Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1860-04-21
SATURDAY, APRIL 81, 1860.
Conversational Invessfg aring Commft-

ices.
There are three or four Special Committees
OF Investigation now in existence at the Fed
erai CapitaI-appointed by either House 81
Congress. The startling events which oc-
Cured at Harper;s Ferry in October last,
seemed to demand thorough Investigation,
and the Senate appointed Committee for
that purpose. The enormous abuses that
have crept into the business Of the pubic
printing of Congress, and the influence which
II brought to bear over the action oil mem
bers of Congress, with its ramifiealions
through combinations embracing sometimes
several States, was another subject which the
House thought of sufficient Importance to JUS
= tify closeI inspections tLaa &c Tn he nor
tbroug oh the ordinary means, and Cominit'
tee was raised for that purpose. The gene
raj charges, which are common and not CON-
fined exclusively TO members OF any one par
ticuIsr political party, of the existence o.
GROSS corruption in the mapasemen1 Oh pup
lie affairs and OF i-PTUper means TO influence
ro,-,-. elections, and the passage OF laws
through Congress, formed the basis of still
another Investigating Committee, which was
appointed by the House; aud still another,
embracing similar objects with the last nam
ed, we believe, has been raised. The appoint
ment of such committees is not new Gus
tom-both the principle and policy having
been sustained by many precedents-
But heretofore these Committees have not,
10 most cases, answered the reasonable ex-
pec,ations which the people have been led to
form Of them. That is to say, they have sell
dom, If ever, accomplished fully the objects
for which they have been raised They gen
orally get mixed up somehow or other with
parties and with party feeling-they have
parties for them and parties against them
and hence the results of their investigations
are hardly ever satisfactory TO the public as
a msss 1t is taken for granted that the in
yestigations are conducted in a manner and
with desire to throw some party or individ-
nal partizan under the ban of public censure.
and thereby to subserve an advantage to the
party seeking the investigation This as
sumption seems to attach at the moment the
committee il raised, and the members of the
Committee themselves give that impression
20 the people. For, as the Committees are
made up by taking members, generally from
representatives of the several political parties
in the body ordering the investigation, it is
usual. after the examination il made, for two
Reports to come in, the signatures to which
show precisely tue political division OF the
Committee. The Reports take precisely OPP
posite views of the matter in hand, look at
the facts ELECTED from precisely opposite
and-pOiut, and result in precisely opposite
conclusions. One party insists upon the en-
ire correctness of one Report, while the 9TH
er party insists, with equal perseverance and
assurance, that the other Report is correct.
So common and apparent have these facts be-
come of late, that the people a. large are
coming to regard the system of Congressional
Investigations as ridiculous farces-wholly IN
profitable. either to point a moral, or even
adorn a tale. Common sense should teach eT
erybOdy that this is all wrong, and the CON-
mon honcsly-if the expression is allowable
of members of Congress, should teach them TO
rectify it. If they find it wholly impossible
to do better, they had better give up the
whole business in disgust. The subject is of
too much gravity aud Importance to be made
. poor joke Of
But in saying this, We appreciate the diff
fculties under which these Committees labor.
The information which is sought. OF abuse
and corruption in the conduct of public al
affairs, and The plumber OF the public treas
ury, belongs peculiarly and necessarily to
those who have had n hand in the Odious and
dirty business. II they are called upon to
testify they sometimes refuse to obey the
summons, or, coming forward, refuse to be
INTERCEPTED or decline to answer the most
material questions asked of them-on the
principle that the criminal cannot be called
to testify against himself, we suppose. Again.
they wriggle and squirm and give such an
swers as. lit is my impression 'canuot BE-
positive" "not OF my own knowledge" 81
think So" &c. &c. The only case where
straight and point-blank answers to very ma
terial questions, may be expected. is where
the witness has once been fully in the bust
ness, and afterwards BY disagreement with
hs companions. has got out of il, either vol
UNFAIRLY or by being kicked out. The whole
story will then be likely to come. The Re
ports from such testimony are, to some ex-
tent, necessarily argumentive and inferentiaI;
and are used as u vindicalion or ccndcmna-
tion according to party bias To obviAte this
embarrassment, let the COMMITTEES PROFOUND
no question 10 which they have not the right
To force an answer. and then let them use the
force necessary TO bring il cut Let them
get from the witnesses The truth. the whole
tEnth and nothing but the truth about the |
matter in hand; and afler getting it. let |
them make their Reports briei aud pointed. |
stating nothing more nor less than the facts |
that the Investigations have disclos ed-so
that they may be read and comprehended by
every body. Let them sit as an Impartial /
jury, and bring in the facts, and let the PEG
rle pronounce the Judgment.
IL the Committees We have named as now
in existence, will act on these sugg, stions
they will establish themselves in the lasting
gratitude Of The people. and be OF service
to their country. If they do not. bat choose
rather to follow in the footsteps Of some of
sheir Industrious pred, eessorS," they will
probably bring the system Of Legislative
Investigating Committees into sill further
disrepate. Let them Try IT,
EUROPEAN AFFArRs.-The New York ca,sr;,r
save that their priyate adviees e.. -,