Wheeling times and advertiser. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1839-1849, 1848-03-13
SPEECH OF Mr.. THOMPSON OF IA

oman from Maryland and himself ,vere n, !.
..'r' ihst gentlemen had at first said mat
leNas. had. by an act Of Carrr-s. bsan IA.
Ntjed into Two collection districts tho ves-
tern Boundary Of one of which was the IA,
drande. He had. on the other hind shown.
oy me Jaw Itself. that the " hole SAT- al FER
a INSTITUTED hut one collection district. OF
when Corpus Chustl was the FL rene we..
Tern limit. Aiisr his former speech was
male' ne mad looked into the re ,orts from
the ir-asury Department. had examined the
D'ue DOOM and every other source OF inlpr.
hnauon upon which he could lay his hands.
ina hsd oeen unable to fnA any other refer.
NaCe 10 thls district THAI that which he had
thAle IN ms speech and in the note attached
II No"here IN any public document. or
~ any ooos' cou't he hnd the appointment
" an Inspector OF customs. al Point Isabel
ne uaI therefore stated th-t no such officer
mad everbern appointed. What the A5nin-
's''a,''n NAV OF nav not have done siace me
war otgan. has nothing to do with the qnes-
uoH' 'of II mas now appointed officers OF the
customs ia many OF the ports oil Mexico
These appointments are made by yittue nj
rshls Claimed by the President rs a military
eonquero.t. But there is no public recom
ni any civh appointment of an Inspector al
h'Nt tlNtNi ptibTf OF Since Alt
war began. tie has, at all events. searched
Tar aud has been unable TO find any such: and
he does not believe that any such can be
found, He has heard, some tim. ago. that
there Is a military inspectator OF customs Al
Point Isabel, but no such civil officer OF this
Government there. He does not kaow how
The TACT Is, but he does know that. if the
President or The Secretary OF the Treasury has
appointed such a civil officer there, il has
been done without authority OF lax. as il il
not within any collection district of the
United States. And he also kpows that. If
such appointment has been made. no report
OF II has been made heretofore TO Congress,
OF the country. Ii has never been off i lly
communicated, nor had he, or the Hous. n,
the go Intry, received any public nD..ce there.
oil until th- gentleman IRON H..arylsu1 read
some letters here on yesfs flay. which he had
obtained at the otl.e OF the Secretary OF The
treasury. inere was something very sineu-
lar. 10 his mind, sbout this mode OF condnct-
ing public business. but il seemed to b. a "a.
vorte mode with this Administration When
he (Mr- IT, had spoken. in his former speech.
OF the order 10 Gen. Taylor TO march 10 the
Rio Grdnde having bern giving before the
President knew that Mr.. Slidell was rejected.
ne nat been told by the gentleman from
Car1linia (Mr. Rhett) that the tact OF Mr..
Stldeirs rejection was Communicated 10 the
Government IN a paper which had not yet,
even TO the presentday been made public
he then asked the gentleman from South
Carolina where he had procured a sight OF
That paper, and ms T espon>e was that he had
seen II, but a day or tyo before. in the De.
paftment OF War. He repeated, that it is a
most singular mode OF proceeding that the
GoSStnHent should have certain documents
wstc1oughi TO b. public, reserved only icr
the sight 81 the friends OF the Administra-
ton, when nobody else knew their Contents.
10 b. used here just as tn. occasion might
require. mat was precisely the character OF
the information Yesterday communicated By
the gentleman from Maryland in relation to
an inspectator at Point Isabel. But, not-
"lihslaufing It was thus, for the first Ii ne,
made pubilc,it proved nothing more than
what ne (Nr, IT, had already sfii-that this
InsPectatnr was a military officer. The letter
from the Collector at Gitveston to the Sscre-
tary of the Treasury, which the gentleman
had read, was dated February 10. ls16-
more THAI one month after Gen. 'faylor was
ordered 10 the Rio Grnnie. His letter rec
commended an inspector to be appointed al
toiht isaosl, ant gave as a fess51 therefore
that he had beeu advised that the United
States forces now lthenl stationed at Corpus
Christi " re under orders 10 remove there.
ms shows that the necessity OF this appoint
inent was occasloned by the movements Of
the army, and that the appointment was a
military one. Under this recommendation ,
Il was made BY the Secretary OF The Treasury,
on the 9Th March. 1916, nearly two months
after General Taylor had been ordered 10 the
Rio Grande. Here, then, was a solution OF
he whole matter. The Inspector was a
military olhcer, not responsible 10 any law Of
the United States, but alone TO the President
and the Secretary OF the Treasury. He rad
no doubt that, II the whole truth could be
gotat, 1t wouid turn out that, al this day, the
custom were collected there under the mil
ltary orders in council and the tariff oil du-
ties which the President and his Secretaries
had caused TO be issued. BY the same su-
thority they had appointed collectors and IN
spectors at Vera Cruz and Tampico.
MIR McLane (Mr r. yielding for e%xplsna-
tion) would state 10 the m aud 10 the
gentleman from Indiana, who seemed to have
forgotten what The law of the land was about
inspectors OF customs, that the laws OF the
United States required the collector OF a dis
lrlct 10 ncmlnate the Inspector, and that he
should be confirmed By the Secretary OF the
Treasury. Tina, was a civil ofbee. known TO
The laws OF the land; and thu civil officer
was at Point Isabel. But The " understood
TO say) no such civil oihceIs We're at Vera
Cru aud Tampico; they were military 9th
Gers.
Mr. Thompson continued. He presumed
he knew, perhaps as we'll ss the gentlemaa
himself did. that. BY the acts OF Congress OF
| 799 and 1904, the power 10 appoint inspec-
tors was given 10 the Secretary OF the Treasu-
~, upon the nomination OF the collector
But that dill not in any manner change this
question. THIS Is a question OF power. Had
either the President or his Secretary OF the
Treasury tue power 10 act IN drha &c OF an
act o, Congress, which pointed out W exc
thesa officers should be located, and appoint
an officer beyond The limits fixed By law
Had either the Presiden, or his Chancellor
OF the Exchequef' the civil power to act up
on the nomination of an Inspector from a
collector al Monterey, on the Paciic; or could
they, by virtue Of any civil authority, orlrr
an officer OF the United States 10 reside thtre?
He repeated. that The whole question was one
of power. Neither the Pfesi lent nor he
Secretary OF the Treasury had tn power; they
acted alone under military authority.
He (Mt t. thought h, had now shown the
committee and the gentleman iron Mary
land that, 50 lar from weakening any position
which had been taken by him (Alr r.) IN his
original speech, every single one had been
strengthened and fortified By the Argument Of
the gentleman on yesterday. That which the
gentleman seemed TO consider the mos inpor.
tant difference between them could not now
bat be fully understandable meant the ap
polnlment OF inspector al Point lsIbel. lie
would repeat, that there might BE- no mistake
as to his position that II the Secretary OF The
Treasury, BY virtue OF the military "
giyen him bN lhe PIesldenl. had lnnnght nrnn.