Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1850-08-16
SPEECH
OF
HON. EDWARD STANLY
OF North Carolina,
On the GaEphin Claim
S p e E G II

lie report OF the select committee,
/ made on the letter of the Secretary of War.
concerning the payment of the Galphin
claim, being under consideration
Mr.. STANLT said: regret, very much,
Mr. Speaker, that the House refused to Law
on the table the report of the Galphin claim.
voted in small minority to dispose of
this matter by laying it on the table, and
did SO with the view of enabling the
House 70 proceed with the public business.
The appropriation bills, which are indis-
PenSabIe for the support of the Govern
ment, are not yet acted on. California is
still cruelty kept out Of the Union. Thous-
ands OF laborng men in our country are
begging us to protect them from the effects
OF the. British tariff of l84G-a tariff
which we are informed gives great salts
faction to England. Hundreds of honest
claimants are supplicating us to act upon
bills reported for their relief. All these
matters are demanding attention, while we
are wasting our time in ridiculous efforts
TO make, Or to prevent making, party CAPT
tai out OF the Gal phin report. Let the
/ Government stand slill-let California wait
let the British lion complacenty smile
at the folly of the Americans, who, boast
lug OF their freedom, are making them
selves as dependant on England as if we
were still her colOnies-let honest creditors
sufier-the Galphin claim alone demands
all patriotic consideration. If gentlemen
on the other side of this hall, who have
elected their Speaker and their Clerk, and
have control here, will insist in thus spend
ing time, 1t is becoming and proper that
we look into other matters of improper
conduct among their friends.
But first, 4 few words on the Galphn
claim. | regret, as every gentleman in the
country must, that the Secretary of War
continued TO act as an agent of this claim
while he held his place in the Cabinet. 1t
is matter of taste and of delicacy, about
which we may differ, as it seems we do
differ. But | think there is an opinion
nearl Y unanimous that ii was not becom-
ing in Mr.. Crawford TO act as an agent of
this claim while he was in the Cabinet.
As a member Of party, his conduct was
lncOnsIderate, if not unkind, towards the
other members of the Cabinet. But no
honorable man has imputed any thing dis
honorable TO Mr.. Crawford. His conduct
has been unfortunate and unwise, but his
integrity stands fair and unimpeached.
The Wing party are no more to blame
for this act of his, than the Locofoco party
is for Mr.. Van Buren's bad conduct, or
for the indellcacy or improprety which
marked the conduct Of Gen. Cass, in OBJ
tanning sirfy-eigM thousand dollars for
extra allowances, which Congress never
authorized to be paid, nor for his forming
a company, while in the Cabinet, to specu-
late in public lands. Neither the conduct
OF Mr.. Crawford nor of General Cass has
been criminal. Both, in my judgment,
have been unjustifable. As Secretary of
War, General Cass could have advantages
which citizens of the country could not
have. He had opportunities of enabling
his company 10 monopolizc the choice
tracts of land, to know when they would
be IN market, and then to raise the price
and sell them 10 settlers who were com
PEELED to purchase. The Wing party have
not endorsed. and never will endorse or
sanction, Mr.. Craw(ord's conduct. The
LocOfoco party made Gen. Cass their
standard-bearer, unan0inled and unau-
nealed,' with all these sins on his head.
When they shout e Galphin, Galphin,"
are we not justified in retoring " Sixty
eight thousand dollars extra allowances
speculations in public lands ?" | do not
intend to assail Gen. Cass personally. |
only refer TO we'll known facts. No Wing,
who has any self-respcCt, or any regard for
public opinion, will violate all the decencies
of life by uttcring calumnics in relation TO
this gentleman. And he who imputes dis
honesty to either Mr.. Crawford or Mr..
Cass, merits and will receive the contempt
of all fair-minded men. They will both
comfort themselves with the reflection
'Tis but the fate of place, and the rough brake
That virtue must go through"
1t is only to be regretted that they did
not farther reflect, that
"Things done well,
And with care exempt themselves from fear
Things done without example, in their issue
Are to be feared
They are to be blamed for a bad exam
pie they forgot that Z" all things are lawful
unto me, but all things are not expedient." "
A few words more on the Galphin claim.
The act for the relief of Gaphin is in
the following words
q BE IL enacted, Sc, That the Secretary of the
| Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized and
required to examine and adjust the claim of the
late George Gaphin, under the treaty made by the
GOuernor Of Georgia lcih tie Greek and Cherokee
Indians in the year seventeen hundred and seven
tythree, and TO pay the amount ,chich may be found
due to Milledge Galphin, executor of the said
George Galphin, out of any money in the treas
ury not Otherwise appropriated.
Approved August II, l54S.n
The wrong in this case, if any wrong