Newspapers / The Tarborough Southerner (Tarboro, … / June 4, 1824, edition 1 / Page 2
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tie then defined the competi-j tion, he received many votes in the Republican iueeung 01 the Republican Members of Congress, by wnicn lvir. iuon roe was nominated ;that he was, "on the accession ot Mr. Mon roe, re-appointed to the head of the Treasury Department, and "there yet remains; we speak of cveiis.ana circumstances, wun Tn the knowledge of every rea der, which bring down his his tory to the present day. Will the Rhode-Island Ame rican yet ask of us, what are the pretensions of Mr. Craw Tord? We add, to what we have already said, that he rose to his present eminence, by the power of his talents, from a humble rank in life; that, in his own State, he first acquired dis tinction by his hostility to, and denunciation of, the stupen dous Yazoo fraud, of which we are sorry to be obliged to revive the odious recollection; that, though his march has been on ward to distinction, he is, in public life, plain and open in his manners, and in private life of the most domestic habits, spend-, ins all his leisure in the bosom of his family. . I This is a plain unvarnished account of the Life and Charac ter of a Man, of whom it is se riously asked from his friends, what are his pretensions? It has been said by some, in quaint allusion, we suppose, to his athletic frame, that Mr. Crawford is "a giant at in-' trisue." Nothing can be more untrue. Iso human being:, if we rightly understand him, can be more free from deceit or du plicity. We 'believe, indeed, it has been thought by some who have had to do with him, that he is at times too frank. Where are the proofs of his intrigues? We ask any one1, in the spirit of candor, whether, if such had been his character, he would not have secured, by his own blan dishments, or the agency of his friends, as many presses in his favor as he could,, Has he done SO.' vt sVinnlrl not, at this time of day, have been under the necessity of an swering the question as to his "pretensions." The welkin would have rung with them. We are proud, indeed, that our views are the same as those ex pressed by most of the old and uniform Republican presses in different parts . of the country, but in mere numbers, we appre hend, there is a fearful ,odds a- gainst us. Great industry has been employed in making ene mies to Mr. Crawford, but very little in making him friends. Lest our silence on the subject should be misconstrued, we have thought it proper to leave no reason to doubt of the senti ments which we entertain of the titles of this, gentleman to the favor of his fellow-citizens, and, bit the same time, to state the grounds of them. Our friend; Mr. .Niles, is quite vretl0us complimentary in his Weekly Register of Saturday, on the subject of this. He says the people of the United States had no more idea of electing Mr. Crawford President, than they had of elect ing Am or one of us to that office. If blushes could be transferred to paper, the very ink we use would take its hue from our cheeks at the unexpected honor of beine pla ced on the same level, in popular estimation, with our worthy friend at Baltimore. . But he is entire too modest. We consider it by no means an impossible thing, nav hardly an improbable one, that he raay, at some future day, be propo sed as a candidate for that high sta tion. If he should succeed to it. he will put down all etiquette and ce remony, we warrant him. Every thing will be free arid easy at the great nouse. ye long to take him ay ust nana tncre. In making this exposition of J our views, we have carefully a- voided any notice, by compari son or contrast, of the claims of other candidates for the Presi dency. We speak only hi the posii'rie recommendations of Mr. Crawford to public favor, which we have been called upon so often to produce, that we could no longer resist the invi tation. About the other candi dates, we will only say, for the present, that we never havedis paraged the 'merits of either of them, and, with our present feelings towards them, we never shall. It may perhaps not be amiss to show, that the views we now express are perfectly consistent with our course in opposing me claims, preferred by the friends of Mr. Crawford, eight years ago. We recur with pleasure to our files of that date, and shall mnifnf nnrplr with rivin to our readers a single extract, - tr ' o to show the ground on which we then stood. In the Nation al Intelligencer of the 22d Feb ruary, 181 G, it was thus con cisely but distinctly stated: "It has been said, we understand, that ve have shewn disrespect to Mr. Crawford, one of the gentle men held up by his friends lor the Presidency, by copying from a nor thern print, some remarks on the Presidential election, in which his name was mentioned. Farfromus was such an intention. We point edlv disclaim it. We deem too highly of Mr. Crawford, to suppose that his mind is capable of such an impression, cut, no room shall re main for those of a different disposi tion. We have ever entertained for Mr. Lraivjord that sentiment which his stern principles and indepen dent conduct are calculated to in spire; and tve have seen nothing yet to weaken it. It is no derogation from hie merits to say, that James Monrce has, in our opinion, still stronger claims,,at this time, on the national confidence and affection. He has been longer in the public eye." TOR THE FREE PRESS. Mr. Editor: A late writer in your paper of Friday last, under the signature of "Callimachus," has called on Numa to give the public a second number explanatory of nisnrst. iNumas complaisance cannot condescend to obey the call of this writer, or to enter in to any argument with him1, for he knows it would be in vain to reason a man down that never was reasoned up; but the public may expect something from me, it is therefore that I trouble you on this occasion. Callimachus seems to be in a passion, and has forgot the ar gument in attempting to criti cise on INuma: to which I will only say, "On me when dunces are satirick, "I take it for pancgyrick." I deprecate very much any newspaper controversy. Calli machus advocates his side of the question, and . Numa his; it is not useful or proper to disfigure the columns of the prdsS with invective or abusive vitupera tion. On that head I shall not enter the lists with Callimachus, determined, therefore, as Tris tram Shandy very justly says to nis muie, "never to argue a point with any of that family as long as he lives." Callima chus will therefore please to ex cuse me. It seems, sir, that the friends of Mr. CRAWFORD take fire immediately when any thing is said touching and doubtins the qualifications or eligibility of iVir. u. to hll the Presidential Chair; from them all is invec tive; they do not stoop to argu ment; their observations are dog matic and authoritative ! ! This is passion; it is worse, it is pre judice. How extensive, how j despotic is the government of: prejudice! In all the concerns of life we. are more or less the subject of her control. In her sight generosity is profusion; economy, avarice; forbearance, pusillanimity; courage, rashness; virtue, ostentation ; and religion, hypocrisy. Now, like the drunkard, she sees double; and now, like the jaundiced, she be holds every object tinged with an unnatural hue. In politicks her power Is universal and irre sistible. . She stands sentinel at the avenues of the mind; guards with circumspection the ap proaches of truth and the as saults of reason ; nor suffers their entrance into the inclosures of intellectual operations. She swears the Andes are mole hills, and public virtue self-interest; she sees angles in the circle, and the spirit of Caesar and Crom well in General Jackson. She discovers filth in the diamond, and treason in the best of patri ots. It is the labor of wisdom to throw off her yoke; to exa mine men and facts as they arc. With how much heat and vi olence is agitated the approach ing election of President. How vehement, "how passionate the struggle. It is not the combat of principles, whose victory shall enliven? advance, establish, or benumb, congeal end destroy the energies, the honor, the pros perity of United America. But this opposition is always to be expected in free governments; indeed, if not carried too far, it is essential to the existence of Republican governments: "er- ror may be toierated, n reason is left free to combat it. 39 The most upright, faithful and stea dy conduct in General Jackson, is no mean of meeting the good opinion of men, who, with "The unconquerable will, the sted- tast hate, yield." But to return again to Mr. Crawford: Numa asserts again, and without the fear of contra diction, that in 179S Mr. C. was a federalist, and that he did con gratulate Mr. Adams on his ad ministration of the government; and Numa asserts asrain that Mr. C.'s talents arc not such 'as to fit him for the discharge of the duties incident to the office of a President; and more, that he is not the choice of the people. I would ask his friends where and when he has displayed such mighty talents if he possesses any, they have been "hid under a bushel" I recollect none, in the course of my observations, that excited any notice in me, trcm Mr. Crawford but one, and that struck my attention from its novelty and strangeness. It was this, sir: Mr. Crawford re commended, as the best and most eligible mode to bring the Indians out of a state of nature and to civilize them, was to en courage their marriage with the whites; that is, their .squaws with our young men, and our beauteous females with the In dian savage. What think you of that as a stroke of genius and policy, Mr. Editor!! What a igrel race we should have had in the United States in a lit tle while, had the Secretary's advice taken place what a ge neration ! "Black spirits and white, "Red spirits and gray; "Mingle, mingle, mingle, "You that mingle may!" As to the noliticks of Mr. Crawford, they have not been correct; it is well known that he was strenuouslv ODDOsed to the war. That war, sir, that gave to the United States a cha racter and name "a name that keeps the name of this country respectable in every other on the globe.' ' That war which protected our commerce on the high seas from depredation, and our ships from the search of British cruisers. That war, which since the Srja has rolled a wave, or has been afield of car nage, there never was such fight ing 'and such achievements as were done by our navy. That flag which had "braved the bat tle and the breeze," for a thou sand years, was made to douse to the star-spangled banner!! But could Mr. C. have prevent ed it, those honors would not have brightened the American escutcheon. For the present, sir, I shall c6nclude this number, and I be leave to assure Callimachus, that I have no wish to carry on a po litical contest with him: each has an undoubted right to es pouse the cause he undertakes. The press is free and open to all, j banks expressed a different opi and Callimachus is at liberty to' nion as to the meaning of tW "draw his gray goose quill" in! contracts, and that the Sccreta defence of Air. Crawford; but Ijry, in receiving fifteen thousand should think it most proper fori dollars from the one, and twen him to wait until these serious 'ty thousand dollars from the charges of malversation in office! other, of those banks, appear to against Mr. Crawford, by Mr. have acted according to what he Edwards, were investigated. A supposed to be the rights of the public character, sir, who is al parties, and with a proper re candidate for the high honor' sard to the interest cf the TTni. mail itiu Kj. nuns ai, oiivj u like Caesar's wife, not only; chaste, but above all suspicion. I should be glad if Mr. Craw ford could exonerate himself from the charges exhibited a gairist him by Mr. Edwards; "but before he is placed face to face with his accuser, and the facts investigated by a compe tent tiibunal,his partizans should not talk of a triumphant vindi cation." But again, in conclusion, sir, the only way to enable us to ar rive at the truth, in political af fairs, is to banish every preju dice; to obtain a full knowledge of facts and arguments relative to every question in debate; to mingle, with a scrutiny of pub lic characters, the same degree of candor, which we wish exer cised towards ourselves; and re ly alone on the testimony of men of information and honesty and who are not interested. Numa. CONGRESSIONAL. EDWARDS'S MEMORIAL. The committee appointed by the House of Representatives to enquire into the charges exhi Dited y ivir. rewards against the Secretary of the Treasury reported the result of their de liberations on Tuesday, 25th ult. 1 he following are cxtr "Ihe address contains two general charges against the Se cretary; one, ot the public funds: under which !! i. various inegai transactions are alleged, in reference to the de posite of the public moneys in certain banks, and the mode in which such moneys were allow ed, afterwards, to be; repaid the other, imputing to the Se creiary me suppression oi pa pers and documents, or- failing to communicate them, when they ought to have been com municated, in answer to resolu tions of the Houses of Congress. Referring to what has been said in the introduction to this report, and repeating that Mr. Edwards has not had an oppor tunity of supporting his charges by his presence and testimony, the result of the facts which have appeared to the commit tee, thus far, in this investiga tion, and ol their deductions from them, when applied to the recapitulation of charges, as sta- tea at tne enuot the address, is: First. That the evidence fcrred tq. and examined, QCes not support the charge of hav. ing mismanaged the public funds. Second That the uncurrent notes, mentioned in the second charge, appear, by evidence sa tisfactory to the committee to have been received and deposit ed by the Public Receivers, a time when they were receiva ble under the resolution of Con" gress of 1S16. That, in the principal case, that of the Bank of Missouri, the bank did not make itself responsible for such notes as cash, and, therefore, the Secretary was bound to receive them from the bank; that, al though the banks of Tomb'eck be and Edwardsville were liable to account for such deposites as cash, if the construction which the committee gives to their contracts be correct, yet, that both the Secretarv nnH tt,- j Uj a nejiea states, under the circuir.- stances which then existed. Ihird. I hat no intentional misstatement has been made to the House, of the amount of un current bills received from the banks; although a sum of two hundred and eighty dollars of such bills was omitted through mistake. Fourth. That, although the Secretary may have miscon strued the effect of some of the contracts with the banks to the extent before mentioned, the committee finds no grounds for the charge that he has misrepre sented them$ inasmuch as the contracts themselves were sub mitted, with the reports, to the House, Fifth. That the Secretary did omit to communicate to Con gress the reasons which led him to direct the deposite of public moneys in the three local banks of Chillicothe, Cincinnati, and Louisville, where the Bank of the United States had branches, but there is no reason for suppo sing that any concealment was intended, or that the omission was occasioned by design. Sixth. That, in some instan ces, papers called for by resolu tions of the House have not been communicated with other papers sent in answer to such calls, but these omissions have happened either from accident, or from a belief that the papers so omitted were immaterial or not called for; and that there'is no evidence that any document or lniormation has been witn- held from improper motives. Having already expressed the opinion that this investigation ought not to be terminated, un til theierson preferring the charges snail have been examin ed, and rPOTPttinor tVio ?rfiirr- e stances which render such an examination impracticable du ring the present session of Con- aim uiiiiitiiiii mat lur. Edwards may be expected at Washington, within a few days, the committee feel it their duty to recommend to the House that they be required to sit after the adjournment, for the Dur- pose of taking his examination, if an opportunity shall be pre sented." From the above renort it an- pears that the balan P.p. nnw rliift the government, from five of the western banks is $440,820 63; a great portion of which may bt re-(considered lost.
The Tarborough Southerner (Tarboro, N.C.)
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June 4, 1824, edition 1
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