The American. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1857, 1857-09-30

permanent successor will have less vaaitv. an,
some good qualities
J now invite the attention of the friends O
Samuel York AtLee to his own precious develop
ment Of his and purpos g. as contained in hi
pompous and ridiculous communication to th,
Evening Star of Saturday last In discussing III,
point that no notice had been given to him, or :,
tho country, of his resignation, he says this
II siailar precautions Ito wit, the giving pub
TIC notice. were neglected by the board after m,
resignation had been transmitted, they must abid
the consequences Of their own laches, and they
| cannot now claim advantage of their own wrongs'
The last line OF this sentence obviously means
that 1t contributors, having no notice of Samue
York AtLee's resignation, send him money which
ne puts IN his oon pocket, the Board are never
theless responsible to the contributors who acted
in good faith in RENTING funds to man who
reckless of duty, applies them to his individual
/ uses!
This branch of his precious avowal of purposes
may contain sound law. 1t may be true, that the
Board is responsible to those contributors, who
send funds to this man, Witho1t notice to them
that the Board had shorn him Of his former power
by resolution, and also, without notice of his re.
signation!
But what shall say Of the morality of the resi-.
due of his declarationf Can any man misinter-
pref its too obvious meanings What is it more
or less than the following avowal in substance, to
wit:
81 Sam1et York AtLee resigned my trust and
ceased my conncxion with the Monument Board
on the sOth day of May last, but inasmuch as no
notice of my resignation has been published, and
Notwithstanding the fact that resolution was
adopted by the Board which I, as then secretary,
wrote down, depriving me of all rightfnl power to
receive funds for the Board, yet by reason of the
'laches' of the Board In not giving notice, may
receive drafts intended for them, therefore be il
known, that ], the Aforesaid Samuel Yorke Alice
intend to get hold of all such drafts made PAYABLE
| to me as agent of the Board, If can, and to
| negotiate them as agent and put the money in
my pock til"
| Now it seems to me that the above translation
is the plain English Of Samuel Samuel Yorke At
Lees avowal-if 1t be not, shall be glad 10 see
some other common sense Interpretation given to
it. This bold avowal of his purposes sufficiently
vindicates the resolutions of the Board passed 18th
September, and now published in the "Intelli-
gencef' and American
But Samuel York AtLee boasts of sundry as
saults, which he says, in his late communication,
he had made upon the Monument Board. had
before heard Of them, though never read them.
l knew it was impossible that he could say any
thing which would injurousy affect the Board, 1t
only cause Of all has erhi6itions of malignity
toaoards the Board originated in the resolution of
the Board, aboiishing the salary of the secretary!
The public are therefore indebted, for wAatever
developments Samuel York 4AtLee has made, in
the monument affairs, to collapse in his purse,
anil not to any patriotic pricing of his conscience
which never disturbed him, until his salary was
endangered!
am not aware that the boosted assaults of this
man, upon the Board, were ever read by any
member OF the Board certain it is, those assaults
have never, for instant, occupied the considera-
ton OF the Board at any meeting when have
been present. am confident they never will.
now learn, however, for the first time, that
Samuel York AtLee made fue charges sgainst the
Board, which, fom perusal of the heads as given
by him in the Star, perceive to be in character
with the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., absurd, and ridicu-
lous!
He says: she sustained the charges, a. .oest as
he coutd''-which, judging from the manner in
which he sustains his ri ht to hold money obtained
upon false pretenses, was not very ,OeU and he
further says that, as the Board uttered no sign
OF dissent" he congratulated himself that he had
for once given that querulous quorum unanimous
satisfaction The only occasion, of recent date,
on which Samuel York Alice has given the Board
" Unanimous satisfaction" was when he resigned
position in the Board in which he had done ten
times as much injury as good to the cause of the
monument-and even this unanimous satisfac-
tion"was very materially lessened by the fact, that
contemporaneously with his surrender of the key
Of the Office to W. B. Magruder, Esq, the I'd
Vice President, the most valuable papers belong
ing to the Monument Board, left their usual posi-
tions, and cannot be foundi
Papers OF indispensable necessity in settling the
accounts of the treasurer, and papers containing
reports of committees on other important matters,
which were in charge of this man, and we're pre-
sent at meeting shortly before his resignation,
nj
tionH
Who distracted these papers neither say nor
know-they were In the monument Office In the
month of May-they were missing when the
board first met after the resignation Of Samuel
Yorke AtLee--he has been repeatedly requested
TO restore them-and ho has superciousy re-
sponded, that he resigned his position, and gave
the key Of the Office to the Second Vice Pres-
dent, and he refers the board to that officer for
further information The Second Vice President,
on application, sent the key TO the board, and also
three books which Samuel Yorke Alice had left
with him-bm none Of the D,issing papers haze yet
come to light Where they are or pho took them
from their appropriate place. 1t has been thus far
impossible TO ascertain, and of course / cannot
say.
have been drawn into this controversy by the
act of Samuel Yorke AtLee, who, in a card pub
lished in the Evening Star some days since, in
reference 10 an eultorlai Oh the american, eal0
that could have given Mr.. Fenton, of the Ameri.
can, /" satisfactory explanation" Of the draft
transaction; and in the same card he falsely ac-
cused the Surviving quorum of the monument
board" (of which / am one) of base conduct in
reference to the publication of the facts of that
transaction. / could do no less under the circum-
stances than TO denounce that portion of the card
of Samuel Yorke AtLee az containing "dn afro
cious and an unmitigdted calumny" His re-
Spouse in the Star Of Saturday, might well have
been passed by with silent contempt on my part,
but / have not chosen thus to treat It. as the op.
portunity has been afforded me by Samuel Yorke
AtLee, to refer to some interesting matters In
connnexion with his conduct towards the monu
ment board.
It is time the public should know something O
the motives and principles Of man who has taker
upon himself to censure the conduct of Others il
the public prints, to satiate private revenge, ant
in part perhaps to crafty morbid taste for soto
riety.
In all the past differences between this man
and the individual members Of the Monumen
Board, have uniformly preserved perfect i'm
Partially, never yielding my assent to any propo
sition for action against him, which indsputabl
facts did not demand. have not seen him q
my memory serves mel since his resignation. Tn
time and manner of bia resipuatiop and some at