Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1853-11-04
You think if singuln.
Lhat a renlleman ofmY lie.

| You think it singuluthat a gentleman ofmy ls- I
gal requirements and experience should fall into /
the error of assuming tat the Collector appoints I
the various persons emf Dyed in the Custom House
some with the apprEal of the Secretary, and 7
some on the sole authoity of the Collector. Sin.
GUAR as this may appeb to you, it is the counsel
which has been uniforbly PURSUED since the loun-
dation OF the governnnt. Meighers, Gleasursrs,I
guagers and inspectorSlave been aolnted by the
Collector with the bproyal OF the Secretary
willie clerks porters, hrgemen, labofers ana 9th
ers, have been apponpd by The Collector alone. II
has not only been soithder alt former Secretaries
of the Treasury, but lIing yo9r own time. All
my clerks, porterS catmsn, la6orerS, &C., have I
been appointed without consulting youin any form, |
and you never intimahd doubt about The propri-
ETY. OF this course unn you deemediit e&pedient 10
interfere in the local iolitlcs of New York
Still you insist thatthe clerks and 9th agents
of the Collector tsdeivs their appointments atldI
their authority as pubic Dtlic-ls iFJm tue Secreta
ny of the Treasury alne. The reason you assign
for thisnew and exrlyngant claim will show That
| it is wholly without any legal foundations, You
place it upon the Constitution of the United
States, which proyldes that "CongreSS may by law
vest the appontmentof such inferior ofices as they
may think proper-iE the heads of departments"
You then add'that tCongtess has not attempted,
nor if it had, could i have effected, any modifca-
tim of this provision of the Constitution" And
hence you concIudethat the appointment is in the
Secretary 1t is reality granted that Congress has
not, and cannot nudity the Constitution. But
stilt>your aIgumenthmounts to no more than this
because Congressmay by Lato vest the appoint
ment of certain Officers in the Secretary OF the
Treasury, and Confess has otmodihed this con
| stitutlonal proyisio8 therefore the Secretary has
the power of appointment In other words-be-
cause Congress mas If it PleaseS, confer power
| on the Secretary, gnu Congress has done nothing
| on the subject ths:efore The Secretary has that
power Such is the law and such the logic Of your
| letter.
have thus far assumed that you are right in
snpposing that the clerks porers, luborers, DC. In
the Custom House, are public officers within the
meaning of the constitution in relation to appoint
ments. But, in truth, they are mere agents OF the
| Collector, TO aid m the discharge of the duties
which the law has imposed upon him. They are
the hands by whcbhe works, and are no more Off
GERS in the sense oftthe constitution than are sol
dierS and sailors in, the army and navy. They
| have never been treated, or even mentioned, by
Congress officers, appointed by the Collectors or
any one else; but only as persons employed by the
| Collector. hazard nothing in saying that the
claim which you have now setup has not shad-
ow of foundation. either in the law Of the land or
in any former practice of the Government
Youspeak of 'unwarre ntable .aSsumptions,' and
a 'munitest spirit of insubordinnton on my part,
us ground for the removal. But you have been
wholly unable to show that assumed any thing
beyond my Just rights, or that was unwilling 10
actin obedience to your instructions, IN all cases
where the law had given you authority 10 direct.
Office does not necessarily prove nferiOrly; and be-
tween gentlemen, the relatonoi superior and sub
ordinate conlerS nOtight on the one 10 use impeu-
GUS Language, and imposes no duty on the other to
surrender his legalrights.
You complain that the remarks i'll my former
letter impugn your motives. did no more than
state iactS-facg which you have not attempted
to controvert, and then said, .tAs to motive of this
movement let Others judge lfyour motives have
been mpugned it is because the facts themselves,
| NIL mt mn of tE. he in1nPnch-
ment.
Nothing in your letter has amazed me more than
what you say about my selecting free so:lers for
Office No man can read what was said in your first
communication without seeing that you called on
me 10 appoint larger portion of free sellers, or
persons who had left the democratic party and
followed Mr.. Van Buren, on tile slavery qeStion in
i 1913, than had before done. You spoke of the
party as beng divided into "dfferent factions"
and complained that my appointments had been
generally made from thatportion of the party to
which adhered. You were not speaking of the
recent division at Syracuse, for l had made no
cominations after that event happened. Youwere
speaking of the different sections as they had eX-
listed in the past You know very we'll that /
adhered to that portion of the party which had not
de eIted the national standard in 1913; and 10 one
fail that nt 6 de s9o o s
and its allies. And now you think it worthy of
"animadverSion' that have 'selected free soilers
for office"
I L
inform you, you now find it convenient TO state,
that | had ''selected free sellers for Office
meaning person who are now free SoilerS. On the
contrary, ISpoke Of appointing none but ''Sound
democrats, sincerely attached to the principles OF
the party, and firm supporters of the national
administration" spoke of different sections
of the party, just as you had spoken of them; and
told you, not that "ree soiIerS but that 'the free
soil section had gDt its full share Of the Offices.
Your 'sanimadverSion' derives all lis force from
disappearing the langu ageof your adversary.
MLre might be said; but if in reviewing this
branch of the subject, you can maintain your self
respect, nothing that can say would be likely to
reach you.
lions, appear to have been less excited last week
than before, and the leading articles of the trade
receding in value. During the interval from Fri
days market, the demand here has continued &C
tive for Wheat and Flour, and was further stlmu-
lated yesterday by the American accounts the
former article selling at ID per bushel; and the
latter at Cd to is per Dbl over the closing rates OF
laStw week.
The moderate arrival into this port, up 10 Friday
last, has been considerably incre aSed Since chief
ly from the United States and Canada, the i'm
ports thence during the week being SO, 653 qrs. OF
Wheat, 1886 qrs. of Indian Corn, and &c, 252 bbs.
of Flour, exclusive of $40 qrS. of Wheat, and 1898
sacks of Flour fran Spain, with 1925 qrS of Wheat
and little Indisn Corn from Egypt. The receipts
coaStwiSe and ll)m Ireland, though not large, eX-
coed those of recent weeks; and the shipments
hence, to British and Irish ports liberal, the few
foreign exporsof grain, stated below, being to
Australia, and tue Flour to Client.
At our Corn Exchange this morning there was
numerous attendance of millers, some of whom
were from considerable distance, in addition to
our usual local trade and few from Ireland;
we huye experienced a very active and difFusive
sale for good fresh foreign Wheats but the atten-
ton was chiehE directed to fine class American,
and such we ntte Sd. to I'D. per bushel over the
rates Of this da. week; for most other scriptons
this advance was not fully realized but the bust.
ness in such being comparatively less extensive.
Upon good display of new Wheat from the
neighboring growers in moderate condition, sales
were freely made at an advance equal to that
obtained on foreign. Flour is mostly held TT oul
quotations which are rated Is. per Dbl. higher than
on TUESDAY last, and though the transactions are
considerable the pretensons Of holders evidently
interfere with the freeneSs of the demand.
Flour pei Dbl Canadian, sweet 35aSos. U. S.
Western Clnal do 54s. 6d.a35s. U. S. Phiiadel-
phia and Bttimore do, 55s 6daS6S. U. S. Prime
r. DC