Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1848-02-29
ELISHA RIees, ESQ, Chairman. dc.

| growing out of a statement in writing
made by me, and read at a meeting Of
subscribers to the loan of 81, 500, 900 for
the completion of the Illinois and Michi
gan Canal, which statement contained
some allegations in relation to the man.
agement ofthe Canal, beg leave, on my
part, to submit Report in connection
with the same subject.
shall review some of their conduct,as
we'll as some OF the testimony given be.
fore them, and at the same time append
such testimony as has been furnished
me since their departure, in connection
with the same matter.
In the paper read at the meeting above
referred to, | stated very generally, such
of the complaints as had most frequently
reached me. and which supposed to have
some foundation in fact, else they would
not have existed. All have done in the
premises has been done ia pursuance of
my duty and without any other stimulart.
have no motive for preferring com
plants against my associate Trustees or
against Mr.. Gooding, except that which
duty prompts. Did l consult my own
ease and advantage, l should mos, Ger.
tainiy cooperate with them, and by con.
niving at their wrongs, or not by striving
to correct them, my position would proba-
bly, be more agreeable, my annoyances
! much less frequent, and the tolls and per.
plexities of Office would be, in great de-
gree, avoided.
That paper was never intended for any
other purpose that to convey to the sub.
scribers to the loan, some knowledge of
what was heard in this vicinity at almost
every hour-that they might at least know
that such things as complaints existed
if they thought advisable. that those com
plants should be inquired into and inves
tigated-and if fault existed, to have a
corrective applied. That paper did not
contain an indictment or articles of i'm
parchment. nor did it profess to e:nbody
with any particular distinctness, all or
any of the causes Of grievance. Hence
my surprize when found nv associate
Trustees unwilling to listen to, or inquire
into any thing beyond the mere contents
OF that paper Messrs. Swift and Leavitt
replied to me THAT the charges contained
in the paper read at the New York meet
ing, )" were all they would take cognizance
ot-as If their commission had only that
end, and their whole duty confined to that
limit Had these gentlemen desired to
perform their whole duty, they ought not
to have hesitated TO investigate any wrong
or correct any fault Of commission or O.
mission in their own conduct or that OF
their subordinates. And while they noo
desire that the Governor should flrnis h
them with any ties money he may receive
to the end 'that they might remove the
Chief Engineer from the place he occu-
pies" they then thought their authority
and duty hegan and ended with the paper
read at the meeting in New York. am
ignorant of any power they now posses s.
to remove that officer, that they had not
when they we're here. Ifthey desired, in
good faith. to ascertain the propriety OF
his conduct, they ought to have CO .oper-
ated with me, and to have permitted
charges made in any form, TO be investi
gated; and if the accused could not ex-
culPate himself, here among his friends.
and surrounded by his btneticiaries, their
duty was plain. | am certain it was nc
part OF their duty to suppress any truth
nor permit their subordinate to avoid q
fair investigation by limiting his accusers
TO particular phrases or terms.
| had heard the complaints, because !
resided nearer to the sources of them than
my associates-I reported them to the
bondholders, because | believed they had
some foundation 1t was as much the
business of my associates, as it was mine
to investigate those complaints, and il
becomes them to strive to convert me into
an informer and accuser, and 10 assume
to themselves all the impartiality anc
justice which belong to better men.
Throughout the whole of this proceed
ing, the effort has been assiduously made
70 place me in the position of a prosecutor
and to throw allthe odium upon my should
ers, as if my conduct has been governed
. by resentment alone -and my motives
I were all base. si m 2. ID 3
In their ssport. my associate Trustees
say that "have made charges publicly
J OF a serious nature against themselves. ant
that 1t was my duty to substan,iate tn,
charges by open testimony" This fac
shows under what feelings they were act
!, ing, and with how little confidence justic,
might have been expected from them to
q wards any action Of mine. '.p5i - jig
e They feltthemselves accused, and wer
e to sit in judgement upon their own con
i duct; and almost as a matter Of course
. their sympathies and their lesrning, apar
from ell other considerations, would b