Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1859-08-26

| cretion remained to them, until they actual
Iy commenced the carrying of the mail. 1t
was lawful and competent, and might be
wise, for persons to propose to carry the
mails for specified sum, without having
themselves determined, at the time of max
! ing the proposals. either the starting point,
or the route. 1t might very possibly happen
that persons might defer, until after they had
actually obtained the contract, those precise
and detailed examinations upon which they
would finally predicate their choice of a
route.
Let us now see what the actual admins.
tration of this law was, il that can be called
| an administration of law, which was fla
grant and complete violation of it.
Instead of the route being left to the dis
| erection of contractors, il was determined in
| Cabinet council, down to the minutest detail
of it. Those who made proposals were re-
quired to state their starting point and route'
and no proposal having been made for the
route determined by the President and his
advisers, those who made proposals were re-
required to assent that they should be re-
garded as made for the Presidents route.
The following official statement of what
what was done, was made by the Postmaster
| General himself:
ION the I'd day of July, 1857, the Depart
ment, after full and mature consideration,
| made the following order in relation to the
| route selected and the bid accepted.
"I257S. From St. Louis, Missouri, and
| from Memphis, Tennessee, converting at Little
Rock, Arkansas, thence via Preston, Texas.
| or Is nearly SO may be found advisable, to
the best point of crossing the Rio Grande.
above Eli Paso, and not far from Fort Fill
more thence along the new road, being
| opened and constructed under the direction
of the Secretary of the Interior, TO Fort
| Yumas, California; thence through the best
passes and along the best valleys for safe and
| expeditions staging, to San Francisco.
1.-THE foregoing route is selected for the
overland mail service to California, as COM
bining IN my judgment, more advantages and
fewer disadvantages than any other.
''No bid having been made for this parti-
| cularly route, and all the bidders (whose bids
were considered regular under the advertise
ment and the act Of Congress) having consen-
ted that their bids may be held and considered
as extended aud applying 10 said route"
&c, &c.
What is here described as the discretion
and determination of the Postmaster General,
| in selecting a route, was, in truth. the dscre-
| ton and determination of the President and
| his Cabinet, acting concurrently with the
head of the Post Office Department. The
| whole matter was the subject of Cabinet con-
sulation and Cabinet decision.
In the House, February %, Mr.. Phelps OF
Missouri chairman of the Committee on Ways
and Means, and a confidential friend of the
Administration, said
AT the time proposals were invited for
this overland mail service, the Postmaster
General respected those who should bid for
the service To designate the point Of depar-
ture on the Mississippi river. and also as near
as possible, the intermediate points. These
contractors, Messrs. Butterfield & Co., pre-
sented their proposals for the transportation
of the mails from St. Louis and from Memphis,
by the thirty-ffth parallel. or the Albuquer-
que route, to San Francisco; and they also
made a combined bid, proposing to start from
Memphis and st. Louis, intersecting at, or
east of Albuquerque, and thence by the route
previously indicated. As ana Informed all
of the bidders were in the city of Washington,
either in person or by their agents. The
matter attracted good deal of attention in
contractors, if they would consider their pro-
posals or bids as applicable to any route that
might be decided on either by the Cabinet or
the Postmaster General. To this inquiry they
responded in the affirmative. Upon consider
ton of the different routes proposed. the
Postmaster General awarded the contract to
Butterield d Co, requiring them to carry the
mails by way OF Ell Paso to San Francisco.
At a subsequent time, the contract was mOdi-
@ 4 a 4
Smith, in Arkansas, instead of at Little
Rock"
In the House, on the 21st of FEBRUARY, Mr.
Reagan of Texas, another friend of the Ad-
ministration, said
"Tbis Butterfield contract is one that was
made by the Government on great consider
alton. 1t is fact, which is perhaps within
the knowledge of the gentleman from Mis-
souri,, that there were several Cabinet meet
ing. at which arguments in favor of and
against the several roads were deliberately
considered. j trust the members will not, in
view of what has been done, undertake to
disturb the action of the Government in rela-
ton to this route. The contract was enter
ed into. after full consideration, by the Presi-
dent and the whole Cabinet, and "A careful re-
view of the advantages and disadvantages OF
all the routes"
We have now seen what the law required
to be done, precisely what was done in viola
ton of the law, and who did it. The law left
the route to the contractors, out of whose
hands il was completely taken by ahigh-han-
ded usurpation on the part Of the President
and his Cabinet. The contractors were ille-
gally required to accompany their bids with
statements of the routes they intended to ira
verse and when it was found that not one of
them contemplated the extraordinary route
upon which the Administration was bent,
they were coerced to assent that their bids
should be considered Us made for route they
had never thought Of The contractors were
not allowed the least voice in matter, left To
them expressly and exclusively by Congress.
The President, to whom the law gave no
power, assumed the whole.
What benefit has the country derived from
this mail line! If any, none sufficient to
counterbalance the high-handed usurpation of
Executive authority, by which it was attended.
We're its benefits innumerable as the sands OF
the seashore, we should not overlook the guilt
of those who violated the law. They are the
more deserving rebuke because they were
clothed with office, TO see that the laws are
faithfully executed.
r1- The Cincinnati Commercial Of the Esd
acknowledges the reception of "baskei OF
peaches, large. juicy and hayorous," from