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Congressional Plundering

Congressional Plundering image
Parent Issue
Day
12
Month
May
Year
1845
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

At firtt we nlonded to head this urticlu, Congressional ííascaliiy, but as we designed to say so nc:hinj about the acts of "honorable men,'' we finally concludedto uso a captio;i which should rxpiess cxoctíy the tinture of the f'irt, leaving our readers to determine which of ihe two en pi ons wonld be most np propriale to the nature of the trüntsaciions detailcd. The 6tory easily told. The Hsiisc of Representatives, cbhaUtirig of lvo linridred and tweoly three incmbcis, nol hnving the IVar of God, or of their consliüicnts. or a decent regard for thé righls of those thcy rrpreíentci' befare thew oyes, nave wrongfnlly. wickedly, unj'istifiably and impudciitly tukon nnd abstracted f rom tho public ireasiiry of ihe United Stiltes the som of One Mundred and Thirty Three Thfusand Eight Hundrcd Dollars, in marnier and furm set forlh in the following extracto from the N. Y. Journal of Commerco rnd the Boston Moming Chrunicle: "The iwi Ilonsea nf Crmpreps pa3pd laws by which each flouse is authorized to supply itself with Btationary, books, nnd whntever eli-e moy be necessnry for i's nse. Under this provisión the In to House of Representotivea ordered the purchasp, for the u?e of eacli member, of the following book.-?, viz: Gaíes and Soaton's S'ate papers. 21 vnls. do Regris-ter of Debates, 20 to 30 vols. Extra Globe, 12 vols. Peter Force's Am. Archives. And Kome other thingrs; the wholp making a cost to the public irrasury of oversix liundjed do'l.irs to i-ach member! A epeculator, who ofierrd $200 each for "member's tickets," as they ore caïled, p'irchnsed Fomething hke seventy. Thns six hundred dollars were voted oul of the nat.ional treaury for Ihe sflke of puttin? two hundrrd dollars into the pockets of these individuáis.- Journal of Conunerce. The rcsolution was moved by the Hon. Robkrt C. VVinthrop, nnd carried by a son of ennnivance, without the yeos end nays. - Put the eaddle on the right horse." - Boston Chronicle. This we acknowledge to be pretty fair bu siness for one experiment, but Ris doibtle.os a mere prelude or forerunner of much gretiter abstractions that will followin succeeding ses8ion8. But how silont the proslavery party presses are concerning it.' Why is t not published in staring capitals through al! the land? Why was it left for the Journal of Commerce, a neutral paper, to bring il distinctly to the lighl? The answer is, that both partiks are implicated in the transaction, and neilhercan condemn the other wiihout condemning iteelf. Henee they are both as 6ilent as possible, while the peo n Ie foot Ihe bilí os usual. How morlifying it woul.d be to the rerlned feelinsfs of the Detroit Free Press to inform its readers, that those sterling Demócrata, Hünt, McClelland, and Lros, had given mist convincing evidence of the genuineness of thcir creed by pocketing, at only onehaul, Eightekn Hü.ndrkd Dollars, out of the earnings of their constituents, in addition to Eight Dollars a day, nd Nine Hundred Dollars travelling fees! And how bad the Detroit Advertiser would feel were i compelled lo stnte tiiat Hon. Robert C Winthrop, a leading Wnio from Massachnsetts, was the mover of this 6cheme of pecu lation, and that the sixty or seventy Whigmemoers or lite House were ao anxious to gel theirshareof the plunder, that ihey sufierec the resoluiton to pass without evencalling fo ihe veas and neys! So iruch for the honeetj of these proslavery politicians, and thei watchful care over the interets of ' 'the dea people." But we are not disposed to pass over thi transaction, without Iiav ing a liitle plain tho friendJy talk with our Representan vea. We thi'.k we shall truly set forth thefeelings o the 3,632 Liberty voters of this State, wliei we eay to them- "Gentlemen, you are our legal Representatives. You have jtist attended a session o CongreESof90 doys dura tion, for which yoi have received from us, through the Ntfliona Treasury your legal fces, amounling to abou Eightken Dollars a dn y. It seemed to us thal ibis compensation was aiwply enfíícicri for you to receive, and enough for us to pay coming, as it does, chiefly from laboriug men many of whom do not receive more than fift} cents per day. But presuming on the lenity and easj' goed nature of your conslituentt? tío der the forma of law, each of you have taken from them Six Hundred Dollars more by a single resolulion of your body. This sutn a lone amounls to nearly Skvkn Dollurs a day makingr in all Tivr.mt five Dollars a day for your servicea for the last session. This surn comes out of the earnings ol your constituenfs, many of whom are obligei to work for small wage?, by the day and by the month. Bul they do not complnin of the amovnt you bave unjustJy taken from ihcm. 1; is but a email assessmrnt v, on each voler. Six hundred dollars divided among 18,000 constiiuenls, is nol quite three ond a half cenle a piece. Now ihere s not one of ihnt nuinber who dines on potatoes and a sólita ry crust of bread, but would willingly contribute thtee and a half cents from lus ecanty 6tore even to the honorable Mr. McClelland or his fellow member8. provided he were rcally in r.eed. and would ask thom for it like a mnn. But when you were already receiving Eighteen Dollars a day, lo vote yourselves Seven dol lars a day more, and thue, under cover of your leg islalive charactera, to filch from the pockets of eiich of yourconstituents this email, pitiful stim, looks in their eyes mían and con tempiihlf! Yes, gentlemen, weareforry to say if, bul such a transaction looks most desvkally bikan! What apology have you to afTer? You iave none that can avail you any thing. You did not need thpse books for the purpose of procuring legislntive inf.)rmation! Copies of ihcm are already in the Congressionnl Library, vhich was open to you eery day; or if not, one set of the books might have been pluced Ihere inslead of pnrehnsing 223 eets Had you spoken and voted ngoirst the resolulion for bu.ying them, and boen voted down, and ajlenvards received thern in common wilh thcrr.DJarity, the case would have pre■enfed a difFertnt ttspect. Besidee, you might have called for ihe ycas and noys, and thtre mve pprrad bcfurc the counlry the natnes ofthose who were disposed lo plunder lier treasnry; and the on!y conceivable renson why you d( not do jt is. tljat you wore enger to vove yea yourselvoF, hopmg tlmt llie unanimity of tlie vote mígfií covor up its niquity 'ind meanness! But in tliis you will be disappointcd. Bui wliai have you done with your Imndred volume?, purchased at our expense ut eome Ine or six dol'nrs o volume? Had yon come by tli(MT) in b proper and honorable marnier, wc thould be far from usking tliis qüestion. - But when you itiiquitously nbstiacted (hem from our irensucy, and eompelled us unjusfly to pay Tor tlïrrn by a cnntrirniiion of three and a half cents pach; we claim tlie riijht lo know how you diiposed of thom. If' you have broufjht them home, and placed them in your iibraries as u memorial to your childrrn of your success in Iheart of Congret=sional plundering, it was perhnps, ns proper a disposition of ihcm ns you could mak;. But did you do eo? Or were you rather of thonumbei of tfi3 "seventy" who paited with rhcir ponion of the spoils for one third of ilieir oost? Ifso, weshall pass a much severer sentence upen you. To waste two dollars in abslracting one frora the Treasury, shows you to l,e very great bunglers at the business of Legislation. If yu display sucli carelessness ard wnsiefulncss in helping your. selves to a smnl! eum from tlie public treasury, yon are utterly unfit to be Congressmen, nnd had beller resign in favor of those wha would have rrore scmpulovsness aboot taking the roerey of thcir conslitoenls, or more skill in uing it after it had been taken. To take unjustl}, for one's own use, nnder the (brms of law, is nn ofience that might be overlook.od: but to waste on a mercenary speculator two dollars in using one, evinces u degree of prodigality which ennnot be to'erated in one pretending to be a 6tatesman." Such we believe will be the honest senti ments of the mass of the people of this State, when they becom.) acquainied with the 'acts here brought to view. In expressinw them we have not wished to be unjnstly severe, or to represent matters otherwie tlian in their true light: and ifany of our Congressmen have aught to sny in extenuation' of this ndgment, we will give them a candid hearing. But we do contend that wlien our Congressmen, for mere selfish emolument, without nny shadow of reason or necessity, vote themselves 20 or 30 waggon loads of books ai one time, at nn expens? of 133,000, the voice of tlieir uonslituents shonld be heard in referente lo the enormity in Iones that cannot be misunderstood The Press of Michigan, in its pphere, is oninipotent; and the united condemnalion of its thirty or forty popera would be nn effectual barrier to the consent of its Representatives or Senators to any imilar schemes in future. The probability, howcver, is, that every WMiig and Democratie paper will remain entirely silent concerning it, for fear lest a general exposure of the matter ehould injure thcir respective parties. But in lliis, as in all other matters or' public interest, we hope to do ovr duty without feor or favor.

Article

Subjects
Signal of Liberty
Old News