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WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1850
of every description and through it, from all portions of the country, which were granted. After the invasion of this city by the British in 1814, a tem- porary board was created, to settle claims, and the wrongs were so manifest, the corruptions so evident, that Congress knocked it on the head the first opportunity it had. You may depend upon it that the evils growing out of an institution of this kind will be ruinous. If the safeguards that have existed during the period that this Government has existed fail, I do not hope in these modern times to find any expedient that will remedy the defects. Give more aid, if necessary; give men of the highest integrity and capacity, and make the responsibility direct, without running through all the lumber that Congress will have to do, to detect the acts of these commissioners. Sir, it will form a chain too long and too strong to be wound around this Government, if it is adopted. The treasury will be opened only to men through corrupting influences and appliances unwholesome to the char- acter of this Government. But it is said that France has done this. What is the consequence? France has auditors of accounts; that is, they have a board of accounts. And what is the conse- quence? The French treasury is always empty; always begging, borrowing, or repudiating. Until we see there has been an utter failure, and that Congress cannot get along with the business that necessarily devolves upon it, let us adhere to the system we have pursued. Nor does this board diminish the business of Congress ; for Congress has to revise their acts. Who is there here who would act upon any committee that would be appointed, and go into a revision and scrutiny that would detect the frauds which might be practiced upon this Government? I do not say that I should be more strict than others, but I think we are all too remiss. If we looked into them, we might find abundant reason to believe that dishonesty had been practiced. Men have been lingering here for nine years owing to what? T'o a mis- application of time, and because attorneys are claiming a certain division of their property; and they, poor fellows, are bound down and ground down by penury and want, when the Government owes them thousands and tens of thousands of dollars which they are unable to obtain, because the influence of these men is so far extended that the officials of the Government have not manliness enough to do an act of justice to these claimants, if these men oppose it. What must be the disposition of him who had the charge of such claims against the Government? And what man is there who had the power of disposing of the ten 'thousand
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