UC-NRLF 
 
 HJ 
 
 7DD 
 

ADDHESSED TO THE 
 
 TftE HX1TEB STATES, 
 
 BT A 
 
 QTS THE SUBJECT O: 
 
 AND IMPROPER DI8BUK8EMENT8 
 
 IT THE 
 
 PUBLIC MONE c. 
 
 ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 'JT TB 
 
 .TIP/ITS /f^ 5SF 
 * 
 
 PART FJSHT, 
 
 MC/ the plunder of a land isgiw* 
 When public crimes inflame the wrat*- oj Heaven." 
 
 BALTIMORE : 
 
 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY FREDK, & & JHAEFFER, 
 
. 
 
 > fs2% 
 
 ZJt f^*& 
 
 .rf k F ' r,u ' ' 
 
 . 
 
 >., on the subject of i 
 
 T ;7; k V t S 
 
 ^%;Kur 
 
 
 lican. Pait 
 
 District of Maryland 
 
 
TO THE 
 
 P E O P L E 
 
 OF THE 
 
 
 NO. T. 
 
 It is my purpose to address you on a subject of which you, as yet 
 irtle or nothing, but : .-aceming which you are much r^>. v ^H 
 I aly'de to the great amount of money due from individual \Q pub- 
 
 lic. I am induced to this tas'\ principally, from a para^ ,.p 
 long since appeared in the Natic: intelligencer- -a v 
 is well knoy.ii asunder the entire guiu, .ice ind d? "<isi- 
 
 <k'iit%id the.jgyicipal executive ofikers of the gener; > Hi^. 
 
 para'aph fl^Bich I allude is in iht^e words "It i J mer. 
 
 who kno;v better should attempt to impose on the people of Maryland tr 
 absurdity iliat th^ue balances [meaning the balances rcpi'i' ' +c " -i gi >? 
 last siSSJua ] represent monies actual^ - :1 i\e to the gov. . r by de 
 faultors, instead of being, what they ^ 'y are, unsettled .r . cxparte 
 accounts." 
 
 Had ^ statement like this conic /rou, any otUe. quarter, I might 
 lot pernr.p , nive deemed it worthy of notice knowing, as T do $ the 
 iiii^ . .y i ., . .is tcj tften resorted toby different politic? t sects to re- 
 tain, or get into, power. But when I see the executive uv.lhority of this 
 
 nation, by its organ, attempting to impose a most shameful and wicked 
 falsehood upon the people, I can no longer be silent. I have the docu- 
 
 public treasure, seldom equalled, and never surpassed in the most 
 corrupt gove rn merits of the old world. When indeed, such pains are 
 taken by our executive rulers to conceal from ihe view of the people the 
 )f the fiscal concerns of the nation, and to screen individual 
 1'avorl .tin to v.hicli party they profess to belong] from that 
 
 ;o attach to every man who would wilfully and wick- 
 t !!_ vi ,'ic tiust, \\e must conclude, we cannot help con- 
 
 -iilers do, in some way or other, actually participate 
 Iran: Is. This I say, from no party views whatever. I 
 
 Ail 1 \\ish to see, in this respect, is, honest, faithtul and indigent 
 
 o govern us really acting [not merely profesj.- c' ii; con- 
 
 {'i>niiit.y to the trae principles of our republican govtrnmer h v.s were 
 
 ractteed during the admiuigtrat'on of general Washing :. \ ntver 
 
 383306 
 
have, no r -.;! t give ,.^ : . ri ile<i" y as an American citizen, to speak 
 freely anc frankly of tho&e vho havv- i direct agency in conducting the 
 affairs of the nation. In lo'ng chit, ho\vever, I shall certainly abstain 
 *rom using harsh or abusive epithetSc I shall confine my remarks prin- 
 cipally tnfttcii and the obvious consequences growing out of them. I 
 ehall make no charge against any one which I will not. prove, so far as 
 the ' l lie documents and records will be admitted as proof. 
 
 To y great astonishment and regret, the people of this country 
 
 suffered years d years to pass away, without making the least 
 inquiry about public defaulters. Thissupineness has been ov\in to the 
 ,- at and sudden influx of public moLey, arising from the duties on for- 
 ~ign imp^r d goods, and the conse-qiient ability of the government to 
 ., t. :Mid more than meet, all its engagements, without resorting to any 
 .thcr mode of taxation. Our rulers, from the president down, rook ad- 
 .c itage of this state of things, and have been constantly Bulling the 
 ^)t?p!e with the false and fallacious assertions, that they were not only 
 
 '.s and happy beyond former example, but also free from pnb- 
 ic burci Ins. . esident's last 'inaugural speech. JRiit, as every 
 
 /eftc; < it lias co")?, to pass, that this source of rev; 
 
 n order to mee':, even current eypen^es. (for the 
 'y hi-en violated, as shall be pr^~ 
 
 in not, providing t.he requisite aii^iriit Tor the sinking f\MJL^fl^>^i ; <>b!i^- 
 . od to i'esort t' :>* w time ofprofound peacr. '] i 
 alar' ; an f ' .. . f reflection, \vhc have no more to do v.-ith the ^overn- 
 ,nent . .), .\ o tit- \-JL\\? i -4 pay their taxes, begin to sec- 
 
 ^ ise^t^': ^ r .iil i /' -i ' Hiblic treasury. Hence, for the lirst. 
 time, I belie vj, has i-efi pu^ntTed in the newspapers of tl- 
 year, some remarks on the choruiour balances against individuals, 
 books of ike third ^dditor of tne treasury. But why not hi ^^ li as eve- 
 been said respecting the balances due to the U^Stntes on the books of t^.-. 
 fourth auditor, and also on those denominated "Books of Roceij- i i- 
 Expenditures," I am totally at a loss to conceive. 1 have in my po 
 sion, the list of defaulters on thesp, and in my next, s!--nli t^i\e so 1 . 1 : 
 tracts from them, I will also make some ivinarks on the letter a n<; 
 munication of tlujf^trrf auditor, which accompnmed h-is repoit '<{' 
 quentt,,. In the end, I think I shall be able conchixiveiv to sho\r, U^^ 
 if the public money had not been most shamefully and scanday^B 
 squandered, we 'ieed not, for some years to come, even undo:- our pre- 
 sent bad systeir of getting revenue, have bec-;i obi' : :.;ed f) report to t!:o 
 miserable and disgraceful sliil't of borrowing money, to p.:iy thr 
 expenses of government. 
 
 A Native of Yir^i 
 
.,,rt history of tite. aci c-f .ingress <., liio kl March 1809, by 
 i the comptroller of the treasury is required t r > r< ] ay ar, annual 
 Statement before conj;r - .'/').';? the first -week of tha'r ?c'.ssiow, of 
 the accounts which ma"' inve remain -d more than three years unsettled, 
 or OH which balances appear to have Seen due more than thrcv years, 
 prior to the 50th Sept. preceding," may, perhaps, not be unacceptable 
 to you. it was on tiiat t i larch 1809] that JV f ". ,Te'V ; . .-ori's s 
 
 term of oflict*, as president, expired. He was, no doubt- rnv : t : . 
 leave some evidence of his ;rea/ for the public interest ; and he probably 
 thought there could be no better vvay of doing this, than by procuring 
 a lav. to be passed, exhibit ing to the public view a list of the puHic c-e- 
 f-iiilters, and also of earning into effect a favorite princip! o^ 
 publicans of the 0W school namely, that " r he um afproprj^tet' by 
 for each branch of rxj-ejuiitin* in the ^hould 
 
 olely applied to-tye object?* iur vn.ich ll.ey \' appro- 
 
 her" Accoriliagly Mr. G iry of 
 
 a draitof thf ttfore.said act of tl>. >d Marc'i, 1809. 
 . : icel, I tliii-k, into tlie house of ntatives by the 
 
 chairman of the conunittee of ways and ircas.- n-. sed tl"it br ly; 
 as so amended in the senate at <\ siuwesti- - * '. e alw.ys 
 understood] of general Samuel S> 'iose bro^;e ' -^ ' eit, th' ? ' 1- e.n 
 
 laryof the navv, W.MS deculedr^ -istUe i iples, in regard 
 
 fecific appropriat-ions "i as t< render the clause in the act, as it re- 
 (1 the specific applitalic:. cf ach oum appropriated, :\ perfect nul- 
 .':*\. There are other provisions in this law for insuring a due account- 
 y of '!;e public money, such as requiring those intrusted with its 
 Ushursf.wnt, to keep it in some incorporated bank, &, to render month- 
 v reUiins, tVr. of their payments. It lias, doubtless, been from the 
 culpable l ie mildest term that can with any propriety be appli- 
 
 ed to the case ; of him whose dut.y it is " to see Hint th ' lawn are faith- 
 J'iiHyp'Wcutt'd-i" that, sut-h vast sums of money have been lost to the 
 jbmir. unity, i'a^s AS hut laws you will, be tbey ever .-: salutary, unless 
 fv'.iihfiillv cxeci.'ed," they become as a dead letter, worse than 
 -. To be plain; it is the PKKSIUEXT OF TT., UN'ITED STATES 
 ..blame lbi- tha dilapidations recently made on the 
 o;'.-.ury. 
 
 v.>>rd or tv.o as to the manju'rin which the third auditor has com- 
 
 (I to tb.e comptroller the. list of delinquent* on his books. He, 
 
 Miditor. is, 1 understand, very much censured by some ofthe 
 
 ic party, for the way in which he makes his communication on 
 
 Hp c t> as giving too much importance to it. Verily, I am quite of 
 
 iiiion. 1 think his report rather calculated to screen some 
 
 fatmers at least. I will, for the present, mention a single in- 
 
 .-lanceonly of this kind. The case of the late .Mr. Brent, paymaster 
 
 general, residing at the. seat^rf tff general '-,,.. ..:;< .i, is thus put 
 
 down by Mr.^Hagner, on his list. "Robert I general, 
 
 i 0.9 11 dollars Itt cents balance on sMe-.. ,orted 
 
 .-/tV. Now if MrHagiier dktnot kao.w of in^ 
 
brought against Mr. Brent, this is all vetj we!!. But will he say that, 
 at the time he made his repon. he k :;-./ i f no further debts to be brought 
 to the account of that officer. I have lately learned, from good autho- 
 rity, that the deficiency in this case is usually above one hundred and 
 sixty thousand uolLrs, r; -s.1 moreover, t'nat the official bond of the late 
 incumbent was tiot i,cb, found! IVir not from any invidious motive 
 that I aave sele.-.ted L-;3 pa. . : cular case far from it I do it for the pur- 
 pose of i$h(>pin^you how your affairs are managed, even at the seat of 
 government, directly under the eye of the president, whose duty it is to 
 see ihifttite laws aix, ' faithfully executed.'' It is said to., 'liat this 
 will b-. ..total loss or nearly s,o to the public, the delinquent being dead, 
 tmlno administration on his estate. And yet, in tlie face of t!as, and a 
 hui.tued times as much more we are taid by our rulers, tlm ?;h their 
 jrgun, tlu, National Intelligencer, that " it is a shame to impose -.) the 
 people the absurdity that these balance* represent money actually CM. 1 ." 
 That some of these are unsettled accounts, nobody ever denied : but 
 there is no qualification in the runLvk made by the editors of the Intel- 
 L.'ger.ccr they attempt to " impose the absurdity," that they are all 
 " insettled balances, and exparte account!- !" 
 
 I will PR r a<V i4 LV one other item in the report of the third audi- 
 i/r, whic'vthough v larger in amount, is, "nevertheless, great in point 
 
 cf euc. mity, and mu/ serve as a ramble of the proceedings of the execu- 
 tive officers of this government. Umi.?i the proper head, ii, 
 auditor's list,yo viil find the following entry : " Charles Gobert, con 
 n, ~ 850 d !ai> ; advanced on account of ordnance it being 01 
 nt v)f iijc co, c. for the,"' ':' !i facture of musket balls." A paral- 
 this case, in point of pi , not, 1 believe, tc be found in the 
 
 s of this cou:i : i y. I willr you f he following: brief account -f it 
 
 ,yo:, via find the iollowing entry 
 
 tractoi, ?. 850 d u> advanced on account of ordnance it being 01 
 account of his co. 
 lei to 
 annals of 
 
 and if any thing which I state be wrong, if can be corrected by refere r> w 
 to the facts ut the proper office. 
 
 Charles Gobert, is a Frenchman of specious manners, but o r n 
 riously infamous character. When Mr. Monroe, the present 
 was acting secretary of war, he made a contract with this Cobert 
 
 Jj 
 taW 
 
 by order of Mr. Monroe, to Gobert, who put it into his pockei. 
 perhaps, never thought of the musket balls afterwards ; certain it is, 
 delivered none to +\v war department. It is true, the formality of 
 ing security for ti public money advanced to Gobert was compile ! 
 with; I s&y formality, because the bond was taken -in such a icay, tiiat. 
 the security [a person ot the name of Ogden, in New York] is det i. 
 not to be liable for the money, at least so says the IT. S. district m 
 ney. You will not, perhaps, be so much surprised at this strange 
 unjustifiable advance of the public money, when you arc informed, tha. 
 this unprincipled Frenchman had married a relation of the wife/ of Mr. 
 Monroe. This is the same Gobert, who was afterwards detected in a 
 treasonable intercourse with admiral Cockburn, was arraignetFfor high 
 treason, but, by some means, made his escape. In my next communica- 
 tion I will advert ':? * r me other cases of delinquency; particularly to some 
 in the books "/the fcurih -luditoij ar,J to others on the books of "Re- 
 ceipts jiiid Expenditure?-." which will enable you to determine whether 
 iot high ti-.iii foi" aii to irousefro-T; your apathy, and betake your- 
 
* 
 
 stives to thinJdng a UUl* before it is too late. If you do no;,, ere long, 
 correct the procedure/ in regmS i< the general administration of your 
 affairs, you may, depend upon i:, bid a long farewell to liberty and to 
 happiness. 
 
 A 
 
 >'o. TTI. 
 
 The remarks of the present number will bt principally confined fc 
 ihe balances due from individuals to the T ites, and "Standing 
 
 on the books of the fourth auditor of the treasury ..jne of which balan- 
 i^ yet, T believe, been exposed to public firvv except in the of- 
 rcports made to congress from the treasui v department. The 
 amount on this list is, I think, about TWO MILLIONS o DOLLARS; and, I 
 am sorry to add, the greater part of r''.e money will D, lost to tic public. 
 To enable you to judge of tl" k '/iirneful an jlpable manner in 
 which this money has been disbui V*'\y om the public ueasury at Wash- 
 ington, 1 will make a few extract one of ,.'nee reports; and then, 
 after a few comments, leave e*'ery reflecting hoiie&t man in the country 
 to c'eteraiine for himself, whether the persons who are entrusted with 
 tne management of our public concerns deserve the respect or the con- 
 mi erice of the people. 
 
 la the "abstract of balances remaining oa die books of the fourth 
 auditor," will be found the following entry: 
 
 " Theodorick Armistead, 242/J81 dollars, 46 cents, formerly navy 
 gent, deceased, Norfolk, Va." This is, as it appears, a finally settled 
 account: aid I understand that the delinquent is dead and insolvent. 
 [Nor does it appear frota the official report that any security was taken, 
 of course this is a total loss to the public. It ma* V proper to add, that 
 all navy agents are required, by the standing ru^. of the department, to 
 render monthly returns to the proper accounting officer at Washington, 
 of their receipts and disbursements during each month. How then, it 
 will be asked, can there possibly happen such an immense deficiency as 
 e stated r I answer because the laws arewof *' faithfully execut- 
 ed ;" because the laws, and ancient wholesome regulations, are made to 
 give way to political expediency ; thus sacrificing the public interest to- 
 promote the unlawful views of party. But in doing this the executive 
 not only acts with injustice to the community ii; is a culpable abandon- 
 ment of his own duty, asenjoine ' upon him by the constitution, and a 
 violation of his oath. 
 
 The next case to which i will call jcur attenvi .= entered on the 
 official abstract above referred to, thua s 
 
 "John CnaDbjEJZ&O*; dollars 37 ceiit, p-y....i. _r, !> .0, Tishing- 
 ton city [remark}^-he has- rendered acucjp/^ v . i.nuu,!. .. 163,08? 
 
dollars 69 cents, but they cannot be adjusted as the pay-rolls have net 
 been certified by the inspector of the marine corps." 'Here then, ad- 
 mitting the entire credit which the pay-maste'' claims, a clear balance 
 appears against him or i-pwardsof half c million of dollars! The fourth 
 audito^ has not state/ tr. congress \vh;il security tht public has for this 
 enormous debt ; o- has lu> even condescended' to say what prospects 
 there ,^re of a recovery of any part of it from he principal. The truth, 
 however, i$ ? that the money will not, cannot be recovered ; because the 
 debtor is notable to pay it; nor do I believe that any measures what- 
 ever have been resorted to, to enforce payment. 
 
 In referring to an estimate, made to congress, in order io obtain an 
 appropriation for the expense of pay for the whole of the marine corps, 
 for the year 1820, [and it is believed the estimate is nearly the same 
 every year,] I find the total amount of that object to be 95.760 dollars : 
 so that it would appear from th". official report rendered to congres? 
 that the paymaster of this co.ps has Lccn permitted to retain in hi 
 hands, [arid which appears to be now an actual balance against him] the 
 sum of 508,951 dollars 68 cents ! This, mind ye, fel'ow citizens was 
 an advance of money at the seat . the general gov c -merit, directly in 
 view of the president whose duty it is, -by the cc stitutiop, " to take 
 care that the laws are faithfully executed."' I d " not mean to 
 the president is, oroughtto be, responsible for ^he misconduci 
 inferior executive officers of government ; but this much I will say, that 
 he is bound to dismiss from the public ser\ '.ce every such officer as shall 
 n?t do his duty. He is moreov ,, ound to give information to con- 
 gress "of the state of the union * ,i recommend to theii consideration 
 such measures as he shall jud; e 'ary and expedient." The presi- 
 
 dent has given to congress no direct "information" whatever reriti e 
 to public defaulters. All the information that congress have i T.~ : A- 
 municated to them on that most important subject, i? whs" *he members 
 maybe enabled t^ glean from the vague and unsatisfactory documents 
 rendered under the law of the 3d March, 1809. Mr. Monroe never has 
 in a single instance, that I can recollect, in making his communications 
 to congress, adverted to the shameful and scandalous misapplicat : on of 
 
 ment, we are told *:' ur " extraordinary prosperity." It is iaot for me 
 to say how long tht people will permit themselves to be thus gulled and 
 flattered. 
 
 The next item in the official abstract to which I shall refer, stands 
 -thus : 
 
 "Eckfordand Brown, contractors, New York 480,000 dollars no 
 accounts rendered." This is all the information the department has 
 condescended to give to the representatives of the people on this sub- 
 ject. It is not even stated what Eckford and Brown contracted to do ; 
 all the information we have about it is, that they, some years ago, got 
 fuur hundred and eighty thousand dollars of the people's money, and 
 that, as yet, no account is rendered" of its application ! What will, 
 what can our public ^uiuiiftiiaries say to this ? What will the people 
 of this country say tc it * 
 
 I shall continue the extracts from the/ourtfi auditor's report in my 
 next communication 
 
 A Native of Wginia. 
 
NO. IV 
 
 You will, I think, have perceived, from vh.it I have already sta. 
 *d and proved, that, the balances appearing on the public books against 
 individuals are not merely ' it.nsett-ed and e.iparte accounts;" the de- 
 claration of tlit administration at Washington, their organ the Na- 
 tional Intelligencer," tothateffeei notwithstanding. How any respec- 
 table men ca.i, in the face of the records in their own possession, en- 
 deavour to impose such a belief on the public, is truly astonishing. 
 From this circumstance, alone, one would be disposed, if not compel- 
 led, to think, "there is something rotten in the state of Denmark." 
 
 A few more extracts will be made from the books of the fourth 
 auditor. 
 
 In the report of balances nvaie by him last winter, I find the fol- 
 lowing entry : 
 
 " Flannagan and Parsons, 91,000 dollars, contractors, Baltimore." 
 Here appears to be a targe balance, of upwards of three years stand- 
 ing, from two individuals residing within * -e hours ride of the capitol! 
 And 'ier ^'iain the fourth auditor Jo s a,>t vouchsafe to tell us a word 
 more .uoufthe matter than what you see stated above. He merely 
 says, that Wannagan and Parson* &re "contractor*," [but does not 
 say for what] and that they owe the U States the sum of ninety-one 
 thousand dollar*. Nothing is said abou frither cirdits being claimed, 
 nor that any measures have, ,< vi'l b^ re >rted to, to recover back the 
 money due. This, however, i a mun of a piece with the other 
 
 items stated in this officer's report -Dy a recurrence to which it will be 
 seen, that, in about nine cases out of ten, even the residence of the de- 
 linquent is "unknown." 
 
 There appears, i:i the same report, tc be a liquidated balance, 
 standing more than three years from the 30th September last, against 
 Joshua Foreman, of 48,274 dollars 21 cents, and the auditor states, 
 that i>e neither knows his " rank" nor his " residence." In short he 
 
 - to know nothing about him. The people are simply given to un- 
 derstand, that tin's gentleman owes them nearly 50,000 dofcprs ; but for 
 what purpose this money was taken out ot" the publv treasury we are 
 left to "guess," not a \vord being said about the m;/^- by the fourth 
 auditor more than I have just stated. Are such things as these to be 
 endured? Will you submit to them? If you do, you will deserve 
 iliat destiny which a culpable negligence and apathy about such matters 
 will, niost certainly, sooner or later, bring about. 
 
 There appears froip this list of balance* [the 4th auditor's] to be 
 about 350.000 dollars due to the United States from Prize Jlgents alone; 
 and these balances due more than three years from the 30th September 
 last Certainly sufficient time has elapsed for these gentlemen to have 
 made a final settlement of their accounts. 
 
 The next case to which I refer in this list is that of Samuel Smith 
 and Buchanan, \vho are reported as delinquents tor the sum of 8,182 
 dollars. All the information which the report affords, relative to this 
 debt, is tnat the parties jvs/aV at- ' Jtaltimore ; J> not one word said 
 about the purpose for which this money was ^iven to \.;se gentlemen 
 
 2 * 
 
10 
 
 ,-. 
 
 from the public treasury. All we know about it is, that they have got 
 the money, and have had it in their possession more than* three years 
 from the 30th September last." We do know t . f this constitutes no 
 part of the famous LEGHORN debt. That stands uoon the books in the 
 names of " Degan and Purviance," amounts, at this time, with interest, 
 to between one and iwo hundred thousand dollar*, and is a total loss to 
 the United States ; though the moaey ought, long since, to have been 
 recovered from Snith and Buchanan, for reasons which they know, and 
 which I could tell, if it would now answer any good purpose to do so. 
 
 A great part of the balances reported by tire fourth auditor of the 
 treasury is of a kind similar to the cases 1 have had particular reference 
 to, in this and my last number. The total amount of balances on this 
 list is about two millions of dollars ; and it is a remarkable fact, that, 
 although the balances have remained on the pub :c books for " more 
 than three years from the 30th September last," i< does not appear, out 
 of about si JT hundred and fifty delinquents on the list, that any measures 
 have been taken to recover bcick the w^ney from any hut *u o of them ; 
 one of whom owes lew titan 100 dollars.' No wonder then, that the 
 p ", e are compelled to borrow money when our rulers practice con- 
 duct like this. I do not mean to say. that every man whose name ap- 
 pears on this list is actually a public defaulter I know to tl-> contrary 
 but I do believe the fa? greater number of them are actual defaulters, 
 and to an immense amount. And be it remembered, that rf any one of 
 them keeps a large sum of money in his hands, even for ten or twenty 
 years, and then pays it into the treasury without suit being ordered or 
 judgment obtained, he is charged with no interest. \Vhat an induce- 
 ment therefore, is there foi ',< r. to speculate on the public money in 
 their hands ; or even to buy stocks, -r put it out at lawful interest ; see- 
 ing that they may do all this, [and L have known it to be done] with 
 perfect impunity. 
 
 In my next I shall take notice of a few of the defaulters on ano- 
 ther set of the public books namely : those denominated " books of 
 receipts and expenditures ! on which are entered monies advanced oix 
 account ot the "civil list,-' * 4 foreign intercourse," "miscellaneous/' 
 objects, &c. &c 
 
 A Native of Virginia. 
 
 
 NO. V. 
 
 Having in my last communication, promised to give you in this, 
 some account of the debts due by individuals to the public, and stand- 
 ing on the books of " Receipts and expenditures;" I now enter upon 
 that duty. 
 
 The number of debtors on the list now under consideration ["and 
 recollect that these also are debts due " more than three years prior to 
 
the 3d September 1820"] are about three hundred andffty. This may 
 be properly called the ** Civil List" balance sheet, and comprehends 
 monies advanced on account of " Foreign Intercourse," as well as a 
 few advances made from the War mid Navy departments, and transfer- 
 red from them to the books of receipts and expenditures. The total 
 amount which appears to be due froiii these delinquents, I have not yet 
 ascertained : but it appears, from the remarks annexed to each :ase 
 by the comptroller of the treasury, that, in many cases, there w ; U be a 
 total loss to the United States, and in a threat part of the others it is 
 doubtful whether any hing will be recovered. It is true that, general- 
 ly the balances appearing on this list are riot so large as those stated on 
 the books of the third and fourth auditors no one delinquent on the 
 books of " receipts and expenditures," appearing to owe more than be- 
 tween 90 and 100,000 dollars exclusive of interest. But the thing 
 which ought to excite the most surprise, if not indignation, is, that cer- 
 tain names should appear on this list at. all ; seeing that some of them. 
 have had more than three times three years allowed them for paying the 
 sums with which they respectively stand charged. 
 
 As this list is a public document, printed and published for the in- 
 formation of the people ; though from some cause or other little known 
 to them, it cannot, 1 think be justly deemed invidious in me to make a 
 few extracts from it, by way of sample, and as affording you an oppor- 
 tunity of judging of men, who, while they would drain the treasury of 
 its last; dollar, without scruple or remorse, would, at the same time, cause 
 it to be trumpeted through the nation, that they were the most pure and 
 disinterested patriots in the world, and tht t nothing concerned them so 
 much as the irelfare and liberty of the pi- pie. 
 
 The first case to which I shaii refer you in this list is that of " Joel 
 Barlow, late minister of the United Slates to France." There has 
 been, it would seem, a final settlement of the accounts in this case; 
 and the balance due the United States is 5,701 dollars 54 cents. "1 he 
 comptroller of the treasury remarks, that "the representatives have 
 been requested to pay this balance without delay." So the matter has 
 ended, and so it will probably remain like hundreds of others, unless 
 through fear of your arousing from your slumbers, and hurling the pre- 
 sent incumbents from power, they may take the alarm and "institute 
 suits," for the recovery back of the money. But you will naturally en- 
 quire, how can the public functionaries reconcile it ro iheir consciences 
 and to a proper discharge of their duties and their oaths, thus to permit 
 the public monev to remain '[without hearing any interest^] in the hands 
 of the most rich" and opulent men, for six or seven years, and the go- 
 vernment be obliged in the mean time to resort to capitalists for the loan 
 of money to defray its ordinary expenses ? I answer, the thing would 
 be inconceivable for one who did nt know of some of the corruptions 
 and abominations which prevail at Washington. 
 
 It is well known that when Mr. Barlow was nominated by presi- 
 dent Madison to the senate as minister to France, he stood charged on 
 the public books with about 750,000 dollars, which he had received to 
 be expended in our intercourse with the Barbary powers aad it ought 
 never to be forgotten how and in what manner, that money was accou nt- 
 ed for. -vin account was exhibited without the requisite vouchers, and 
 thus it was finally passed on the very day m wnich the nomination of 
 
 his 1 have from Hadeubted an- 
 
 Mr. B. was confirmed hi/ the NwntP. T 
 
12 
 
 thorifr. If any one doubts of the fact, he is referred to the journal oi 
 the senate and the archives of the treasury for oroof of it. 
 
 A'. : ain: The comptroller of the treasury reports on this list as fol- 
 lows : ' Patrick Magruder, late clerk of the house of representative* 
 balance - Si 8, 167 09 
 
 Ditto as Librarian to congress. - 803 74 
 
 In all .18.971 83 
 
 to which is annexed this remark <f suit ordered ; but district attorney 
 has not furnished the information required of 'im respecting the pre- 
 sent state of the case." And this is all the people or congress are told 
 about this debt. This money, except the last item, was advanced to P. 
 Magrnder from the treasury to defray the contingent expenses of the 
 house of representatives ; that is, this is the balance remaining in the 
 hands of the late clerk, after giving him credit for all his disbursements, 
 It is said the de'inquent is dead, and that the whole of this money will 
 be lost to the United States : though there need not to have been such a 
 loss to them if the officers had done their duty ; because the U. States 
 have by law, a priority of claim over individual creditors ; and the de- 
 linquent had, at the time the deficiency happened, considerable proper- 
 ty in possession. 
 
 Will the National Intelligencer still tell us that these are not ba- 
 lances actually due, but merely " exparte and unsettled accounts ?" 
 
 In my next I will give vou a finv more examples of these u exparte 
 accounts," as they are called ; and then leave you to judge who is right, 
 the editors of the Intelligent v, n r 
 
 A. Native of Virginia. 
 
 NO. VI. 
 
 If any of you should have an opportunity afforded you of casting 
 an eye over the list of rt public defaulters," you will find, near the head 
 of it, the name of "John Adams, late president of the United States, 
 &c. ? ' with a balance stated against him of 12,898 dollars, and the fol- 
 lowing remark, made by the comptrollerof the treasury last winter, to 
 congress, to wit: " Advanced on account of the president's household. 
 A certificate was forwarded to the treasury that the whole of the money 
 had been expended ; which, however, wa> not deemed a sufficient vou- 
 cher by my predecessors. It is respectfully submitted to congress, 
 whether, under the circumstances of the case, it may not be proper to 
 remove the difficulty in the settlement by a special act ot congress."' A 
 good deal having been said about this case, 1 have deemed it proper to 
 give you a correct view of it not because 1 believe there is much money 
 due from Mr. Adams to the public, but because I believe there is involv- 
 

 
 i in II 
 
 this transaction a principle of vital importance namely, whether 
 even/ citizen in this country is not, alike amenable to its laws ? 
 
 'About the time tint president Adams came into office, congress 
 appropriated J^er^ert thousand dollars, to purchase furniture, &c. for 
 the president's house. Whatever furniture was purchased with this 
 money, was pub! i< property. Mr. Adams drew the money from the 
 treasurjgjrimself, and was* accordingly charged with it on the public 
 books. A short time before his term of office expired, he sent, as the 
 comptroller has stated, <k a certificate," signed by himself, "that the 
 whole of the money (the 14,000 dollars) had been expended." This 
 certificate was in the hand-writing of Oliver Wolcott, then secretary of 
 the treasury. The then comptroller of the treasury, John Steele, of 
 North Carolina, (who received his appointment from Gen. Washington) 
 would not admit this " certificate" of Mr. Adams, as evidence of the 
 expenditure of the money, but required a regular account supported by 
 the vouchers, as in ordinary cases. These Mr. Adams declined giving 
 and so the matter re-ted until just before he left Washington, in 
 March 1-,01, when he paid back to the treasury the sum of 1,102 dol- 
 lars which being deducted from the 14,000 dollars appropriated by 
 congress as before mentioned, leaves the sum of 12,898 dollars still 
 standing to the debit of Mr. Adams on the treasury books. This is the 
 whole history of the case. If the proper officers had done their duty, 
 Mr. Adams would have been cowpetled to settle his account. That he 
 kept an account of his expenditures, is evident from the fact of his hav- 
 ing made a repayment to the treasury of 1,102 dollars as above stated, 
 alleging that sum to have remained unexpended of the 14,000 dollars 
 appropriated, although he had previously certified that the whole of 
 the 14,000 dollars had been expended. To show that general Steele 
 was correct in not admitting Mr. Adams' " certificate" as sufficient evi- 
 dence that the money had been expended on the object for which it had 
 been appropriated, it is only necessary to remark, that no charges for 
 the disbursement of public monies can be legallv admitted, unless they 
 be supported by g;nd and s^Tirient vouchers with th eexception only of 
 mo-iey drawn on appropriations ' for defraying contingent expenses of 
 intercourse hetween the United States ind foreign nations," [common- 
 
 led " secret service money"] in which case, and in which only, 4 a 
 certificate [from the -'resident] of the amount of such expenditures as 
 he may think it Advisable not to specify, fe!;all be deemed a sufficient 
 
 er for the sum or sum-i therein expressed to have been expended." 
 > iOth May 1M)0. With the light now before them, 
 the public will be enabled to j ml ire of the "difficulty" there has existed 
 in the settlement of Mr. Adams' account , and whether it be such as to 
 require " a special act of congress" to remove it. Why the account 
 has 'been permitted so long to remain open O'i the public books, [a cir- 
 cumstance alike discreditable to the public functionaries and to Mr. 
 Adams,] 1 will t,ot rott-nd to say. I hav.-> simply brought the facts to 
 your notice, and you can judge for yourselves. 
 
 Having stated thus much in r^ped to an apparent debt due from 
 one ex-president, 1 cannot, in justice or in tain < -;-rf.it stating a tran- 
 saction of a pecuniary nature,, which took phir n hi? illustrious 
 successor in office [and truly iilu-trious \\cmight have descended to 
 posterity^ and vou. the petiple of the United States. ^> tar from its 
 affording me any personal gratification in exposing this matter to public 
 
14 
 
 I 
 
 view, I solemnly aver, that I most sincerely regret, that the transac- 
 tion to which I allude should have ever taken place. As a native Ame- 
 rican citizen, seeking no place either of distinction or profit and 
 prompted by no other motive than to promote virtue and to prevent vice 
 it would have been a heart-felt satisfaction to me to have been ena- 
 bled with truth to record, that not so much as a blot or a stain remain- 
 ed upon the character or fame of either of the distinguished men whom 
 the people of this country, by their free suffrages, have exalted to the 
 highest station within their gift. As to some of the foibles, and trivial 
 aberrations from duty, on the part of our political rulers, which are in- 
 cident to human nature, it would be unworthy the dignity of the pre- 
 sent subject, to descend to notice. But when a palpable and manifest 
 act of moral turpitude shall have beed committed, as regards the public 
 interest, and about which no two honest impartial men can possibly dif- 
 fer ; I hold it to be my duty [as I have undertaken to address the pub- 
 lic] thus publicly to present it to your view. And ought any honest 
 man to object to this? The great bane of all republics [if not the grea- 
 test] is a blind and heedless confidence placed by the people in men 
 instead of clinging with inflexible constancy to those principles which, 
 can, alone, guard them from the open usurpations of military despots, 
 or the more sly, but not less dangerous, machinations of political in- 
 triguing hypocrite;-. 
 
 With these prefatory remarks I proceed to lay before you the fol- 
 lowing statement of facts : 
 
 In the year 1789 when Mr. Jefferson resided in France as minister 
 from the U. States, he was in the practice of drawing bills, on public 
 account, on our bankers at Amsterdam, These bills he had negotiated 
 in Paris, and received the money for them there. He then charged him- 
 self, or credited the U. States, with the sums thus received. The ban- 
 kers, of course charged the United States with the amount of each bill 
 paid by them. In the account which Mr. Jefferson rendered to, and 
 settled at the treasury, he credited the U. States, in his own hand writ- 
 ing, underrate of 21st October 1789, as follows: "cash received [by 
 him] of Grand for bill on Willink and Van S*as>hor f , 2870 guilders 
 1148 dollars ;" and accordingly this sum was brought to his debit by. 
 the accounting officers of the treasury during the administration of ge- 
 neral Washington. 
 
 But it appears, that the bill above mentioned, and for which Mr. 
 Jefferson acknowledged to have received the ' cash," did not get to 
 the hands of our bankers at Amsterdam ; or, if it did, they did not 
 charge it in their accounts with the U. States. The probability is, that 
 as the French revolution was then about breaking out, this bil! was lost 
 by the individual who purchased it amid the general confusion which 
 then prevailed in France. Be this, however, as it may this bill of ex- 
 change has not yet come to light : at least it had not when Mr. Jeffer- 
 son's second term of office, as president, expired in the year 1809 : for 
 notwithstanding he had, by his own acknowledgment, received the 
 money for it from Grand, in Paris, on the 21st October 1789, he ne- 
 vertheless in March 1809, nearly twenty years afterwards, demanded 
 and again received the money for this same bill at the public treasury wf 
 the United States ! as will appear from the following copy of his ac- 
 count on file* <fc The United States to Thomas Jefferson Dr. For this 
 sum, being the amount of 2870 guilders brought to his debit in the state-- 
 
15 
 
 of his account at the treasury, per report No. 15,871, beyond the 
 amount which appears to have been actually paid to him by the bankers 
 of tlie department of state at Amsterdam, 40 cents per guilder, dollars 
 1 1 IS." The expressions in the above account, beyond the amount actu- 
 ally paid to him by the bankers" &c. are evidently incorrect, and cal- 
 culated to deceive because the bankers did not pay to him, but on his 
 order or drafts. The plain truth of the matter, however, is this that 
 Mr. Jefferson has twice received the money on this same bill first at 
 Paris, where he negotiated it, in 1789, and afterwards at Washington 
 in 1809. And I do contend, that, upon no correct principle of law or 
 morality had he a shadow of right to take the money a second time. 
 He had no more riiht to go to the public treasury to demand this money 
 than any other individual in the community. It was the common pro- 
 perty of all : and just as well, upon the same principle and with equal 
 justice, might the president of a banking institution, on its being wound 
 up, demand payment out of its coffers, for the amount of all the notes 
 which were lost or destroyed in the course of its banking operations. 
 Neither Mr. Jefferson, nor any body else, had a right to profit by the 
 loss of the bill in question, which the government will be bound injus- 
 tice and good faith to pay, should it ever be presented for payment. 
 And here it may be proper to remark, that no security, by way "of in- 
 demnity to the U. States, in the event of a contingency of that kind, 
 was taken from Mr. Jefferson. His accounts as minister in France had 
 been settled and closed for nearly twenty years. They were opened 
 for the unworthy 1 will not say dishonest purpose of taking money 
 from the public treasury which he had not the shadow of right to claim 
 or demand. If any one should ask how the accounting officers of the 
 treasury were induced to allow to Mr. Jefferson this claim ? it may be 
 answered, that, even in our republic, there are not wanting men who 
 will wrong the public and their own consciences, for the purpose of ob- 
 taiuing favor with certain great men. 
 
 I have now, fellow citizens, given you a faithful and candid state- 
 ment of a case which derives its greatest importance from the princi- 
 ple involved in it. For if it be once admitted in this country, that the 
 high public functionaries may, with impunity, transgress the law, and 
 Jthe general rules provided for the government of all and particularly 
 in matters of a pecuniary nature then, indeed, may it be truly said, 
 that our lawsand our constitutions are not worth preserving; and the 
 sooner we get rid ot them the better. 
 
 Painful indeed to me has been the task of thus publicly bringing 
 before the bar of the public one who once had [though not for many 
 years past] my entire confidence, and for whom 1 entertained more than 
 ordinary respect. But my motto is, in the course of these investiga- 
 tions into the conduct of public men <; / will nothing extenuate nor 
 aught set down in malice." 
 
 One other case, taken from the list of f< public defaulters," will 
 close this communication. It is that of " Return Jonathan Meigs, re- 
 lative to making roads, &c." The sum with which he stands charged 
 in the treasury books, is 5,500 dollars. The comptroller of the trea- 
 sury annexes to this case the following most curious remarks namely; 
 fi He was requested to render his accounts and vouchers relative to the 
 disbursement of this money. He produced vouchers in 1819, which 
 were deposited in the auditors office, but not being accompanied by 
 
19 
 
 4r 
 
 a general account current, he was requested to render one to that offi- 
 cer. It is understood that the vouchers were withdrawn from 'he au- 
 ditor's office, for that purpose, and have not since been returned." 
 These remarks will, of themselves, I should suppose, give you a tole- 
 rable correct idea how the public business is managed at Washington. 
 This Mr. Meigs, you must know, is the present postmaster general of 
 the U. States. lie has had this public money in his hands some 8 or 
 30 years. But public delinquents pay the government no interest, ex- 
 cept en judgments against them and very few of those are obtained. 
 
 Although Mr. Meigs may have expended a part of this money, the 
 presumption is, that he has not expended the whole of it, else, why 
 not, at once, settle the account? So long as he can retain the balance 
 with impunity, and without paying interest, he finds it to be his inter- 
 est to do so. Will not a case, even of this kind, open your eyes ? Here 
 is a public officer of high trust, retaining the public money in his hands 
 or vesting it in stock, to bring something in, and, at the same time, re- 
 gularly receiving his quarter's salary at the treasury of the U. States! 
 And all this, too, directly under the nose of him whose constitutional 
 duty it is " tatake care that the laws are faithfully executed." 
 
 A Native of Virginia. 
 
 NO \IL 
 
 It is, perhaps, less important for you to know the amount of the 
 public money which individuals have got in their possession, and are 
 permitted to retain in their hands, than it is to be informed of the man- 
 ner bv which they became possessed of it, and the circumstances under 
 which they hold it. To afford you some information on these points,' 
 from which you will be enabled to judge of the fitness of the men, now 
 in power, to manage your affairs, is a primary object of these commu-, 
 nications. It is ; 01 to be expected, that every -case of culpability, of 
 thiskind, can be now noticed. To do this, would occupy a space far 
 beyond that prescribed for these remarks. A few leading instances, 
 therefore, ot malversation in office, will be brought to your view ; rind 
 from these, a tolerable correct opinion may be formed of the general 
 course of official transactions at the seat of the general government. 
 
 On the books of C( receipts and expenditures" there appears to be 
 a balance standing against " Charles Pinckney,* late minister U. S. to 
 Spain," of 12,508 dollars -'Scents to which case the comptroller of 
 the treasury annexes the following remarks: "Informal; accounts 
 rendered to the fifth auditor, which have not been definitively decided 
 on." And wherefore ? Because it is known they cannot or ought not 
 to be admitted. It is now upwards of twenty years since this gentle- 
 man was appointed minister to Spain, and about ten years since his re- 
 turn to this country. The first accounts he had settled at 'the treasury, 
 
17 
 
 m 
 
 him indebted to the U. States in the sum of 70,000 dollars. This 
 balance, it s -MHS, is now reduced to 12,508 dollars as above stated. 
 How this lias been done, I am unable to say ; nor will it be known, un- 
 til congress shall call upon the head of the proper department to furnish 
 a copy of the accounts. 
 
 'The act of congress of the 10th \fay, 1800, (vol. v. p. 187) which 
 fixes the compensation to be allowed to our ministers. &c. at foreign 
 courts, has, L feel well assured, received a construction differing wide- 
 ly from its letter and spirit. The 1st section of that act declarer that, 
 " exclusive of an outfit, which shall, in no case exceed the amount ^f 
 one year's full salary to any minister plenipotentiary or charge dp- af- 
 faires, to whom the same may be allowed, the president of the Unit 
 e<i States shall not allow to jiy minister plenipotentiary a greater sum 
 than at the rate of nine thousand doMars per annum, as a compensation 
 for all his personal services and expense:;.*' It is not my intention at 
 nt, to specify cases wherein greater allowances have been made 
 than this law has authorized ; but increiv to bring the subject to public 
 notice, in order that congress may, it they see tit. institute an enquiry 
 into the matter. Confident I am,' however, that allowances to a very 
 considerable amount, have been made to our foreign ministers, *vhicli 
 ihis law does not justify, and which, therefore, were irregula: and il- 
 aU* 
 
 In the case of Mr. P5nckney,t now under consideration, no steps 
 appear to have been taken, to recover back the public money in his 
 hands. The remark of the comptroller, that there are "informal ac- 
 counts in the office of the 5th a iditor, not definitely decided on," i^ weak 
 and puerile, and evidently intended to screen this defaulter from public 
 odium if any thing could screen such a ?;ianfrom public contempt and 
 indignation. 
 
 I leave this case, and pass on ^o another, which, although, compa- 
 ratively speaking, is small in amount, exceeds in enormity any that has 
 yet been mentioned. I allude to the case, as stated on the comptrol- 
 ler's list, of " John Payne, late charge dis affaires at Tripoli." To 
 enable the people to judge of the manner in which their money has been 
 disbursed by the public agents, it is necessary to give a short history of 
 the Circumstances, under which the sum of 5,500 dollars of their money, 
 *"that being the amount standing to the debit of Mr. Payne] has been 
 .taken out of the public treasury. 
 
 John Pavne was a wild, dissipated youth, br'' n er to Mrs. Madi- 
 -on, wife of the late president. About ten years uj a Mr. Davis [I 
 
 ,\ that was the name,] was duly appointed consul of the U. States 
 
 /ide at Tripoli. To this office, there is annexed by law, a salary 
 of two thousand dollars a year, and nothing more. Young Payne went 
 out to the coast of Barbary with Mr. Davis, either as a companionor a 
 cL'.-k, or both : but certainly not in the employ of the U. States, Mr, 
 Davis remained some time at Tripoli, and then returned to the U. S 9 
 Perhaps it will be said, for example, that the cost of a court dress 
 for the wife of one of our ministers abroad, is no part of his "personal 
 expenses" and, therefore, may be legally charged by him to the U. 
 States.. 
 
 tThis gentleman helped to write Mr. Jefferson into office : and as a 
 reward for his faithful services, got the appointment of minister pleni- 
 potentiary to the court of Spain. 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 Mr. Payne remained, for a short time, at Tripoli, but in what' capacity 
 I co }\ I never learn, although I now perceive he is styled ' charge des 
 affair?*" But I am well assured he received no such appointment from 
 his brother-in-law, Mr. Madison ; and, if the journals of the senate 
 shall be referred to, no nomination of Mr. Payne, for such an office, or 
 indeed, for any office, will, I apprehend, be there found. And yet Mr. 
 Monroe, who was then secretary of state, has drawn on the secretary 
 of the treasury in favor of this same Mr. Payne, for n<> less a sum than 
 5,500 dollars, \vith which he, Mr. Payne, stands charged (and will, 
 probably, forever so stand] on the treasury books. A part of this mo- 
 ney was even advanced to him some time after his return to the U. States; 
 and he has not to this day, or at the time the comptroller made his last 
 report to congress, exhibited a single voucher, to show that any part 
 of this money had been disbursed on public account. Comment on a 
 transaction like this, is unnecessary. It can be no argument to you, to 
 say, that the sum. thus advanced, was not a large one. He, who could 
 feel no scruple in directing 5,000 dollars to be wrongfully paid cut of 
 the public treasury, would feel none in directing 5,000.000 dollars to be 
 paid in the same manner; provided, in each case, equal impunity could 
 be felt by him. I will not give you an account of the manner in which 
 this public money was spent about the seat of the general government. 
 It would be too disgusting forme to relate, or for you to hear. It is 
 sufficient for my purpose, to state to you the facts in the case, and to 
 bring to your notice the public functionary who directed this money to 
 be paid. But, as I shall have to pay my respects directly to this high 
 officer, in the course of these essays, 1 shall say nothing further, at pre- 
 sent, on this part of the subject. 
 
 A Native of Virginia. 
 
 ^ M 
 
 HM^I 
 
 ns. when I concluded to ad- 
 
 No. VIII. 
 
 It was not m\ ention, feliovv citizens, 
 dress you on the subject of public defaulters, and some other matters in 
 which you are deeply interested, to stop in my course, for the purpose 
 of replying to every person who might think himself aggrieved by an 
 exhibition of the facts contained in my several communications. But 
 seeing, from some of the public prints, that the letter of Mr. John 
 Crabb, published in this paper of the llth inst. is received as evidence, 
 not only of his owing nothing to the public ; but also of the correct 
 conduct of the officers of the general government, as regards the large 
 sum of money which he drew from the public treasury of the U, States, 
 I have deemed it proper to give you this further exposition of that af- 
 fair. 
 
 Mr. Crabb acknowledges, as? well he may, thai he obtained from 
 (he treasury of the U. $. the sum of 672,000 dollars, and upwards , and 
 
I 
 
 19 
 
 he ailed. ires, that he can account for the disbursement of the whole *ol 
 this sum, provided th proper accounting ofilcers v\ill allow him ail the 
 credits e claims ! But !u> distinctly intimates, in his letter, (and so it 
 may fairly be presumed, lie has informed the public functionaries) that, 
 unless th^v will, before-hand, agree to place to his credit, every-thing 
 which he claims, lie will render them no account, voucher, or satisfac- 
 tion whatsoever, for the expenditure of this large su i ! In my former 
 oammunication on this case, 1 stated no fact which I did not obtain from 
 the official report under the hand of the fourth auditor of the treasury: 
 and I put down, word for word, figure for figure, which that officer has 
 caused to be made and written in the column of u remarks" annexed to 
 this debt. If therefore, any injustice has been done to Mr, C'rabb in 
 1 his respect, it is no fault of mine. The fourth auditor has said one 
 thing, and Mr. Crabh has said another. You have his say so, opposed 
 to the office books and the official report. You can believe which you 
 please. But why did not Mr. Crabb protest against this official report 
 w -en it was submitted to congress, last winter ? Let him answer the 
 <;u sfion. But it is not with Mr. Crabb that 1 mean to contend, or that 
 the people are to look to in tins affair. Enough has been disclosed to 
 show, that there has been a most shameful abuse of the public trust in 
 respect to this matter, to say the least of it, 1 challenge the annals of 
 any country to show a parrallel to it. Mr. Crabb states, that he was 
 paymaster to the marine corps, from Iftl 1 to 1817; that during that 
 period he received nearly 700,000 dollars -.;( public money, and he has 
 never, as far as can be ascertained, settled a single account ! He has 
 " rendered accounts, [says the 4th auditor,] to the amount of 1(3,089 
 dollars 69 cents ; but they cannot be adjusted, as the pay rolls have not 
 been certified by the inspector of the marine corps." Let us here pause 
 a moment; and candidly and dispassionately inquiie how this matter 
 stands. The laws, and the regulations of the public departments, re- 
 quire that accounts between the U. States and public officers who receive 
 public money, should be settled periodically generally quarter yearly 
 except foreign ministers and others residing out of the country. The 
 Ijfefiraster of the marine corps was in office from 1811 to 1817. Ad- 
 es of public money, during that period, were nv > to him from 
 together to the sum before s d It seems 
 
 lie resides at t' -ral government. No quarterly settle- 
 
 . -count w;;s made. At length, when asked for a settlement, 
 to render his accounts and vouchers for that purpose, what does 
 ay ? Why, " if YOU will do me the justice to which 1 think myself 
 " -i. c-. if you will agree, before-hand, to admit all that I ask, 
 I will, in that cavv.', condescend to render you an account of what i 
 have done with the meney committed to my care, and not otherwise. 
 And what then ? Is he sued ? Ar any steps taken to enforce pay- 
 ment of thci debt., or to obtain a settlement of the account? I answer 
 I none although it is now four years since the delinquent went out of 
 ^office ! 
 
 v t'iin'i; like this should be told us is having happened in any 
 [of t': inments of the old world, and we should be asked 
 
 !d, unhe^utingly, answer, there had been 
 I c ! ' 
 
 N"ativc of Virginia* 
 
20 
 
 NO. IX. 
 
 
 It is both lamentable and disgusting to sec the arts and contrivances 
 to which some men will resort to keep t 1 emselve.s in power, an' "-nil 
 the people. A man, for example, professing political opinions adverse 
 to those of the dominant party, is kept in the public service as a kind 
 of witness or toucher to prove the correct conduct of administrate. ; : 
 so that when ever objection is made to any of its acts, another syco- 
 phant immediately exclaims, " Why how unreasonable you are here 
 is a Mister such a one. a decided federalist, who is ciearly of the 
 opinion that yon are wrong, and that the thing you complain of was en- 
 tirely ri^ht" and then he will add. with a sneer, "sure you would not 
 differ with one of your own parly." Such ridiculous stuff as this I 
 have often been obliged to listen to from minions, who call themselves 
 republicans or federalists, as may best suit their purpose, and the pur- 
 poses of those by whom they are employed. 
 
 1 was led to the fore<roir.g remarks from casting my eye over the list 
 ol public delinquents and discovering on it some names which brought 
 to my recollection some facts which ought to be made public to the 
 end that you may (those of you who are disposed to think] form some 
 idea how your taxes are disposed of by those intrusted with their dis- 
 tribution. 
 
 On the list of public delinquents, as taken from the books of receipt* 
 and expenditures, you will perceive is entered the name of " Richard 
 Forrest,'' with a liquidated balance standing against it of 1846 dollars 
 12 cents, said to be *' in relation to Mediterranean powers." The 
 comptroller remarks: "he has been requested to pay this balance, 
 which, if not promptly done, suit will be ordered" \Yearenottold 
 how long this balance lias remained due ; but that it arises " in relation 
 to Mediterranean powers." The facts in the case, however, are these : 
 Seme nine or ten years ago, when \\c paid tribute to the Re^em 
 Algiers, Mr. R. Forrest (known to all his acquaintances ax an e.\ 
 lent good fed 'alist) was designated by. Mr. Monroe, secretary of 
 in whose office Mr. F. was a clerk, to purchase naval stores to be sent 
 out to the Dey of Algiers. Money was accordingly adva 
 purpose, on the orders of the secretary of state, in favor of ' 
 rest, who was allowed a commission on the dir>!->ir v-i'iiient. I am 
 going to enquire whether Mr. Monroe could not have made a mo; 
 dicious appointment, for this object, at some one oi our principal > 
 port towns; but will simply state, that he has drawn in favor of Mr. 
 Forrest for nearly 2000 dollars more than the amount of the tribute then 
 due ; and that MY. F. has kept this excess in hands ever b'mce free from 
 the charge of interest. Nor will I even hint at the motives of Mr. 
 Monroe in selecting one of his own clerks to perform a service (his 
 salary as clerk going on at the same time) which hitherto had been 
 confided 10 some person of experience in such matters, icsiding at one 
 of our maritime ports. You are now possessed of the principle facts in 
 this case, and can judge for yourselves. 
 
 On the books of the fourth a-iditor, a liquidated balance appears 
 against " Tobias Lear," of 3,2^ :oHars 10 cents. This gentlemen WHS 
 
21 
 
 pcr-nd auditor of t!:c trr,v-nry, and formerly consul general of the 
 United N.iU-s nt Algiers. The balance accrued in the latter capacity. 
 1 would just ask Mr. Monroe (Tor there is no man's station in this 
 yet so high but that he may he asked a civil question) upon what prin- 
 ciple he directed an advance of public money to be made to Mr. 
 Lear to the amount of 5,1-12 dollars 85 cents when at the sime 
 time, he, Mr. Lear, was a debtor on the public books? But more of 
 this hereafter. 
 
 On the books of the fourth auditor, there appears to be a charge of 
 2,500 dollars, " advanced to John P. Van Ness," on account of " a con- 
 tract for timber. 5 ' I think it has been about ten years since this money 
 has been <; advanced.** Will the fourth auditor say, that there has been 
 a stick of the timber furnished ? Let him tell us. General Van Ness, 
 President of the JBank of the Metropolis, we are informed, has got the 
 money; and that is all the "Swinish multitude"' are told about the 
 matter. I will, however, tell them that the general pay* no interest 
 on this advance. 
 
 The greatest imaginable abuses and impositions take place upon the 
 people's rights and interests by the practice which prevails in our go- 
 vernment, of making what are called " advances" of public money to 
 individuals who make, or pretend to make, contracts for various pur- 
 . When a man gets somewhat straightened in his pecuniary af- 
 fairs or when he has some great speculation in view, it directly occurs 
 to him, that if he can only get a contract with government, no matter for 
 what, his objects can be speedily accomplished ; because, in that case, 
 particularly if he be a favorite, or of much political influence, he will get 
 a considerable advance, which he puts in his pocket; is " charged and 
 held accountable" for it on the public books, and so the matter rests for 
 years and years. Meanwhile, the individual is enjoying the nse of this 
 money, without interest or premium, while the government is obliged 
 to borrow money on interest to pay rightful claims. And this is what 
 the ' National Intelligencer" would tell us was an li exparte account," 
 on which there was " nothing due!" 
 
 A Native of Virginia, 
 
 NO. X. 
 
 Pacts, like those which I am about to record, would, some years 
 ago, if made known, have excited the indignation of every honest man 
 in this nation. But so deep have we, of late, sunk into lethargic habits, 
 as regards the affairs ef the general government, that I begin to be ap- 
 prehensive, that no conduct, however unjust or iniquitous, on the part 
 of our executive rulers, will awaken you froir your fatal slumber. That 
 there has, in the case to whic> 1 particularly allude, been a most shame- 
 ful dereliction of dutv, and a-, absolute violation of public trust, on the 
 
part of administration, will nay must be admitted by evcrv honest 
 man in the community, no matter to what party he may be- 
 
 In the list of public defaulters, as reported by the third auditor of 
 
 the treasury appears the name of "Daniel D. Tompkins, late governor 
 
 jVTiTi i ' a " n W Vlce -P resifien t of the U. States, with a Hnui- 
 
 ated balance annexed to it of 11,022 dollars 57 cents, to which is sub^ 
 
 ^A^ m ^l^\^ auditor ' " Balance of his account, set- 
 tied Uth June 1820." Would it not have been more ingenious in the 
 
 ?u . '[ t0 - have Sfated the who[e of the fa ' ts in this else ? Will h< 
 
 S ^ ,f. V Ce ?, re81(ie u t T isnott!elin ^ uent011 oth(>r ^counts beside 
 that <> wttled on the 14th June 1820 ?' But we will, for the present, 
 pass over that matter, and admit, for arguments sake, that the J 1,000 
 dollars L which, however, ,s not the fact] is the only debt which that offi- 
 cer owes to the public- What will you say, when'1 tell you that, in the 
 lace of this balance against him, he i. permitted to draw, and does ac- 
 tually draw from the pub^c treasury, hi. salary quarter yearly, at the 
 rate of 5000 dollar* p* annum ? If this be not downright treachery 
 to your interests, I am at a loss to imagine what would be. The rice 
 presiden has enjoyed the use of this money, [and a great deal more be- 
 longing to you] for many yars, and without interest. Instead of com- 
 ling him to return it from whence he got it, it does not appear that 
 he has eren been requested" to do so; but, contrary to every principle 
 of justice and right, receives from the treasury, every three month* uV 
 
 er .'^ a 
 
 rank to the president, quietly and peaceably enjoyin- the 
 
 argesurnsof your money, and paying no interest on the J S ame-we 
 the same time, he is drawing money from your treasury, placed there 
 m loans on which you are paying interest ! Let those in power deny 
 -his statement if they can-^if they dare. What would you say ; or, rl 
 ther, what would you do, if a transaction like this were to take place un- 
 o do T J0 7 a - overnmeilts ? What would any one of you say, 
 ' 60 JOUr K P 7 Vate a entS9houId this manner violate and 
 you had reposed in him ? Do we live in a country 
 
 iJo you subscribe to the doctrine, that it 
 with the principles of our government, "to render ermal 
 
 SWMEKssSsS'TftaSffi 
 
 j,4,5t.7; h ;,'^?ES;;;s i ' 1 K - IK 
 
 to bear in mind, thar rf 
 
 he f - 
 
 te,that i * Jee simple mm vs. Upon what nrincinlp , 
 
 ticeor honest the ' 
 
 stify themselves in this 
 that it comes from a "di 
 
 " butal this uiil 
 
 " 
 
 A Native of Virginia, 
 
m 
 
 NO. XL 
 
 As yet, I have adverted to a few cases only of palpable delinqueu- 
 on "three sets of the public books; namely, the books of the third 
 and fourth auditors, and those denominated "books of receipts and 
 expenditures," which contain the account of receipts aud disbursements- 
 relative to the civil list, &c. All the monies charged on these three 
 sets of books, were drawo directly from the treasury of the United 
 States. There are yet other public books on which individuals are 
 charged for public money received by them before it comes into the 
 public treasury; namely, the " books of the customs," on which collec- 
 tors of the customs are charged with balances due on their accounts, re- 
 spectively, the ''books of internal revenue and direct tax," on which the 
 collectors of internal revenue and direct tax are charged ; and the books 
 of the genewil post office, on which delinquent post T nasters and others are 
 charged with public money in their hands arising from that source of 
 revenue. licsides, these, there are other public delinquents to an im- 
 mense amount, (not to mention the debtors for public lands) who are 
 not specifically charged on any of the public hooks at the seat of govern- 
 ment; such, for example,as debtors on the custom house books [the actual 
 delinquencies of which class of debtors amount, I think, according to 
 a late report of the secretary of the treasury to two millions of dol- 
 lars] forfeitures and penalties incurred and remaining due to a very 
 great amount ; to which may be added foreign bills of exchange pur- 
 chased by the agents of the United States, and protested for non-pay- 
 ment. 
 
 The total amount of balances on the three sets of books first above- 
 mentioned, to wit: those of the third and fourth auditor, and of "re- 
 ceipts and expenditures," appears to be upwards of eighteen millions of 
 dollars to which may fairly be added, for debts in the other cases 
 above specified, [always excluding the debt due for public lands sold] 
 the sum of seven millions of dollars making a grand total of twenty- 
 five millions of dollars. From this we will deduct the sum of five mil- 
 > lions , . ; \e amount which will probably be admitted to the credit of indi- 
 viduals :iou ciiarj;ed. Thon there will be left [exclusive of the debt due 
 0:1 account of public lands >>nld] no less a sum than twenty millions of 
 from individuals to the Unites States. This, I 
 
 verilx II considerably short ottiie true amount now due 
 
 ^ta ntly in mind, that these reported balances 
 
 were due for r= e years prior to the 30th of Sept. U-20 
 
 rt of these balances accrued ;.. : or to the 
 rfent Monroe's administration. We shall see, 
 
 by and'J 3lic moruy has been applied, or rather mis- 
 
 ai.'j'lied uii al management. One thing I will venture, before 
 
 hand en t'u official documents shall have been made 
 
 public, i u it. 1l:at d no period since the establishment uflhit 
 
 government, and in a time of peace, has there been any thing like' such 
 pt-n...9i.un. extravagance, waste, and a ion -flhe public trea- 
 
 sure, a* have taken >>lace since his inditctio imo <ke f ;Jjice of president. 
 The records of the treasury tor the last four years & upwards, will, when 
 
24 
 
 . 
 
 recurred to, exhibit a profligacy of expenditure, a tissue ol impositions'' 
 on the public, and a list of private delinquencies, unpuralelled, certain- 
 ly, in the history of this, and probably in that of any other country. 1 
 say this without fear of contradiction. I say further L do not believe 
 there is a people on earth who get so little for their money, in services 
 and supplies, as the good people of the United States. The fault ir.ust 
 rest somewhere, and it is easily seen where it does rest. It rest-, in 
 the first place, with ourselves, in not attending, with more vigilance, 
 to the national concerns ; by not providing wholesome and efficient 
 checks, to prevent collusions and fraud; by abandoning fundamental 
 principles, and adhering to men without principle and without ca- 
 pacity. 
 
 There appears to be an actual delinquency, as exhibited in the comp- 
 troller's report to congress, on the cirit list alone ^ of :i'x>ut one million 
 two hundred and fifty thousand dollars ! a sum which, during (-re-iem! 
 Washington's ad mi lustration, or during. the first four years of Xir. Jef- 
 ferson's would have been sufficient to discharge the iviwle of the ex- 
 penses of the governmr.it (exclusive of the army and navy) "o; 
 years ! These, fellow citizens, are not mere assertions for party view- 
 er purples ; they are solemn truths facts upon record. And be it 
 always rei rnbered, that these public defaulters, (with a very few ex- 
 ceptions here and there, when a judgment has been obtained) pay us 
 ?io interest on these immense sums of money in their hands. The in- 
 terest alone, on the whole sum, which I estimate to be actually due 
 from individuals to the United States (twenty millions, exclusive of 
 the land debt) would, if exacted and paid, be sufficient, even in these 
 times of extravagance, to defray for a whole year the expenses of the 
 " civil list" of the general government. A few of the delinquents are 
 sued, perhaps, for form, or for shame's sake ; and the suits are suffered 
 to freeze on the docket; or, if the party pays the money to the marshal, 
 or, more probably, to the United States' attorney, the latter will (I will 
 not say in quite "all cases) take care to retain it; so that.it gets not into 
 the public treasury, even after the original defaulter is compelled to de- 
 liver it up. Witness the case of Edward Livingston, formerly district 
 attorney for New York, who has been suffered to hold upwards of fifty 
 thousand dollars of public money in his hands for about twenty years ! 
 In a word, such has been, and such continues to be the laxity of our 
 government, and the apathy of the people, that, unless a radical change 
 in this respect shall speedily take place, it requires no idio*tto tell ns, 
 that we shall ere long, be overwhelmed with disgrace and ruin, in 
 a few days I intend to acquaint you with some other facts, which, ii 
 suffered to pass unheeded, will, doubtless, lead to such a catastrophe 
 
 A Native of Virginia, 
 
25 
 
 NO. xn. 
 
 We will leave, for awhile, the lists of public defaulters, for the pur- 
 pose of noticing some other matters in which the public interests and the 
 public morals are alike concerned. I allude to the extravagant and il- 
 legal allowances ot public money, made by the higher officers of the 
 general government, to some of their personal or political favorites. To 
 enter into a minute detail of the cases of this description, would occupy 
 a space far exceeding that to which these essays are limited. It would 
 require, too, a particular reference to books and documents, to which 
 the writer, at this time, has not access. A few instances only, of this 
 kind, will be given, in order that, from them, you may form an opinion, 
 and judge of some of the causes which have led to the present low state 
 of the national finances. At the same time it ought to be kept con- 
 stantly in mind, that he who would illegally or unjustly, squanderer 
 misapply a lew thousand dollars of the public money, would teel no 
 scruples of conscience in the misapplication of a few hundred thousand. 
 In the latter case, from the magnitude of the sum, the fear of detection 
 might operate on his mind ; and, therefore, greater care would be taken 
 to conceal his guilt. The moral feeling, or principle, in either case, 
 would be the same. With most men of loose and dishonest principles, 
 their first aberrations from duty are, generally, trivial. When these are 
 suffered to pass over, without notice and with impunity, (I speak now 
 of the public agents, or servants of the people) they seldom or never fail 
 to increase in their enormities until, at length, almost every public act 
 of then* lives (especially in money matters,) is connected with treachery 
 and fraud. 
 
 The case on which I now address you, be assured, is one of great in- 
 terest & national concernment; becaue in it is involved the character and 
 the conduct of the highest public functionary of the country, the now 
 President of the United States. To this gentleman i have neither per- 
 sonal nor political hostility, (strictly speaking 1 , I do not feel personal 
 hostility towards any man) and could he, in the course of my remarks 
 on the public transactions, have been fairly excluded, I should have felt 
 sincere gratification because he, in an especial manner, ought to be 
 the most zealous and watchful for your interests. He is bound byhfe 
 honor and his oath, not only to take care that the laws are faithfully 
 
 < utccl," but he is also bound to use his utmost diligence and power, 
 to prevent and detect impositions and abuses upon your treasury. If, 
 instead of doing this, he shall silently and inactively look on and seje 
 the public treasure wasted, without attempting to punish or bring to 
 account the perpetrators of the act; if he shall not only sanction by 
 his silence those iniquitous proceedings, but be, himself, a direct partici- 
 pator in them; -and if all these things can be proved to have taken 
 place, surely every honest and reflecting man in the nation must ex- 
 claim, that his confidence in the chief magistrate has been misplaced - 
 that it is high time for the people to betake themselves to thinking, at 
 least, about the manner in which the national concerns have been, and 
 are now conducted. 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 In the year 1S14, Jacob Barker, of Now York, and of the noted 
 ten-mil 1 ion-t on n memory, "bartered t our o^vrrnment hi* schooner 
 * Chance,' to carry despatches ^r the American Commissioners, then at 
 G-^teriburg. For this' service he was to receive the sum of -;.0';0 dol- 
 lars 5 and, after his arrival there, his agent was to be at liberty to use 
 IipV as mijrht bost suit his purpose-" always conforming to the terms of 
 the 'passnort unfit he thinks proper to surrender it.'*' It was furti.er 
 agreed oil the part, of Barker, that in case the- American Commissioners 
 at Gottenburg should, wish to hire the vessel to return with despatches, 
 his agent at t' .it M'^ce would be " disposed to make a bargain with 
 them to do so'." And further, it was agreed, that in case the vessel 
 should at any time be dispatched by Barkers agent for the United 
 States, without his havivg made xuch contract, the captain is to take 
 charge of any despatches the \merican Commissioners may 'wish to 
 send, and bring them to the. United States, FREE OF EXPENSE." This 
 contract was made in March 1814 Barker's vessel returned to the 
 United .States the year following, it is bel'eved, -for is March Kilo, he 
 presented to the treasury another account of 3,000 dollars, for bringing 
 despatches "from our commissioners, although it was not pretended that 
 they had made any "contract with his agent for that purpose, and al- 
 though he had expressly agreed that, in case no such contract was made, 
 the despatches were to be brought to the United States, "free of ex- 
 pense." And yet, in the very teeth of this positive, plain stipulation, 
 Mr. Monroe, secretary of state, sanctions the extra claim of 5,000 dol- 
 lars, and directs it to be paid out of the public treasury ! Nay, more 
 but a few weeks before this, a Mr. Connell, who came passenger in 
 Barker's vessel, and who was charged with the care of the despatches 
 from our Commissioners, was paid at the treasury, by direction of .Mr. 
 Monroe, the sum of 400 dollars to reimburse him so much money which 
 he had paid for his passage in the vessel ! Comment upon a transaction 
 like this cannot be necessary. If Barker's agent made any contract 
 whatsoever with our Commissioners at Gottenburg, let the fact be 
 stated let, the instrument be produced. When the illegal and iniqui- 
 tous claim was admitted, it was not even alledged that any such < con- 
 tract" had been made. The public money was thus most unrighteous- 
 ly and iniquitous) y bestowed upon an adventurous speculator and politi- 
 cal demagogue, who, at the very time it was paid to him, was a public 
 defaulter, "to the amount, it is believed, of between 1 and 200,000 
 dollars; which had been advanced to him for certain foreign bills of 
 exchange which he sold to tlie government which v were not accepted, and 
 came bac!:, of course, protested. And it was with the very money thus 
 advanced for these bills, that Barker was assisted to make payment of 
 one of the : r. ;; raiments on this celebrated ten million loan ' 
 
 It is proper to add, that Baiker yet remains a public defaulter 
 for th^ amount of money advanced him on these protested bills: and 
 although a saitis now pending for the recovery of the money, it is be- 
 lieved by many well informed persons, that owing to some miserable 
 management of the public agents, the United States will be defeated 
 Tn the suit. 
 
 A Native of Virginia. 
 
27 
 
 NO. XIII. 
 
 That a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles in all free 
 starts is one of the greatest safeguards to the liberty of the people, ne 
 one v,i' : l. I presume, as vet, have 'the hardihood publicly to deny. 
 "Whenever a nation becomes so inactive and corrupt as to lose sight of, 
 and totally neglect sudi an important and salutary measure, its polifi- 
 .cal condition will then have become truly awful indeed. It is in times 
 like these that cunning, ambitious men lay the foundation for carrying 
 into effect their latent and wicked schemes of oppression. Their disre- 
 ga'-d of the constitution and la\vs of the country are suffered to pass 
 unnoticed and unchecked; one usurpation of power succeeds to another 
 until, at length, the decree of the chief becomes the supreme law of 
 the land. If this be not true, all history "is false. Hence, then, I so- 
 lemnly admonish vou, as you regard your liberty and happiness, and the 
 liberty and happiness of your posterity, to be on the alert be .vigilant 
 and watchful. This " era of good feeling" may be one of the most un- 
 propitious periods of your political existence. If the fact which lam 
 now about to record shall make no impression on the public mind, I for 
 one, am free to declare, that I have little or no hope of the republic 
 
 The constitution of the U. States has, distinctly, marked out the 
 powers of this federal government. To the president it has given the 
 command of the army and navy, and of the militia too when m the ac- 
 tual service of the U. States. In other words the constitution has giv- 
 en to the chief civil magistrate the SWORD; but it has, most wisely, 
 withheld from him the PURSE. Give him the sword and the purse, and 
 I would not give you one straw for your constitution or your liberty. 
 Does not every man of common sense in the country understand this ? 
 But we will come, at once, to the/cf, to which your attention is now 
 particularly called. On the 2d of December, 1818, a contract appears 
 to have been made between the department of war and colonel James 
 Johnson of Kentucky by which the latter wa "to furnish transportation 
 to the troops ordered up the Missouri river :" This is more generally 
 known by the name (>{'' the Yellow Stow expedition" It is here deem- 
 ed proper to remark, that 1 do not find any law authorising an expedition 
 of this kind at the public expense for I will not admit, that a mere 
 appropriation of money by congress for a particular object, is, of itself, 
 sum'cient to justify an expenditure of the public money on that object. 
 To do this rightfully and legally, according to the construction and the 
 practice which prevailed at an early period of our government, it was 
 necessary that there should be also a law authorising th. ^pense. This 
 Mas the old-fashioned, sound republican doctrine now scouted and 
 laughed at by the present incumbents in power. But it is, nevertheless, 
 none the worse for that. I'nder this noted, and, I must add, most ex- 
 traordinary contact. r il' any thing can be said to be extraordinary in 
 these times orK)rrupi.t(n and fraud] the Johnson's [for I must couple 
 the honorable senator from Kentucky with his brother James, because 
 he is in/rtcf, although lie could not be in law, a party to the contract] 
 drew Uouiense sums of public money to such an amount that even the 
 house of representative? of the United States was awaked from its 
 
28 
 
 slumber, and called for some information on the subject. The informa- 
 tion \\as received it was " ordered to lie on the table ;" and the house 
 went to sleep again ! 
 
 It appears, that from Feb. 17th, 1819, to June 25th following a 
 period of about four months, Mr. Calhoun, the Secretary of War, ad- 
 vanced to Col. James Johnson, singly for transporting the troops on this 
 expedition, no less a sum than one hundred and ten thousand dollars ! 
 He then, as it will appear, refused making any further advances be- 
 lieving, no doubt, as well he might, that those already made were quite 
 sufficient for defraying the rightful charges of the expedition under the 
 contract. But it seems he was altogether mistaken for on the arrival 
 of President Monroe, at Lexington, in Kentucky, on the 5th July, 1819 
 when on his second popularity-seeking tour he wrote to the Secre- 
 tary of War as follows : 
 
 LEXINGTON, July 5, 181P. 
 DEAR SIR : 
 
 To prevent the loss, embarrassment and disappointment to 
 the government and to the country, which would be the inevitable con- 
 sequence of the failure of the expedition destined for the mouth of the 
 Yellow Stone river, it will be necessary to make additional advances. 
 I have therefore to request., that you will advance to Colonel James 
 Johnson FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS on account of the contract made by 
 him with brigadier general Jesup, for transportation on the Mississippi 
 and Missouri rivers, and that an additional advance of FIFTY THOUSAND 
 DOLLARS be made whenever he shall transmit to you transfers, regularly 
 authenticated, of the four steam boats which he has now employed in the 
 expedition to the mouth of the Ytllow-stone river, as a further se- 
 curity." 
 
 '* The people of the whole western country, take a deep interest in 
 the success of the contemplated establishment at the mouth of the Yel- 
 low Stone river. They look upon it as a measure better calculated to 
 secure the peace of the frontier, to secure to us the fur trade, & to break 
 up the intercourse between the British traders and the Indians, than any 
 other which has been taken by the government. 1 take myself very great 
 interest in the success of the expedition^ and am ivilling to lake great 
 responsibility to insure it. With great respect, 1 am your obedient serv't. 
 
 [Sifted] JAMES MONROE. 
 
 " P. b, r, n receipt of the transfer of the steam boats, yt>u will make 
 the advance ffty seven thousand Jive hundred dolhrs, instead ol fifty 
 thousand, as above stated. 
 
 [Signed] JAMES MONROE." 
 
 Now, I ask, what right, constitutionally or otherwise, the presi- 
 dent of the U. S. has to direct the public money to be drawn out of the 
 treasury, except for his own salary ? I defy him or his friends to show 
 
29 
 
 that any such riirht exists. If there be none then the exercise of it is 
 an usurpation of power. If he has the right to direct 107,500 dollars 
 'to be taken out of the treasury, as in the present case, he lias an ecjual 
 right to direct ten millions, or the whole sum appropriated for the ser- 
 vice of the year, to be paid and distributed as may best suit his own 
 views and wishes, or for any object in which he may take " great inter- 
 est," and for the accomplishment of which he would be " willing to take 
 great responsibility." The principle, in either case, is precisely the 
 same. You have/ by the constitution, given him the sword, and he has 
 seized upon the purse. Tamely submit to this, and rely upon it, you 
 may, ere long, in sober truth, prepare to " roll up the parchment at the 
 point of the bayonet." 
 
 In my next, I will state to you some more facts connected with this 
 affair, accompanied by a few remarks from 
 
 A Native of Virginia. 
 
 NO. XIV. 
 
 In my last communication, I pointed your attention to the contract 
 made in behalf of the general government with col. James Johnson, of 
 Kentucky, for the transporting of troops and provisions up the Missouri 
 river, & the unjustifiable & shameful advance of public money directed 
 to be made to that individual by Mr. Monroe, the president 'of the U. 
 States. That you may form some idea of the waste of the public trea- 
 sure, and of the corruption of the times in which we live, I now pro- 
 ceed to give you some further account of that notable contract, and the 
 consequences which have resulted from it. 
 
 1. " Public notice was not given, (says the quartermaster-general, 
 in his letter of 31st Jan. 1820) that proposals would be received for 
 transporting these troops and provisions ;" although the law expressly 
 declares that '* all purchases and contracts for supplies or services, 
 which are or may, according to law, be made, by or under the direction 
 of either the secretary of the treasury, the secretary oi var, or the se- 
 cretary of the navy, shall be made either by open puic-,.. r - , or by previ- 
 ously advertising for proposals respecting' the same. ' Thus, the con- 
 tract with col. Johnson was made, as it would seem, in secret there 
 having been no public notice whatever given of the intention or wish of 
 the government to make such a contract ; and thus, too, has the law of 
 the land been set at naught and totally disregarded, for the purpose of 
 giving to an influential personage of the west, a most lucrative and ad- 
 vantageous job, to the exclusion of others who would have undertaken 
 it, as we shall presently see, for about one-fifth part of the sum paid to 
 this favorite and courtier. And let it be forever remembered, that this 
 most unlawful contract with Johnson, was made with the knowledge* 
 
30 
 
 and under the immediate inspection and direction of president Monroe. 
 whose constitutional duty it is " to take care that the laws are faithful- 
 ly executed." 2 Itis a remarkable fact, that in this secret contract, 
 with col. Johnson, [for I must call it secret, since no public notice 1 was 
 given that any such would be made"] there is no agreement as to the 
 specific amount of money to be paid for the service rendered : but. says 
 the contract, "the said James Johnson shall be allowed a reasonable com- 
 pensation," etc. And what was this " reasonable compensation" allowed: 
 for articles conveyed in keel-boats, he was allowed 16$ cents per Ib. 
 when no more than jhte and a half cents per Ib. were paid by the U. 
 States to other persons, performing, at the same time, similar services! 
 "In order (says a committee of congress) (hat t> e bouse may have all 
 the means of judging of the merits of this transaction between the go- 
 vernment and col. Johnson, and to ^enable the nation fully to under- 
 stand how far economy has been consulted, a comparison between the 
 prices now allowed and those given by the arbitrators to col. Johnson, 
 was considered somewhat important. 5 ' The committee then go on to 
 show, that, for the year 1821, (after public notice had been given that 
 proposals for this service would be received) col. Johnson became a bid- 
 der to transport military stores, &c. to the Council Bluft's, at the rate of 
 three and three quarters cents per ib. ; and yet, for the same service, 
 perfoimedin 1819, under the secret contract, be was allowed 16 1-4 cts. 
 per Ib.! " It further appears, (add the committee) that among fourteen 
 or fifteen bidders [see the effect of giving public notice, as the law re- 
 quires] but one required over four cents per Ib. and he less than 5 cents 
 perlb. Can further remark -or comment on this part of this shameful 
 transaction, be necessary ? 
 
 3. The appropriation, in 1819, for the quartermaster's department, 
 (in which is included the expense of transportation) Mas 566,000 dol- 
 lar^ while the expenditures of that department, for the same year, 
 amounted to 749,248 dollars 67 cents. Tbis great excess of expendi- 
 ture beyond the appropriation for the year, was. doubtless, owing to the 
 exorbitant advances made to coL Johnson, under his secret contract 
 all of which advances, from 24th July to 8th Nov. 1819, were made un- 
 der authority of president . Monroe's letter, dated "Lexington, Ken- 
 tucky, 5th Julv, 1819" a copy of which is inserted in my last number. 
 
 4. After giving col. Johnson credit for his exorbitant demands, as 
 before stated, there still appears to be due from him to the U. States, 
 [not to mention his contract for supplying the army with provisions'] the 
 sum of 76,372 dollars 65 cents. This, however, will not appear on the 
 list of public defaulters for the next year, because the balance will not 
 have been due "for 'more than three "years prior to the 30th September 
 last.'* And for the recovery of this sum, no legal steps appear to have 
 been taken. 
 
 5. The only security taken for this money, appear to be the steam 
 loots referred to in Mr. Monroe's letter, which the Congress committee 
 pronounce to be "broken, feeble, and subject to constant decay :" so 
 that, from every appearance, we may calculate on a total loss of this 
 sum, as well as" between 1 and 200,000 dollars wrongfully paid under 
 the secret contract before mentioned. But this was a casein which our 
 chief magistrate took fi very great interest" and in which lie was wil- 
 ling to tale "great responsibility." Therefore, the thing must be all 
 right and just ; and he that says otherwise, will be denounced as dis- 
 contented, factious, anU so forth. But it such acts as these can be 
 
jfljjmmitted with impunity, do not let us, I beseech, aay longer object 
 to that maxim in the British constitution, which declares that *' THE 
 KING CAN 00 NO WRONG." 
 
 A Native of Virginia: 
 
 NO. XV. 
 
 Having, in rny two last communications to you, called your at- 
 tention to the conduct of our executive rulers relative to the illegal 
 contract made with Col. James Johnson, of Kentucky, for the trans- 
 portation of troops and provisions up the Missouri river; to the ex- 
 orbitant and unconstitutional advances of the public money to that in- 
 dividual ; and to some of the consequences which have already flowed 
 from these iniquitous proceedings, I now take the liberty of bringing to 
 your view some other facts relating to the war department, from which 
 you may be enabled to form an opinion for yourselves of the " wise sys- 
 tem [_f quote the words of the court paper the National Intelligencer, 
 as u*e<l the other day] of respontibility, of competition and economy ', so 
 happily introduced by the present Secretary" into that department. 
 
 By the statement which I shall now make and exhibit to you, it 
 will be perceived, that the public functionaries have, without right or 
 authority seized upon the public property and public money of the na- 
 tion entrusted to their care, and loaned or given the same to individu- 
 als but for what consideration is, as yet, a profound secret: No one 
 can know that, except the parties directly, or indirectly, concerned. 
 
 1. To George W. Murray, of New York, there was loaned of lead 
 belonging to the United States the quantity of 23 tons, 2 qrs. and 
 10 Ibs. 
 
 3. To the same G. W. Murray, there was subsequently loaned of 
 lead belonging to the United States tile quantitv of 8 tons, 4 cwt. 3 
 qrs. and 4 Ibs. This propetry, thus illegal \y loaned, has not been re- 
 turned ; and although the loan was made several years ago, no steps 
 appear to have 'n by t'ie government to recover back the pro- 
 perty or the value of il and Murray is now understood to be insol- 
 vent. 
 
 There were loaned at the City of Washington, to Messrs. Stull & 
 \Vi.liauis, GOO barrels of musket powder, containing 60,000 Ibs. value 
 21,600 dollars. Out o r the GOO barrels of pouder loaned, 200 barrels 
 oniy appear to have beea returned by Stull & Williams. They be- 
 came insolvent. 
 
 4. To one Daniel Bussard,of Georgetown, [D C.] there was loanf 
 ed or advanced by the present Secretary of War, the sum of 10,000 
 dollars " to enable him to erect works on Point Creek, suitable for 
 manufacturing po\vde." This loan of the public money to Bussard, 
 for tnree years, and " without interest" was to enable him to makt 
 
32 
 
 :., 
 
 good the deficiency of Stull and Williams,' with whom lie was origin- 
 ally concerned. He had, however, in February last, delivered but 187 
 barrels of powder on account of Stull and Williams. For the 10,000 
 dollars loaned to him, without interest, he has promised, within three 
 years from the date of the loan to deliver, on his own account, 40,000 
 pounds of powder. 
 
 5. To Messrs. Dupont, de Nemours and Co. of Wilmington, [Del.) 
 there were loaned in June, July and August, 1817, the enormous quan- 
 tity of three thousand five hundred and twenty-eight barrels of powder,, 
 containing 352,902 pounds. This unlawful loan appears to have been 
 made by lieutenant colonel Bumford, with the consent or by the direc- 
 tion of "George Graham, then acting Secretary of War, now president 
 of the United States branch bank at Washington city and, doubtless, 
 with the privity and consent of his particular friend James Monroe, 
 President of the United States, whose constitutional duty it is, to 
 " take care that the laws are faithfully executed." The considerations 
 which induced this loan of the public property are not generally known. 
 Certain, however, it is, that the government or the country, has re- 
 ceived no pecuniary advantage from it for there remained unpaid or 
 outstanding, of this loan, in February last, a quantity exceeding two 
 hundred and seventy thousand pounds of powder ! No compulsory 
 steps appear to have been taken to recover back the property, or the 
 value of it. 
 
 6. On the 21st of December, 1817, Colonel Bumford and Mr. Gra- 
 ham, as above, loaned 50,000 pounds of powder belonging to the public, 
 to one Peter Bauduy, Panel took his bond with security. No part of this 
 property appears to have been returned. The principle has absconded, 
 and the' sureties are insolvent. No le^al proceedings were ever insti- 
 tuted to recover back the property or its value. It does not appear at 
 what time, or whether there was even ever a demand made of Bauduy 
 to return the property loaned. 
 
 7. To Israel Whelan. of Philadelphia, there appears to have been 
 loaned in 1817, four hundred barrels of powder belonging to the United 
 States. I cannot say whether this property has been returned or 
 not. 
 
 8. To John R. Mifflin, there appears to have been loaned four hun- 
 dred barrels of public powder. No part of it returned and the whole 
 supposed to be lost. 
 
 Taking these tacts (which no respectable or responsible man will 
 dare to deny) in connection with the secret contract made between a 
 branch of the war department and Colonel James Johnson, of Ken- 
 tucky, what *hii;k ye now, Messrs. Editors of the National Intelligen- 
 cer? Will y-- dll tell us of the " wise system of responsibility of 
 competition and economy, so happily introduced" into the war depart- 
 ment. 
 
 Can it be possible that the. people will, after so many proofs and ex- 
 hibitions of facts like these, continue to be lured and gulled by mere 
 empty words to every one of which the facts in the case, flatly con- 
 tradict or give the lie ? If they do then, indeed, may it be said and 
 said truly " THEY ARE THEIR OWN WORST ENEMIES." 
 
 A Native of Virginia. 
 

 NO. XVI. 
 
 In the last preceding number of these essays, you were made ac- 
 quainted with some extraordinary facts, relative to the loss of the pub- 
 lic property, by means of its having been unauthorizedly and illegally 
 loaned to individuals by the executive officers who had it in charge, and 
 who werf bound, by every principle of honor and good faith, to take 
 carre of and preserve it These improper and unauthorised proceed- 
 ings have, as 1 contend, been virtually sanctioned and approved by the 
 chief magistrate of the country. A knowledge of the fact was, long 
 ago, known to him ; and in some instances, it is believed, the act was 
 done with his immediate approbation and concurrence. But, at any 
 rate, he lias since given his sanction to the whole, for every officer [with. 
 the exception of one poor subaltern, who undertook to do what his su- 
 periors had done before] who has been engaged in this unlawful business 
 stdl retains the confidence of the president and enjoys the emoluments 
 of hi* office. t \'at on;' of them has been called to account for the illegal 
 deed. Does not this conclusively show, that the president has uiven his 
 sanction to these unUwful acts ? Nay more may it not be fairly in- 
 ferred that, as the transactions took place at Washington, he was privy 
 to, and directed them to be done ? Although a very considerable pecu- 
 niary loss to the country will accrue from these breaches of the public 
 trust, yet that is not. of so much consequence to you, as the effects 
 which will inevitably be produced by your sanctioning acts and princi- 
 ples of this kind. If one description of public property can be loaned, 
 or given away by those entrusted with it, a similar disposition may be 
 made of any other description , such, for example, as the public vessels 
 and even the public money. Indeed, the <k advance," as it is called, 
 to Daniel Bussard, of ten thousand dollars, as stated in my last num- 
 ber, was, to all intents and purposes, a LOAN of the public money, 
 without the shadow of right or of law to justify it. I defy the ingenui- 
 ty of man to .show, that there was either right or law to do this, or that 
 Congress ever made any appropriation for sue* an object. And yet the 
 thing has been done, and the fact is upon record, notwithstanding the 
 constitution declares that vi no money shall be drawn from the treasury 
 except on appropriations made by law." But_it does most unfortunate* 
 ly happen, that in this ' era of good feeling,' [as Mr. Monroe expresses 
 it] neither the constitution nor the laws appear to be much regarded. 
 The plain, honest, independent spirit of this people seems to have en- 
 tirely left them. Instead of adhering steadily and steadfastly to prin- 
 
 3, such as brought them into national existence, f hey are fawning 
 and clinging to men because these men are in povve : expense favors, 
 and distribute " the loaves and fishes!" Thus, instead of guarding our 
 ri.hts by keeping a vigilant watch over those whom we have entrusted 
 with the Bfttional concerns, and punishing by our displeasure and dis- 
 approbation [if nothing more] every wilful abberration from duty or vio- 
 lation of trust, we suffer ourselves to be lulled to sleep, and repose, 
 while '-the wolves in sheep's cloathing" are secretly laying their plans 
 for our destruction. The thirst for speculation and for office, seems to 
 me to have wrought an almost entire change in the manners, habits and 
 principles oi the American people. This disposition increases; it would 
 
 5 
 
34 
 
 seem, with the extent and increase of the executive patronage; raid this 
 will always, in my opinion, be the case, so long as we continue the pre- 
 sent irresponsible practice of revenue; not by taxes, fairly, openly and 
 honestly laid, but by arch cnnnin;', trick and legerdemain. This busi- 
 ness has been so dexterously < by the great political ju: 
 that in some respects, the federal government has become almost alien 
 to the gre:t body of the people. They never reflect or think about the 
 waste and extravagance (to say nothing worse) of those who disburse 
 the public money : because it is not drawn directly from their pockets. 
 1 p'.it .to you these plum questions : Had the vast sums which have 
 been extravagantly, and i will add illegally "advanced" tj.- individuals 
 who will not, because they now cannot, return it, been drav/n directly 
 from your pockets in the way of taxes, would you patiently submit to it; 
 without murmur, and not even institute an enquiry into the matter ? 
 Would you, if the President were publicly anil solemnly to proclaim 
 to yon and to the world, that so mauy millions of the public debt had 
 been paid off " without any burthen upon the people." believe him ? 
 Would you, [if you paid your taxes directly] agree to keep up your 
 present expensive establishments with all tae waste, profusion and dis- 
 honest practices attached to them, and P.ORROW money, besides, to 
 support and maintain them ? To each of these question-, every sensi- 
 ble, honest, and discreet man in the nation will, I am sure, unhesitat- 
 ingly answer, No! Why, then, would you give a different answer 
 because your taxes are drav/n from you indirectly^ they being dexter- 
 ously stuck into the price of most of the tilings you purchase, any of 
 which have become necessaries of life . ? Were you to reflect and think 
 a little on the subject, your answer would be the same in both cases. 
 To suppose that a large annual revenue can be raised in a state "with- 
 out any burthens upon the people/' is almost to suppose an impossibility; 
 and the man [! care not how high his station, and the higher the worse 
 for him] who endeavors to impose upon you such an absurdity, is, and 
 will be so pronounced by impartial posterity, a deceiver and a hypocrite. 
 These are no times for mincing words. It is high time that men as well 
 as things should be called by their proper names. I have before remark- 
 ed, that I am no party man, in the common acceptation of the term. I 
 have nothing to ask, toev)ect, or to /e#r, from any party in power, so 
 long as the present constitution .stands. I care not to which party a pub- 
 lic delinquent or defaulter beiongs ; whether he be a federalist, republi- 
 can, democrat, or jacobin; whether he be in hi^h or io; t will 
 pursue him through the labyrinths of his iniquitous procaMII ;l hold 
 him up to public indignation. I will bind the victi 
 
 up to public indignation. I will bind the victim and drag him to 
 the altar, liis escape or punishment will rest with you. 
 
 But I am [imperceptibly almost] led from mv main design ; which 
 was simply to state facts, and leave to others the ta- 
 inferences frot \ *hem. When i commenced the present n . it was 
 
 with a view of noticing a few more illegal acts of the war department, 
 from which the public may have a still further opportunity of judging of 
 the " wise system of responsibility, of competition and economy," 
 which Messrs. Gales and oea on tell us has been ' so happily introduc- 
 ed" into that department ; but I find that todoth!i, now would extend 
 this communication beyond the limits prescribed for it. The subject of 
 abuses in the war department, is therefore for the present deterred, but 
 will be resumed in my next number. 
 
 A Native of \irginia. 
 
NO. XVII. 
 
 I do not believe that a single newspaper in the United State* has 
 
 ne ae* as 
 
 pubKshed the report of the Committee of the House of RepresenMves 
 on WUitarV affairs^ of the 1'th February last, upon the subject ofSS 
 employment of officers ,'n the army, as clerks in the departments, and 
 ^ extra pay allowed to then, for such Service. H OW this has ham - n 
 ed I wd not pretend to say. Not only the report above me t one 
 has not been publ.shed, (at. least 1 have never heard ,,f its havinu b ee 
 published hut there are several other most important public document 
 
 f a sum ar nature, exhibiting the conduct of our executive rulers in 
 matters of v.tal importance to the people at | aw , which, 1 believe 
 have never been published in any of the' public journals of th. c mm fry 
 1 hese reports, ,t s true, have been rrinted for the ue of the Z ,1' 
 but they have never been circulated, as they ought to have been, for the 
 information of the people generally. Our gazettes have been filled! 
 page after page, vith the fulsome addresses to The Queen" fas we 
 were wont to call the half repudiated wife of the British Kin,, n this 
 country) with the dis^sting c&cetnties of her trial; with The iYi n J's" 
 coronation, and so fortl.-to the exclusion of highly important state 
 papers, which ought to be in the hands of every intelligent fVe^ann 
 he country Home printers of newspapers are more excusable, I admih 
 than others, for tins apparent neglect in all-bccause some cannot, wit - 
 much trouble, and some expense, obtain the original printed docu- 
 from the seat of the general government. But what shall we say 
 f the , .tors of the - government paper" as the National IntellijW- 
 is generally and correctly called, in this resnect ? These editors 
 are the pnnters for both Houses of Congress., From them esp^c iaL 
 we have a ? right to expect full and prompt information on all subjects 
 . connecced with the federal- administration. Indeed, in their published 
 3ctus they declare among other things, that, the "National Intel- 
 jencer pub originally, the "proceedings and debates of Con- 
 
 ains, also, all the state papers and documents of public 
 ore Congress, or originating in that body." Now I 
 n. published in that paper, or any other, two re- 
 :tee from the House of Representatives relative 
 lames Johnson, of Kentucky, for transporting 
 -or the report of another committee, last yea? 
 abuses, by the unauthorised and illegal loan of 
 other public property, and the consequent loss 
 i ( the Military committee abovementioned, 
 h could he named ? Who has ever seen a re- 
 ton, a member of the House of Represen- 
 herein, in a voice of thunder, he bearded 'he 
 n /ys palace, (or having made for public account, an nnau- 
 loan from one of tlie bank,, and for hiving weeded the appro- 
 opriarioni^ by (Jon^ress for the Presidents household. N. B. 
 | r J^mston was a lawyer in one of the interior counties of 
 
 'g'nia; ami a few weeks alter he had made this direct attack upon 
 m. Monroe he was made collector of the custom, at the port of AW- 
 
36 
 
 folk although it is highly probable, that, before his induction into that 
 office, he had never seen " a Clearance-' or < ; a Manifest.'* 
 
 But we will return to the report of the committee on Military af- 
 fairs. It is too lengthy to be inserted, entire, in the present communi- 
 cation. I will give you the substance of it. The committee ascertain- 
 ed and reported that no less than fift een officers of the army, of drver- 
 ent grades, were employed as clerks in the different departments at 
 Washington ; and for that service were " detailed by order of the \var 
 department." The aggregate amount of money paid, in "-a very short 
 time, for these "extra" services, is they are called, amounts to $9,753 50 
 Cents; their pay and emoluments as officers in the army, were, at the 
 same time, received by them. On tins head the. committee remark : 
 * The statemfnts furnished them, shew, that, in addition to the pay and 
 emoluments [as army officers] and extra compensation, euch of the 
 abovenamed officers have received payment for cloathing! The com- 
 mittee are unadvised of any law to justify it, especially when they see 
 neither of them has employed a private servant, and for the cloathmgof 
 whom only is an officer permitted to receive money in lieu of cloath- 
 ing." The committee, in conclusion of this part of the subject, further 
 remark : " lYhen an officer is detailed to perform duties in the depart- 
 ments,such as have been described, they cease to render any other ; 
 when they perform no duties as officers, but merely act as clerks, it 
 seems unreasonable to pay them as officers, and, at the same time, com- 
 pensation as clerks. When they cease to perform the functions of offi- 
 cers, but yet receive their pay and emoluments, the committee believe 
 they should be content; that they have no legal or equitable claim to 
 extra compensation, because extra payment is predicated on a supposi- 
 tion that additional duties are performed. In the present case, the sup 
 posed additional duty is the only service required of them, and that, in 
 reality, they perform no set vice whatever as officers of the army. 
 
 On the subject of compensation allowed to the surgeon general 
 of the army, the committee go on and make the following statement : 
 " The committee thought it incumbent on them to extend their enquiries 
 to the compensation allowed the surgeon general, in addition to his sala- 
 ry fixed by law. They find from the statement furnished by the third 
 auditor, that Doctor Joseph Lovell.the surgeon general, lias bee 
 : n addition to his annual salary,, from the 1st of October, 1818, to .! 
 Sept. 1820. four quarters. 864 dollars; and for fuel for the same pe- 
 riod, 452 dollars 25 cents, making an aggregate of 1,316 doila 
 
 ts. The act of Congress establishing the office of - 
 provides, -hat he shall be allowed a salary of 2,580 dollars, inaki; 
 provision for any other or extra compensation. : 
 prised that a construction should be given to this law, by which th- 
 
 general shall be enabled to receive compel; -. limit*: 
 
 lis salary, unless they bring to their uid the practice which av 
 at all times to have prevailed "in some shape or of!,'-;'" [quoti; 
 words of the secretary of war] to allow the officers, at the seat of go- 
 
 :iiient, extra compensation." 
 
 It the woiu .iitlfu v (continue the committee) lias an appropriate 
 meaning, it certainly must be a stated or settled hire to the person who 
 - performs the duties of the office to which the salary is attached : no au- 
 thority in this government, except the legislative, is deemed competent 
 either to increase or diminish it. [Sound, old-fashioned reasoning thi-.l 
 

 7 
 
 The committee are of opinion, that no precedent, contrary to law, 
 , or can have a binding influence. The case of the physician and 
 su!!_nMn general adverted to by the secretary of \var, was erroneous in 
 the beginning, mid not an example worthy of imitatioy," 
 
 The committee proceed : " [t is alledged by the secretary of war, 
 in justification of (he extra allowance made the, surgeon general, that it 
 hardly admits of a doubt. that lie, who is liable to be ordered into ac- 
 tive service, would be entitled to claim public quarters, if there were 
 such whore he might be stationed, and that it is clear he, in common 
 with other officers, has a right to Ihe allowance for them if he should be 
 stationed where quarters cannot be furnished by the public. It appears 
 to the committee, this argument is more specious than solid ; (weak and 
 puerile they might have said) the law provides, that other officers shall 
 receive pay and emoluments, and enumerates qua,Tter s and fuel as arti- 
 cles included in the provision intended to be made; but in the case of 
 the surgeon general, the law provides a salary of 2,500 dollars, which 
 the. committee think, and which they believe the legislature thought, 
 should be in full for all services, lithe surgeon general would bo en- 
 titled to quarters & fuel when ordered into active service, it is not under- 
 stood by the committee how his liability to be, ordered into active service, 
 could entitle him to compensation for them before that liability attached. 
 If an officer is entitled to either pay or emoluments upon the contingency 
 of being ordered into active service, it seems an arbitrary construction to 
 grant him cither, before the happening of that contingency. In no 
 point of view can the committee perceive the propriety of this allowance, 
 which as yet does not appear to be supported even by the authority of 
 precedent." 
 
 Such, fellow citizens, is the report, and such the views of some of 
 your immediate Representatives in Congress, of the proceedings and 
 conduct of an important branch of the government, placed by the law 
 which established it. under the immediate and direct control of the 
 .President. In further proof that the law never intended to give to the 
 surgeon general any other compensation for his services than the an- 
 Tiu a I salary of 3,500 dollars, let it be remembered that the secretary of 
 of war himself, in the annual estimates for the expenses of our military 
 :ient, asks for 2,500 dollars only for compensation to the sur- 
 geon '^enrrai, without requesting a cent for <; fuel or quarters" or any 
 He well knew that, under the existing laws. Congress 
 . iate for any thing beyond the salary allowed. [See 
 ilie anuu for appropriations, &c.] But there are many 
 
 laws, or', in homely phraseology, " of whipping the 
 devil iT.ui, .mp."' All of which our rnlers seem to understand 
 
 v\e.l!. The large sums appropriated for " cu^tin^enclff" 
 ample scope for the exercise of their ingenuity in disposing of the public 
 
 ure committed to their charge, and as may best suit thei- 
 and But \\hat is here stated is trifling compared to some 
 
 other -'Im-h will, which wiist appear before the public MI due 
 
 lime. The. alarm has been given. The rv:vLK are begum's.' 
 iheii eyes and to think. V. i to those who have 
 
 abused their generous confidence. The awful ;s no! 
 
 so far distant as many imagine. It is the. bounderi u;nv of 
 est man in the nation to -aid In the great work of reformation*. ! 
 be my especial care, if life and healfh permit, not to Hag or '-cU*; in my 
 
present undertaking, until a complete exposure shall have been ef- 
 fected. 
 
 A Native of Virginia, 
 
 P. S. The office of surgeon general is now and has for some 
 time been a complete sinecure. I am credibly informed, that for the 
 disbursement of about 30,000 dollars in this department, it cost the 
 public about 10,000 dollars. Here then, is a much heaver and more 
 expensive " Drone" than any that has yet been exhibited to public 
 view. But whenever a proper investigation shall take place, they will 
 be found to exist " as plenty as blackberries" in their season. Did any 
 body ever hear ot our present chief magistrate recommending to Con- 
 gress the abolishing of an office ? What he will say next week, in his 
 message on the subject I know not. He would willingly .tell us, no 
 doubt, if he could, how much of the public debt has been paid off' this 
 year. He will, however, tell us how much money was in the treasury 
 on the 30th September last : but he will not toll us how much of this 
 was " available funds." He will not tell us, (1 think lie will not) that 
 there is, at this time* one dollar of available cash in the treasury nor 
 will he tell us how much the government has overdrawn upon tlie Uni- 
 ted States' Bank, to " keep the wheels of government" in motion. But 
 all things will, nevertheless, and in due season be found out. 
 
 December 1, 1821. 
 
 NO. XVIII. 
 
 The two most prominent candidates for the next pr 
 Mr. Adams, Secretary of State, and Mr. Crawford, Secretary- o e 
 Treasury. To enable you to make some estimate 01 the relative 
 its of these two personages, and of their fitness for i siation to which 
 each of them aspires, it may be well for you seriousljuto ^rjHI 
 
 facts stated in this communication. 
 
 The official situation of the Secretary of 
 
 able, at this juncture, to his becoming- the most popular member of the 
 administration. He has nothing to. Jo with provide wavs and 
 
 means" for the support of the government, and but little agency in dis- 
 bursing the public money, on account of which inch enormous ab 
 and defalcations have taken place, and respecting \vhj& the pub!; 
 ttntion has at length, been roused. Nor has he at this time, any dij, So- 
 matic business of :nucii importance to transact. The only ways and 
 means, therefore, which he has to contemplate or devise, are those 
 which will be the most likely to discomfit his competitors and place him- 
 self in power, in this respect he is following the plan of some of his 
 illustrious predecessors. They found out. that the right v, ay to the 
 
39 
 
 hearts of the most influential members of congress was directly down 
 ihroats; hence we now see this economical, if not penurious. New 
 uid gentleman making levees, and giving f paste twice and tlirice a i 
 week, at an expense, as every body must know, far beyond the income 
 from his office. Cannot even the veriest simpleton in the country per- 
 fectly understand this? But I admit that, abstractedly, we have no- 
 thing; to-do with Mr. Adams' parties, or his expenses; ami had it not 
 been that 1 had something else to say about him, in which the people 
 are. concerned, 1 should never have written a word about him or his en- 
 ter tain rriunts. 
 
 I hava already said, that Mr. Adams has but little agency in dis- 
 bursing the public money there being, comparatively speaking, but 
 little placed under the control of the department of state. But as, (ac- 
 cording to vulgar saying) " straws will sometimes show us which way 
 iho wind blows," we maybe enabled to form a tolerably correct opinion 
 of what he would do, in this respect, were the power and the means 
 in his possession. The principal appropriations of public money on 
 which the Secretary of State lias the privilege of drawing, by way of 
 " advances," are, those for diplomatic purposes, including all foreign 
 intercourse the contingent expenses of the Secretary of States' office, 
 and for taking the census amounting, altogether, to not more than half 
 a million of dollars. 
 
 Now, I would ask, with what propriety, or from what motive, the 
 Secretary of State recently drew about 100,000 dollars out of the public 
 treasury or, what is the same thing, out of the Branch Bank at 
 Washington, where the money was deposited, to the credit of the Trea- 
 surer of the United States anil placed it in the Bank of the Metropo- 
 lis ? That he did so I have no doubt for the fact was communicated to 
 me from the very best authority. The local banks of the District of 
 Columbia have no right to have the public money deposited in them, 
 either to Mr. Adams' credit, or to the credit of any body else with the 
 exception, perhaps, of one bank only, in Alexandria, where it may be 
 more convenient to collect the custom house bonds. Whether this mo- 
 ney, therefore, was, after it was drawn from the treasury, placed to 
 !Vlr. Adams' individual credit, or to the credit of the treasurer of the 
 United States, the act was incorrect and illegal. But if the fact be as 
 it has been seated to me, and of which I have no doubt, the money was, 
 immediately aftt-r it v. a.- drawn, entirely out of the control of the trea- 
 sury, and cannot e\>:!i help to eke out the amount which we have decep- 
 late message of the President, will be in the 
 
 Treasury on the first day of January next. But why, it will be asked, 
 
 o be thus friendly disposed to the Bank of 
 he has been a dealer in stocks in the local 
 >r some, time been a Director in the Bank 
 This \\ill account for the whole proceeding: And 
 alNi: , not think highly of his foresight or sagacity in 
 
 ears ago at par, stock which is now about 25 percent 
 nit that is no immediate concern of the people except in so far 
 as it may e MU to form some *mall estimate of the sound judg- 
 
 ment and discretion of one who aspires to be their chief ruler. But, it 
 muy be asked, admitting that the Secretary of State has done all this, 
 what injury will the public sustain by it ? The amount of money here 
 spoken of, it is true, is not very large* not exceeding, perhaps, one 
 
40 
 
 hundred thousand dollars therefore, in this particular case, uo very 
 great injury could arise, except that, by sanctioning abuses and illegal 
 acts of this sort, others may be tempted to "go a d do likewise," un- 
 til at last the "wheels of government'" might stop for want of the where- 
 withal to make them move. Indeed it is a solemn fact, and upon record 
 that the public treasure of the nation does some how or another, find its 
 wa^y into almost every local banking institution, [and many of them rot- 
 ten to the core] where individual public agents happen to be either Pre- 
 sidents or Directors, or Stockholders; or connected with the said Presi- 
 dents, Directors, and Stockholders of the said institutions. This will 
 account for the continued increase of the "unavailable funds" which our 
 rulers have, [but very lately^ discovered to be on hand; and also for the 
 overdrawing* of the Treasury on the United States' Bank; for wi-it.ii 
 the public is charged with interest, let who will say to the contrary. 
 All this inconvenience and expense, not to mention the loss of public 
 character, and the prostration of the public morals, might have been pre- 
 vented by pursuing . plain, honest and legal course ; such a one as every 
 man of common feeling and integrity would advise his son or his friend 
 to pursue in his intercourse with the world. But it seems that every 
 thing must be done by our great folks, our politicians and office seekers, 
 by trick and by management taking it for granted, as it would seem, 
 that common sense, and common honesty too, have fled the land. 
 
 For the present I take my leave of the Secretary of State for the 
 purpose of paying my respects to his opponent, the Secretary of the 
 Treasury. 
 
 it is a trite saying, and, in the general, I believe, a true one that 
 < { a house divided against itself must fall.'" That there is a schism in 
 our 4i Cabinet," there can, I imagine, be no doubt. This may remind 
 us of another adage, equally portentous to these great combatants that 
 "when ****** fall out honest men come by their own." That either of 
 these gentlemen will ever realize the expectation which he may now 
 have of being elected to the Presidential chair, 1 have not the most re- 
 mote idea. For, in despite of all the exertions, the management, the 
 tuistin^s and twiniugs that can be made to conceal them, many of the 
 foul and corrupt deeds which have disgraced the administration of our 
 affairs for many years past will nay, must come to light. The foun- 
 dation on which our high political i ulers rest is rotten. It cannot long 
 support them. The thick veil which covers the -s of the present 
 
 age h :s already been pierced. The people cannot be much longer 
 duped The day of retribution is nearer at hand titan many imagine. 
 The common sense of the nation cannot much longer sleep. 1 beg 
 don for making this digression. Let us now to the t; 
 
 In casting my eye over a public document, whici., I fear, even our 
 members of Congress do not sufficiently scan, containing an account of 
 receipts and expenditures of the United Mutes for a jiiven period of 
 time 1 was struck with an item among the receipts of * Interest re- 
 ceived from Banks." This being a IK-W source of revenue, (IK- 
 me at least) seeing there was no 1'iw for loaning the public money to 
 Banks, nor authorising any other dealings uith them, my inclination led 
 me to make some inquiry into the matter. Among other objectionable 
 and highly culpable things, 1 have discovered that Mr. Crawford, as 
 Secretary of the united States' Treasury, had actually loaned to the 
 Central Bank of Washington and Georgetown, about forty thousand 
 
41 
 
 dollars, at one time, of the public money, and this too at a period when 
 the -nost abominable frauds were committed on or in that institution by 
 the receipt of between thirty or forty thousand dollars of its own notes, 
 [nM <>f one denomination, to wit) 100 dollars] by its own officers , and 
 which notes, as since all edged, were all counterfeits! The run on the 
 bank was so great, T understand, bv the presentation for payment of 
 these spurious notes, that application was made to the United States' 
 Treasury for aid. The required aid, it seems, was given ; and thus the 
 people's money was most unworthily and illegally employed to keep up 
 the tottering credit, of an ill-managed, if not rotten institution ! Now, 
 I ask, where is to be found the law or the authority to justify a proceed- 
 ing of this kind ? Perhaps, we may be told, that this was not a formal 
 loan of motiey, because it was a transfer of so much from the account of 
 the Treasurer of the United States in the Branch Bank, to an account, 
 to be opened, or already opened, if you please, in the name ot the said 
 Treasurer, on the books of the Central Bank. Be it so, this does not 
 in the least, change the nature of the transaction for the money was 
 deposited in the latter Bank to enable it to meet the pressure which 
 was made upon it; and therefore was, to all intents and purposes, 
 A LOAN the whole of which is not paid to this day, or, at any rate, was 
 not four weeks ago. If the Secretary of the Treasury can rightfully 
 cause an account to be opened in whatever bank or place he pleases, in, 
 t!v- name of the Treasurer of the United States, and then direct the pub- 
 lic treasure to be taken from the legitimate place of deposite, and trans- 
 ferred to such a bank or place, it will give him complete and absolute 
 power and control over the national revenue. There need, in such 
 case, be no law directing where the public monies shall be lodged for 
 safe keeping ; and the constitutional provision that " no money shall be 
 drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by 
 law," will become a mere nullity and dead letter. Under such cir- 
 cumstances and practices, every available dollar in the public treasury 
 might betaken out of it. while, at the same time, the apparent balance 
 in it, made up, as it now is, from accounts and exhibited on paper, 
 might amount to several millions of dollars. '1 his is all perfectly fa- 
 miliar to those members of Congress and others who are conversant 
 with the public accounts, and who have made " the Treasury system" 
 a part of their study. 
 
 As otie ot the people having some ''nterest at stake in common 
 with others, being neither a wisher nor expectant for any office, and ac< 
 tuated solely by a desire to promote the general welfare, 1 would re- 
 spectfully recommend to our representatives now assembled, to ask 
 from the tro.a.-ury department the following information : 
 
 1. A detailed statement, looking backwards for at least four years 
 from this time, shewing, in quarterly exhibits, the amount of public 
 money standing to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States, in 
 the books of the several banks of the United States, where the public 
 money has been deposited. 
 
 2. A similar statement shewing the amount of public money trans- 
 ferred from one bank to another, designating the banks; the time when 
 such transfer was made, aud the cause for making it. 
 
 3. A similar statement, shewing in what banks special deposited ef 
 the public money were made the times when and wherefore. 
 
 6 
 
4. A particular statement, shewing the precise amount of the 
 unavailable fund?" belonging to the treasurr ^shewing also the banks 
 or places where these funds are, and how and when they ;ot there. 
 
 It is truly a matter of great regret to me to be constrained to make 
 these public exposures; and that regret is heightened by the necwiti/ 
 which 1 find there. is for making; them. It is no part of mv dispos ^'oii 
 or my nature, wrongfully to charge any man in 0'- out of office. And, as 
 I have heretofore stated, I will cheerfully and publicly correct any er- 
 ror into which I may have fallen in the course of these strictures on men 
 and measures, whenever it shall be fairly pointed out to me. 1 court 
 and challenge public investigation. . 
 
 In the beginning of these essays, 1 promised to say something about 
 the " linking Fund." In regard to that subject, ! shall endeav.i 
 demonstrate in my next number, that the public faith has been violated 
 and the law of the land disregarded. 
 
 A Native of Virginia. 
 
 No. XIX. 
 
 Amidst all the political conflicts which have taken place between 
 the different parties in this country, since the adoption of the present 
 constitution, there has, until lately, been paid a most scrupulous regard 
 to the preservation of the national faith, as regards* the payment of the 
 public debt, and the application of the iunds specific: liy and solemnly 
 set apart for that object. It has (as will hereafter appear.) been re"- 
 served for tjie men now in power to set at nauuht the in.} ortant at-d wise 
 provisions of the law inthss respect ; and tl.us tojajpclaini by their ads. 
 at least, that " a public debt is a public bussing." 
 
 The establishment of the "sinking fum."i- nearly co-oval with the 
 existence of the federal government. The creation of such a fun*! 
 a two-fold object in view : one to effect 4g by a'ljust and proper mi-ans. 
 the desirable end of reducing the amount of the public debt," and the 
 other to "be beneficial to the^creditors of the Vnited States by raising 
 the price of their stock" thus holding out a pledge to the pen; 
 larjre., on the one hand, and a promise to the public fa, on the 
 
 ether. We shall presently see in uhat manner this pledge and this 
 promise have been and are proposed to be fulfilled. 
 
 The ''Sinking Fund/' as it is called i> a sum of money, the amount 
 of which is fixed by law, set apart for a particular and specific purpose ; 
 namely, for the payment of the interest, and the reimbursement of the 
 principal of the public debt. For the management of this fund, the law 
 has named and appointed five commissioners, who are called ' com- 
 missioners of the -sinking fund," namely: the President of the Senate, 
 ef Justice of the United States, the Secretary of State, the Secre* 
 
43 
 
 tary of the Treasury, ami the Attorney General, all fur the time being. 
 
 acts of congress of 12th of August, 1T)0, and 8th of May, 17 r 2.] 
 The sinking luml was, from time to time, increased (never diminished, 
 a*, the present Secretary of State now recommends) until, by the act 
 of 29th of April, I'- 02, about a year after Mr. Jefferson came into power, 
 it was fixed at 7.^ : fV00 doHa r s : and it was, not long afterwards, 
 on our purchase of Louisiana from France, increased to eirht millions of 
 dollars per annum. At this rate it stood until the year JM7, when, by 
 the act of the ,^d of March, of that year, it was further increased to the 
 sum often millions of dollars per annum, \vhich is the present amount 
 of the linking fund. This act is entitled, " An act to provide for the 
 redemption of the public debt;" the second section of which runs in 
 these words : " that from the proceeds of the duties on merchandize im- 
 ported, and on the tonnage of vessel*, and from the proceeds of the inter- 
 nal duties, and from the sale ot western lands now belonging, or which 
 mny hereafter belong to the United States, the annual um of ten mil- 
 lions of dollars be, and the same is yearly appropriated to the sinking 
 fund ; and the said sum is hereby declared to be vested in the commis- 
 sioners of the sinking fund in the sn me manner as the money here- 
 tofore appropriated to the said fund, to be applied by the said commis- 
 sioners to thi> payment of interest and charges, and to the reimburse- 
 ment or purchase, of the principal of the public debt; and it shall be the 
 duty of the secretary of the treasury, annually to pay to Hie commission- 
 ers "f Ihif sinifihgfund the send siim 0^10,000,000 of d liars, in such pay- 
 ments and at such times in each year as the situation of th treasury will 
 best admit." This law remains unrepealed. By it, the Secretary of the 
 Treasury is directed to pay to t!>e commissioners of the sinking fund, 
 the sum ot ten millions of dollars yearly* for the purposes above named, 
 out ot the proceeds of duties on merchandize imported, and on the 
 tonnaue of vessels, from the proceeds of the internal duties, and from 
 the sale of western lands belonging to the United States." The money 
 thus set apart for the payment of t ie principal and interest of the pub- 
 lic debt must, in conformity with the provisions of the law, be paid in 
 preference to any other monies appropriated for any other object, with 
 the exception only, perhaps, of the old reservation of 600,000 dollars 
 mentioned in the law of the 4th of Au^u-t, 1790, (vol. 1. p. 14*.) And 
 this will appear the more clear by recurring to all the acts of Congress 
 passed since the 3d Marc!:, 1817, appropriating public money; by 
 which, it wili be seen that the money appropriated, no matter for what 
 
 with t!:- .teption, is expressly directed to be paid fi out 
 
 of uuu money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated." Now, is it 
 not clear, that the fund set apart and solemnly pledged for the redemp- 
 tion of the public debt, has been seized upon in violation of the law, 
 and applied to other objects of expenditure r It is no answer to this to 
 say, that the ten millions of dollars would not be wanted, because, 
 ivanced price of the public securities, it could not be 
 applied. S;> long; : as the law rMaaius in force (and it can-not be altered 
 (li the public creditors without a palpable vio- 
 lation of the public faith) the Secretary of the Treasury is bound 
 ! be so much in the treasury) and the law makes it 
 his " duty" to pay, annually, to the commissioners of the sinking 
 fund, the sum of ten millions of dollars, for the purposes abovemen- 
 
44 
 
 tioned. The other appropriations are directed to be paid "out of any 
 urv not otherwise aproriated." I will take occ-a- 
 
 in the tre^urv not otherwise approp 
 sion hereto correct a mistake M^debv Mi. Niles, editor of the We "kiy 
 Reo-istet-, in his paper of the 22 .! of Dec. At the dose of a very able and 
 comprehensive article on the state of the treasury, and which I would re- 
 com nend to the attentive perusal of every man in th* country, he says, 
 speaking of the sinking; fund "Rut in 1821 the usual appropriation of 
 5110,000.000 was not made, and of course there was no surplus, nor does 
 the Secretary calculate on such an appropriation for 1' 22. It will be 
 seen, ho -ever, by reference to the law of 3d March 1 s 1 ", above mention- 
 ed. that the appropriating of ten millions is a prospective yearly" ap- 
 propriation ; and that sum must, in conformity with th* ?: press pro- 
 visions o(' the law, be carried to the account of public debt on the 
 public books each and every year." If the Register had said, there had 
 been no estimate made by the -Secretary of the Treasury for the whole 
 amount of the ten millions, it would have been right. The reasons for 
 his leaving them out of the estimate are obvious ; but they need not 
 be meatio'ied just now, though it may hereafter be useful to advert to 
 them. What I contend for is this, that neither the ' estimates'* of the 
 Secretary of the Treasury, nor the report of the committee of wavs and 
 me.tns, whether bottomed on those estimates or not ; nor the grants of 
 money made by Congress, founded on these documents, do alter, 
 ch.m^e or repeal any part of the act of Congress of the 3*1 of March 
 1 1 " ; and, consequently, do not absolve the Secretary of the Treasury 
 from his obligation to pay to the commissioners of the sinking fund 
 yearly, and every year, the ten mi o s of doil specially pledged 
 and appropriated " for the redemption of the nub! c tie > ." And he 
 who will say otherwise is. in my judgment, prepared to sanction a prin- 
 ciple destructive of the best interests of this country, to violate the 
 plighted faith of the nation. It can be no answer to my argument, to 
 say, that there was an understanding in Congress, or by the Executive, 
 that hese 10,< 00000 were not to be used; or, if you please', that they could 
 not be used. ] say they are appropriated and directed to be paid over to 
 the commissioners of t fie sinking fund. The source from which lite 
 money is to come is particularly designated; the law remains on the 
 statute book unrepeale't and he whose bounden duty it is ci to take 
 care that the laws are faithfully executed" is bound to see that it is put 
 into execution ! if Congress choose to pa*s a iaw " impairing the obli- 
 gation ol a contract," or do any other act of bad faith towards a public 
 or a pricate creditor be it so. L am not here disputing about the powers 
 of that august and -1 had almost said ominipotent body, as regards our 
 national concerns; but I am endeavouring to shew, as 1 promised to do 
 in my last number, that ' the law of the land (as it now stands) has 
 been disregarded." 1 think it is clear, from what has been stated, that 
 the appropriations for the redemption of the public debt, have a prefer- 
 ence or priority over other appropriations. And it is equally clear, that 
 the appropriations made for that object, cannot be legally applied to any 
 other; for it is expressly declared in the act of Congress ot the 3d of 
 March 109 (vol. 9. p. 252) that "sums appropriated by law for each 
 branch of expenditure in the several departments, shall be solely applied 
 to the objects for which the\ are respectively appropriated, and to no 
 other." The proviso which follows, authorizing the .President to direct 
 
45 
 
 a transfer of appropriations, in certain cases, has no reference whatso- 
 ever, 'o appropriations made on account of of the public ubt; and .10 
 one nil, I presume, as vet, have the hardihood to say it has Nor can 
 anv unexpended amount of the appropriation for the redemption of the 
 public debt be carried [as some persons contended it would] to the cre- 
 dit of the account denominated the * surplus fund;' because the law- 
 makes express provision to the contrary. [See 165 of the act of 3d. 
 Maivh 1 795, vol. 3, p. 20-4.] 
 
 But n ' may, with an air of triumph, be asked, < would you keep se- 
 veral millions of dollars in the treasury, unemployed, which the com- 
 missioners of the sinking fund cannot, under the provisions of the law, 
 apply to iiic extinction of the public debt? What more do you want 
 than that the public creditors should be promptly paid all that they can 
 legally demand ?" This I would say, was something like begging the 
 question. And yet these are the only reasons which I have ever heard 
 given for laving violent hands on the sinking; fund ; although we have it 
 from high authority, no less than the secretary of the treasury himself, 
 that, in a recent case, some of the puMic creditors had exercised great 
 ' forbearance." In fact they had not been paid according to promise : 
 but they, nevertheless, " by hook or by crook" got their interest at Ue 
 rate of si.r per cent per annum up to the time the last '* fragment" of 
 the debt was paid. But I contend, that it is of no consequence in the 
 present discussion, whether the whole amount of the sinking fund can, 
 in any one year, be used or not. The object in establishing it, as I have 
 before remarked, was two-fold one to effect i by all just and proper 
 means the desirable end of reducing the public debt ;" and the other to 
 " be beneficial to the creditors of the U. States by raising the price of 
 their stock ;" and further to " be productive of considerable savins; to 
 the United States." See act of 12th Aug, 1790, vol. 1, page 2(2. That 
 the puijiic creditors, [as well as the community at large] have a diiett 
 interest in carrying the law of 1817, establishing the present sinking 
 fund, into full effect, as regards the yearly payment of ten millions of 
 dollars to the commissioners of the sinking fund, must be, to every un- 
 clouded, candid mind most clear and manifest. It will be admitted, I 
 presume, on all sides, that the demand for an article has a tendency to 
 enhance its price, and the greater the number of persons wanting it, the 
 greater the demand will be. All subscribers to a public loan, and all 
 tiie subsequent purchasers of stock growing out of i't, pay their money 
 under a linn and well founded belief, that the government is in good 
 faith bound and pledged, to carry into complete effect all of its promis- 
 es and engagements relatively to the extinguishment of the debt, the 
 evidences of Uvhicli they, respectively held. If the government fail to 
 do this, it commits a breach of the contract. It matters not, on the 
 score of principle, to what extent this breach is committed ; because 
 when one part of the contract or promise is violated, the same power 
 will, if necessity urges, violate another and more important part ; un- 
 til, at length, to use the language of the justly celebrated Mr. Hume, 
 " the whole fabric, already tottering, falls to the ground and buries thou- 
 sands in its ruins." Such is the delicate nature of public credit. 
 
 Far be it from me, however, to wish to excite any thing like a dis- 
 trust in the mind of any one either as to the ability or the inclination of 
 tin government to pay its just debts. But that the legal provision to 
 effect this object has remained uuexerted by the executive branch ; must?, 
 
46 
 
 I think, be apparent to all. In a few years to come a large amount < r the 
 public debt will, according to the terms of the respec-ivp loans, be pay- 
 able. There will probably be no money in the treasury, as every body 
 now knows, to pay it although the appropriations for that express ; Mr- 
 pose have been made; but these have been seized upon, and, unlawfully 
 applied to other objects. To obviate this difficulty, and to satisfy the 
 law, as well as he can, the secretary of the treasury proposes to t-av the 
 debt becoming due by contracting another to an equal amount Will 
 not the holders of other Stocks of the United States have a just n-ht to 
 complain of this r Would not the payment, in money, of th^ debt fall- 
 ing due* and thus giving full scope and effect to the operations of the 
 sinking fund, enhance the value of the remainirg stock on hand, by 
 taking out of the market a large amount of the public securities? Each 
 of these questions may be safely answered in the affirmative. By giving 
 full operation to that fund we should, in the language of the original law 
 establishing it, <( effect the desirable end of reducing the am-omt of the. 
 public debt;"' while it would also " be beneficial to the [other] creditors 
 of the United States by raising the price of their stock.'' 
 
 A Native of Virginia. 
 
 55 
 
 NO. XX. 
 
 In my last communication to you, T endeavored to show, and I 
 think I did prove, that the laws which had been passed for the extin- 
 guishment of the public .debt, and solemnly consecrated to that object, 
 had been disregarded and set at naught by those whose bounden duty it 
 is, <k to take care that they are faithfully executed." If 1 am wrong in 
 saying this, let the contrary be shown. I will yield to superior argu- 
 ment, and to reason ; but it is no answer nor argument to say, that 
 the receipts into the treasury have been ins-tjjicient to pay all the de- 
 mands against it. I contend, that the specific appropriation often mil- 
 lions of dollars, for the purpose of paying the interest and reimbursing 
 the principal of the public debt, has a priority or preference over oilier 
 appropriations, according to the law, as it now stands ; and that it was 
 illegal to take from this appropriation, any money, for the purpose of 
 applying it to other objects of expenditure. I contend further, that it 
 is not competent even for Congress, without committing a palpable and 
 violent breach of the national faith, to direct any part of the surplus of 
 the sinking fund to be applied to other objects/ unless " war shall oc- 
 cur with any foreign power." Upon this contingency atone, they may 
 direct any surplus of the sinking fund to be applied to other objects of 
 the public service [see 7th of the act of 3d March 1 817, establishing 
 the si) king fund, which is in these words: "Nothing in this act contained 
 shall be construed to prevent the congress ot the U. States if war shall oc- 
 
47 
 
 cur with any foreign poirer, from applying to any object of public 
 service, a v s':r i >fus <>f the amount herein appropriated to the sinking 
 fun 1, which m.iy be left in any year, after paying the interest and prt/z- 
 /' >vhich mi >( be actually due and payable by the U. States in confor- 
 mity with tJteir engagements j nor shall any tiring in this act be con- 
 strue 1 to rep*'l, alter or affect any of the provisions of any former act, 
 pledging the faith of the U. S. to the payment of the interest or princi- 
 pal o r t', nnbiic debt; but all such payments shall continue to be made 
 at the time heretofore appointed by law, excepting only as before provid- 
 ed, that no payments snail be made on certificates which have become 
 the property of the U. States."] Here, then, is an express and solemn 
 pledge made by Congress to the nation at large and to the public credi- 
 tors, that even the surplus of the sinking fund shall not be used for any 
 other purposes than those for which it is pledged and appropriated, ex- 
 cepting only in the event of a war taking place between the U. States 
 and a foreign power. It is scarcely necessary to inform you, that any 
 surplus of the sinking fund must arise either from the circumstance of 
 the public securities being higher in price than the ommissi oners of the 
 sinking fund are authorised to purchase, or, where there is no stock 
 which can. consistently with the terms of the loan, or with the provi- 
 sions of the law creating it, be paid or redeemed.. The commissioners 
 of the sinking fund are bound by law to apply the ten millions annual- 
 ly appropriated, 1st, to the payment of the interest and principal which 
 mav be actually due and payable by the U. States in conformity with 
 their engagements; and 2d, to the purchase of the debt of the United 
 States, at ti>e prices fixed by law. The excuse which has been given 
 by the Executive branch of the government ior unlawfully applying the 
 surplus of the sinking fund toother objects of the public service is, not 
 that * war has occurred with any foreign power," which is the only 
 possible l'g:il cause which can. exist for the diversion otthe fund from its 
 legitimate object ; but for reasons like those set forth in the annual re- 
 port of the Secretary of the Treasury on the state of the finances, dat- 
 ed Dec. 10, l v ;!9. lie says : " After paying the interest and reirnburse- 
 mcntof the public debt, and redeeming the remainder of the Louisana 
 stock, about ii,300,0i,'0 dollars of the sinking hind witl remain without 
 price of the public stock should prevent its pur- 
 chase." He then goes on further to state, that in 1821, '22 and '23, the 
 i!() dollars of the sinking fund will also remain 
 Burtheradds : "Any application of that portion 
 
 of the sinking fund which, on account of the price of the public stock, 
 may remain unemployed in the hands of the commissioners, to other 
 bra"h< expenditure, if allowable under the act making the 
 
 appropriation, wqifld o.iiy postpone the period at which additional im- 
 positions would be rer'.jired to meet the public expenditure. Such an 
 application would also have the e'.frct of ultimately retarding the re- 
 dv-m; .iebt." Phis is ail very correct as regards the 
 
 power- o 1 of the administration, to misapply the money 
 
 appropriated and pledged for the redemption of the public debt. But 
 let us x.imine that part of the report which relates to the surplus of the 
 sinking 'uiid, and which we are told will remain " without application" 
 or, in ot iei v >nls, which could not, under the provisions of the law, be 
 applied towards the extinguishment of the public debt. 
 
50 
 
 had it in keeping' not 10 its infancy but after it had reached maturi 
 ty, and in the "full -tide of successful experiment/' Itisadead letter 
 on the statute book. Although it is but a few years since it received 
 an accession of 2,000,000 of dollars per annum, its provisions are now 
 totally disregarded, and considered as obsolete, except when it may be- 
 come necessary for political jugglers to refer to it. for the pu pose of 
 helping them out in some miserable scheme of finance, to keep the 
 wheels of government in motion after a fashion. 
 
 We will now take a glance at the report of the committee of vv;iys 
 and means. They say, " If the proposed exchange of Stock shall f ake 
 effect, and the amount of ths sinking fund be continued at ten millions 
 of dollars, the WHOLE debt of the United States, (the 3 per cents, excep- 
 ted) will be extinguished in the year 1833, except only the sum of one 
 million nine hundred ana fifty-two thousand dollars" The committee 
 then proceed to give us an account of this " whole debt of the United 
 States." except the 3 per cent Stock, and make the amount lets by 
 nearly 17.000,000 dollars, than the true amount! They leave out of 
 their statement the following sums : 
 
 1. Unredeemed amount of deferred stock (round num- 
 bers) - - - g1, 700,000 
 
 2. Do. do. stock of 1796, now payable - - 80,000 
 
 3. Loan of 1820 (two millions of which are now pay- 
 able) - ... 3,000,000 
 
 4. Loan of 1821 - 5 000,000 
 
 5. Five per cent, stock, subscription to Bank of Uni- 
 ted States - ... 7,000,000 
 
 16,780,000 
 
 Say sixteen millions seven hundred and eighty thousand dollars. Now 
 J will ask, what reliance ought Congress or the nation, to place on this 
 report, emanating too, as 1 find itcloes, from the treasury departn.ent? 
 The committee professed to give us an account of the whole public 
 debt (the 3 per cents, excepted) and the time in which it would all be re- 
 imbursed. The chairman of the committee is, I am told, an experienc- 
 ed merchant and expert accountant. Can it be possible that he should 
 accidentally have made a mis-take of such magnitude. 1 apprehend not. 
 Besides, the documents on which the report is based, came, it seems, 
 from the treasury. Again: the chairman of tins committee furthei re- 
 ports, that in 1825, 5,350,000 dollars and in 1 120, the sum of 5,707,000 
 of the sinking fund will be 'applicable' in these years to redeeming the 
 principal of the public debt. I hope the honorable chairman of the 
 committee will be called upon in Congress to furnish the process by 
 which he arrives at these results. The same gentleman, in his report of 
 April 1820, told Congress that in 1825 and '26. there v, ould bo a sur- 
 plus of the sinking fund " applicable" to the payment of the j 
 debt falling due in these years, of upwards of twenty-one millions of 
 dollars, i leave these glaring inconsistencies and downright incongrui- 
 ties, to be reconciled arid explained by the committee of wavs and 
 means and the Secretary of the treasury. I shall not enter into an ex- 
 amination of their schemes of finance ; my chief object in addressing he 
 public being to detect error and expose fraud ; but this much I will ay 
 that the legislative body which shall adopt their plahs, by making 
 
51 
 
 tliem the basis of its measures, w' r i be unworthy of the confidence and 
 support of n eniig'iuiiM.1 and free people. 
 
 A Native of Virginia. 
 
 P. S. A few remarks on the subject of public defaulters in my next; 
 and on the letter of the 3d Auditor, recently published. I have yet a 
 little more to say about the treasury department the 'unavailable' 
 funds and the District Banks all of which shall appear in due season, 
 let who will be offended. The truth of all these matters, so far as the 
 public is interested, ought to be known, and shall be known, as for as I 
 ,hnve knowledge of it. 
 
 NO. XXII. 
 
 There appears to be great exultation among certain editors of news*- 
 papers of the court party, and particularly by those of the National 
 Intelligencer, because the debts due fr m individuals to the U. States 
 for more than three years prior to the 30th September last, and s*and- 
 ing on the books of the third auditor, have been reduced to a little less 
 than sir millions of dollars. Every well-wisher to his country ought to 
 feel, and no doubt will feel, gratified at this event, provided that, in the 
 settlement of the accounts, nothing has been admitted to the credit of 
 any one but what was fair, lawful and just and that no dispensing 
 power has been exercised by the head of the war department in any of 
 these cases. If, in any case, any such power has been exercised by the 
 secretary of war, it was an act or usurpation in him ; for the law gives 
 him no authority to exercise any such power. Time will probably 
 show whether it has been exercised or not. 
 
 No one ever contended, I believe I certainly never did that the 
 whole amount contained in the third auditor's statement of last year 
 was actually due from individuals to the public. No one could, in the 
 fare of the abstract, so contend ; because, in some instances, the con- 
 trary was therein expressly stated. But does it follow, because all the 
 money r.harjred on these books was not due, that no part of it was due? 
 All that was alleged in behalf of the people was, that vast sums of money 
 
 actually due to the public, growing out of the immense and impro- 
 vident advances which had been made to certain individuals closely 
 connected with those to ichom the people had confided the care of the 
 public purse : that these favorites of the administration, instead of ap- 
 plying the money "advanced" to them to public use, had applied it to 
 their own uses and purposes ; and that f hey were therefore actual delin- 
 quents and public defaulters. Now who is there that will openly deny 
 this. The National Intelligencer has, to be sure, more than once insi)i- 
 itati-d, that there was nothing due from these favorites, and that the 
 
52 
 
 whole, of the third auditor's statement exhibited, |_I will use the editor's 
 own language] " exparte and unsettled accounts." This was the only 
 inference which could be drawn from their remarks on the subject, and 
 this was the impression intended to be made on the people. Had it not 
 been for gross and palpable misrepresentations like this, coming as they 
 did, from a quarter which every body looks upon as official, it is proba- 
 ble these numbers never would have met the public eye. The studied 
 and close concealment of the Court paper, of the facts relating to public 
 defaulters, was of itself pretty strong evidence, I think, that every thing 
 \vas not right. Acting up to their professions, they ought, unquestion- 
 ably, long ago, to have come out plainly, and honestly told the people 
 fhe truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, in relation to 
 these matters, as well as others in which they have a deep interest. But 
 instead of acting like honest sentinels over the people's rights, the court 
 papers, and the Intelligencer at the head, not only carefully conceal the 
 facts, as far as they can, but they have had the hardihood, when the ad 
 ministration is charged with these abuses, to deny their existence alto 
 gether. This conduct is not to be wondered at. if one could bring him- 
 self to suppose, that these men were, " in some shape or another," brib- 
 ed to keep the secrets of their high patrons in power. In the different 
 messages of our present Chief Magistrate to Congress, has he ever once 
 made allusion to the great losses which the United States would be like- 
 ly to sustain by the defalcations of individuals to whom the public mon- 
 ey had been entrusted, or who were otherwise public delinquents ? Has 
 he ever recommended the adoption of more prompt and efficient mea- 
 sures for the recovery of the public dues ! Has he ever told the nation 
 of the villainous conduct of public debtors, who, to avoid payment of 
 their just debts, have made fraudulent and collusive assignments and 
 transfer of their property. But has he not, indeed, after a perfect 
 knowledge of their delinquencies, retained them in office thus afford- 
 ing them the power and the means of committing still further delapida- 
 tioris and frauds on the public treasury ? Was not a late delinquency 
 in North Carolina of a Collector of the Customs known to the govern- 
 ment before he had absconded with a hundred thousand dollars of the 
 public money in his pocket! But the public will not see this defaulter 
 reported to Congress probably for three years to come. And there are 
 many more in the same situation, and to a greater amount, rather near- 
 er to the President's house. Deny this who dare, and the proofs shall 
 be exhibited. And yet, notwithstanding all this, and a great deal more, 
 we are informed, or it is at least intimated, that there are no balances 
 actually due to the public, but that the lists merely exhibit " exparte 
 and unsettled accounts." 
 
 When the editors of the Court paper at Washington lately took 
 occasion to tell the public how much they were " pleased" that the ba- 
 lances now standing on the books of the third auditor, [and which had 
 been due for more than three years prior to the 30th September last] 
 amounted only to the paltry sum of five millions seven hundred thou- 
 sand dollars. 1 think candor, and a clue regard to their promise, [as 
 set forth in the prospectus of their paper] to give correct official infor- 
 mation, ought to have induced them to have said a little more on that 
 subject. They ought, I think, to have told the people, [and a great 
 many would have thanked them for the information, supposing, as they 
 now do, that the third auditor's books contain accounts of all the debts 
 
53 
 
 due the United States] that there are a great many public defaulters, 
 and to very large amounts, whose accounts are kept on the books ot 
 the secomf auditor ; that there are others, and to still greater amount, 
 who are exhibited on the hooks of the fourth auditor, many of whom are 
 stated to be delinquents from one hundred, to upwards of five hundred 
 thousand dollars each and all these balances due "more than three 
 years prior to 30th September last' 1 that there were immense sums of 
 money standing to the debit of individuals on the books of the Register 
 of the Treasury, for debts due to the Post Office Department, for ad- 
 vances on account of the Civil List, the Diplomatic Department, &c. 
 for defalcations on collecting the Customs, the Internal Revenue and 
 Direct Tax ; and that, besides all these, there were enormously large 
 sums due from United States' District Attorneys, from Marshals, and 
 from the Clerks of the Federal Courts. In short, these gentlemen edir 
 tors ought to have told the people, if they had been disposed to tell the 
 whole truth, about this matter, that the public money remained in the 
 hands of every Shylock and improvident knave in the country, from 
 Maine to New Orleans, who could make out to squeeze his snout in the 
 Treasury trough, or collect it from the people in the shape of taxes. 
 This is, in sober truth, no exaggerated statement, as the records of the 
 country will fully show. And yet we are called upon to otter up praises 
 "to the powers that be," because, forsooth, there are only about six mil- 
 lions of dollars due to the people on one set of books. I still adhere to 
 my former opinion, that, altogether, there is due to the United States 
 from individuals, about the sum of twenty millions of dollars, exclu- 
 sively of the land debt. I mean justly and fairly due for I cannot 
 tell now much of this will be paid, or wiped off, by the illegal exercise 
 of dispensing powers. And all these evils, and a great many more, we 
 endure merely from the want of a plain, honest, straight-headed, un- 
 sophisticated man to preside over us, who would pay regard to his oath 
 of office, and to the constitutional injunction ' To take oare that the 
 hiu'B are faithfully executed? 
 
 In my next number I propose taking some notice of the letter of 
 the third auditor, which accompanied his last report of balances. If 
 the remarks which I shall then make shall ever meet his eye, he will, I 
 think, regret that he ever wrote the letter. He has therein betrayed an 
 ignorance of the laws and the legitimate powers of the public depart- 
 ments, that could hardly have been expected. 
 
 A Native of Virginia* 
 
54 
 
 NO. XXIII. 
 
 IN the letter of the Third Auditor of the Treasury, dated the 26th 
 December last, and which accompanied the abstract of balances stand- 
 ing on his books for more than three years the following remarkable 
 paragraph will be found. " If provision were made by law authorising 
 the accounting officers to settle accounts originating prior to the 1st July 
 1815, upon the production of the best evidence each case would admit 
 of, and such as would probably be received in Courts of Justice, and 
 limiting the amount of credit to be given each individual to the amount 
 of money advanced him, it is conceived no injury to the public would 
 ensue : for if on a trial of a suit, it shall be made appear by a defendant, 
 to the satisfaction of the Court arid Jury, that the money in dispute has 
 been expended for the public service?, it is highly probable credits 
 will be awarded, notwithstanding any informalities in the vouchers. 
 And the adoption of the course suggested would have the effect of pre- 
 venting many personal applications to Congress, arid of considerably 
 diminishing the outstanding accounts on the books of this officer " Now 
 at first view all this looks fair & reasonable enough. But I think I shall 
 be able to make it appear to the satisfaction of every reflecting mind, that 
 there is something more intended by the above paragraph than fairly 
 meets the eye. I do humbly hope to convince every man whose mind 
 is not warped by interest or prejudice, that there exists, in truth, no good 
 reason or necessity for legislative interference in this case; and that 
 should it take place in the way which has been suggested, it would ope- 
 rate as an indemnity or act of oblivion towards most, if not all the par- 
 ties concerned : and therefore would, most certainly, as the third audi- 
 tor predicts, have the effect of considerably diminishing the outstanding 
 accounts on the books of his office." 
 
 The third auditor certainly does know (no one, I should suppose, 
 knew better) that the laws of tl e United States do not prescribe (ex- 
 cept in a few particular cases, not worth mentioning) the form or even 
 the kind of voucher which shall be produced to authorize a credit for 
 money expended under the military appropriations. The evidence of 
 expenditures of this kind, and the particular form in which that evidence 
 shall be exhibited, have been prescribed, not by acts of the legislature, 
 but by departmental rfgutatwns. Congress, in establishing the different 
 departments of government, provided, generally, for the settlement of 
 the accounts, and the production and preservation of the vouchers 
 without entering into a detail (a thing impracticable to be done from its 
 nature) of the particular forms and kinds of proofs of the disbursements 
 of the public money. It. was confided to the executive branch, and, 
 principally to those acting ministerially, to do this. It this be the case, 
 and no one will I imagine publicly deny that it is where, it may be ask- 
 ed, is the necessity, in any case, of passing a la\\ , (m; 4 ny such have been 
 passed of late) directing the proper accounting officers to settle an ac- 
 count, *' on the principles of equity and justice" and without stating 
 what charges against the public shall be admitted or what shall not be 
 admitted? I answer there can be no necessity for such an act ; be 
 
55 
 
 cause it confers no power on the department which did not before 
 
 a law leaves th cit- v precisely where it was before the law passed. 
 it ias, however, t ( > s'*y the least of it, a very odd and singular apnear- 
 anre on the statute bo?k because, by necessary inference, it pre^ 
 siiM'-o-es t! at the previous acts of Congress for the adjustment of ac- 
 cou'nis against the United States, did not authorise them to be settled 
 in conformity to the principles of equity and justice;" and thus, in 
 elect, as it would seem, pronounces a severe censure on the permanent 
 laws of the land. 
 
 T; e first special interposition of Congress, in a. case of this kind 
 though there may be some other of a prior date was, I think, in the 
 year 180G 7, about the time of the beginning of mis-rule and extrava- 
 
 fance. It was the case of William Eaton, a Consul of the United 
 tates at Tripoli, and afterwards better know by the name of General 
 Eaton, the hero of Derne. It was found, (as I have it from the very 
 best authority, and the treasury books car. be referred to for the 
 proof*) after this gentleman's return from his Barbary mission, in 1804, 
 .that hr owed the public a large sum of money. And this sum appeared 
 a;ain>t him after what was then supposed to be a final settlement, made, 
 I as I trust, for the honor of the country, all the public accounts are] on 
 wi;al was then conceived to be, " the principles of equity and justice." 
 This settlement was made too under the sanction and "direction" of 
 the Secretary of {State, under whose sanction and "direction" all set- 
 tlements of accounts, relating to our foreign intercourse, are made. It 
 is true. Mi-. Katon made many charges in his account, which Mr. Madi- 
 son, then Secretary of -State, [probably by the advice of President Jef- 
 ferson] would not admit. A heavy one, for example, was not allowed, 
 if my informant's memory be correct namely, for the gallant act of 
 * ransoming a Sardinian nobleman's daughter" in whose unfortunate 
 case our consul had taken, as it would seem, a deep interest. Our rulers 
 in tliose days, however, [1804,] did not think this expense ought to be 
 saddled upon the good people of the United States and accordingly it 
 was with many others, then deemed equally inadmissable, rejected. 
 So the matter rested until about the time Burr's fpmous conspiracy 
 wa> ripening to a head. Meanwhile Mr. Eaton was petitioning Con- 
 gress for relief. It is certain, however, that no 4< relief" was grant- 
 ed until ,f.'<-r he had msule his noted deposition at the capitol 
 against iiurr, and on which, i think, some other persons of distinc- 
 tion were arrested. Then it was, by some contrivance or another, 
 I will not rviy v\ hat. v\m;ress of the United States were induced 
 
 ?ke this -lioil act. " That the accounting officers of the Treasury 
 be, iiiid t''i-\ are hereby authorised to settle and adj-ist the accounts 
 ot iVilliam Eaton, late I orisul at Tripoli, UP^N JUST AND EQUIT- 
 
 This act left l^aton'prev i.^ely in the bume situation in which it found 
 
 him. Lt iii. not JM- t!.*- accounting oillcers of the treasury nor the 
 
 particle more power than they before possessed 
 
 and iunl bee., constantly in the habit of exercising. / nd yet, strange 
 and unaccountable as it ma appear, the accounts of Katon were, by 
 vi'l , ,!' thi'. :ict, i !,,<* <il .ne, re-adji^tei ; and not only the balance 
 re )orte<l agaiiiSt iiim, BY THE SAME PERSONS AND UNDII.K ui", SAME 
 AUTHORITY, was wiped o.ti'; but an. actual oalance was reported in his 
 
56 
 
 fovor, of about 12,000 dollars, which he received from the Treasury of' 
 the United States ! So much for the operation of a harmless inofFetisive 
 law, as this was called, and to which many an honest member of Con- 
 gress would not withhold his assent, because the real use and purposes 
 for which it was obtained by the master spirits, would never enter into 
 his imagination. By tricks and contrivances like this, the purse-proud 
 public defaulter is enabled to ride rough -shod over the productive classes 
 whom he has gulled and cheated out of their money for these are the 
 persons, at last, who pay it for the use of the Treasury. 
 
 Since this act was passed for the * relief fas it is called) of 
 William Eaton" the statute books have been filled with similar ones 
 to the great and manifest injustice |_I hazard nothing in saying it.] 
 of the people of the United States. But what has heretofore been 
 dona by piece-meal, the Third Auditor now proposes, in effect, to 
 have done by wholesale in other words, by a single sweep to ex- 
 tinguish a debt due to the public of about seven millions ! And where- 
 fore ? When I see the names of the defaulters, I will be better 
 able to tell you. But there is another reason. It may, perhaps have a 
 tendency to render the Secretary of war, "or the administration, unpopu- 
 lar to have such a large amount of the people's money yearly exhibited to 
 be in the hands of contractors and others who have no just right to it. 
 Let Congress pass such a law as is requested, and then two years after- 
 wards, let an honest unprejudiced committee of investigation be ap- 
 pointed to examine and see how it has been executed then the whole 
 secret of the matter will appear not that J believe the Third Auditor 
 would of hit own accord, and upon his own responsibility, act improper- 
 ly in any of these cases : but we do know, that the power over a man's 
 support is, generally, a power over his will; and it is also known, and 
 can be proved, that DISPENSING powers, to a considerable and alarming, 
 extent, have been exercised by the heads of our public departments, in 
 cases where the law confers no such prerogative. But after all, can any 
 one for a moment suppose, that on the production of such a voucher, 
 for the disbursement of public money, "as would probably be received 
 in a court of justice ;" the public departments would not feel them- 
 selves at liberty, under existing laws, to admit the same as evidence of 
 the expenditure of the money ? To say that they would not, would be 
 to claim for these functionaries more purity, greater circumspection, 
 more regard tojustice and the public interest than belong to out courts 
 of law even to those of the last resort, where every litigated case, if 
 it will admit of it, in which the public is concerned, ought to be carried. 
 
 The whole secret of this matter, however, lies here. In befter 
 
 days than those in which we live when the Father of his country ruled, 
 and had a share in the direction of its destinies when that great man 
 was President of the United States, [and he was, strictly speaking, the 
 only president of the people we ever had each of his successors being 
 president of a party] when that just and virtuous man, I say, of un- 
 tarnished fame and reputation presided as chief magistrate of this coun- 
 try, and under whose auspices and direction the administration of our 
 public affairs was conducted certain " RULES AND REGULATIONS," 
 touching the settlement and adjustment of all accounts for the expendi- 
 ture of public money authorised bylaw, were laid down and established. 
 It is these rules and these regulations which, in these our days, some 
 people have found it not quite convenient to conform to and hence re- 
 
57 
 
 has been had to Congress for the passage of laws authorising ac- 
 its to be settled " on just and equirable principles !" Under cover of 
 
 sort 
 counts 
 
 such laws, the good old rules are laid sside, or transgressed; for even yet, 
 no man in power ha* the hardihood altogether to disregard them without 
 some legislative act (however unfair the use which may he made of it) 
 to screen him from public reprehension. If this exposition, which I 
 have endeavored to make plain and simple, shall happen to meet the eye 
 of any one of your representatives in Congress now assembled, I hope 
 it m;iv have the effect of causing some investigation into the subject at 
 least, before the suggestions contained in the Third Auditor's letter, 
 before mentioned, shall have been acquiesced in or adopted. 
 
 That there may be some individual cases of hardship, requiring le- 
 gislative interposition, I do not doubt. But before any act for the pur- 
 pose of affording relief is passed, Congress ought faithfully to investigate 
 the claim and give such specific relief as the nature of the case may, in 
 justice require. The people ouyjht always to view v/ith a suspicious eye 
 that department, or that man* (particularly if he has any thing to do 
 with wielding the sword) who will advise Congress to part from pow- 
 ers which properly belong to them, and delegate them to one who is 
 4i willing to incur great responsibility." 
 
 A Native of Virginia. 
 
 * The 3d Auditor is not here alluded to. He acts under authority 
 of others* 
 
 NO. XXIV. 
 
 If the facts and the reasoning contained in my lasr communication 
 do not convince you of the injurious effects on the publi' intere>^ by 
 the passage of laws authorising accounts between the United States and 
 mdividuafsto be settled " on just and eqnitahle principles." I nill 
 now proceed t.o state to you another case of this kind, transcending, per- 
 haps, in enormity, any other upon record. [ mean solar as concerns 
 the condu' t of the officer who h<;ii to decide finally upon the account. 
 
 The c. s to which I allude, is that of John H. Fiatt. contractor I. r 
 supplying the army with provisions. In the list of balances transmitted 
 by tli'e third auditor of the treasury, for the year K21, this person is 
 stated to be indebted to the U. States, on settlement, in the sum of 
 48,230 dollars 77 cents, and the auditor further states, that "an addi- 
 tional sum of 12,855 dollars 17 cents is chargeable to his account" so 
 that the whole balance against him amounted to (i 1,085 dollars 94 cents 
 to which is subjoined the following remark : " credits- have been al- 
 lowed by the second comptroller, under the act passed lor his relief, ex- 
 hibiting a balance in his favor, which will be entered when the balanee 
 
 8 
 
58 
 
 is paid" The singularity of these remarks induced roe to recur lo the 
 law passed " for the relief" of Mr. Piatt, which, I find, is dated the 
 8th May 1820. It is in these words : '* That the accounting officers of 
 the treasury department be, and they are hereby authorised and requi- 
 red, to settle the accounts of John H. Piatt, including his accounts for 
 transportation, on just and equitable principles, [here it is again] giving 
 all due weight and consideration to the settlement and allowances al- 
 ready made, and to the assurances and decisions of the war depart- 
 ment [who ever before heard of legislation like this?] Provided, that 
 the SM.WI allowed under the said assurances, shall not exceed the amount 
 noiv claimed by the U. States, and for which suits have been commenc- 
 ed against the .said John II Piatt.*? Thus it appears, that after a final 
 settlement of Mr. Piatt's accounts had been made, [and no disinterest- 
 ed man will, now-a-days, suspect our public departments for allowing 
 an individual less than he is justly entitled to] after a balance of more 
 than sixty thousand dollars had been reported against him : and after 
 suit had been instituted for the recovery back of the public money which 
 it was alleged he had wrongfully withheld, the Congress of the United 
 States were induced, from some cause or another, in the year 1 820, many 
 years after the defalcation had taken place, to pass the act for his relief 
 which 1 have just stated ! It is not my intention, however, to discuss 
 the merits of 'Mr. Piatt's claim: but simp!} to state some facts in rela- 
 tion to it, which may enable you to judge of the manner in which your 
 public aftaiis are COM uc t! at the scat ot government. These "assu- 
 rances from the war t;e;,,.rtment," referred to in the law, 1 understand 
 to have been made b> Mr. Monroe, when acting as secretary of war.* 
 They are said to have been some private verbal ' assurances," the ex- 
 act nature and extent of which are, 1 believe, entirely unknown to 
 every body excepting only to the "high contracting parties" themselves. 
 Be that matter, however, "as it may, 1 will do the third auditor of the 
 treasury the justice to say, that in the re-statement of Mr. Piatt's ac- 
 count, he. did not act directly in the teeth of the law. which expressly 
 forbade the allowance of any sum. under these assurances, which would 
 "exceed the amount claimed by the V. States, and for \xhicli suits have 
 been commenced against the said John H. Piatt.'' Mot so, however, 
 \viththesecondcomptroller. He, as it would seem, re <>f the 
 
 law and of his duty to the public, not only struck off the whole of the 
 U. States' claim against Piatt, but, reversing the decision of the third 
 auditor, awards to the claimant a large sum of money, to be paid to 
 him out ot the public treasury !! This daring and illegal decision of 
 the second comptroller excited, I understand, some wonder and sur- 
 prise even among those who had not themselves paid the most scrupu- 
 lous regard to your interests in the disbursement of your money : 
 hence, the balance reported in favor of Piatt was not paid for \\ant, as 
 * This distinguished personage formerly acted in various charac- 
 ters and capacities. He once acted, it is said, on a memorable occa- 
 sion, as commander in chief of our army, at the same time that he held 
 no other commission than that of secretary of state. As the result of 
 the affair was such, as that no one concerned in it (on our side, at least) 
 could obtain credit or gain laurels, it is supposed that the high person- 
 age in question does not wish to be considered as having had any imme- 
 diate agency in the matter. Ji-ut history, no doubt; will do him justice 
 in this as well as in some other things. 
 
59 
 
 it is said, of an appropriation. And so the matter probably yet rests. 
 But this want of a proper appropriation out of which to pay the money, 
 did not, it seems prevent Mr. Piatt from at once profiting bv the munifi- 
 cence of his friend and benefactor, the second comptroller. Mr. Cutts: 
 for, finding that the money was not to be had. for the reason just stat- 
 ed, Mr. C.jjives to his friend a certificate, as I understand ana believe, 
 setting forth the sum of money which he found to be due to Piatt on the 
 final settlement of his accounts. 
 
 This certificate, this jrood evidence of debt, as it was called, was 
 traded or assigned to certain merchants in the purchase of j^oods. Whe- 
 ther it was received at its nominal or par value, lam notable to say; 
 but! hazard nothing in saying that Congress will be called upon [if they 
 have not been already] for payment of both principal and interest of 
 this alleged public debt. They will no doubt be told [and perhaps just- 
 ly too. if there was no collusion in the transaction,] that the faith of 
 the nation is actually pledged to pay to the present holders of the evi- 
 dence of this debt the full amount of it, together with the interest on 
 it which has accrued. 
 
 Now, fellow citi/.ens, let us stop here and pause for a few min- 
 utes, to see how this matter stands. Here is a man, to whom is con- 
 fided a most important public trust. He is placed as one of the senti- 
 nels at the door of the public t:easury. He is vested by law with the 
 important pov-r of deciding, in the last resort, upon claims against the 
 public to the amo'int of millions of dollars. He has shamefully, as I 
 say, and as e\<. y honest man must say, violated the plain letter and 
 spirit of the law, under which he acted. 
 
 He has given a certificate of a debt being due from the public, 
 which he knew did not legally exist. And what then? Has the Pre- 
 sident dismissed him from office ? No. Has the House of Representa- 
 tives preferred articles of impeachment against him? No for the mem- 
 bers, perhaps, as a legislative body, know nothing of 'the matter. And 
 what then? Why the second comptroller of the treasury remains in 
 the full enjoyment of all the benefits wl emoluments pertaining to his 
 
 . without HI much us having been called to account ft r this flagi- 
 tious conduct, irl.icli took place directly in the view of him whose duty 
 it is, ** care that the laws are faithfully executed''' Further 
 
 comment or remark on such a transaction cannot be necessary. The 
 case i.s now before, the nation; and we shall see whether your represen- 
 tatives will do their dutv. 
 
 A Native of Virginia. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 BERKELEY 
 
 Return to desk from which borrowed. 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 LD 21-95m-ll,'50(2877sl6)476 
 
23 M.I 
 
 J ' ZJ3 
 
 j 
 
 383306 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY