The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1872-08-24
~ "a. EEH@-
OF
HON. JOHN A. ]. CRESWELL,
POSTMASTER GENERAL,
AT jackson, NIichioan.
POSTMASTER aENEr

At Jackson, Michigan.
bt .'sr, Ams'' G,Th History of the Chor-
az ACTON Ilndicated 6y Documents
reforms and improvements in the Post
CWce Department-Interesting and Salts
factory Financial Statement ~
rhhLo" olTIzENs:-The enemies of the
President and his administration have in
augurated an organized camnaipn of false
hood and utilization. No man who has
been connected with public affairs for the
last three years, however pure his private
and public life, however illustrious his ser.
vices to the country, has been spared An
avalanche of abuse has been hurled upon
all alike; and these new advocates for re-
form have insulted the people at the out
set by endeavoring to impose upon them
falsehood for truth, and SANDER for argu-
ment. The President himself, whose re-
cord of glorious achievements far outshines
that of any living man in the wide world,
has been assailed at every turn by the
most INSCRIPTIONS and unfounded of &C
eusatlons. He has been charged with
every vice of which a public man could be
gullty-with nepotism, with neglect of his
public duties, with harboring military
despotism, and with every variety of cor
ruption and infamy. Many whom I have
seen creeping in the dust at his feet, and,
like famished ours, licking his very boots
in the vain hope that in the intervals of
their cringing subserviency they might
snap the crumbs of patronage that falls
from his table, have turned aside with i'll
concealed modification when they found
that he would not satisfy their inappease-
able greed, and banded themselves into a
pack of bloodthirsty hounds, seeking to
defiie his great name and to rend and tear
his spotless reputation. Only the other
day they shouted before him, Hosanna!
hosanna! Now, intiamed and maddened
by the sight of his incorruptible purity,
they cry, Curcify him. cruelty him! =
Against their puny efforts at detraction
his fame is secure. Truth is his champion;
and whatever they may say or do they can
not turn from him the great heart of the
people, for therein justice reigns immortal.
shall attempt no defense of [. S. Grant.
That duty is yours. For you he drew his
sword and staked his life. For you he
left the quiet and comfort of home and as
sumed the dread responsibility of military
command. For you he dedicated all his
strength and talents through exhaustive
years of trial and danger to the overthrow
of the armed enemies of the Republic, and
then at your call he laid aside the glorious
insignia with which hundred victories
had decorated him. and entered upon a
new career of civil administration that he
might heal the wounds which the nation
had received in its terrible struggle for life.
A simple recital of his great deeds is suf-
ficient defense for him. and as l speak l
see by the light that CLEANS in your eyes
that you are resolved to stand by him faith
fully and truly to the end.
have left my desk in the Post Office
Department and have travelled nearly 1000
miles to meet and disprove the groundless
charges of man whom the Republican
party of your State has raised from OBJ
scuritv to some of the highest positions in
it's gift, to be repaid by treason and every
conceivable act of treachery and meanness.
Selecting me for his attack, he has waited
until DAYS and nights of weary travel have
separated us, and then opened his mouth
and belched forth a mass of vituperation
and SANDER, as from common sewer OF
v;leness and corruption. l am here to-day
to meet him, as l meet all enemies, face to
face. and to make answer, full and COM
nlete. in the presence and hearing of the
very neople before whom he has seen pro-
per to arraign me. Let us, then, proceed
to consider his charge in detail: In the
New York Tribune of the 18th of July,
instant, | find synopsis of his speech,
which is the only version in my possession;
| .nd in order that the whole of his state
ment NAV be presented I will read all that
mart Of his remarks that refer to me by
name.
It will be observed that he assailed my
management of the Post Office Department
in its entirety, and particularly attacked
me for my action III
| THE CHoRPENNING CLAIMS.
First then, as to the claims of Chorpen-
ming. These claims, and all the facts and
circumstances concerning them, have been
| hof,re the Senate Committee on Post Offices
and Post Roads, and have been fully re-
v;ewed and examined by that committee.
Their report, made February 7, 1871, gives
, fu,l history of the matter, and upon its
authoritative statements shall rely.
There were three contracts, dated, re-
s,ectively, on the 18th of April, 1851, 23d
If April, 1854, and 1st of April, 1858, un-
dor the first two of which Chorpenning
made claim for extra compensation, and
under the last of which he made claim of
do,,aoe for curtailment and annulment.-
| The relief asReu loi "uuei ene nrsI I"o
contracts have been refused by the Depart
ment an act of Congress was passed and
annroyed March 8, 1857, entitled can act
for the relief of George Chorpenning, Jr., "
.nd the first section thereof in the words
following, to wit:
Re- enacted by the Senate and House OF
p. no of the United States OF
i a,psr;ca in Congress assembled That the
p 11mS,, a General be, and he is hereby,
rsnmired to adjust and settle the claims Of
s.id Cborpenning, as surviving partner OF
W. Wsoodvard G. Chorpenning and in his own
ri~ i for carrying the mails by San Pedro
aSd for supplying the post office in Car
anu ANS Valley, and also for carrying part OF
t sbs independence mail by California; al.
lin, ,no a nro rata increase of compensation
t low .he distance by San Pedro, for the ser.
n 10, to Carson's Valley, and for such part
100 va Eastern mail as was carried by Cali.
% ear .He during all the time when said ser.
l l9an.', we're performed, as shown by the
W. Its and proofs on file in the House
of Representatives
Under this act various proceedings were
,od before Postmaster General Brown, by
whom certain allowances were made. Te
these Cborpenning excepted, and made ap
,aat;on successfully to Postmaster Geper.