SENATE.] Reports on the Post Office. [JUNE 10, 1834. made to him, the President makes his report to Congress. taken by the honorable chairman, in his paper read yesAnd would the Senator from New Jersey require of the terday, and at the repetition of those views to-day. Let President to go into each of the Departments and exam-us, sir, look at the subject for a moment, that my opinion ine into the correctness of the reports made by the dif- of it may be understood. ferent Secretaries? He (Mr. G.) supposed that the Senator from New Jersey knew that this was never done, and was in itself impracticable. The President, in his message, gave a full and fair exposition of the condition of the Department, according to the report made to him by the Postmaster General. He (Mr. G.) remarked, that he had now said all he intended to say in answer to the remarks of the Senator from New Jersey, and he would detain the Senate no longer. The statement of the amount due and owing to contract. ors was made us by one of the clerks, Mr. Suter, on his oath; and so far as I was then informed, and so far as I am now informed, I have no reason to doubt its correctness. I did not then doubt it-it was probable upon the face of it-and there was no reason to question the veracity of the man. The amount of the debts due to banks, including sums borrowed and overdrawn, was given us by Obadiah B. Brown. I trusted to that also without Mr. EWING next addressed the Chair as follows: much hesitation: for, had he misstated it, he well knew Mr. President, the honorable chairman of the Commit- that it was in our power to test its accuracy, or expose tee on the Post Office and Post Roads has said truly, that its fallacies. We took it as correct; and the aggregate the doors of the Department were not closed on us, or sum was, in round numbers, due for transportation, six against our investigation. It is true, sir, we were permit-hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars; borrowed and ted to enter the building, and examine the books of the overdrawn on banks, four hundred and eighty-eight Department; but if he means by this to convey the idea thousand dollars-amounting in the aggregate to one that all proper facilities were afforded to each member of million one hundred and twenty-three thousand dollars. I the committee in the examination, the suggestion will know it is stated at less by the chairman in his paper, lead to error; it is not so. I, as a member of that com-but he is in an error. The reports of the officers of the mittee, have a right to complain, and I do complain, of Department give the above sum; and the mistake arises delay, prevarication, and finally refusal to answer inqui- from this, that the person who made out the papers did, ries which I made through the clerk of the committee, in one of them, deduct all the deposites which the Detouching matters which were the subject of our investi-partment had in any and every bank from the sums which gation. I have no doubt that the chairman received it has borrowed from any and every other bank, by way more consideration at their hands, and his inquiries were of casting a balance with banks generally. But, for the more promptly answered. But, for me, my labors were credits, which is the principal question between the much increased, and the time necessarily employed in the honorable chairman and myself, Mr Brown made us the investigation was much protracted, by the necessity un-estimate, and he gives three hundred thousand dollars as der which I was placed, especially during the first few the available sum due for postages prior to the 1st of Janweeks of the investigation, of extorting from them all uary, 1834, and five hundred thousand dollars due for the information which I sought, and, in some instances, postages accruing from the 1st of January to the 1st of receiving it only through the hands of the chairman. April, 1834. The honorable Senator has stated the transaction which The same officer estimates the whole nett amount of relates to the application of the Postmaster General to postages, accruing within the first quarter of 1834, at the committee for funds to sustain the Department, with 520,000 dollars; in which, I believe, he is correct: that strict truth; but yet, in such a manner, as to leave a false is, I consider it a fair estimate, allowing the increase of impression upon the minds of all who hear bim, and who postages in the present to have equalled that of former are unacquainted with the history of the negotiation. The years. Then, admitting the receipts to be 520,000 dolidea is very clearly conveyed that the proposition to ap- lars, we had only to ascertain what part of it had been propriate money, for the relief of the Department, origi- paid in and placed to the credit of the Department, prior nated with the committee, and not with the Postmaster to the 1st of April-to deduct that from the 520,000 dolGeneral. The fact is far otherwise. It was first named, lars, and leave the balance to its credit in the hands of in my hearing, by the chairman, who spoke of the press-postmasters. This was done by a member of the coming necessities of the Department, and the impossibility mittee, and we found that there were deposited by postof sustaining it without pecuniary aid, and he urgently so- masters in banks, to the credit of the Department, within licited my consent to some measure of relief. I express-that quarter, 314,704 dollars, which would leave of that ed, at once, an impression against it, but agreed to re-quarter's proceeds 205,296 dollars, instead of 500,000 flect on she subject. In the mean time, we received the dollars, as estimated by Mr. Brown, whose estimate is imstatements of the officers as to the debts and credits of plicitly taken, and is written down in the paper presentthe Department. My first impressions were confirmed ed by the honorable chairman. I was surprised to hear by reflection. I expressed a willingness to permit the the honorable chairman say, that the sums deposited in inquiry to be made of Mr. Barry, which the chairman banks had not been credited to the Department, and proposed, namely, what sum, less than five hundred thousand dollars, would enable him to pay his debts, and go on with the business of the Department? But, from first to last, I discouraged the application to Congress, through this committee, for an appropriation. I never did consent to it, and do not think I ever will, while the Department is under its present superintendence. therefore ought not to stand as a charge against it. Where, I ask, did he get his information of that extraordinary fact? It never was given to the committee by any officer of the Department, either directly or through the chairman; and I stand prepared, at this moment, to disprove the allegation. I have before me, spread out on my desk, a balance-sheet of the accounts of the DepartMr. President, the honorable chairman has said that he ment, with all the banks in which it has any transactions. would not go into an examination of the comparative mer- They number about 70. Among others, are enumerted its of the report of the committee and the paper present-all the banks in which these deposites appear to have ed by the minority; and, at the same time, he has entered been made, and the accounts bear date down to the time at once, largely, into that very comparison, in the most of the date of the last deposites taken into the estimate; important points discussed in either paper, and those in and the Department is accredited, in the paper presentwhich they differ most; that is to say, the amount in which ed by the honorable chairman, with all the deposites the Department is insolvent, and the extent of mail trans- which at that time remained as balance in all the banks. portation. As to the first, the amount of the insolvency, It is therefore impossible that the sums so deposited I confess I was not a little surprised at some of the views should not have been credited with the rest. Two things JUNE 10, 1834.] Reports on the Post Office. [SENATE. have operated to mislead the honorable chairman. One and it will not do to say, as I understood the chairman to was the manner in which the bank accounts were made say, that it is, at this time, impracticable, or a task of up for him, which, I presume, by his report, shows mere- great labor, to get at their accounts. The books are, it prior to the 1st of October, but, without extraordinary misconduct on the part of postmasters, the sum cannot exceed forty or fifty thousand dollars; and if it do exceed that sum, it is pretty clear that it ought not to be consid. ered available. ly the balance which the Department owes to all banks, is understood, behind something more than one quarter; taking them as a class, without distinguishing debt from but no one has pretended that they are in arrear more credit-a circumstance which has also caused him to state than two. There is doubtless money due for postages the aggregate indebtedness of the Department $37,000 92 less than it really is, and which, being implicitly relied on, has prevented an examination into the state of the facts. The other cause of error is a mistake as to the import of what some officer of the Department did tell the honorable chairman, and which he communicated to the It is said by the honorable chairman, with respect to committee; and which, as we could not put it to the test, the next particular in which the report of the commitwe, as well as he, took for the truth, and still receive as tee and the paper which he has offered differ so materisuch, without by any means vouching for it. It is this: ally, (namely, the number of miles which the mail is transThey say that when they draw on a postmaster in favor of ported yearly,) that the error is clearly on the side of a contractor, they neither charge the contractor nor the report, and that such error is the natural consequence credit the postmaster, until the draft is returned paid. of the defective materials which the person employed by And hence, although much money may have been drawn the committee had to found it upon. out of the hands of postmasters, by drafts in favor of con- Mr. President, the law requires that no contract shall tractors, neither the debts to contractors, nor the credit be made for the transportation of the mail without first from postmasters, is lessened by the operation. But, in advertising it; and that no additional allowance shall be showing the state of their affairs, this, where it really oc- made without additional service commensurate thereto; curs, is immaterial; the balance remaining still the same. and that the Postmaster General shall report such addiNow, I can understand this: it appears consistent and tional service and extra compensation to the Comptroller reasonable, though somewhat loose as a business transac- of the Treasury within thirty days after the same shall be tion; but I take it as it is, and I give it credence. But made. It would seem, therefore, that if the law had the case is very different with the deposites in banks: they been observed by the Postmaster General, there would pass at once to the credit of the Department; and when have been no difficulty in procuring the necessary data those credits are signified to the Department, as, in the for the calculation. But this not having been done in regular course of business, they must be by the next all things, its deficiency was supplied by substituting mail after they are made, they are entered on the books the answer made by the Postmaster General on the 3d here to its credit, and to the debit of the bank. And of March, 1834, to a special call of the Senate; which when a draft is drawn on a bank in favor of a contract- answer professes to give "all the allowances made be or, does any man in the Department pretend, or does yond the sums stipulated in the original contracts, since any man for them pretend, that it is not at once charged the 1st of April, 1829; and to specify in each case the serto his account? This would imply a degree of irregulari- vice to be performed by the original contract, and the ty which could be attributed to nothing but wantonness sums to be paid thereon; and the nature and extent of or stupidity. The honorable gentleman does injustice to each facility or improvement, and the sums to be paid the officers of that Department. I never suspected, much therefor." Now, it is evident, if all these be given tru less accused them, or any of them, of a course of conduct ly, the data necessary for the calculation was at once in such as this, and if I had found a case or cases clearly and the hands of the man to whom your committee confided fully established, in which drafts to the amount of 300,000 their papers. dollars had been drawn on banks in favor of contractors, But the honorable Senator says, it is not so; that there and had also found that the contractors were not charged is still a very large amount of compensation and transwith the drafts, I should have voted to give it a conspicu-portation behind the curtain, which is only to be had ous place in the report of the committee. But it is not by groping among the files of the Department; and 30: they are clear, at least, of this charge of malversation, that the whole difference of 7,000,000 miles is thus acwhich the honorable chairman has brought against them. counted for. Now, is this possible? Is it to be credAs to the postages accruing prior to the 1st day of ited that there has been, and is habitually, in that DeJanuary, 1834, we cannot reduce the amount of that to a partment, such a total disregard of all legal instruction demonstration, but we can give that kind of evidence of as this defence would indicate? Manifold and multiform the correctness of our report, or its very near approach as were the cases stamped with this character, which to accuracy, which will satisfy any reasoning mind upon came under our observation, this would prove that we that subject. But I will not now enter into it fully. I had not discovered or noted the twentieth part of the will only say, that we have the aggregate nett proceeds tithe of those which exist in this single group. The conof postages for the quarter ending January 1st, 1834: it tracts, then, are let-habitually let-on different terms, amounts to 467,449 dollars. We have found, of depos- and for different services than they are advertised! Why ites in banks, within that quarter, 334,903 dollars. We is this, and where the warrant in law? Why is the adestimate that there have been drafts drawn on postmas-vertisement for contracts required by law? Is it to ters, accepted, and returned to the Department paid, so inform the public of the true service to be renderas to be charged to contractors, to the amount of at least ed, and to which competition is invited? or is it to 58,522 dollars; which would leave, of that quarter, due conceal it from them, that it may be made known by a 74,024 dollars. Now, if there be any thing due prior to private note, or in a private whisper, to a favorite corps? the 1st of October, 1833, it ought not to rest in conjec- And then the annual statement of contracts, and the speture. The Postmaster General does know, or can ascer-cial statement of extra services and extra allowancestain in one day, or two at most, by the aid of a diligent what are they for? To inform the public, or to deceive clerk, what amount is due; and who of his reform post- the public, as to the amount of service and compensation? masters are, and continue to be, defaulters. The post-I know not which is deserving of the heaviest censure, masters are bound, under a severe penalty, to account, the grand misrepresentation which is thus attempted to within one month after they shall be called upon for that be bolstered up, or the succession of misrepresentations purpose; they are, by a standing order of the Department, of which the honorable chairman accuses the Depart called upon to account, at the end of every quarter; ment, for the purpose of exonerating them from that first VOL. X.-122 SENATE.] Reports on the Post Office. [JUNE 10, 1834. and wholesale misstatement. If the Department have partment and those of the committee. Sir, the honorable heretofore told the truth, then is the estimate of Phineas chairman is right in saying that there is no safety in any Bradley right; and it does not well become the support-calculation made upon such data as the reports of the Deers of the Department now to allege the falsehood of its partment. Take that of the 18th of April, 1832, for exformer allegation, in order to prove the incorrectness of ample: if there be truth in that any where, I have not the estimate made for the committee. Let them obtain found it, and I studied it with care for weeks. I examincredit where they may for. this; I can give them none. ed some hundreds of cases, and do not recollect to have But it is said that this mode of reporting untruly the ser- found one that was stated truly. Sir, it is enough to vice and the compensation is according to the custom of sicken the soul, to shock the moral sense of any man, to the Department, and three or four cases are cited, said to walk amidst and wade through the scenes of rank iniquihave taken place during a former administration. ty which our duty has required us to explore, and now requires us to expose. Mr. GRUNDY. There are half a dozen cases. Mr. EWING. Be it so: but I have no proof, nor do I In one part of the paper presented here, by the honorknow on what evidence the honorable chairman of the able chairman, I confess I was deeply disappointed. It is committee rests it. While I, on behalf of the committee, a matter in which there is no dispute about fact-it is gave him information of each case that I had examined, principle, plain principle merely, that is involved; and I or intended to examine, (and if any omissions occurred knew well before, and I know now, and all the Senate they were accidental,) he gave me no information of this knows, that the opinion of the honorable Senator and my or of these. It is true he once told me that there were own do not differ upon it. We here, on this floor, agree cases of the kind, but he did not tell me what cases; and that the Postmaster General has borrowed large sums of it would have been a vain search for me to attempt to money on the credit of the United States, for the use of find and explain them. They may, perhaps, exist; but if the Department; and we agree that the act was a violathey do, I doubt not they exist under peculiar circum-tion of the constitution; but yet you may seek, and seek stances, which destroy their application as a precedent— in vain, in the paper which the minority of the commitif, indeed, any thing could be received as precedent for tee have presented here, and which we send abroad to an act involving official falsehood. And, sir, I care not the world as the exponent of their opinion, and the opinwhence the precedent comes, or with whom it may have ion of the party in power; you may search in vain in that originated. The act is a gross breach of law and of offi- paper for one word of censure on this unwarranted and cial veracity, and, if it were wilfully and designedly fallen unconstitutional act. Sir, I complain of this-I complain into by any former Postmaster General, he merits, and of it, and I deplore it. Our words upon this floor are but shall receive, his due share of censure. But what is the passing breath; they are heard, perchance read, and then precedent? Half a dozen cases in former times, within laid aside as things of the day, and forgotten; but the the last forty years, of omission to state the increased more solemn opinions of your committees, charged with service required on a contract. Well, sir, I doubt not grave and important duties, are placed among your arthat there has been that number of cases within that chives, and preserved in perpetual remembrance of the time, and I further doubt not that all that ever existed thing; and the censure or approbation which they bestow have been found by the officers of the Department, and will stand on this enduring record, to condemn or to paraded by the honorable chairman in this paper. In the sustain like deeds in all future time. In this, and for this extensive ramifications of this complicated Department, it purpose, the honorable chairman represents the great is not possible for any intelligence, however expansive, or party which now wields the destinies of this republichowever minute and capable of concentration, to compass and as I knew that he condemned this act, I had hoped the whole, and follow it out in all its details. Something that his disapprobation would have been, in some form, will be omitted which should be done, even if nothing or in some language, stamped upon his paper, that in wrong be committed; and I would excuse very much to human infirmity, and not set down as a fault that which is merely a frailty. Had no more, and no other cases of this kind occurred, under this administration, than such as are alleged by the honorable chairman to have taken place under former ones, I should not have thought it worth the notice of the Senate. But how is it here? A fixed and habitual rule of action; misrepresentation and deception on a grand scale, and as a general system, constantly acted upon; and now that it is exposed, beyond controversy or contest, it is openly avowed, and even defended upon this floor-nay, brought forward and asserted as a fixed rule of action, and one that is to wipe away what is considered by gentlemen here, as a fouler blot. Why, Mr. President, suppose the custom of making false statements to Congress, and to the nation, had been as inveterate in former times as we now find it; and suppose a man, possessing but a common share of moral integrity, placed at It is said, that no faith is pledged for these loans; that once within it, and amid such a scene of iniquity; would the nation is not bound for them; and, therefore, the conhe not revolt at it? and would he permit its foulness and stitution is not violated, and that the act is consequently vice to remain for one moment concealed from the public innoxious. I say, too, that the act is not obligatory upon eye? For now, sir, in one class of the reports of the the nation; but the other consequence does not necessariDepartment, falsehood is habitual and avowed-habitually follow. Suppose we pay the money by an appropriafor years past-avowed only since it was detected. It is tion; do we not sanction the act? If we pay this, and a asserted by the honorable chairman as the custom of the like loan shall be made hereafter, where will be our apolDepartment-and that custom of giving to the world a ogy for then refusing it? And if we deny it, the lenders tissue of falsehoods, in one branch of their reports, he of the money suffer a heavy loss by their reliance upon adduces as proof conclusive that they are correct, and the public faith, supposed to be pledged by a public that the committee err in another particular, in which functionary. future times it might be seen that he condemned it. Suppose that in the contest which is waging, and will be waged, in this nation, for power; suppose the party now dominant in our councils, and of which the honorable chairman is a distinguished member, should prevail, and that the public voice should sanction and sustain their acts; this act, with the rest, must be sustained, because he who is for that purpose the exponent of the will and opinions of the party, does, in his solemn paper, sustain it-is not another wound, deep, if not vital, inflicted upon our constitution? Is not another of the safeguards of our liberty gone? For, if the head of this Department may plight the faith of the nation for a loan of money, surely the Chief Magistrate, whose he is, and whom he serves, may do it. But I will not follow out this subject into detail; it would lead me wide from the point to which I intended to direct my remarks. there is a wide difference in the conclusions of the De-l The honorable chairman sustains the act on this ground JUNE 10, 1834.] Reports on the Post Office. [SENATE. line. But Reeside says, the inconvenience occurred but three days out of the seven, and then they could sometimes carry three passengers, and sometimes but one; the other four days they could carry their allotted number. But the time of the allowance shows that it was not for any required extra service; it was made in May, 1833, to commence from the 1st of April, 1832. The honorable chairman is, then, mistaken in supposing that any extra service was required as an equivalent for this allowance. There are others similarly situated; but I do not purpose now to consider them. -he says, the Postmaster General was deceived by the was so great as nearly to exclude passengers on the rapid mode of keeping the books-he supposed there was a large amount of money outstanding in the hands of postmasters, which did not turn out to be the case, and he therefore found the Department suddenly involved in difficulty, and that it must have gone down if he had not borrowed to sustain it. We have heard much of this pretence about an error in the mode of keeping the books; and a more ridiculous excuse never was invented. But the chairman is mistaken about the apology itself. It was pretended, not that there were sums which appeared to be due from postmasters which were not in fact due, but that their books did not show all that was due, or The honorable chairman need not have gone into a dethat had been paid to contractors. It would consequently fence of the conduct or character of Mr. Gouverneur. be the amount of cash on hand, in which the error would The committee have charged him with no impropriety, exist; an error which would be easily discovered when nor is his integrity at all implicated in the discussion. He the money was all gone. But it is a matter of their own, has paid over the money which he received, as he was and they can make what they please of it. And it is also bound to pay it, to the order of the Postmaster General; a little remarkable that this pretended error, which ex- and his payments have been used to cover and conceal a isted from the very organization of the Department, part of the immense sums which were applied to fit out should never have been detected by any of the former and support secret agents and spies of the Government; Postmasters General, and should never have led any one those agents and spies who, under the pretence of deof them into the slightest difficulty, even when the De- tecting frauds and robberies, have spread over and infestpartment was annually paying every dollar of its surplus ed the land. The year 1832 appears to have been their proceeds into the Treasury. carnival. It is the same year in which such large sums were paid to printers throughout the United States, and such an immense amount of blanks, paper, and twine, were purchased up for the use of the Department. It was the same year, too, in which the transportation of the mail was first overrated, by many millions of miles, in the published reports of the Department, and the contracts, in a mass, all misrepresented in those reports. These things have produced the effect which they were intended to produce; they have enabled those who possessed political power, and who abused it, to conceal those abuses, and to retain that power. And detection, though it has come at last, comes too late to defeat their purpose. The honorable chairman has said that there was no case of extra allowance, without additional service rendered equivalent to such allowance. In this he is mistaken. The extra of $10,000 a year to Reeside and Slaymaker is not, nor do I understand it is pretended to be, for any increased service beyond what the contract requires. The report of the 3d of March, 1834, (p. 199,) states the whole matter thus: "Reeside and Slaymaker are contractors for carrying the mail from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 303 miles, twice a day, and from Pittsburg, by Washington, Pennsylvania, to Wheeling, in Virginia, 57 miles, daily, all in four-horse post coaches, from the 1st of January, 1832, to the 31st of December, 1835, at a compensation of $27,000 per annum. "In consequence of the increased rapidity of this mail, the newspapers, which were formerly sent from the East by other routes, were now sent upon this; and the general cry of the public for the more rapid conveyance of newspapers required them to be sent in this rapid line, instead of the slower line, as was contemplated in their proposals; which so loaded it as almost entirely to exclude passengers. They were, therefore, allowed from April 1, 1832, for transporting all the papers by their most rapid line, at the annual rate of $10,000." Mr. CLAYTON followed Mr. EWING, in explanation of the financial condition of the Department, and discussed the question of the extent of its insolvency, which was, on all sides, admitted to exist to a very large amount. He showed, by calculation, that, besides the waste of the funds of the Department, arising from postages, the Treasury had been called upon to aid it for the last five years to a most enormous amount. Thus the sums appropriated by Congress for salaries of officers in the Post Office Department, and paid out of the Treasury for the last four years, and required for the present year, amount to $322,399 44 1831, 1832, 1833, And per bill before the Senate, passed the This is their own story, and I do not understand that any thing is here alleged to be done by the contractors, which is not written down and enjoined on them in their By act of appropriation of 1830, contract. The statement, it is true, says, that it was contemplated in the proposals that the newspapers should be carried in the slow line; but there is nothing of the kind to be found in the contract. And as to the general cry of the public for the more rapid conveyance of newspapers, I really would like to know who heard it. I have heard it urged as a subject of complaint that some newspapers were not carried at all, or, if they were, that they did not reach their place of destination in the regular course of mail. But this general cry for the more rapid conveyance of newspapers was probably never heard by any one except the officer in the Department who made out this report, and presented it to the Postmaster General for his signature. But to the point. No service is alleged, even here, that is not required by the contract; and it will be recollected that this is a route which was bid off at $8,250, and was raised, by extras, first to $27,000, and then this $10,000 was added for hardships encountered, and not for increased service rendered. The story in this report is disproved by the testimony of Reeside. It is stated here, that the quantity of papers For five years previous, Excess, 52,100 00 52,150 00 52,100 00 86,578 00 79,471 44 322,399 44 $49,100 38,350 38,350 38,350 34,350 198,500 00 To which sum add the excess of the "" con- $123,899 44 SENATE.] years previous, $13,500, and the whole excess is Without taking into the account any sums drawn from the Treasury for Post Office buildings and repairs. Mr. C. then referred to the documents to show that the amount of surplus funds of this Department, left by Mr. McLean, when Mr. Barry came into office, was To which, if the amount of the insolvency of the Department, as now ascertained, be added The amount expended in the last five years beyond the resources, and embracing the excess of Treasury money over that of the five years previous, is other side, still they say this Executive Department is 137,399 44 going to ruin. Facts appear to have no effect on their minds; [ours was a lamentable case, Mr. President;] arithmetical demonstration produces no conviction. [Truly, sir, the chairman's mathematics were put in requisition in vain.] This investigation," continued he, "has produced a very different impression on my mind. I viewed the present Postmaster General chiefly as a man of general talents, an able and eloquent advocate; but I now perceive him to be the practical man, the able man of business, capable of grasping, with ease, the vast system, and comprehending the intricate machinery of this Department, and of directing its energies to the greatest 803,625 00 benefit to the country." 289,000 00 426,399 44 $1,230,024 44 With these facts before us, said Mr. C., we also have the deliberate opinion of the late Postmaster General, as expressed in his annual report for the year 1827, that this Department ought now, by a vigilant administration of its affairs, to yield an annual revenue to the Treasury (besides supplying all the mail facilities required for the convenience of the country) of half a million of dollars! are, In this same speech of the chairman, delivered in 1831, it further appears, by one of those arithmetical demonstrations, which so failed to enlighten me at the time, that the new Postmaster General had made savings, by letting out the mail contracts, to the annual amount of $72,840 89, and that there was an immense increase of expedition, not to be estimated, besides a most flourishing condition of the finances of the Department. There are other curious things contained in this speech, which contrast strangely with the real state of affairs at this day. What is the language of the chairman now? Sir, his words in this day's debate, as taken down at the time, that the Department is insolvent, beyond all its reSir, this Department of the Government is an old ac- sources, to an amount approximating to $300,000; and, quaintance of the chairman [Mr. GRUNDY] and myself. with a view to palliate what he dares not either deny or I attempted to investigate its financial condition in com- justify, the fact stated by him in his minority report, that pany with him three years ago, and to arrest the down-[the Postmaster General has borrowed, on the credit of ward tendency of things. He was averse to the inquiry, the Government, without any warrant of law, about and caused it to be suppressed by a resolution at the $450,000, is now attempted to be excused by him in detime, under the pretence that the disclosures which it bate, on the ground that it was better that any thing was making might embrace impeachable matter, into should have been done, than that the Department should which the Senate ought not to inquire. The principle have been suffered to go down. We know, sir, that the on which that resolution was adopted is now exploded, actual amount borrowed from, and overdrawn on banks, and I only recur to it for the purpose of reminding the as stated by the officers of the Department themselves, chairman, who then stood forth as the advocate of the was $488,000. The gentleman admits that this conduct Department, of our respective views of its condition so of the Postmaster General is directly in violation of the far back as February, 1831. For this purpose I now law and the constitution, under which Congress alone has read from Gales & Seaton's Register of Debates my own the power to borrow money. He therefore says that he sentiments on that subject as then expressed: "Without will not defend this violation of the constitution; it is, he considering the appropriations from the Treasury, (said says, indefensible. Nevertheless, he puts the best face Mr. C., in February, 1831,) it must be evident to every he can upon it, and, like a practised advocate, while he man who reflected on this subject, that, unless some disavows all pretence of justification for the act, tells us change should be made in the administration of its affairs, that without it the Department would have "sunk;" yes, this Department will soon reach the period of its insolven- sir, it would, he says, have "gone down." And then, cy." In reply to this remark, the chairman [Mr. GRUN- he adds, "it was better that any thing should have been DY] made a most imposing statement, showing how won-done than that the Department should have been suffered derfully Mr. Barry had increased the revenues of the to go down." Department. Hear him, sir, and then contrast his present Sir, I think we have reason, from past experience, to tone with that which he employed in 1831. I will read examine with some caution, not only the statements of the from his speech, which was then franked by his party gentleman in reference to this Department, which he has throughout the country, and has ever since formed a po- been so long defending, but his conclusions and reasonlitical text-book for them. I suspect that three-fourths of ings from them. Is it, indeed, better that the constitution those who read it were as completely deceived by it as the should be thus trampled under foot, and the laws thus honorable member is now astounded by the development disregarded, than that this Department should be suffered of its utter fallacy. In his speech of 1831, the chairman to go down? The Postmaster General is an officer sworn declared there was a great increase of the funds, and he to support the constitution. He is one of the sentinels thus proceeded: "As an evidence that the condition of on the watch-tower, to guard and defend it. So far from the Department has improved since Mr. Barry came into being above the laws, he is the creature of Congress. If office, I will state the fact, that the whole amount of post- he and his associates in the cabinet may thus, in defiance ages, from the 1st of July, 1828, to the 1st of July, of the obligations which the constitution imposes, at any 1829, was $1,707,418 42; and the amount of postages from the 1st July, 1829, to the 1st of July, 1830, is $1,850,583 10, giving an increase in the first year of $143,164 68. This is an unprecedented increase of revenue in the history of this Department." The chairman then proceeded to lecture my friend from Maine and myself thus gravely and learnedly: "Notwithstanding these facts are known and exhibited to public view, and to the inspection of gentlemen on the time usurp the powers of Congress, whenever in their judg ment the plea of State necessity can be successfully made, wherein does this Government differ from a monarchy? What feature of a representative Government is left us? The Secretary of the Treasury may, with such an excuse, loan out the whole of the public treasure, under the pretence that he could get interest on it, or that it would be safest so to dispose of it. The Secretary of War may, with quite as much propriety, borrow a million to go to |