The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-04-07

speech on Mr. Hatsh. of nris.

Speech Of Mr.. Hatch, Of Mris,
| IN ASSEMBLY, MARCH 26, 1852, ON THs REPORT or
| THE JOINT INVESTIGATING ConaITTEg, ON TIE as-
CENT CANAL LETTINGS.
Mr.. Speaker suppose the amendment Of She
! gentleman nom Tompkins embraced the whole sub
jeet matters Of fraud if any, OF Illegally, if any,
in these lettings. True, il does not in express terms
declare the contracts valid and legal but it seeks to
make them so, by directing the Auditor TO pay the
drafts Of the Canal Commissioners. The question
comes up under his amendment, whether these let
tings aEo to be affirmed disaffrmed-and 1t is 10
this point that shall contno the remarks intend
| to make on this subject this evening. The question
| of afirmancc or dsaffirmance of tho lettings-for
| neither the courts, nor the Canal Board, nor the
Legislature has yet pronounced them cOntracts-sho
question. repeat, Of aiiirmancc or Disturbance,
has been before the courts, and q venerable judge,
before whom it was presented, has not met il we
had hoped. The Canal Board, in The exercise Of a
duty which have commended belonged to them, have
not metit. 1t has been tossed backward and for
| ward, from tho courts and from the Canal Board
| and the question now comes to this house, mean
the question Of the afirmance Or Disturbance Of
these lettings. This house, this Legislature, has
got to decide it and am obliged TO the gentleman
nom Tompkins that his amendment embraces the
whole subject matter Of these lettings, or, said
before, the whole-the whole subject of the fraud
and illcgality of these lettings. No man regrets
more than do, the necessity which compels me to
take the floor Of this house again on this question
hadhoped that either before the courts the Canal
Board, the question would have been disposed Of, and
tnaL cuOrJ am now Cuilcu upon 10 make, unuer
high sense of duty could have been avoided The
test in which we are engaged--for the question in
wolves the whole lettings--is an unequal one On
one side are the peoples reprcsentatiyes-on the
| other is the State. The power OF the State is in
terposed to protect its officers and 20 shield official
denquencies / say, therefore, that the contest in
which we arc now engaged, is an unequal one; for
against us are the State officers and the patronage
Of the government. The trained bands, the trained
officials, the recipients Of official patronage, united
with the power Of the State to put down the repre-
sentatives of the people-those who would endeavor
| to follow out fraud say, TO put them down, in
every possible way have said on another occa-
| zion, that in former contest between corrupt
monied power and the people, the corrupt monied
power had its feed attornies and creatures, hired
advocates everywhere, that the press had been cor
| rupted by them; and ] do not hesitate to say that
here, in this contest against this corrupt combina
tiOn, pOrtien of the press Of this State has be-
come corrupted; that it has become venal--that it
garbles facts and pandcrs to the deprayed desires
of mercenary class, and corrupts the public senti
nent which surrounds US. All know that in the
material world, decaying and rotten matter throws
| up it's mists and obscures the natural vision, and
through the dim and hazy atmosphere, objects be-
come distorted and mis-shapen. So in the political
world. private SANDER is also abroad-personal
defamation-the towards weapOn--which follows
the steps Of erring humanity to note its trips, and
misrepresent every action of the life Of those it
would assail 1t is against such an array of official
| power, and corrupt sentiment so created, and
against such cowardly and fagitious means that
the peoples representatives arc called upon to in
terpose the unterri6ed sovereign power, which the
people have conded to them, in order that the rot
ten spots of the government might be cut out. All
| know that
| The flesh will culver where the pnccrs tear.
The blood will follow where the knife is driven.
When you strike from the clutch ofavarice its i'll
gotten gain--when you dash from the lips Of the
political profgatc his bowl Of wicked pleasure
every man knows you strip the bitterest hostility
you rouse up the worst passions OF the heart--and
that man or set of men that undertake to withhold
the possession of ten Millions if he has not found it
out already, will find it OUT that he is rousing the
thousand mercenary and disappointed demonsin the
pursuit of their igottcn gains, and that demoniac
rage that is stied, while it fears the escape
Of its prey The occasion calls for severe and per-
haps painful duties but under the obligations of the
oath that every member Of this house has taken
his recorded oath-there is duty devolving on him,
and that duty calls on him to dismiss from this
question all personal and political considerations,
and to act, when he does act, like a determined
man, determined to protect the power Of the State
he represents, and not to abandon 1T on this floor
Whatever may be our divisions on other questions
growing out Of our local, political, or social rcla
ions, trust on these we may not be divided, but
ound fighting hand to hand against fraud and cor
upton as a common enemy. All discretion granted
laws, whether restrained in terms or language, is
ODE used in the spirit of honesty. 1t must be exer
Used with prudence and propriety. When otherwise
xercised, it ceases to be discretion, and becomes
q wrong---if the abuse is great, crime. The
more important the discretion, the more delicate
its character, the higher the obligation to observe
strictly the rules of prudence and propriety OF all
discretion vested in public officer that of deciding
upon matters of pecuniary character, between OPP
posing interests, requires in him the greatest eau
lion, the most rigid justice and the most enght-
ened mpartiaty. 1t is not the discretion of the mad
man, the imbecc or knave, that is to Judge, but
State officer, sworn to take Of and protect the
interests Of the State--sworn to award the con-
tracts to such parties as should propose to perform
the work on terms most safe and advantageous to
the State. to favor individual at its expense, to
obtain for il the most favorable
hnd the abest man and the best security. Discre-
ton is not physical but moral power, to be
cised by an honest man. The Governor Of the State
is amenable in the discretion he exercises. The
Judges upon the bepch-every State officer is amen
able. This discretion means something-it means
an honest discretion. It is in vain that Payly has
published system Of moral philosophy, and Locke
written to enlighten the understanding, if fraud
and corruption can be justified under plea Of dis
erection. The clause Of the canal law above cited
conferred no new power in regard to making con-
tracts. Without it, the officers were bound to ac-
cept such proposals as were most safe and advanta
geous to the State, having due regard to price, to
the ability Of the party, and the security offered,
which ! will subsequently show. the letting
violated. but the pretence Of the exercise of a
legal, sound discretion is refuted by the lettings
BY the resolutions of the Canal Board, Of the I'D
Of December, the letting board were not only in
structed in the manner they should let the work,
but were told how their discretion was to be exer-
cised. Two members Of the letting board, (Messrs.
Mather and FoletD, voted fer those resolutions.
Messrs. Omsted and Clark, Division Engineers,
were in favor Of complying with them. In what
light is the conduct of officers voting for those reso-
lutions, and wantonly disobeyng them, to DO re-
gardedl Has no one right to complain of this act
Of characterization and perfdy? May not those who
have been wronged, deceived, say so! Are the lips
of all those whose proposals were rejected, not be-
cause their terms were not most safe and advan-
tageous to the State, closed to the inquiry, at least
why they were unceremoniously cut off, Why
bid Is or 30 per cent higher, was awarded to some
puny lawyer, or editor, while an old well known
contractor Of ability, and an unquestoned security
is rejected merely because his terms were most safe
and advantageous to the State! Is not so glazing
wrong to large and numerous class of your citi-
zens, the spurned, rejected lower responsible bid
dcrs-partcularly, and to the State in general
worthy Of your notice! The virtue of republics
should be such that wrong done to the mesnest
citizen is wrong done to the whole people. II
| this goyernment has not integrity enough to in