Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1872-01-30

you for your courtesy and attention we viii
now nroceed to the permanent organization of
this Convention. f!Appiause
A CONTRAST.
One of Grants servile adulators in the
Senate pronouuces him the purest aud best
President since Washington.
Undoubtedly, says the New York SIM,
there is a wide difference between the present
taker, the greedy moneysmsker, who wishes
to be reelected chiefly for the purpose of in
'~creasing his already ample fortune, and his
predecessors in Office Whether this difference
is in G fant's favor, is another thing. A state.
ment of the pecuniary situation of Jefferson,
Madison, Monroe, aud Jackson, when they
retired from the Presidency at the expiration
of eight years service, contrasted with that
of Grant after enjoying the advantages of his
position for three years. will enable the reader
to come to a correct conclusion on the subject.
1t should be borne in mind that the salary
of the President has never been changed. II
is the same now as it has always been. The
regular legitimate emoluments of the Office
amount to no more to-day, when money is not
worth one, half of what it was seventy or forty
years ago, than they did then. Or, to state
the case differently, the cost of maintaining
the White House aud dispensing the Execu-
tive hospitality under Grant, is certainly double
what vas paid by Jefferson, Madison. Monroe,
or Jackson and yet the present taker grows
rich on twenty-five thousand dollars a year.
while they left the White House not only with
their fortunes diminished, but most of them
overwhelmed by pecuniary embarrassment.
Jefferson's furniture and estate were sold to
satisfyh his creditors. His p%osterity was driven
from house and home, and his bones now lie
in soil owned by a stranger. Madison, who
was a model of every virtue, public and pri>
vate, whose love of order, economy, aud sys.
tematic regularity in all his business habits
were proverbial, was compelled to borrow five
thousand dollars to discharge debts that had
accrued during his Presidency. Monroe,
whose years had been spent in the service of
his country retired to private life finding him
self impoverished, his estate sold for debt. his
family scattered, and his daughter buried in
a foreign land. Gen. Jackson at the end of
his term drew against his cotton crop, then in
New Orleans, for six thousand dollars, to paw
his creditors at the seat of Government.
These great men had all been public bene
factors. They had devoted all the active
years of their lives to the cause of the neople.
Their sacrifices involved the expenditure Of
their worldly substance, and with the excep>
ton of Gen. Jackson, they ended their DAYS
in embarrassment and poverty. Their modes.
competence was exhausted in the public ser.
vice, their official duties precluding that atten
tion to their private fortunes which might
have made them independent.
Grant, on the other hand, wher Gov. Yates
gave him I'M of an Illinois regiment,
was as poor as Lazarus. He now maintains
an establishment of regal magnificence at the
White House, with three or four brevet brig
heterogeneous illegally attached to his court,
the cost of which is out of all proportion to
the amount of his salary, and at the same time
he is piling up a huge fortune and enrichinp
his relations and his wife's relations of every
degree of consaneuinity all at the public
expense.
ONE MILLION DOLLARS INVOLVED IN A
VIRGINIA LAwsu1r.-A suit coptestino rho
validity of the will of the late Samuel Miller
OF Lynchburg. is now being argued before The
Circuit Court in this city. 1t involves the
largest amount of property ever litigated in
any suit tried in this State. Mr.. Miller af.
ter giving several legacies amounting to about
100000, devised the residue of his-estate to
the board of the literary fund to establish a
school on the place of his birth. in the county
Of Albemarle. for the education of the moor
orphan white children of that county. This
residuary bequcst amounts to about 81 @
600. He limited this Request over upon the
happening OF certain contingencies to his il.
legitimate children by Mary D. Davidson A
bill has been filed by the next friend of these
children insisting that-the contingencies have
happened. and the estate vested in them. and
asking that the subject of the residuarv be-
quest be paid over to them nv the executor
A bill has also beeh filed by the executor
asking the court to %construe the will. and tn
settle several important Questions invoIvino
the redemption and satisfaction of some of the
legacles, among them the legacy of $4,000
to the Lynchburg Female Orphan Asylum-
The following counsel have been retained =
Judge William j Robertson. and Messrs-
Slaughter and Craighill for the executor.
Judge Meredith for the .residuary lesa.ee
Judge William Daniel. General Early and
Wood Bouldin for the asylum; Messrs. Charles
L Mostly, Kean & Brown for the Davidson
children and Messrs Kean and Andrew
Johnston for other lcgatees.
lRichmond (Ta) Dispatch
A DISTRESSING Accidental gentleman
from Markham. fauquier county. gives an ac-
count OF a distressing accident that occurred
in his ueighborhood on Sunday morning last
which resulted in the death of a beautiful and
accomplished daughter of Major John Amber