WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1853
391
That is a sweeping belief of his. Now, how far is he sustained in it by the facts? He had called upon the First Comptroller; .the First Comptroller had furnished him an abstract of the vouchers which he was called upon to furnish by the resolution of the Senate. The abstract of these vouchers embrace some twenty items, amounting from $70 up to $200. Instead of giving the items that would have imparted to the Senate the information desired, he took them altogether, retaining a knowledge of them in his office, and says he believes that is ·all the information jthe Senate wants or requires by their resolution. He knew that·the information desired by the Senate was particular information, that they might judge of the character of the accounts, and the items charged in the accounts. Has he believed this, or has he known one thing and asserted another? That is a very novel thing indeed. I will just give you a short sketch of the facts, as given in the abstract of the vouchers handed to the First Comptroller of the Treasury. At the hotel in Calais, C. Restarman's bill in part: Ditto for five persons to 6th August, 1851._____________16f.17c. Ditto, in Paris___________________ ________________________10f.90c. Then, in another place, instead of five persons, the charge is for six. Why, sir, such a retinue of Americans has not passed in all our missions to Europe. Our envotys extraordinary are seldom accompanied by more than a secretary or two, and perhaps one or two young gentlemen on their travels, whose fathers have ample means to send and sustain them abroad. And that this envoy extraordinary of the Department of the Interior of this Government should go on such a mission, accompanied by such a retinue, and have such accounts allowed without law, without the sanction of law, and without precedent, is a matter to be wondered at. But we find its solution, according to one honorable gentleman who has spoken, and I believe he spoke the truth, in the just construction of the bill which was not a law, but which very nearly became a law. It passed one House and not the other; yet the Secretary chose to recognize it as a law. Sir, we have again no less than an Alexander, with his sword, to cut the Gordian knot, when it interposes obstructions to the exercise of his will, and to his grand schemes of reforma- tion. This is a second Gordian knot. Alexander the Great cut the first, and Alexander H. H., I suppose cuts the second. [State- ment by Mr. Dawson.]
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