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fCBUSHED EVERY SATURDAY, 3X THOMAS WATSOX. POLiITICAI or, f the Baltimore ReDtiblicaa. row - T..i.,fi,u i son t. rnrreuuui.- - - s VVASHINUTOiM, vuiv jr", w. s 1 proceed to detail to you other w .relating to the Navy Hospital and "vy Pension Funds, committed during the The Commissioners of the Navy Hospl i rnd Messrs. Southard, Barbour, and 1 . " 7th of November, 1825, ap- .inted Mr. Thomas r mcurow.,, on..c..: Mr t ilienrowi, wt vsiimg arv of 1,000 as clerk in the Navy De brtmenf, ana me vjtwU,,lw..v. - llow h m as ineir, jecrciai, oiiwiiitj ar rv of 250, to be paid out or me fios Fond. iir. r mtuiuwn v fee, sir months, and had oecome !$!25 as saw rote to him the Sir r In cons rmed by you as h25 as salary, wnen w. ouumaiu vfe to him the following letter : - Navy Department, ? 22d May, 1826 ? ' consequence of Che duiies per- as Secretary to tne oroiuis r .t.... un.nitl vnn mav consi gners oi ar y - . er voor appointment as antedated six 10nths, and draw a warrant for your salary br that period. 1 am, sr, respectruiiy, ocr. SAMUEL L SOUTHARD Jhos. Fillebrown, secretary, Ia pursuance of this letter, Wr. ine- Irown did ,take another $lD oui oi mis acred charity fund, and pur u into nis own ockfi, thus drawing a yearns salary, when e hd been in office only six months! I would ask the .American people to loon 1 I - J SM alZ Irnnaalmn tthepncpe invuieu icmuvwwi. !r Southard had no authority to give. Mr. illebrown money, even for actual services, at of this fund. To do that, requires the oncurrence of a majority of the Cormnis ri u i Mm IT. 11a uners. ne couiu hui iiac frown's salary. That too, must be done by . fnmmUtinnprs. But he tells him to htedate his appointment, and thus draw a earssalary, when only six months was I A . I ' -MkAltu .in ft da tnt bum A3 ins money wu,i "- -ntroul of Southard and Fillebrown, that by "could di. Was not this plundering the fund ? W hat name does it deserve ? What would the people think, were Presi dent Jackson to say to his four Secretaries, Nou mav consider1 vour: appointments as zttdated six months, and draw warrants for your salnties forthat period," thus giv- inf; them $3,000 piece as salary Oelore thev came into office ? Mr. Fillebrown continued to aiscnarge the duties as Secretary to the commission ers, until after the late change in the admi niatration. and received therefor his regular salary of $250 per year; All the i writing and all th business done by him on ac count of the Hospital Fund, a good clk could have done in one month, r or every thing which he did, the salary of $250 was snmst liberal ' compensation yet has he pocketed i much larger sum, without color or uihority. under the name of "'commis ton." Upon every balance ot his accounr, ffomthe time he came into office, he char ged one per cent on the amount of his dts barsements; but this claim was never ; ad milled by the Commissioners, or even laid before them. The very evidence which Mr. Fillebrown produces to jusdfy his charge, establishes this fact. . It is ihe. fol lowing letter from Mr. Southard "Navy Department, ? ' March 2d, 1829 "Sir: ttwas mv intention before I left &t Department, to have submitted to the consideration of the oiher Commissioners o lW Navy Hospital Fund, your claim and account for compensation, for attending to le disbursemfnts of tht money of the fund which has passed through your hands,since yo'ir appointment as Secretarv. I consider the claim as jperfectly justand .do noi dcobU fii compensation would have been made, could the question have been-subrait tfd to the board. Neither the responsibjli nor the labor are embraced in your du as Secretary ; and if any other person bad been appointed to , perform; them, an auowance must necessarily have been made to him. - - v ' ' " '- u ldo not doubt, when the Commission ef sball understand the merits of the claim ' inat no hesitation will be felt on the sub ?ct, Nothing but my severe and protract d indisposition, during the whole winter, oas heretofore prevented Us adjustment. I am, sir,;&c." ; ;i 4 ! , SAM'L U SOUTHARD. Thos. Fillebrown, Esq. Secretary, &cw, 1 It was not at ' all surprising, that Mr. Southard, who had enabled Mr. Fillebroi to draw six months cntedated salary, I1 in tontideration of duties performed,'! should think also that he was entitled to a commis sion, "m consideration ' at least in narint theame duties. But it is a little surprising, Mr. Fillebrown, upori the authority of utter; hich conclusively shews, that his CCount had not hen allnwed. khnnld we presumption to out into his own Docket upwards of $2000 of this sacred fund! On ue very Jay that letter was dated, he drew 17j the last cent of that fund, hot.- as w now. appears, for the purpose of providing Mhejter and a home for the poor sailor, out ot whose harff tamiii. ua vi tor the purpose of applying it to his own finiV u parl r lnis Wl0 has-been paid nDenetit Qf Hospitals to this day : On that day, also, MF; Fillebrown to, have taken a general , retrospect of his acts in relation to this Fund. He made out and entered. a general account with the Fund, from the time he came into office, which varies in many respects from the par jicular accounts he had previously entered in other parts of his book. On footing this account it appeared- that he had drawn of monies belonging to this Fund 209.866 32, and had. dubmsed, including his own salary, $207,848, 48, leaving a balance in his hsnds of $2007 84. AVith this. sum he credits himself ia tbe following words : commission, l;per centon the amount disbursed, $2007 .. 84 " It will be perceived that one per cent, on the. amount disbursed, would have been $2078 48. Mr. Fillbrown's charge is no, ifierefore,'one per cent on the amount dis bursed, but $70 6fless. He gives the item i lalse name, lo have told the truth, his credit should have been in these words : " B just enough to balance the account, $2C07 84. Is not this an easy way to get money ? Already largely in debt to the Fuad, Mr, F-illebrown draws $910 17 more in ac tual Cash, end then, with a dash of the pen, pays the debt and squares the account I Had I done this, 1 am sure the poor sail ors, with their one leg and one arm, their crutches, scars, grey hairs, wrinkles, tears and groans, would haunt me in my sleep, and reproach me with being worse than the plunderer of the dead. -The tenant of the grave does not feel the privation, if you rob him of his winding sheet; but Mr. Fille brown takes from the old crippled soldier the pittance which he has laid up to make the last days of his life comfortable. In one hour, he sweeps away m ire than the usual stoppage of the sailor's pay, would replace in eighty years He applies to his own use, more thin the whole contributions of four sailors to this fund for twenty years f Was the man in poverty or in want who did this? No: he was receiving from bis government a salarv ot $1000 per vear. Was he ren- .... dering important services to the poor sail ors? For services rendered them, he was paid $250 per year, which was more than theywere worth. His two salaries yielded him $1250 per year. Not content with that, be takes $2007 from this charity fund at one fell swoop," making his average emoluments since he has been Secretary of that Fund, including his antedated salary, about $1800 per year. It gratifies roe to say, that the govern menthave8ued Fillebrown for this money, and I trust, if be can feel nothing else, he will feel the gripe of the law. I now, turn to the Navy Pension Fund : this fund, I believe, is made up of the mo ney received from the sales of prizes on the part of the government, and the interest of it is devoted to the relief of those who have suffered in the naval service, their widows and children. Its management is vested in the same Commtssioneis who have charge of the Hospital, Fund; but in this business they had another Secretary at $250 salary, This was Charles Hay, late Chief Clerk of the Navy Department, ui which capacity, he received a salary of $ 2000 per year. I have had little' opportunity to make myself acquainted with the abuses practised in the management of this Fund," and shall at present confine myself to a single case. The moneys of the Fund ate vested in Stocks vitlding.an interest. A large amount has been vested in United States Stocks, H-hich the government is rapidly paying off On the 1st July, 1828, the government paid ff stocks held by the Commissioners, to the amount of 281,384 72, and on ihe 1st t246.257 z7 more. None of this, so far as 1 can learn, was re-invested in other stocks, until February last, nut was suffered to lay dead in the Treasury. . Aoout the latter date, Mr." Hay purchased 4 J per cent stocks to the amouni of 473,50 1 15, tor which he eave 468,766 15, and also $59,472 40 of Washington Corporation, 5 per cent stocks. It is possible this whole operation may have employed him two -or ihrP hnnrs- For this service, he charged .M.Bsdrt tho mnrfprflte sum of one half Dn . amonntin? to TWO THOU- 5 4 N D SIX HUNDRED AND FORTY ONE DOLLARS, For that and previous services of like character, bis wTiolecom- - aavcx , amount to 1 HUt-t. THOUSAND, THREEflUPJDRED SE- VENT SIX DOLliAtvo I Y TWO CENTS. ; . t. Thp rharire for a commission on uw i .investmeHt of stockrs the more out- ra geous, because -" Uo lay in ,be TTeasury whoUy une.mploy.- td d, from July 1st, 1828, to r eu. m-nnih imprest on that sum tr vill be seen, that this oeucww i " 'a Mation. during the last . . .. mi n 1 a n . niiiiu nisi - .inUtrfltion. little lea loan fen thousand dollars.' . -r " ' Mr. Hay was ng ine ibsk; year His salary '"vm Clerk wa. $ 2000 i at t'y n. ZzOO. to which add $2641-. missloners commissionTand yoo hae .he turn ol 4y . in oiie ,ear I But 1 brieve to n whn reduced Mr; Hay beggary by removing him from office,hav hri Tihcrueltv.to sue him for the puipost o( recur eriog back this caaatsswa lost, by the inexcusable neg.. " : five per cent, would amount to $7,034 0 . ni- hv commission, and it . . I .1 uliioh III Seriously, all honest men, I ,care not. ot wha( party must applaud an administration which dares to hurl such rneri from office, and attempt to recover from them the sunis which thty have plundered, not from the people, only, but from the) poorest of the people, the crippled sailor,the heart-broken widow, and the faiherls child. What are all the glories of our country worth,' it we suffer the, charity funqs which have been raised to relieve tbe tar who has been disabled in service, or make comfortable the -wife and children of htm whojias fallen in the bloody conflict, tobeconie the prey of avarice, and peculation? Honor blush" and humanity weeps at the foal blots which the last few years has cast 01 our national i?scutchton. Etr?ct to tte K-.. Gazette, . Washington, July 17, 1829 " "The evidence in the case of Dr. Wat kins closed yesterday. Two letters wr i ffered by the counsel for the United States. wnicn gave to me case a very adverse as. pect for the accused. One of tliem was a letter of explanations which Dr. Watkins wrote to Mr. Harris, tlie Navy Agent at Boston, and in which he attempted to shew that all his drafts upon Harris and Paulding were drawn, with the knowledge and ap probation of Air. Southard, and that thf money thus raised was to be applied to some particular items of navy expenditure, for- which appropriations had ' not been granted. As soon as Dr. Wat kins was ar rested in Philadelphia, it appears that he enclosed a copy of those explanations, in a letter to Mr. Southard, addressed to him at Trenton ; but Watkins having met with a friend of Mr. Southard's on board the steam boat, and learning that Mr. S. was then in Philadelphia, sent to him a request that he wculd take this letter out of the Post Office Mr. Southard did so, and instantly, (for al: though Watkins had put no signature to his letter, the hand writing wss well Known to Mr. Southard) wrote a reply to it. Tbe letter to Mr. Southard indicates a mind, the clear perceptions of which were injured by the uncontrolable agony under which Dr.. vvaiKins was suiicring. naa ne Deen m full possession of himself he would never have applied, as he did in. that letter, to Mr. : southard, to confirm the explanations which he 'had made to Harris, and thus to implicate himself, gratuitously and falsely, in the double crime, of a connivance in the fraud, and also in the deeper crime of per tury. 1 he letter indicates an intellect sha ken by the first shock occasioned by his arrest, and bis whole thoughts seem to b engrossed by his wife and children, whose distress fancy painted to him with the pen cil of truth. Mr. Southard replied, that it gave him regret that he could not confirm the explanations which Dr. Watkins bad made. He expressed his regret that he should have placed himself in such a glaring situation, and, ignorant as he was of the precise character of the allegations against him, Mr. Southard said it was out of his power to say mure than that, when called upon to give testimony, he should give it with a strict regard to truth, as far as' his recollection would permit hrm. The whole of Mr. Southard's conduct h is been manly and highly honorable. His emotion in reading the letter which he had delivered up, by order of the court, was extreme. He felt that the fate of the accused was in his bands, and that it was a cruel, but unavoidable duty, which compelled him to sacrifice the man he once esteemed. Be fore he could finish the letter, a gush of tears choaked his utterance ; Judge Craned kindly took the letter from him, and finish ed it, and Mr," Southard- sinking into his chair gave way for a few moments to feel ings honorable to him, and which gained him honor from all. The case closed here The following are the letters spoken of above Boston, 27th April, 1829- Dear 5tr ; The effort which is making at Washington bv the 4th Auditor to blast rav reDutation is ingeniously contrived, and will for a time perhaps produce the effect designed but 1 have no tear 01 oeing um maielv enabled to free myself from every imnnt-xinn. nd to throw back upon Mr. Kendall the infamy which he has endeavor eri to fix anon me. The transaction to which his malignity has chosen to .give so hbrk a coloring, fortunately admits pi easy explanation, and is susceptible of such proof of innocence as win noi ian vm viction on the minds of ail who are not de termined, like Mr. Kendall, to ruin the cha- racter of every, man noro u picascu the hew' President to dismiss from office. Sometime in the year 1827 " was uiougni expedient and necessary by the Secretary of the Navy to authorize ceftain expendi tures tor the service, tor wrn rc no specific appropriation: To promote trns ' Ks-.i shprame necessarV to makeadvan " .1 - In of YBIIUU9 siuv t 4-. t 4050. which instead oi owg ' f tien at torm 01 ,iequwiio" ; T Department, were made Dy.me " vourself and ihe Navy Agent at New- York and charged to an Appropriation w.c.. , was supposed could best bear the expendi ture until a regular transfer coula beade, tu. f..H in meet rov drafts were remitted i., k Sr-cretarv but ofar- ;,ta;roP . No account was opened against ;h- ;i;dua! to wh o these advances were oudei torn il w;4OTfc uruii his accounts were finally rendered. This, was not done until some time during the last winter, the 'moment the account came into my hands it was referred to the Secretary of the Navyi as without his ap proval and sanction. T had no authority tr allow the expenditure. -During the progress uf these advances, as your; accounts an.i those of Mr. ; Paulding came into the office for quarterly; settlement my drafts, unap proved as they were, by the Secretary or the Navy, could not immediately be passed to yoor credit, and the examining clerk was directed to suspend these items, and refer the vouchers to the Secretary. This was done in every instance, and the vouchers for the whole amount are now in the hands of the late Secretary of the Navy, who de layed uis sanction until it could be affixed to the final account. This last, as I have said, was not presented until January, and was then i m media rely referred by mo to H Secretary. His long illness apd inability to attend to business prevented it from being acted upon, and the whole affair, uncon scious as I was of impropriety, escaped my lecollection until the 19th of March, when I learned I was to be removed from office. It then for the first time occurred to me, that the transaction might be so misrepre sented and discolored as to affect ray cba tacter, unless explained to Mr. Paulding and yourself, the. only two agents upon whom my drafts had been made, and I im mediately wrote to both of you a full expo si i ion of the reasons for suspending thost Mtrius in your accounts. iou tell me you nave not received mv letter; the same fate has attended all my letters, which I wrote and le ft as usual to the care of the Messen ger of theoffice, on the 19th, 20th and 21st March. Not only did none of my letters ieacn ineir uestination out no letters have been received bv me through the office since the first mentioned date. " The infer ence isirresistable, that from the moment it was decided to remove me from office it was also decided to adopt all means that vindictive malice could invent to injure rov character, and Mr. Kendall has not scrupled to detain my private correspondence, with ihe hope no doubt of finding something in uni ujjuii wuiiii iu uuiiu ins liupuiaiions. I hat he has found his Clerks ready to pay court to their new master, by 'aiding him in his work of detraction, is but too apparent from the fact which you state to me of the erasures and mutilations in your accounts He may triumph in the success of his villanies for a time, but if God spare my life, he shall ere Iong.be made to feel the full force of the recoil of his blow upon himself. As far as relates to yourself in this transaction, your official conduct is un impeachable, you did nothing but by official u hoiity, which you could not dispute ; the evidence of that ofiicial authority is proba. bfy by this time in the hands of the Fourth Auditor, who can have no plea to withhold from you credit for the sums paid on my order. Do me the justice to believe that no era sures or mutilations of the accounts were made by me ; and witb regard lo the Re concilements, these have been ever since I entered that office trusted to the examining clerks themselves, who wrote their own tetters, and forwarded them to the different Agents.'. If none have been received there fore, the failure is in no instance chargeable to me. I am; Dear Sir, most respectfully your obedient servant, - (Signed,) T. WATKINS. Richard D. Harris; Esq. Navy Agent, Boston. The following is the letter to Mr. South ard after his arrest. , . . Philadelphia, May 1, 1829 On you and perhaps on you alone,, my worthy and honored Sir, depends the future peace or lasting misery of an innocent, ex- - - - - . a ' - Tt i cellent wife and ten children. ineir nus band and father appeals to your mercy to save, not himself, but Went from shame and contumely. s Driven to desperation ai times, by :the embarrassments inwhich his long and ardent political warfare involved iim, every other source exhausted, he resorted to his official authority to raise funds,which he most firmly believed at. the time would result in no loss either to the public or to individuate. Fate has decreed it otherwise. And those against whom he fought and against whom he would willingly have lost every drop of his blood, have triumphed, and now sample upon the enemy whom more than all others, they hated and feared. He is here in the hands of lhe Marshal of Pennsylvania on a eriminal charge he was on his way to Washington where his family are anxiously, tremblingly expecting uim. Tbe enclosed, paper will snow now you may save mai laumy .w..v-.-and degradation. It is the copy of the ex-; planation forced trom mm n addressed to Mr. Harris the Agent. He ed being whom you once honored witb the name ol jriena, win uc unac.wHii m i6 nominv and disgrace. Confirm it, and they .aresaved. The papers reierrea to were " mislaid or lost during your long uine & absence from tbe office.",. U Uod he can write no more the officer is at his elbow to carry him to Washington. Write to; Mrs. W. ondei cover to her son,-Y. HV. at tbe Branch Can;,; Washington make her nappy, anl way the aU; powetful o bless and prosper;yon ? --c Hon. Sasal t. Southard, treatoa, N. Jersey. , forthwith sent a copy of it to tne-4tn auoi tor, who will receive it by this day's mail. I'nntrfldicfit.and the family of tbe wretch- We copy the followinsr from : the Boston Commercial Gazette, one of the most , ably, conducted journals in the country a ti: 1 Hfr. Ad. ; . . ; The advocates of the present " detesta ble" tariff, it ill insist thai tbe existing lotv prices of dry, goods, in the home market, ia owing to the( redundancy of American man ufactures. ; Id some articles in which we are conversant and competent to . give an opU nion, we have asserted, that the deprecia-? on In the price of carpeung, iwaS experi enced in Grrat Britain, to nearly one half oi us value ; Delore a single piece was made : i m mis country, in evidence of the position assumed by us, and to controvert the ground; taken by " plain truth" in this enquir j,whyj kidderminster carpetihgs, a few years since were sold at $1 75 to $2 pei yard; a highly respectable importing house, has furnished, us with the following-data from which we maHa nor dedociioos inDUt fust number on inissuojeci : In August, 1815, superfine carpetinek were charged in England at 4s 4d stg;fiue it 4s 4d stg. 1816, Feb. supers at 5s Id ; fines at 4sV Id. 4 j 1824, Jan. -supers at 3s 4d : fines at 2s. 5d. ; 1828 Jan. supers at 3s ; fines at 2s, It thus appears that kidderminster car peting, which sold at the period alluded to by plain truth at $2 per yard, "cost 4s 4d stg; while at this moment, the same article could be pjrehased at 3s or 2s 41 lss ner yard, than it was held at in 1816 It also appears that in the year '24, carpeting had fallen in Europe from 5 4'i to 3s 41 stg, making a difference of 43 cents per yard, and this, too, before a piece of similar des cription -was manufactured in this country. We acknowledge ourselves much indebted to the gentlemen, who so obligingly furnish ed us with the detail above ; from inform tion of this nature, act are elicited, that cannot be controverted. The American nation will one day learn, that political ' economy consists in buying as cheap and selling as dear as we can. To test this; point, we offer to bring into the market a superior article in carpeting, at 44 cts. per yard, which the people of these state now pay 95 cents or $1 for. What prevent our doing so, or supplying the poor in thisv country, at one half their present value, in tne comronaoie articles oi mnnel. crpeN ing, woollens, worsted stuffs, &c. ? How can we answer this question, but by ex claiming the detestable tariff! This many headed monster, comes in and demands ibrty cents per yard on carpettng, wntch only costs forty-four cents without charges. Thus taxittg the people ninety eight per cfctit. to sustain an aristocracy, compounded from a manufacturing interest. How can modern resttictionists reconcile their pre sent political course to their consciences. when compared with their conduct during the dark days of the embargo, and non in t rcourse. acts ? At this period prohibition taws were pronounced unconstitutional, and the muscle and bone of the country were placed in hostile array against its constaut ed authorities, who would how place mana cles and chains upon us, then took the pop- tilar side. 1 heir interest led them to do so. and they were among the warmest advo cates in our political ranks for, free trade and sailor's rights. How sordid, contracted and changed are now their features of pat riotismi Embargo laws, non-intercourse, prohibition, a vile tariff and high protecting duties, amounting to a direct tax on the re sources of the people, are now advocated by the former sons of freedom The princi ples of our forefathers are prostrated, and tWe declaration in our magna-charta, that ail men are born free and equal, is levelled with the dust. The present tariff law proV tects the interest of one class of v citizens, while it impoverishes and prostrates that of another.: .; It grants a 'monopoly In a repub lic. It arrays the south against the north the east against the west x and promotes disunion and discontent among us. ' Ittfal- lacy is attempted to be converted under th glory of national banners, by calling it an "American system ;" thus misleading the people to tax ihe natton at targe, In order to build up the fortunes of a lew cunning projectors. V , ; ( TRUTH. Rockiuguiim tlViuera Spvings THE Subscriber having settled himself at this, place, resnect fall v ioforros the Public . that, he i nppnaH tprrire ComDanv the present season The Establishment ha undergone a thorough re pair, and additional Rooms hae beer, protided. In point of Health, pure air nd the ie. hciual properties of the waters, th place 1 ylld lo none in the States S Erery eflVt will be made u gire satisfaction .to thb.e ; who JT 0 - . rail 1 a mtnt&& T m ' Springs; and tne cnargc. Zu AhZrr. Lenox Cartle; July lit. 1829. FJVE CENTS REWARD, ,'. RAN AWAY from the Subscriber, in. Pitt County, some time in November 1828. a AppreceSy the nam.f JOHP l.lom.fJ 15 vears of ag Pa bUt nd !,ht . . 1 iri?cive tbabove reward, (bat no ttuv.k or charges; to any person that will apprehend sau hoy and return him tome. .AMk& 5' LETTER SHlET : ' 1- jtitit
Newbern Sentinel (New Bern, N.C.)
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Aug. 1, 1829, edition 1
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