The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1860-04-07
Che Gctil lu!)io.
ELkT0N, APRIL 5th, 1859,
The President Writes a Letter.


following resolution passed by that body, OF
the 9th ult:
Resolved that committee Of five members bs
APPOINTED by the Speaker. for the purpv> e tfrsn ul
investigating whether the President Of The United
States. or any other utilcrr of government h 49,
ny money. patronage. or otiier Improper IAeuDs
sought to influence the action If Congress or any
c"ihiht'ec thereof fol or against the passage Of any
law apperiuing to the ights OF any state or Ter.
tory - iand 2d) also 10 iIquie into ard invcs.
tSaie whether any officer officers of the go, eru-
meat have. by combiIa oL otherwise. prevented
or dete ted OF attempted to prevent defeat, the
eA"cutiun OF any law or TVS now upon the statute
book, and whether tue President h IS failed or re.
fused to compel iLe execution Of any aw thereof It
This resolution was passed in Consequence
OF certain charges Of corruption on the part OF
the President made on the floor Of the House,
10y Hon. John Ilask ms, an anti .Lacumptou
democrat from the State of New York.
Knowing the corruption which this COM
lhIttce Will be able 10 prove, and fearing an
impeachment, the President writes this letter
full of indignation, and boiling over with
wrath. He tiles to frighcn--or something else
them from the prosecution Of their work -
He says, that they have no right to thus in
q"irc into the duings ola - co-orl mate branch
OF the Cover nmcnt;" and that it is 'spcrsc-
cution' He appeals pItIiully in the name of
the Constitution. which he says gives to the
Senate the sole right to mpcach the President.
The House certainly has the power to inquiru
Into these matters, and demand his impeach
By the Senate. But, just now the Senate is
democratic, and the House Opposition; there
fore the PrcSi lent wants to make the House
believe it has no right to provide the evidence
against him, out that the Senate has the whole
Say in the matter.
THESE charges Of corruption against the
President have been prblicly made by men,
"crs OF the House, in their places and now,
when the House appoinsa committee to in
vtsliGate the truth or falsity Of these allcga-
tons, to let the country know whether the
President is wrougluily accused or not, Mr.
Buchanan gets into rage and writes an ndig.
nant, nSoIcnt and ridiculous letter to that
body. This, we think, is conclusive evidence
ofgnit. If there has been no mStlcmcanor
ON his part if he is not guilty Of the charges
male by Mr.. flask ms and others, why docs he
o'Jsct to committee of inquiry The very
natural Inference is, that he is more or less
guilty of these uiltlIscS.
In this matter he will be sustained. doubt
less, by all his satellites in tie House and all
the party newspapers. They we'll know the
influence, the developments made by this com
n!ittec-cvcn if they are not sufficient to i'm
peach Mr.. Buchanan w will have On the com
ing Presidential contest. They know that the
nominee Of the Charleston Convention
whether he be Lccomptonic or an Anti
LccVmptonitc-wlll have to carry the corrHp-
ton, rascality and viIiainy OF this present Adj
ministralion; an Administration that for
extravaganza and tyranny has exceeded all
others; that Of Franklin Pierce was bad
enough, but it seems to have been for James
Buchanan-'' Pcnnsylvania's tavorte SOM
to cap the climax. Aud, as we said before,
whoever the nominee Of the Convention may
be. the people will hold him, as the rcprcscn-
tative Of the party, to an account for the
infamous actions of this imbrcilc Administers
t"n; for its $e3 .0Oo,0 600 expenditures, its or
mon policy; its pecnhtons; in short, for all
its low, mean and contemplate dongs in all
the departments Of the Government The
people have been long enough deceived by
this democratic President-by this democratic
party. Mr.. Buchanan has acted the {. Janus
faced too much, the people hayd been able to
see it. One particular instance of this is his
course Oh the Tariff Question. To keep in the
good will Of the people Of Pcnnsy lvania, he
mas In MS messages spoke Of such a change in
the tariff as would protect home nlanufac-
tnrers; willie at the same time, and acconpa
nyins those messages, he permitted Mr.. Sec
rotary Cobb, to rciute all his arguments DIV A
re. hash of all the matter heretofore used in
favor Of Free Trade. This is but one Of many
instances we might cite. For all Of which the
people will hold him and his party to a severe
account.
We think there will be some rich develop
ments made by this committee things brought
10 light that will make every true American
hang hts head for shame, that there are men
in the " high places Of the nation,' who are so
dishonest, degraded and wicked as to commit
such acts. But we rejoice that if they do exist,
they are to be brought out to the gaze of the
people, aud when they once fairly looked upon
them, We do not fear as to their verde on the
party that has put such men in power.
While on this subject, we will notice some
disclosures by the House Commi ttce on Pub
lie Printing, WHO made their report one day
last week. We have space only for brief
synopsis, but sufficient to show the rea der the
most systemactic venality: corruption 50 rank
that it smells to heaven.
Cornelius Wendell, de .facio Public Printer
of the last Congress, and Brigad ier-G General
George Washington Bowman, for some sine
past the nominal editor of the Constitution
the " Presidents organ"-and now Printer To
the U. S. Senate-the democratic Senate-wcre
the principal witnesses betoIe the committee.
Wendell tcstifes that james b. Steadman wos
elected Printer of the House. but never performed
the duties of the Office, Wendell doinS the work
mud getting sixty four cents out of each dollar
received by Stea,lman, who consequently pocketed
80 cents on dollar of the money paid by Congress
without troubling himself 10 do more than to re-
ceve the pay. This was the arrangement at first
but afterward it set aside and Sieadman
= being very an Xious for money Wendell bought
him out entirely five months after his election and
paid him the round gum of SJ4 900 as a bonus -
About year later tcstifes Mr.. Wendell. - rather
IMAM have row in the House about the matter.
paid him 81 500. 1t was black mnii operation
with HIM he threatened to resign and make a
lunss gcnerally.''
Tho amount paid for printing Post Ofico blanks