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And this has been represented as proscription, Land Office. and used as a justification for the actual proscription that followed the accession of the Whigs to power under General Harrison!

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52

Treasury Department.
Treasurer

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Upon his death, Mr. Tyler, who had been elected Vice President by the Whigs, became President; and the Democratic party is in no way responsible for the rules which he adopted in dispensing the patronage of the Government. The Democracy neither nominated nor elected him; and I protest against the attempt of the Senator from Connecticut to hold them responsible for his acts, or to palm off upon them the men whom he and his friends put into office.

On the expiration of Mr. Tyler's term, Mr. Polk assumed the reins of government; and so far from proscribing all the Whigs he found in the offices, as has been sometimes represented, he practised great liberality. Making some removals deemed necessary to do justice to his friends, who constituted a large majority in the country, it is also true that many Whigs were retained, and many were appointed to office under him. One of the late heads of a department informs me that he appointed twelve in his department alone.

The general accuracy of this statement cannot be controverted; and what a contrast it presents to the conduct of the no-party Administration that has succeeded! Among all the new appointments that have been made, in what department has a Democrat been the recipient of a place?

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Pension Office.
Judian Office..
First Comptroller..
Second Comptroller
First Auditor..
Second Auditor.
Third Auditor
Fourth Auditor
Fifth Auditor..

Sixth Auditor.

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This list embraces the heads of departments, clerks, and messengers, up to March 3, 1849, as near as can be ascertained. Although it may be, in some particulars of classification, incorrect, it is thought that the errors will swell the Whig side and decrease the Democratic. It was prepared for us by a gentleman who has taken some interest in such statistics for a number of years past, and whose extensive persoanl acquaintance and great industry of research give every assurance of its general accuracy.

I have also been furnished with a statement in reference to the heads of the bureaus, the chief this city, which may throw further light on the clerks, and some other of the principal officers in subject:

Without including the heads of departments, who are, of course, all Whigs, and the chiefs of the bureaus of the Departments of War and of the Navy, the summary stands thus:

Auditors

The honorable Senator from Connecticut has been led into a most unaccountable error in regard to the preponderance of Democrats in the Depart-Comptrollers ments on the accession of General Taylor. He has given a statement which I am assured is g wide from the truc state of the facts, that I am constrained to notice it.

I cannot account for so wild a calculation, unless it may have been prepared for the Senator by some applicant for place, who, indifferent to the fate of present incumbents, made such representations as might lead to more removals.

I will now give what I understand to be the facts. In May last, a list was carefully prepared by a gentleman who had good opportunity for accuracy, and published in the Union.

Treasurer.

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Register of the Treasury
Solicitor..

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So much for some of the principal officers here. I annex a schedule of particulars which has been furnished me, to afford the means of correction, if any mistake exists. (See note B.)

But, sir, I do not stop here. I propose to go beyond this District, into the States, and see what the facts are there. There are the diplomatic and consular corps, the marshals, the district attorneys, the collectors and officers employed in the collection of the customs, the registers and receivers in the land offices, the postmasters, and in fine the thousands of officers extending all over the country, upon whom the Executive power and patronage can be brought to bear. But before I examine into the manner in which this patronage has been exercised by the present Administration, I will go back to the alleged proscription under President Jackson, and set history right on that subject. This can best be done by presenting to the Senate, and to the country a few substantial facts. If the honorable Senator had recollected them, he would hardly have fallen into the errors, or indulged in the language he saw fit to use. He says: "General Jackson, at an early day after his accession to office, entered upon a wholesale system of proscription or removals for opinion's sake, and "this system was prosecuted with relentless vigor," according to the Senator, during the entire period of his administration, and that of his successor, Mr. Van Buren.

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Now, sir, let us look at this relentless proscription, and see what it was.

In answer to a resolution of the House of Rep resentatives of July 16, 1841, an official list was laid before that body, by the heads of the depart ments, of all officers appointed by the President, with the advice of the Senate, who had been removed from office from the 4th of March, 1829, to the 4th of March, 1841, and they numbered precisely two hundred and eighty-three.

This period comprises the twelve years while the administration was in Democratic hands, under Jackson and Van Buren, and while the "wholesale system of proscription" was prosecuted" with relentless vigor!" I give an abstract containing the removals under each department.

List of the number of officers, who derive their appointment
from the nomination of the Fresident and concurrence of
the Senate, removed from office from the 4th of March,
1829, to the 4th of March, 1841.
Department of State---Diplomatic.......

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21
44

Consuls.
Marshals, attorneys, &c
Miscellaneous..

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ar Department-Dismissed or not reappointed.......... Treasury Department-Collectors.

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Surveyors..
Naval officers

2

Appraisers..

37 .16--118

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four-and-a-half months, under the non-proscriptive policy of the Whigs, as occurred in twelve years, under the proscriptive administrations of Jackson and Van Buren!

Mr. DAWSON. Will the Will the Senator allow me to ask him a question?

Mr. BRADBURY. Certainly, sir.

Mr. DAWSON. How many were removed during the first six months of General Jackson's Administration?

Mr. BRADBURY. I am unable to state the precise number in that particular period.

Mr. DAWSON. The important officers are generally removed during the first few months of the incoming Administration; and I suppose it will be found that most of the removals were made in the early part of the administration of General || Jackson.

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New appointments by the Postmaster General...... MAKING 6,426 NEW APPOINTMENTS, AND 3,406 REMOVALS IN A YEAR, UNDER THE LIBERAL POLICY" OF GEN. TAYLOR, AGAINST 491 UNDER "THE RELENTLESS PROSCRIPTION" OF GEN. JACKSON! But this is not all; the Senator's language includes only the removals made by the Postmaster General, and not those where the emoluments exceed one thousand dollars per annum, and the appointment comes from the President. And as to the large number of resignations, some of them arose from the offices being worthless, and others to prevent being removed.

But the Senator says there are many post offices remaining, from which no removal has been made. Aside from the fact that many of them have long been held by Whigs, what is the character of the offices remaining, compared with those from which removals have been made? Are they lucrative or important? Not at all. As a general remark, they are places of little income, hardly paying for the trouble of discharging the duties. And yet the honorable Senator gravely compares them by number with the valuable offices which have been filled by his friends; as if an office that paid one or two dollars per month should offset one whose emoluments were one, two, or three thousand dollars a year! Such mode of reasoning has no parallel, except by that of the magistrate in Knickerbocker, who adjudicated upon the accounts of two litigants by counting the leaves of the ledgers upon which their mutual charges were made, and, 283 finding that each contained an equal number, he On the 4th of March, 1841, the anti-proscriptive decided that the accounts balanced, and dismissed party came into power, under Harrison and Tyler; the parties! Such appears to be the rule of deand it appears, in answer to the resolution of July cision of the honorable Senator. The Senator 16, that the number of removals of the same class states the number of removals of postmasters in of officers to which I have referred, from the 4th Maine, and I presume he does it correctly; but he of March to the time of the response in July fol- omits to say that every one holding his place under lowing, (subordinates not being embraced in either the President's appointment, with a solitary ex3990,) was 182-nearly two-thirds as many inception, has been removed.

Registers in Land Office...19
Receivers
(C ".....36-133
Post-Office Department--Deputy postmasters from

July 2, 1836-the date of the
act authorizing such ap-
pointments....

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I regret that the honorable Senator, after giving the removals under the Post Office Department, did not see fit to go on, and inform the Senate of the number under the other departments of the public service-how many marshals, district attorneys, land officers, collectors, surveyors, and subordinates in the custom-houses-and that he has chosen to give us no light upon this wide field of executive patronage. Thus left, we must seek such information as can be obtained from other sources. Anxiously desiring to be accurate in my statements, and to do no injustice to any one, 1 sought information from members of Congress, from different States, as to the facts in their respective localities, and I now submit letters from members from several of the States:

A member from New York writes:

In answer to your inquiry how generally the system of removal from office for political opinions has been adopted in our State by the present Administration, and to what extent Democrats there have been retained in office, I can only say, that so far as I have any knowledge, not a single Democrat holds, at this time, any office of the least importance in New York, within the reach of the Federal Government. There may be here and there a deputy postmaster in some obscure neighborhood; but, from the general course pursued, it is evident that all have been displaced whose successor could be agreed upon, or when one could be found who would accept the office.

A member from Mississippi writes:

In reply to your inquiry of this morning, I have to state, that I know very few Democratic officers in Mississippi who have been permitted to retain offices under this Administration. Some of the most worthy and faithful men in our State have been removed for no apparent reason, except that they were known to be decided Democrats.

A member from Indiana writes:

In reply to your inquiry I have to state, that I know of bat one incumbent friendly to the last Administration, of any valuable or prominent office or employment, held under the United States in Indiana, who has not been removed from office since President Taylor came into power, on the 5th of March, 1849. I do not say but that there may be occasionally a Democratic postmaster in the country left undisturbed, where the emoluments of the post are too insignificant to excite the cupidity of an office-seeking neighbor.

A member from Florida writes:

The sweep in Florida has been general and complete. Only one Democrat remains in any office of importance, so far as I recollect; and he owes his continuance, thus far, to a dispute between different applicants for the spoil. Of course allusion is made to salaried offices. A Democratic postmaster retained at St. Augustine, is an exception to the general rule which has been put in practice.

A member from Illinois writes:

In reply to your inquiry I take occasion to say, that in my opinion, no Democrat in my State (Illinois) bolds a Federal office at this time, of any consequence or consideration.

A member from Texas writes:

In answer to your inquiry in relation to removals from office in our State, I have to say, that every Democrat who held an office of any importance, has been removed, (there may be two or three exceptions, as there are that many whose polities I do not know,) and their places have been supplied by Whigs-several of them from other States.

A member from Alabama says:

This Administration has seized upon nearly every important office in this State, (Alabama,) and they are now Alled by Whigs. The exceptions are few and generally unimportant.

A member from New Hampshire writes:

In answer to your inquiries, removals have generally beeu made in the most important offices in New Hampshire by the present Administration, and Whigs appointed in place of Democrats,

To which a member from Vermont adds:
The same is true with regard to Vermont.

A member from Ohio says:

In reply to your inquiry, I have to say that in the section of Ohio in which I reside, removals have been made by the present Administration of a very large majority of the per sous holding any office of importance on the 4th of March, 1819, and appointments made from the ranks of the friends of the Administration.

A member from Tennessee says:

In answer to your note of this date, I have to say thai nearly all the offices under the General Government in the State of Tennessee, of any importance or emolument, are now filled by Whigs.

A member from Connecticut writes:

there are in my congressional district, sixty-eight post

In answer to an inquiry just put to me, I have to say that

offices, and the incumbents of thirty-five of them have been changed within the last year. Of the others, a large number of the incumbents have already agreed in polities with the present Administration. I think there are not more than six or eight offices now in the charge of Democrats, whose annual income is over one hundred dollars.

A member from Michigan says:

Yours of this date, asking for information as to the exten to which Democrats have been removed from office by the present Administration in the State of Michigan, is just eceived.

In reply, I have to state that I know of no Democrat who now holds any office in Michigan of any considerable profit. or importance under the National Administration. As regards the important and desirable offices, either Democrats have been removed to make room for Whigs, or Whigs appointed in their places on the expiration of their commis sions.

A member from Pennsylvania writes:

As you are in process of investigation of the removals and changes of officers, I can state that in Pennsylvania all the important offices have been placed in the hands of the Whigs by the present Administration.

A member from Arkansas writes:

In reply to your inquiry, I have to say that the registere and receivers (fourteen in number) in the State of Arkansas were removed on the same day, soon after the accession of President Taylor to office. About the same time the district attorney and surveyor general were removed, and a few months afterwards the marshal. As far as I am informed, the principal postmasters have been removed, and succeeded by persons of different politics.

A member from Kentucky writes:

The important offices in my section of the State of Kentucky have been taken from the Democrats, and given to the Whigs. Some postmasters, even, who kept offices merely for the convenience of the neighborhood, have been removed, and Whigs appointed in their stead,

In my own State, every office of importance is now filled by the friends of the powers that be. Collectors of customs, surveyors, marshal, district attorney, postmasters appointed by the President. (with a solitary exception,) most of the other postmasters whose emoluments are of any considerable importance, and even keepers of the light. houses, have been swept by the board. Proscrip. tion has done its work perfect; and "violent hands have been laid, indiscriminately, upon the public officers" who differed from General Taylor in po litical opinion, notwithstanding they were honest, capable, and faithful, and far less obnoxious to the charge of political partisanship than those who have succeeded them.

A statement has been sent to me in regard to the custom-house in Salem, Massachusetts, showing that there has been no time, for the last fifteen years, when the larger share of the emoluments of that office was not received by Whigs, and that no removal of subordinates had been made under Democratic Administrations; yet, upon the accession of President Taylor, proscription has sought out such victims as the accomplished and talented Hawthorne.

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But I need not cite further evidence on this subject. The same response comes from every quarter of the Union.

postmaster at Maysville, July 1, 1845, and somewhere about the middle of June last, before my commission had expired, Eli D. Anderson, esq., was appointed by General Taylor tó succeed me. I have never received to this day any official notice of my removal. The friends of the Administration in Kentucky gave as the reason for my removal that I was an active politician, and it was contrary to the doctrine and purposes of the Administration to retain any man in offies who took an active part in polities. While I was canvass

of political documents, addressed to my successor, Mr. Anderson, and franked by the Hon. TRUMAN SMITH, were sent from Washington city to the Maysville post office, and a large quantity of them delivered to a Whig named Moore, and distributed through the district. When I returned to Maysville, I went to the post office, called upon the postworthy successor, Mr. Anderson, of a part of the labor of master, procured some of the documents, and relieved my distributing them, by exhibiting them to the people myself upon every occasion where I made a speech afterwards.

The position, that under no former Administration has the work of proscription been carried to so great an extent, is abundantly sustained by the facts which I have presented. I believe, further, that the number of removals will be found to being the district, and at a distant point, several large bags nearly as great, if not greater, than the aggregate of all that have been made by every Democratic Administration from the foundation of the Government to the present time. What a redemption of the no-party pledges that were made to the country! What an exemplification of that liberal policy" which affects to scorn the odious system of bestowing the public offices as the spoils of party victory! Yet the honorable Senator in his zeal calls for more removals! I pray, let them be made, if the Administration desire it; for the few places which have been spared are of little comparative importance.

For what purpose, eir, I ask, is all this proscrip

tion?

Is it to equalize the offices? The facts I have stated show that such a ground of justification has nothing to support it-that there can be no pretence that equality has been the rule of action.

Mr. BADGER. I would ask the honorable Senator if the writers of the letters he has read say that they were improper removals? The honorable Senator did not read anything of the kind.

Mr. Anderson, when the documents were received, was package, which contained some five or six electioneering in the discharge of his duties as postmaster, and every documents, intended falsely to create the impression in my district that the Democrats were in alliance with the Abolitionists, was franked by Mr. Smith and addressed to Mr. Anderson. I was dismissed from office because I was an active politician, and because the rule of the Administra

tion was not to retain politicians in office; but any successor
had not become familiar with the duties of his office before
Mr. Smith--whether under the advice or not of the Admin-
istration, I do not know---selected him as the agent through
whom to secure my defeat as a candidate for Congress, by
the distribution of electioneering documents slandering the
Democratic party.

These facts you are at liberty to make use of, and give
me as authority, should you think it advisable to do so.
Very respectfully your obedient servant,
R. H. STANTON,

Comment is unnecessary.

Mr. BRADBURY. They were removals of Failing to vindicate the Administration, and findDemocrats, and Whigs were appointed to succeeding the task too uninviting to be pursued, my honthem. The officers removed were men who had the confidence and respect of the community; but being a Democrat appears to be regarded as a sufficient ground alone to make a removal " proper, in these days of non-prosciption.

Mr. BORLAND. If the honorable gentleman will allow me a moment. Inasmuch as it seems to be desirable to collect information upon the subject, I feel disposed to contribute a little, and to say that in my State the Administration has not only removed all the Democrats, but some of the Whigs also, and some of its own appoint

ments.

Mr. BRADBURY. Another ground of justifi

||

||

orable friend has abandoned it, to engage in a re-
view of the history of the Democratic party. He
commenced this part of his labor with an attack
upon the Administration of President Jackson.
That Administration has become a part of the his
tory of the country, inscribed upon some of its
brightest pages, and needs no defence from me.
The laboring millions, in whose behalf its tri-
umphs were achieved, vindicated and sustained it.
It is now recollected for the impress it stamped
upon the legislation of the country, and the ben
efits it conferred.
efits it conferred. I can always forgive a Whig
for any decorous assault upon President Jackson.
That party have strong reasons for remembering
him with chagrin. He struck down and trampled
their idol policy in the dust. He destroyed their
well-concerted schemes. An organized and pow.
erful party allied itself with a gigantic system of
internal improvement, and the associated wealth
of the nation, controlled by an immense banking
establishment, with its branches in every part of
the Union, and by these mighty aids it was upon
the point of attaining and establishing itself perma-
nently in power. The avenues of business were
controlled; the public press and public men were

cation I understand to be that the officers removed were active partisans, or interfered in elections. How happens it, then, that the new appointments have generally been made of the most active partisans in the country? Presidents of Rough and Ready clubs, and political orators who devoted themselves to party electioneering, have been put || into office, while some of the most quiet and unexceptionable men have been removed. If the object in the selection had been to procure political interference, the choice could not, in many cases, have been more fortunate. The absurdity of this pre-attached to its interest, and accommodated by its tence is so palpable, I am tempted to show it up.

A Representative from Kentucky some time ago sent me, unsolicited, the following letter, which will explain what services were expected to be performed by the newly appointed officers; and how far fealty to the Administration is the price of patronage:

House of RepreSENTATIVES, March 20, 1850. SIR: The subject of removals from office by the present

Administration is under consideration in the Senate, and yourself and the honorable Mr. SMITH, of Connecticut, are engaged in its discussion. I was appointed by Mr. Polk

capital. Schemes were on foot that would have required millions and tens of millions of dollars to complete them. They made a direct appeal to local interests so numerous that resistance was dangerous and seemed hopeless. President Jackson was urged, from regard to every consideration affecting himself, and the safety of the party with preferred the public good to present ease and which he had acted, to forego the veto. He temporary success, and did his duty, and met the shock. The same devotion to principle

the revenues were paid into the
treasury.

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impelled him to grapple with and crush, in a more desperate conflict, the United States Bank. Is it strange, then, that when engaged in the struggle to which these questions gave rise, the people should have insisted that their champion Almost THIRTY-FIVE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, as should stand at the helm for another term? As- the estimated expenditure for the next year by an suredly not; and, although favorable to the one- Administration whose friends and champions arterm principle, he is not obnoxious to the censureraign that of Jackson for extravagance! Whether of the Senator from Connecticut for yielding his wishes at the call of the country, and consenting

to a reëlection.

this vast amount will be sufficient or not, we do not know. How much may be appropriated for internal improvements remains to be determined. He "corrupt the public press," or bring the But if a tithe of what is asked shall be granted, patronage of the Government into conflict with the and receive the Executive approbation, millions freedom of elections! How preposterous the more will be required. We have just had a decharge! It was not he who advanced money toficiency bill before us which appropriates some editors. They did not look to him for $52,000 two millions of dollars, I think, to make up for loans. The Senator has mistaken the direction to the deficiencies in the appropriations of the last which he should turn his investigations on this year. subject. Let him seek for information in the archives of that corporation which sought to control the currency and the politics of the county.

Mr. DAWSON. Will the Senator allow me to ask one question for information? How much of this estimate of the deficiency bill is for a balance due, arising out of transactions of the past Administration? I merely wish to ask to prevent misapprehension, and for the purpose of placing the truth before the country. In a country like this the facts should be fairly represented by all parties. Ifany error of the Government has taken place, it is to be remedied by a proper understanding. I have sufficient confidence in the intelligence of the country to believe that no Administration can impose upon our people, and ask for appropriations to which they are not entitled.

Mr. BRADBURY. Undoubtedly a considerable portion of the appropriations in the deficiency bill is necessary to meet expenses which grew out of the late war. I did not assail or condemn that bill; it was necessary that I should refer to it to give an accurate view of the extent of the appropriations now called for. The honorable Senator does not allude to the thirty-five millions that are called for, for the ordinary expenses of the gov

The honorable Senator contends that General Jackson was elected President upon pledges not to make removals from office; and that upon his accession to power, he violated these pledges "by || entering upon a wholesale system of proscription. It is a sufficient answer to this position that he was not elected upon any pledges of the kind. Reform was the watchword of the canvass. But upon what proof does the Senator rest his allegation? Upon letters written during the contest, giving to the public assurances as to his position or course of action, like those of General Taylor? Not at all. He wrote no such letters; his friends | gave no such assurances. The honorable Senator can find nothing, absolutely nothing, except a letter written to Mr. Monroe, twelve years before that time, making suggestions in reference to circumstances then existing. And I need not say that the Senator must have found himself sorely pressed to attempt any analogy between such a letter and the direct and unequivocal assurances that floodederument, in a year of profound peace, but exthe country during the recent presidential contest. presses his confidence that no Administration The allusion of the honorable Senator to the ex- will ask for appropriations to which they are not penditures under President Jackson's adminstra- entitled. I have not the slightest disposition to tions was most unfortunate for his purpose. It do any injustice to the Administration. I rewas calculated to provoke examination into a sub-ferred to known facts-to documents which they ject about which, I should suppose, he, as the have spread before us; and I should rejoice if I especial friend of the present Administration, would could be of any service in arresting the progress feel not a little sensitive. By reference to official of this Government in extravagance of expendidocuments, it will be found that the total expenditures, by calling attention to the subject. In 1830 ture of the Government for the year 1830, exclusive of payments on account of the public debt, was $13,229,533; and the average annual expenditure, as above, during the first term of President Jackson, was $14,062,469. The Florida war increased the expenditures beyond this amount during the second term. Now, sir, we have laid upon our tables an ESTIMATE OF APPROPRIATIONS, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1851, from the Treasury Department, which calls for the modest sum Df....... $44,997,092 73

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From which deduct estimates for payment on account of the public debt

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This sum should be further reduced by the estimated cost of collecting the customs, as this expense was formerly deducted before

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the population was little less than thirteen millions, and the expenditures were a fraction more than a dollar for each inhabitant. The present population may be a little more than twenty millions, and the ordinary expenditures at the rate of more than one and three-fourths-thus showing that the expenditures, instead of diminishing, are increasing at a ratio of seventy-five per cent, faster than the population, in the period to which I have referred. It is time to pause, and consider to what end this course will lead, and what is to be the burden upon the people when our population shall reach the number that a few more decades will give. It is time to see if something cannot be done in the way of retrenchment-something to limit such enormous expenditures. To do this, not only the Executive departments, but Congress must coöperate in the effort.

The Senator was unfortunate, also, in his reference to the expense of collecting the customs at

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