107
WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1858
sureties are generally as responsible as if he had been guilty of purloining money from the custom-house at New Orleans. I can arrive at no conclusion whatever but that these gentle- men are guiltless. Meteye, if you view him technically, may have been their partner, and they may be liable for his conduct; but, on principle, so far as the facts are manifested here, not a soli- tary suspicion can attach to them, as I apprehend the case-not the slightest suspicion. If I believed there had been delinquency on their part, or that, by collusion or contrivance ~th this partner, they had defrauded the revenue, I could not give countenance to any application of theirs. If they were willing at one time to com- promise, and to make a great sacrifice to get out of the difficulties in which they were involved, owing to the misconduct or neglect of the collector, of the customs, if they were willing when a most alarming ruin was before their eyes, to compromise, that should not be pressed against this bill now. The honorable Senator from Louisiana on my right [Mr. Slidell], did not give us the date of the letter he read; but subsequent events show that these gentle- men have been vindicated. The people in the vicinage, who under- stand all the facts of the case, have come to a conclusion very different from some of the gentlemen of this body, and, for my own part, I am prepared to vote against this amendment; and I am equally determined to vote for any measure that will give them this relief-avert the evils that have been threatened, and arrest the wrong. I am willing to vote for any measure that will give them relief, and visit responsibility on the officers of the Govern- ment, and direct the eye of the Government to them. It should not, in these responsible officers, place favorites on account of political claims, but men who are elevated by their moral worth, whether of this party or that party-men who have established a high character, and obtained standing in society. These are the men I want to see placed in office; and not delinquent favorites, or men who come with the clamor of friends to sustain them, and have not character to herald them to the world. 1 Congressional Globe, Appendix, 1857-1858, pp. 367-369. The firm of De Visser and Villarubia were importers of sugar and other merchandise from Havana to New Orleans. A few years before the facts of this case were made known, this firm took in a third partner by the name of Meteye. The new partner took over the firm's business with the custom-house. Every- thing seemed satisfactory for some four years; the books of the firm tallied with the invoices of the exporters, and all custom duties were promptly paid by the firm. Then, a new customs officer took over the custom-house, and it was discovered that Meteye, probably with the collusion of' the former collector, had been guilty of fraud in his payments. The method was some- what complicated, but it was plain that his partners were innocent. The
Powered by FlippingBook