The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1851-06-11
The Claims and Claimants on the Public



great cal has been recently said in the news |
papers, and In letters from Washington, on the
subject of claims upon the Trsssury-their charac-
ter, quantity, pretensions, peculiarites, SC, &c
Much of the information thus given has been con-
uected with the Florida interest claims, and the
srge batch of Mexican claims which were disposed
of by the Board of Commissioners which recently
sat in Washington. The Washington letter writers,
protesting TO be partzans of the cabinet and Of the
government, have let out q great many curious
facts in connection with these claims the principles
on which they we're settled, and the modern mo-
rality involved in their prosecution, up to the day
Of their payment into the particular pockets where
the funds finally found a resting place Erastss
Brooks, one of the editors of this city, is now in
Washington, and gives little fresh inform atIca on
this subject. In recen. letter of his we fri the
following very interesting particulars -
There about the Treasury legion OF caisants and
agents Of claims ExSenators, x1embers q Con
retired cabinet ministers heads Of bureaus sgned
clerks and clerks who have leT ngount-ily are the
persons VITO prosecute the cisns The s-shyss Of the
xepar been ranse-ked TO make out
against The government and eTch year tiy 10 null
tply ther thas diminish Ii the government officers
we're OF singusrly attentive to the pGtdc Interests
as its resources are the wclld be left
wtk a beegared treasury--E Brcose Correspondence in
! ne EIpress.
!
connected with the govern nc~t, who became inte-
! rested in all these various claims, is eqsal to
legion-in the nassning OF e.Ae word used Blythe
Holy Apostle, 81. John The Evangelist, tho same
who wrote the rocalypse. We should like Mr
Brooks to narae She vsrierc ex-Senators, ex.mem-
bers of Congress- and ex-caoinet ministers, 4 I&e
alluded TO in his revele lions from Washington
! Mr.. Corwia and the other members of the ca.
bnet mostly ex-Serators, and ex-members Of
Congress. Does he s-ude to them Indeed, il
seems To be admitted all hands that every
! public efscer, of acy standing or reputation
holdingsay social position of respect must by
indirect means, thirst his hands into the public
treasury, in order to procure the wherewithal t.
defray the high expenses of the present times i'm.
posed Vpon him b. the fashions of the day. We
have seard it estimated that the en- Senator'S ex.
members Of Congress- and ex-casinet ministers
sc, ,&c, durisg the last twenty years, have OBJ
tanned from the public treasury, in the shape o.
fees for agencies and legal opinions on the
matter Of claims, sum amousting TO ten or
twenty millions Of dollars over and abeve their
regular per dem allowance, inclrGing as hong
stretched mileage it possible to get MIR.
Whttlesey to pass. This is false position for our
| great men, and wonderful patriots, and mighty
\ politicians, % occupy. he mSeretle pittance OF
pay, including mileage, or the salaries Of members
of the cabinet, down to those of the smallest Gle *,
ought to be graduated to the scalecf prices Of beet
and mutton of the pre- day, and according to
I that ofthe last century.
! We ere afraid howe yer, that the present s~stem
in yoguec,nong the N'i, according 20 the II con-
LESSONS sud revelations, would, in the old Saxon
vernacalAr, be called corruptcn, gross corrW ton
theft pa,pable theft-plunder, open plunder-steal
ing une 3uivocal stealing; but, fortunately for the
moral reputation Of these ageutc Of the govern
ment and the great inca at Wellington, if the
prices 81 mutton and expease ofd;nner pa.ties, and
the cos. Of fish and so,recs, are higher now than
| they were half a century ego, the meaning Of Ian
guage has changed Sc as &c cores pom. with the
diferczce in prices Of victuals and whiting. The
saiestS7ay, hereafter, would be &c hcve positive
inerssee OF fifty, hundped, kundred and fifty
per cect all public ssariee il orders0 save those
who receive them from the practices which they
now a iopt, and which historyswiu certainly pro
Dou1cc an indirect mode OF ssealing>api pundering
the prJlc treasury.