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H. OF R.]

Treasury Notes.

of it, it is the people's own money, and they can better bear this sacrifice than the sale of their property, or taking more money out of their pockets.

I have said nothing, sir, in regard to the particular merits of the bill, but only of some of the amendments, and have availed myself of this opportunity to throw out some of my opinions generally in regard to the means of relief from the present difficulties. I will go a very little further, and trouble the House no longer. In my opinion, the whole difficulty arises from our having, or having had, or having supposed we had, and still supposing we have, too much money in the Treasury. Remove this, and all is simple and easy.

I agree perfectly with the President of the United States in believing we have nothing to do in providing a currency, further or other than as the constitution literally mentions. That instrument fixes a standard to be used when debtor and creditor come to points, and cannot agree as to what the debt shall be paid in. The debtor can get clear by offering, and the creditor can require, if he pleases to do so, the specie which is the standard. Congress cannot add to nor take from this privilege, in regard to either. Every law about money, without saying more, refers to specie only. Every judgment; every execution for money, without any thing more said in relation as to that point, is for specie of course. The Treasurer and Secretary of the Treasury have by the constitution the control of the money belonging to the United States to a great extent. You may shelter them by authorizing them to place the money in this or in that bank. But you cannot make them more responsible.

I heard, sir, a great man, I admit him to be so, proving that somehow the notes of a bank which did not pay specie were paper money, but that the notes of a bank that paid specie at the pleasure of the holder, were not paper money. The notes of banks last year were not paper money! The notes of the same bank this year are paper money! Yet the same notes this year will buy more property than the specie they promised to pay, had it been got, would have bought. Paper money this year, then, is better than specie last year. Make a law directing the officer to place his money in a specie paying bank; it is grounded on distrust of the officer. If he be not honest, I say it shelters him; for he may take witnesses, and demand specie for perhaps a note of one hundred dollars, and get it, and then deposite five hundred thousand under the law, and he and the bank may divide it in specie, and stop specie payments.

There is no getting round it. Put the money in an iron chest, and who is to keep the key? Defend it with bayonets, and who is to keep the bayonets off it? There is no way to keep such vast sums safely out of the hands of the immediate owners.

But stick to the simplicity of the constitution. Collect money for the only legitimate object for which you have the right to collect it. Let the law call for money, and nothing more; and direct money to be paid, and nothing more-I mean, naming the amounts, to whom payable, &c.

If the public creditor demand specie, by the constitution he must have it. If he should not, the collecting officer being, as he should always when he can be, the disbursing officer, the thing is settled naturally and easily in the usual way, in any money that is current at the time. How simply and easily this thing is exemplified in the case of sheriffs, constables, and such like officers in the collection of private debts, and the revenue of some of the States. Very little money is lost in their hands. None are very jealous of their power and station. Ten times the amount of the proper revenue of the United States is thus collected of private claims and demands, with very little loss in the course of the year.

[Oct. 5, 1837.

All these judgments and executions, &c., or scarcely with any exception, are for gold and silver, and yet they produce little or no difficulty or alarm. And why, sir? It is, that there is a creditor, or plaintiff, watching and ready to receive his debt in any current money, and specie is not either demanded, or expected to be demanded. So it always has been, and will be, with the Government, when it had no more money than it needed, and did not attempt, by bank or otherwise, to regulate the currency. If the Government have a little more than it can immediately pay out, and lose some by depreciation or otherwise, it will be but small in all probability, and they ought to lose it, as others are liable to do. As to large surpluses either here, or lodged about among the States, I would as soon undertake to administer medicine to the dead as to produce a cure for the evil effects while the fact remained.

These operations, sir, are simple and easy in my estimation; but let the sheriffs and constables, banks and the like, undertake to regulate the currency and demand specie, and insist upon it whether the creditor or debtor wanted either to receive or to pay it or not, you would have trouble enough. No man would venture to inflict this generally. Few men fail to adjust these things to the satisfaction of the people if possible. It is only in a roundabout way through a bank, as it was done in 18 19-'20, and about that time, that this cruelty can be extensively inflicted.

To conclude, then, sir, I will vote for the sale of these bonds, or any other funds belonging to the United States, with a view of getting clear of all surpluses, real or sup. posed. I want to square off. The more we are entangled with or without money, the more likelihood there is that we may at last have to open the doors to this bank, which, with its old name and old propensities, is just at the threshold, waiting for a chance to enter. It has been often said that that bank makes no application here at this time, but waits for the proper time. And when is the proper time? Just, I suppose, when it has thrown so many difficulties, and obstacles, and arguments, and objections in the way of every thing we can propose or offer that we are willing to call on them. They do not bring in any bill truly, but they endeavor to drive out all bills until some one shall bring that in. It appears to me impossible that a man should not feel himself besieged here by that corporation from year to year. It has been the case ever since I came here. The stages were broken down, and wrapping paper reduced in price from four cents a pound to three, with melancholy and alarming representations of evils that never have happened. I have voted for measures, I expect again to vote for measures I do not altogether like, for fear that, at last, that institution should be rechartered, which I view as injurious to the whole Union, and particularly destructive to the prosperity of the South. Sir, why is it that New Orleans, exporting, as she does, an amount of produce far more than any one State in the Union, even than New York, should not be able to import directly any thing worth speaking of from abroad? It is not because she wants currency, either in paper or specie; she has that which is better than either-cotton, that will buy any thing in any market. I cannot but believe that it is owing to the concentration of moneyed capital produced in the North by the former Banks of the United States, trading upon that which is our own money, (for cotton, tobacco, and rice amount to eighty out of one hundred millions, and in that proportion of all the experts of the whole United States,) the profits from which must pay for all the imports, if they are ever paid for, into the United States in that same proportion; and these banks must have been the cause, in some degree, if not mainly, of that unnatural and apparently unaccountable fact.

After Mr. BoULDIN had concluded, the House adjourned.

Oct. 6, 1837.]

Extension of certain acts of Congress-Florida War.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6.

[H. OF R.

made with all the emphasis of manner which peculiarly

BILL TO EXTEND THE OPERATION OF CER- distinguish his remarks, by announcing to the House that

TAIN ACTS OF CONGRESS.

Mr. THOMAS suggested the calling up of the bill reported by the Committee on the Judiciary as to continuing in operation certain laws until the end of the next session of Congress. This bill had been referred to a Committee of the Whole, and Mr. THOMAS moved to discharge that committee, and to take up the bill in the House. The motion prevailed.

The bill being before the House,

Mr. BRIGGS moved to recommit the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary, with instructions to enumerate in the act the titles of the different laws to which it had allusion. Motion lost.

The bill was then ordered to be engrossed and read a third time this day. At a subsequent hour, this bill was read a third time, passed, and ordered to be sent to the Senate for concurrence.

FLORIDA WAR.

The House then proceeded to the unfinished business of the morning hour, which was the consideration of the following resolution submitted by Mr. WISE on the 19th of September:

"Resolved, That a select committee be appointed by ballot to inquire into the cause of the Florida war, and into the causes of the delays and failures, and the expenditures which have attended the prosecution of that war, and into the manner of its conduct, and the facts of its history generally; that the said committee have power to send for persons and papers, and that it have power to sit in the recess, and that it make report to the next session of Congress."

Mr. GLASCOCK had moved to amend the foregoing resolution, by striking out all after the word "Resolved,' and insert the following:

"That a select committee be appointed to inquire into the cause of the Florida war, and the causes of the extraordinary delays and failures, and the expenditures which have attended the prosecution of the same, and all the facts connected with its history generally; and that said cominittee have power to send for persons and papers."

The question immediately pending was the motion of Mr. HOWARD to strike out the words "that a select committee be appointed," and insert "that the Committee on Military Affairs be instructed."

Mr. LOOMIS, of New York, who was occupying the floor when this subject was last up, and interrupted by the orders of the day, resumed his remarks, and said that, when this matter was last under consideration, he had commenced some observations in vindication of his predecessor, [Abijah Mann, jr.,] from the censures cast upon him by the gentleman from Virginia. He had characterized the attack made upon his predecessor, six months after occurrences had transpired, and when the circumstances of the parties had entirely changed, as extraordinary, and, in his view, entirely unjustifiable; and he was about proceeding, when interrupted, to show that no censure could be imputed to his predecessor, even from the statement of the gentleman from Virginia himself. He was well aware that he might leave the character of his predecessor to its own vindication wherever it was known; and if he had not some observations which he wished to submit on another branch of the subject, and more directly pertaining to its merits, he should have contented himself to let this matter rest where it was, after so long a lapse of time; but he would show, in a few words, that no censure was imputable to the majority of that committee, or the individuals who had been designated. The gentleman from Virginia had prefaced his charges by a statement,

he was about to make a statement never before communi. cated to this House or to the country, and the substance of that communication was, the manner in which the reports of the majority and minority of that committee had been made up. And how was it? Why, sir, stripped of its coloring, and stated in brief space, it was, in sum and substance, that the members of the majority had furnished their chairman-the individual of their party first named on the committee-with their separate views, to be embodied into a report, and Mr. Mann had, in addition, furnished his notes of the proceedings and evidence before the committee; and this chairman of the majority, instead of performing the labor of embodying these views in the form of a report, had entrusted them to their clerk, to be arranged and reduced to form. Now this was the whole substance of the charge announced to the House with so much solemnity, and upon which the answer imputed by the gentleman was grounded. Was there any thing censurable or extraordinary in this? Was there any thing which should call down the indignation of this House, or of the community, as might be inferred from the remarks made by the gentleman from Virginia?

The offence particularly imputed to his predecessor was, that he had actually furnished the notes he had taken of the proceedings, as a member of the committee, to assist in making out the report of the committee.

[Mr. WISE interrupted Mr. L., and said that was not the pith of the charge against the gentleman's predecessor. The charge was that he denied that he knew the contents of the report until it was read in the committee; and Mr. Pearce himself had said it was Mr. Mann who furnished the offensive matter for the report. The charge against the gentleman's predecessor was that he was guilty of falsehood.]

Mr. L. resumed, and said from the estimation in which the character of Mr. Pearce appeared to be held by the gentleman from Virginia, as exhibited in his former remarks, he should hardly suppose that he (Mr. W.) would introduce him (Mr. Pearce) as a witness against any one. [Mr. WISE. Well, I do confess I would not place much reliance on Dutee J. Pearce.]

Mr. L. resumed. He did not understand the gentleman from Virginia, either formerly or now, to say that Mr. Pearce told him that Mr. Mann knew the contents of the majority report; but he understood it that the gentleman inferred that fact from the circumstance that Mr. Pearce told him that Mr. Mann furnished the notes from which the offensive matter was taken. If he was mistaken in this, he desired to be corrected and set right. The testimony did justify the inference, and he could see no impropriety whatever in that circumstance; he considered it the duty of every member of the committee to give his views to the member who drew up the report, and to furnish his notes of the proceedings also, if use could be made of them. It had appeared that the majority had not signed the report as drawn, but had amended it by striking out parts of it, to make it meet the concurring views of the six individuals who composed that majority. was to have been expected, and the report of the minority shared no better fate. That was drawn by the gentleman from Virginia himself, and his colleagues had declined signing it, as he understood the gentleman to say; and, finally, the gentleman from Virginia alone, being the minority of the minority, and one out of the nine, had drawn up and signed his report alone. This report, the gentleman had informed the House, he wrote with his own hand, crossed the 's and dotted the i's himself, and he (Mr. L.) presumed that he agreed to it unanimously.

This

I have done with this branch of the subject, and have said more perhaps than was necessary to say upon it.

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With respect to the resolution and the amendment before the House, there was one part of it which Mr. L. considered objectionable. It was that part which gave to the proposed committee power to send for persons and papers. This was a high power which this House possessed, and which, in his opinion, ought never to be entrusted to a committee, except in cases of clear necessiIt was ty. No such necessity was shown in this case. a power very liable to abuse; and though it was not to be expected that a committee of the House would sanction any abuse, yet he thought that prudence dictated to the House to reserve to itself these extraordinary powers, unless a case of necessity was presented. It would be time enough to grant such a power when a committee should inform the House that they had sought information of some person who had refused to disclose it. Does any one doubt but that the Secretary of War would disclose any fact or circumstance within his knowledge, that a committee might require, without being called up as a witness and sworn? Or would any officer in the service refuse to answer any communication from a committee? The resolution before the House embraced a wide range. It would be almost matter of necessity under it to seek information from the officers now engaged in carrying on that war. The commanding general and all his officers would, by this resolution, be subject to be called here to testify before this committee.

This war had already undergone several partial investigations before courts martial and courts of inquiry. A great amount of evidence had been taken relating to it, and large sums expended-thousands upon thousands-in eliciting facts. There was now no charge of any concealment by any person; and he (Mr. L.) was averse to instituting a tribunal to try the comparative merits of the several officers who had been engaged in that service. The difficulties attending the prosecution of that war, and which had produced so much delay and expenditure, had been explained by several gentlemen in this very debate. We had been told of the great extent of wilderness, of the wamps and everglades, impenetrable to the whites, in which the savages concealed themselves. We had been told of the difficulty of transporting the necessaries of war, and, above all, of the sickly and unwholesome climate.

These were, doubtless, the true causes; but he (Mr. L.) was not averse to an investigation, but he preferred it should be in the ordinary mode, and by the Military Committee, as moved by the gentleman from Maryland.

Mr. L. concluded by moving to strike out that part of the resolution which gives power to send for persons and

papers.

The CHAIR said this amendment would not now be order until the amendment pending was disposed of.

[Ост. 6, 1837.

As to the old matter, with regard to the committee of investigation, so often alluded to, Mr. WISE said he should not touch upon it again; but he would remark that the gentleman from New York [Mr. LooMIS] had given abundant evidence of his fitness to succeed Abijah Mann. To show, by a single fact, indisputably proved, that frauds and corruption have attended this Florida war, Mr. WISE produced and read the following papers:

"STEUBENVILLE, OHIO, October 1, 1837. "DEAR SIR: The enclosed letters will sufficiently explain their object, without the addition of many remarks of

my own.

"On my arrival at Wheeling, a few days ago, on duty, I was informed of a gross instance of peculation, said to have been committed in Florida by an agent in the employ of the United States, and I immediately addressed a letter to the gentleman who was said to have witnessed the fraud, a copy of which is herewith enclosed, marked A. You will perceive that (having implicit confidence in the integrity of the officers of the army) I expressed the opinion in advance that the fraud was committed by a citizen,' and not by an officer of the army.' It is with honest pride I mention the fact that I was not mistaken in my conjecture, as there is no individual in the army of the name of Skinner. I will now venture the further prediction that, whenever you ferret out the rats, you will find them to belong to the sovereign people,' and not to our much-abused little army.

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"The individual (Skinner) above alluded to, I understand, was, at the time, a citizen of Irwinton, Alabama.

I do not start

"In one particular, however, my information was incorrect, as it was stated to have occurred in Florida, and you will perceive by Mr. Smith's answer (marked B) that it took place at Fort Mitchell, Alabama. this new game with any expectation or wish of diverting you from the chase in Florida, but simply to show you that the late Creek war is equally worthy of notice.

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We, my dear sir, are no politicians. We obey the orders of our superior, and endeavor to do our duty, leaving the strife of party to those whose constitutional right it is to select our rulers. The only boon we ask is to have rigid justice meted out to us. If the army has not met the expectations of the country, and has failed in the Florida war, it should be borne in mind that fifteen thousand 'citizen soldiers' have failed also. If three major generals of the army' have been unsuccessful, it should not be forgotten that the Governor of Florida, having the public Treasury at his command, and a whole summer to make his preparations, was, likewise, unsuccessful. If the 'American arms have been disgraced,' as has been so often asinserted on the floor of Congress and in the public papers, I thank my God that I did not (although I served in three campaigns) witness the humiliating spectacle. With but one exception, wherever the Indians were seen, they were charged and driven until they were lost in swamps and hammocks. If we could not pursue them further and catch them, it was because the God of our natures did not endow us with the fleetness of the savage, and the scenting faculties of the bloodhound. If the army is inefficient, there must be some reason for it, as every effect has a cause. But on this head I have not time to dwell, although many reflections are presented to my mind. One remark, however, I will make, and I do it with the freedom of an old acquaintance. If the country is dissatisfied with the army, in God's name let it be disbanded; for I would rather be an humble practitioner of the humblest hamlet than see the army insulted by the taunts and stale gibes of every newspaper witling.

Mr. GLASCOCK then modified his amendment, by inserting the following: "except such as may be engaged at the time in the service."

Mr. WISE suggested to the gentleman that, as the House was to adjourn on Monday week, the committee should have power to sit during the recess, and not have the investigation confined to ten days.

Mr. GLASCOCK replied that it would be continued at the regular session of Congress.

Mr. WISE hoped that, as the session was now to close in about eight days, that gentleman would also consent to incorporate in his amendment the power to sit during the

recess.

Mr. W. went at some length into the exposure of the indisposition of the majority in the House in relation to the proposed investigation. He saw very plainly that the same state of things existed now as ever before. The leopard would as soon change his spots (said Mr. W.) as this House will change its determination to do nothing towards exposing the corruption of this Government.

"In conclusion, I must distinctly disavow any and every political motive in forwarding you this communication. My sole aim is to vindicate the character of the army, and to add my humble mite towards an investigation which, I

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hope and confidently believe, will place it once more 'rectus in curia.' If such be the aim of your resolution, (and that it is I shall be the last to doubt,) I say God speed you.' No man can be more anxious to see the abuses in the army ferreted out and the correction applied than myself. Further, you are at liberty to make whatever use of these papers you may think proper. I am, &c." [Signed by an Assistant Surgeon of the Army.]

[A.]

"WHEELING, (VA.,) Sept. 28, 1837. "SIR: I have learned, since my arrival at this place, that you witnessed, on a recent occasion, in Florida, an instance of peculation on the part of a public agent, who had public funds in his possession, &c.

"The fraud, if perpetrated by an officer of the United States army, would form the basis of charges, which, if proven, would cause his name to be instantly stricken from the army roll, and consigned to merited infamy.

"If, however, it should turn out that it was committed by a citizen instead of an officer of the army, as I am induced to believe was the case, it is due to justice and to the army that the truth should be known; so that no part of the stain should attach to men who value their honor and reputation above all price; which they will neither compromit themselves, nor suffer any human being to trifle with. At any rate, let the truth be told, blast whom it may. I therefore respectfully request that you will furnish me with a full statement (accompanied by a deposition) of all the particulars of the transaction, the names of the parties, &c., the time and place where it occurred, and any other matLer you may deem necessary for ferreting out the perpetra Eors, &c., to be used by me as I think may best subserve the ends of justice.

"Very respectfully, &c., your obedient servant. [Signed as above.] "Mr. A. Y. SMITH, Triadelphia, Ohio county, Va."

[B.]

[H. of R.

[NOTE, (by the writer of the two above letters.)—I apprehend that Mr. Smith has inadvertently made a mistake in the year, as it was probably 1837 instead of 1836.]

Mr. W. then adverted to the proposition to strike from his resolution the power to send for persons and papers. He would tell gentlemen that, without this power, it would be impossible to bring to light the frauds and corruptions of this Government. Even with such a power, it would be almost impossible. He alluded to what he had himself seen in investigating committee rooms, and to the fact that there were witnesses in this city who could have been adduced in proof of the misconduct of officers of the Government, had it not been actually dangerous to them to summion them. Their bread depended on their silence. Individuals who, he well knew, could have testified in these matters, had come to him, at his lodgings, with tears in their eyes, and begged him not to summon them. The proscription practised in the Government, as now adminis tered, hermetically sealed the mouths of witnesses. And yet it is now said that it is dangerous to give a committee of this House power to send for persons and papers! Oh! most kind, indulgent, he would not say servile, representatives of the people!

Mr. HOWARD said that he would not have troubled the House with any further observations upon the amendment which he had submitted, if it had not been that he wished distinctly to say to the House and the nation that it was not his wish to smother investigation into either the causes or conduct of the Florida war. On the contrary, he thought that the members of any committee to which the inquiry might be sent would not do their duty to the House, the country, or themselves, unless they gave the freest scope to the examination, regardless of the persons upon whom the censure might fall, if any censure was due, and influenced solely by a spirit of strict justice and impartiality to all. Having said this, he had a right to expect, and did expect, from the gentleman from Virginia, [Mr. WISE,] that, upon whomsoever else he might cast the imputation of desiring to stifle inquiry, he would exempt him (Mr. H.) from being included in it.

When the resolution was under consideration some two weeks ago, the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. BELL] had made some statements which appeared to be strong arguments in favor of sending the subject to the Military Com

"WHEELING, Sept. 30, 1837. SIR: Your letter of the 28th instant came to hand this morning. In answer to your inquiries, I have to state, that the transactions to which you allude occurred at Fort Mitchell, Alabama, and not in Florida, as you were informed. The particulars were substantially the follow-mittee. Perhaps the House had forgotten the debate which ing:

"I arrived at Fort Mitchell on the steamer Anna Calhoun, from Appalachicola, the boat having on board freight for the United States army; the freight on which amounted to about one hundred dollars. When the amount of the charge was made known to Skinner, who was acting as Quartermaster for the United States, he (Skinner) told W. W. Crenshaw, clerk of said boat, to make the bill amount to five hundred dollars; upon which Crenshaw replied, that if he (Skinner) would give him one hundred dollars he would do so; to which Skinner immediately agreed, and Crenshaw made the bill amount to $500; for which Skinner gave him one hundred dollars, and Crenshaw receipted the bill for $500. This transaction occurred about the 1st of February, 1836, at Fort Mitchell, Alabaina. [See note.]

"This is a correct statement of the transaction, so far as observed by me, and as stated to me, after the transaction, by Crenshaw.

"I am, dear sir, your most humble servant, A. Y. SMITH."

"OHIO COUNTY, VA., TO WIT: "Personally appeared before me, a Justice of the Peace for the county aforesaid, A. Y. Smith, and accordingly took oath that the foregoing statement is correct and true to the best of my [his] knowledge and belief.

A. P. WOODS."

then took place, although they seldom forgot any thing which that gentlemen said. The disappearance of resolutions from before the eye of the House, and sudden reappearance at a distant day, was a great practical inconvenience. According to his classic reminiscences, there was somewhere in Greece a river which plunged under ground and started up, to the surprise of those to whom it unexpectedly showed its current, far away from the place of its submersion. It was just so with some of our resolutions. The honorable gentleman from Tennessee had said that we had the skeleton of an army, but that it was not filled up.

Mr. BELL said that the fact which he stated was this: that when a lieutenant of a company fell in action, the command devolved upon a sergeant, and that there appeared to be a deficiency in the number of officers on duty there.

Mr. HOWARD said that he had so understood the gentleman, and would use that fact to show the propriety of referring this subject to the Military Committee, because that committee could, and doubtless would, urge upon the House a bill which had been reported every year since he had been in Congress, and the necessity for which was fully shown by the Florida war. He alluded to a bill establishing a corps of engineers, detached altogether from duty in the line. Every body knew that a general order had been issued last winter, recalling officers of the army from engineer duty, and directing them to repair to their

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respective regiments. The services of those officers, acting as engineers, were very useful to the country, and the pressing demands for them from all quarters had caused their absence, on furlough, from their posts in line. The experience of the Florida war showed the absolute necessity of separating the two arms of service. Such a measure would, of itself, be of great service to the organization of the army. But there were probably other improvements which might be proposed, after a minute examination into the manner in which the war had been carried on. He desired to attain some practical good, instead of having merely a barren inquiry, and, therefore, was in favor of referring the matter to a committee which could report bills in the discharge of its regular duty, instead of stopping with a resolution either censuring or not censuring some officer of the Government.

Mr. GLASCOCK regretted that it became his duty again to address the House on this subject; but, as he had thought proper to move an amendment to the original resolution, and in consequence of remarks made to-day, he felt it his duty to do so. It seemed now, from the remarks of the gentleman from Virginia, [Mr. WISE,] that he evinces a great indifference from that heretofore evinced by him in relation to the disposition to be made of the resolution offered by him; and he seems to think that there is no disposition on the part of the majority of the House to go into the investigation proposed. Sir, (said Mr. G.,) that gentleman must see entirely different from himself, if he has recently discovered any thing like a disposition to evade this question. He had expressed himself on a former occasion in favor of this inquiry, and he was still desirous that it should be had. He felt it to be due to all the officers in the army who have been engaged in that unfortunate war-he felt it due to the Government, and he felt it due to the people of the country-and, whatever disposition the gentleman now feels disposed to make of this question, he hoped the majority of the House would maintain its original intention to carry out the investigation. His object in not wishing the committee to sit during the recess, was to save as much as possible the country from the expenses already incurred in the prosecution of that war, particularly when all the ends of all parties asking this investigation could be attained without it. It has been truly and justly remarked by the gentleman from Maryland, [Mr. HowARD,] that there are weighty and important documents, which will occupy the attention of the members of the committee, which may be appointed at this time, during the recess, which will give them the opportunity of forming correct opinions in relation to the matter, and enable them to proceed promptly to the execution of their duty at the next session of Congress. But what astonished him most was, to find the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. WISE] reading letters and documents to the House for the purpose of forestalling public opinion in relation to this inquiry. Mr. G. confessed that this was pursuing a course which he had been taught from the commencement of his political life, in all transactions, studiously to avoid. He had been taught that, whenever an investigation was to be had where it was expected that all the testimony would be brought to bear upon every point, it was improper to forestall public opinion, and produce a prejudice in the public mind, by introducing evidence in advance, and sending it forth to the country.

Mr. WISE said this was very different ground from that taken by the gentleman's party last session, when it was insisted on that specific charges should be made against the Executive Departments before a committee should be asked for to investigate them.

Mr. GLASCOCK said this was not the first time that the party to which he belonged had been referred to. As for himself, he was only responsible for his own acts; and the gentleman would do him the justice to say that he was

[Ост. 6. 1837.

among the first to advocate the investigation then asked for. He stood almost alone in the first instance in favor of the inquiry.

Mr. WISE would do the gentleman the justice to say that he did; but at that time he was not exactly recognised as one of the party.

Mr. GLASCOCK replied that, whether he was considered as one of the party or not, no man in his section of country ever doubted where he stood in relation to the prominent measures of General Jackson's administration. No man ever doubted that; even his political enemies never doubted it; or, if they did, no act of his life authorized it, and it was entirely gratuitous on their part. But to proceed to the question before the House: he confessed, so far as the resolution was concerned, the true and proper course, in his judgment, would be to adopt the amendment he had submitted. He differed from the gentleman from Maryland as to the manner in which this committee should be appointed, and as to what committee the matter should be referred to. In his opinion, the true course of policy was, that a select committee should be appointed by the Chair; and he again repeated that, if the committee was to effect any practical good, it should be so constituted as to have the confidence of the people of the country. The gentleman from Tennessee had opposed the appointment of political partisans on the committee, and had intimated that he (Mr. G.) had used some expressions of a similar nature. This, however, was not the proper inference to draw from his remarks. He was as much opposed to having political partisans on the committee as the gentleman himself, but he desired to have it so constituted as to embrace men of some weight of character, and to be composed of men who would do justice to all the interests concerned. He wished to see the rights of all the officers who were engaged in that service protected, and the investigation to be conducted in such manner as to be of some practical benefit; and with this view he had submitted the amendment now under consideratton.

Sir, (said Mr. G.,) the situation in which I stand to the ex-President of the United States, will not permit me to pass over in silence the bitter denunciations which have been uttered against him on this floor by gentlemen of the opposition. My attachment for him was formed at an early period of my life, under peculiar circumstances, and the most trying scenes, and it gives me pleasure to say that there are but few acts of his whole life, either civil or military, which has not served to increase rather than to diminish that attachment. But to what source shall I trace this violent opposition to him; the bitter invectives which have been heaped upon him, emanating from the most bitter feelings? Sir, to his hostility to the Bank of the United States; to the veto which he stamped upon the bill rechartering that institution in 1832; because he had the moral courage to effect that which his friends in this House failed to effect; because he threw himself in the breach, and armed with the virtue and integrity of the people, and sustained by the constitution, grappled with the monster, and triumphantly overthrew it. This, sir, "is the head and front of all his offending," and to this cause alone may be traced the vindictive feeling of his adversaries. But, sir, we hail that act as the greatest in his political career; one that has covered him with glory, and one that will serve to perpetuate his name and his memory, even if unconnected with any other act of his life. Sir, the character of Andrew Jackson is the property of his country; his services are too well known to that country not to be appreciated; they have secured to him the affections of the people, which the combinations of his enemies can never deprive him of.

Permit me (said Mr. G.) here to state, that he was in hopes he would not have found it necessary to vindicate the character of one needing no vindication; but my feelings, under the circumstances, could not and cannot be

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