of the Department
of State 10 any officer Of the United States an,
person in New York, concerning Alexander Mcleod
Provided that no document or matter is requested Il
be furnished by the foregoing resolution which, il
the opinion of the President, would improperly in
vove the citizen or SUI -ct Of any foreign power.
Resoped, That the Chairman Of the Committee OIL
Foreign Affirs submit to this House the journal G
minutes OF that committee, during the last session
the eth Congress.
Mr. Mckay, of North Carolina, objected to tn
passage Of the resolutions, on the ground that
was highly ineSpedicnt to expose the use tia
had been made Of the secret service fund. II
sad:
II has always been The policy Of this governmer
10 place at the disposal of The President fund whir
is denomlna,ed the service fund that is n
appropriation, annually made for The contingent e!
penses OF Foreign intercourse has been placed AT II
disposition of the Executive, AMI a part of ii can
applied IL secret service And there is law IN II
statute book, cOeva with the formation of the go,
ernmeni, which authorizes n settlement al the Trea
ury Departm nj OF the accounts for such portion
this contingent appropriations as NAV be made O
the certificate Of the President Ii the senileman,t
his resolutions intends To call for all papers that ma
be file in relation 10 this sub ecf, the very ohe
OF Jhe law authorizing these expenditures To he mat
will be completely defe1 ed. And it vii stand as
precedent 10 justly similar proceeding in oil fulu
cases.
of a question of order which was, in the meal
time, raised, Mr. Ingersoll claimed the floor,
being still his right, and resumed his remark
saying:
had put in wiring, and that very briefly all wifi
thought II was neces AIRY 10 refer TO- and IN
other things might be reserved for the coming in
the papers. ! say through you to this House III
my resolution predicaes a gross abuse of that fur
My resolution asserts that Mr. Secretary Webster h
expended through vile agents part of that fund in CO
Tupiing the press, and corrup,ing the party press
the put pose OF accomplishing the treaty OF the Nor
Eastern boundary and the question for this Hor
10 decide now is whether if there were forty la
from beyond the beginning Of the government, a
gentleman would prevent these papers from bel
brought forward. Sir this is an extraordinary ca,
this j. no common case. i would be the last mi
sir, land should have known nothing about his
for my connection with the Committee on Fore
Affairs and fom what I know, and have kno
about these matiers) should be the last man to
terfere with the ordinary application OF this secret
vice money. But will state what know to be
fact, and what presume the chairman Of the Co
miltec Of Ways and Means knows to be the fact, 4