Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1853-04-30
THE GAME OF DETRAcTIoN.

candidates received majority Of the electoral votes
50 Unexpectedly large, sgnaly triumphant, as to
have satisfied, one might suppose not only the
honorable ambition of the victors but to have aay
ed on their part all asperities which might have
been engendered by the canvass, especially as the
contest was, in an unusual degree unmarked by any
excess of personal acrimony So little bitterness
indeed did the contest to leave behind it, that
after the smoke had cleared away, Independent and
disnterested persons began to hope for return of
the "era Of good feeling" which made the year
1920 an epoch in the history Of parties; a hope
which, from the character of the eminent citizen
who had thus 50 triumphantly succeeded to the
Presidency, confess we largely shared.
Such having been the hopes we had ventured to
cherish, it is with equal surprise and disappoint-
ment that we have observed the detraction with
which the columns Of the official journal Of the
Executive---the Usaion-constantly TEEN against
the late Administration and it's members The
grossest personal imputations and misrepresenta-
tons daily issued against men whose lives are
as pure and whose hands are as clean as those Of
any Of thor honorable successors, and whose only
fault is that their political and intellectual emf
hence. placed them in the highest trusts under a
WIFI Z Administrations Administration never
surp assed in integrity and patriotism by any other
in ar annals We have not thought it worth while
to notice this disreputable war on character, al
tho ngh the materials for severe retaliation are to
be found in abundance in the history of the Uaions
pa, ry, if such things were to our taste. We sup
Pc sed' that the stream would in time exhaust itself
an ID cease, and have therefore, not thought fit to
d sturb its flow; nor should we now depart from
II he silence but for contradiction which we are
esired by airiend to: give to an unfounded impu-
ition the late Secretary of the Treasury, which
found lplaoe in the Uiion two days ago. We al
ude to the following item, which, it appears, orr
iynated in Rhode Island paper, and which derives
all ats consequence from being copied into the Off
cial jou rnal:
"Amongthe operations just brought light we hear
from hi gh authortyand in keeping with class of SINH
lar tran lsactons intended to furnish Government funds
friends for bounty or speculation-is the following:
"A contrsct was made with well-known New York
Wall 81 rect broker to transfer about oneourh of mil
lion Of dollars from New York New Orleans for which
he wa to have commission and ninety days time
Just efore the ninety days expired the money yet
having been deposited in New Orleans,
made TO deposite the amount at ST. Louis for which
to be paid and ninety days further time
allowed but before the next ninety days expired the
ihoney NavlnB Deel uepOSteu In Louis,
tract entered into to deposte the amount Cincinnati
and ne commission to be allowed, and ninety days fur
ther lme for the purposes just before the expiration of
this me- the deposite not having been made Cincinnati
contract is made deposte the amount with the
subr ,asurer of New York. from whom it drawn Just
year before. The operator having been furnished
with his large sum of money for year. without in
terest besides having been paid large amount of
miso ms for service performed even intended
to be performed, by the parties" ~
No authorized to say that no transaction
Of the. kind alluded to took place during the ad-
minist ration of the Treasury by Mr.. CoRwIN. In
no ins lance where transfer was ever ordered to
any pc ant was its destination ever changed to any
other l,oint, and in no instance did the Treasury
ever psly one dollar of commission for making any
transfe of the public money, any other expense
except the mere freight, where the Department on
sudden calls obliged to ship coin, as it did in
several instances by the mail steamers, from New
York to New Orleans, which freight was at the
same rate as that paid by private individuals.
Under the Administration of Mr. Polk private
individu Ills of known capital standing, and credit
were employed to make these transfers, and Mr..
CoRwIN made them in precisely the mode as
that folio wed by Mr.. WALKER, though to much
more limi ted extent than the latter as the recessi-
ties of the Mexican war of course required a much
heavier movement of public funds between differ
ent points than during the time Mr.. CoRwrN was
at the head of the Treasury
Atfrst Mr. CeRwIN adopted the same rule as it
was understood DIR. WALKER had followed, Of trust
ing to the personal security of the highly respecta-
bic and responsible parties employed; but he sub
seguenty and for the last two years, adopted
the additional preeaution Of requiring deposite
Of United States or other good stocks to the full
amount,of the transfer which stocks we're held as
collateral security, and only returned to the parties
on the production of the Subtreasurers receipt for
the payment Of the amount that had been placed
IN their hands for transfer
There is nothing in the mode adopted by Mr.
CoRwuN for making transfers Of public money for
which precedent cannot be found to the fullest ex
tent under the Administration Of Mr. Polk; and
any attempt therefore, to him on that score
will reflect with equal force upon his Democratic
predecessor.
We viii only further add, that If any advantages
attended the agency for making these transfers, it
was enjoyed under the administration Of Mr. Cor
WIN to at least an equal degree by individuals be-
longing to the Democratic party as by those Of the
political friends Of Mr.. FILLMoRE's administration,
which is degree of lbcralify that should be glad
to see followed by the party now in power