Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1859-05-15
By the Chairman:


By the Chairman
Question Did you pay Mr.. Tyler any bonus or
consideration, prOmise'or stipulate to pay him
anys
Answer. Il would shorten the examination, pro-
baby if / we're permitted u state, eonnectedly,
what passed between Tyler and myself The day
after the interview with General Cullom, think,
Tyler came to see me; reduce our conversation,
but will endeav0r to give all the substance of it.
He said he weeld give me an order, CT Obtsin an
order for 90 copies of our works, if l would give
hin $lS,5 45. l decided in my eNn mind, at once.
not to accede to his proposition, but told him l
would consult my partner about 1t and give him an
answer, 1t is proper 10 state, perhaps, that these
books we're originally compiled and printed for
Congress, and we had never sold copy to any pri
yate individual, but only to Congress- The Debates
were commenced under the patronage Of Congress
in 1924. They afterwards authorized the compita-
ton of the Debates back to the beginning of the
government under a subscription upon the part of
Congress- In the course Of supplying from time to
time, sets of the Debates to new members Of Cons
gress, certain volumes in the series had become de-
hcient either by mistake originally in printing
or by some accident and in order to make the sets
complete, we had to reprint those volumes. This
! we had done in New York, for the sake Of expedi
tioD and of course had TO pay cash TO defrsy the
| expense That money obtained on loan; it ran
up large debt some S26 600 or $28, 600, together
with the binding large number in readiness for
| the 34th Congress. Congress had, during several
successive Congresses, distributed copies Of this
work TO new members, and We presumed, of course,
that Il ey would as usual distribute copies to the
/ new members Of the 34th Congress. We, therefore,
to be in readiness, had them all bou6d up at large
cost and as our business does not enable US TO ad
vance large sums Of money, we had to incur this
debt which We expected to psy out Of the proceeds
of the sale to the 94lh Congress. Our creditor
importunate for his money, and We were willing to
make some sacrifice TO get it fer him. But, although
we we're anxious to pay him, We could not submit to
the exortionste proposal Of Mr. Tyler, of $l3, 545
| We so wrote him. He returned in day or two, aud
said that he prepared with his final offer. That
offer was that he would get order from the Clerk
if we would give him $1,000 We'd, being in the
power of our creditor, had no alternative but to
/ submit to the exacticp. | did not appeal to the
Clerk of the House of Representatives, because, in
frankness, then believed that there was under
standing between the Clerk and Tyler, and that we
must pay whatever he demanded, or get no order at
ALL accordingly, after some hesitation acceded to
his proposition lie then said that if | would give
him check on Suter, Lea & Cos bank for the
$1,000, he would get the order for the books. 1
gave him the check, but told him that We had nc
\ money in the bank. lie said the check would an
sWer his purpose as we'll He took the check and
deposited it there. 1t was not however, entered to
our debit, as afterwards found by the entry in the
bank book, That check did not 90 TO our debit
until the money for the books went into the bank
Of Suffer, Lea s. Co., and then it paid and re-
turned to US. The check vas dated on the 9th Of
March, 1857, and is endorsed by Hugh Tyler 1t
was charged to us in the bank book on tue I'd Of
April. HeIe is the check, and here is the bank
book, which will show the date under which it was
charged up.
THE witness at this point, handed the bank book
and the check ID the Chairman, and they were ex-
amined BY the individual members of the COM
mittee
Question. perceive by this check that you drew
it on the 9th Of March, in favor Of Hugh Tyler,
for the sum Of $1,000. The check ia endorsed By
Hugh Tyler The bank book shows that your ac-
count was opened on the I'd Of April, by deposit
of $50, $50. On the debit side of tbs account is,
'Check to Hugh Tyler, 81 ,000," under the same
date Had you any account at Suter, Lea Cos
at the time you drew This checki
Answer No; we may have had money transac
tions there, bnt merely temporary.
Question. Did you have any deposit account?
Answer. No.
Question, From whom did you get this S82,
$50?
Answer. It was sent US from the treasury; Gen
eral Cullom sent the requisition for the amount
Question. Did he send it TO you, or did his dis
bursting clerk?
Answer. 1t was sent to the treasury, and We go
the money.
Question Do you know where General CullOn
was at that time?
Answer. L am not certain I1aJ ne was IN me CITY
at that time, l had seen him but once since tht
adjournment of Congress, and thst was when he
called at office and had that conversation witt
him.
Question. How came he to call at your Office:
Answer. We had sent to him or twice.
Question. How many times did you send u him
Answer. Soon after The passage of the resolution
of the It'll of July, 1856, sent our head man in OuI
hiding establishment Mr.. Decide, to ask Gen. CuI
lon, the resolution had passed, whether he would
give an order for those books because they ooust
tuted property Of great value, were deposited in
combustibe building, and we had u pay high in
surance upon them, which creditor required Of
US, because the payment Of debt to him was &C.
} cured By lien on those Looks. wished to deposit
the books in place Of safety, and therefore sent Il
ask Gen. Cullom 10 give us an order at once, that
we might send the books 10 the Capitol-n6t ex
pecting payment at that time, because there no
appro prisdon 10 pay for them. But, as Mr. Decide
reported to me, General Cullom answered that
though the resolution Ind passed he had not taken the
matter consideration, and at any rate he ICould
take any step giVs any order until Congress had
made appropriation 10 enable him to s1ec the re-
solution. l thought this decision was very proper,
and was satisfied with the answer, although was
anxious to get the books deposited in the Capitol
where they would be safe from fire. Mr.. Decide
reported to me that Mr. Cullom said also thst he did
not know, when he got the money, what he should
do in executing the order; that if he did get the
money he did not know what number of books he
should want, and that there rers some presimnqrieS
to settle before he gaze order. That Gnsoer pqrt
induced me afterwards TO suppose haze already
stated did suppose, that there understanding
6stlveeH Mr. Tyler and Mr.. Callolq because do not
think that Ar. Tyler, being Priuats man. not in the
public employ aRy iCdy, agOuld undertake all this
trouble for nothing. After this answer said moth
ing more and sent no other message to Gen. Gull
lom until after the passage of the appropriation.
During the month # December, 1885, had an in
tervieW with Gen. Cullom at his lodgings being ex-
tremey anxious about the matter, and being
pressed by creditor. l went to see what Gen.
Cullom had done, and to get him to tell me frankly
what he proposed to do. We had a conversation of
a very free and friendly character. He said that he
expected to get appropriation; that although the
Senate had rejected it at the preceding session. he
still thought the House would insist upon their
right to appropriate the mOney-tO expend their
contingent fund as they saw ft-ss the Senate had
taken the ground that they would expend their con
tingent fund they fit, without the concurrence
Of the House; and he expected that the House of
Repres entstives would, in defence Of their right
insist upon this appropriation. That about the
substance, think, of what he said upon that point
number of other matters were spoken of by him
in that conversation, and left him after the op-
preparation had passed in the deficiency bill of March
Sd foLIoscing, sent Mr.. Moore of office, TO Gen.
CuLOn, and he had a conversation Nth him. which
as Mr. Moore told me, Gen. CullOm said that he Vas
not prepared to give any order for books, did not