were confined to one object, namely, the French debt ; but the inference is not, that no other inftruftions were given, and that the secretary acted without authori ty, but the very reverse, that the Preli dent either left the other object to the general discretion of the secretary, who was, ex officio, the proper agent, and his representative ; or that he teferved it for subsequent and occasional inftruftions. This inference must be the true one : firft, because a contraiy supposition would impute to the President an illegal inten tion, that of applying all the monies bor ro«id under both acts to the object ot one only ; secondly, because the coramif fion extending to the borrowing 14 milli on and embracing both objects, and the inftruftions being confined to 12,000,000 and to only one object it followed that the other either was left to discretionary ma nagement, or to after regulation, for the law ertjoined the execution of both. If-prefumption then W3S to govern, the more natural presumption was, that the officer acted according to some gtneral discretion rcpofed in him, or according to inftruftions from time to time given. These inftruftions may have been verbal, as well as written. The written instruc tions given in the firft instance were evi dently confined, to the object of the firft ast; the neccfiary concliifion was, .that the application of.the monies borrowed under the second ast was not meant to-be included in the inftruftions, but Was left to be tegulated by a general discretion, 01 by occasional direction s, verbalor other wise. . ' To presume that the secretary acted without the fanftion of the President, was to suppose that the President was to tally ignorant of the application of any part of the loan to the purchase of the debt. But there is in the poflefiion of the house abundant testimony of the Presi dent's privity and co-operation. I ft. In his speech to both houses, iir December 1790, in announcing the loan, he expressly refers to its being made by virtue of both a&s, thereby implying clearly that it had reference to the objetts of both. He therein likewise refers the house to a further communication from the secretary, on that fubjeft. 2dly. The secretary, puifoant to that reference informed the house, in the name and by order of the President, that a part of the loan, to wit. 150,000 florins, was applied in payment to France ; another part to wit 160,000 florins, to the Dutch debt; and that it was deemed highly ad vifeable to apply the residue to the pur chase of the debt, if Congtefs wpuld re move a doubt as to the terms on which the loan had been negociated. Congress did remove that doubt- by their ast of March 179 1. It followed then of course, that the re sidue would be applied according to the intimation given ; it was so understood /on all hands, and the money being to be inverted in this country, it likewise follow ed of course, that it must be drawn here ; a contrary conduct would have been cen surable. And yet, notwithstanding these fa&s, though the President had informed the house asfarback asDec. lyyb.thatthc loan had been a conjundt loan under the authority of both adts, and consequently for both objedts, though at the fame time he had referred the house to the fecietary for further information, in relation to that loan and its applicability, though the se cretary had in the name and by order of the President informed the house by his report in February 179 1 that only a part of the money borrowed had been applied to the French and Dutch debt, and that the residue would be applied to the pur chase of stock, as soon as Congress re moved the doubt, though Congress pafled a law expressly to remove that doubt, yet it had been gravely and earnestly conten ded, that the secretary was not authoris ed to apply any part of that money to the purchate of stock, that it was done with out the fandiion of the President, & that Congress, until the late call for informa tion, were totally ignorant of the applica tion of any part of it to that object. .There was then the fulleft and mod fa tisfadlory evidence of the privity and con currence of the President, in confirmation of the evidence resulting fiom official rela tion. • , Between the chief magistrate and his immediate agents, either a general discre tion or inftriiftions must be presumed, be caufc it is presumable he will do his duty, and punish where either a discretion has not been allowed, or inltruftions hare not been given, or where his inftruftiont have'been contravened. The argument on the other fide implies in the chief magistrate either ignorance 6T neglcft of duty ; on the one hand that he was unacquainted with the tranfaftion, or on the other, that being acquainted he acquiesced in a violation of law without removing the tianfgreffor. Could it be | seriously Olid, would it not be abfucd to suppose that an operation of such extent, provided for by law, communicated to both houses, notorious to all the ratr chants of Philadelphia and New-York, as ; that of drawing and felling the bills on Europe, was unknown to the President? Mu(l he not have been wsll acquainted with these tranfadtions, and that Without daily frequenting ihe coffee-houfe, as some of his friends lately advised him ? If the infttuftions or the intentions of the President had been contravened,would he not have vindicated his own authority by removing the officer ? But it had been objected that bills were drawn previous to the fanftion of the legislature by the confirmatory ast of March 179 1. Admit the fail, and there was nothing reprehensible in it. It appears from the fit ft general inltruftions to- Mr. Short, in August 1790, that the Secretary 1 consider ed ordinary charges, and 5 per cent, in terest as within the meaning-os the law.; Pursuing this confttuftion, and bfilief ing it to be very important to the general operations of the treasury, he drew for the money, reserving himfelf as to the fi nal application for an adt of the house ic movirig the doubt. The drawing for the money was a mere intermediate step, which amounted neither to a breach, nor to a fulfilment of the law, which was wholly silent on that point. The application was the criterion whe ther the law had been fulfilled or nor. If the legislature had not removed the doubt, the money would have been remitted back for the foreign object, and from the re lative price of public and private bills without loss, probably with advantage. It was prudent in the mean time to place it where it was likely to be this was done. ) ' It was indeed remarkable that all the points now railed as objections were made known in the report before alluded to of February 1791, as things done or intend ed ; no objection was then made or dreimt It had been asked, why have the, in. ftruftiuns not been produced, if any ex ift«d ? The call had been ooly for copies of au thorities ; the inftru&ions may have been verbal. The Secretaiy in his report on loans informed the house, " that besides the firft geneial inftruftions, the trust re posed in him was to be regulated by jfub fequentand occasional diredtions." A mo tive very honorable to him might be af figtied for his not bringing forward the Prelident's inftrudlions as a cover. Rely ing that the province of the house was to examine into the effe&s of measures, their conformity to law and the public good, ami that the necessary executive inftrtifti ons were to be presumed, the Secretary had evidently chosen to implicate the Pre sident as little as pofllble. ; The order requested the President to lay before the house copies of the autho rities dire&ing the application of the mo nies borrowed ; it was evident that the Prelident construed this order into a call not for the inftrudtions from him to the Secretary, but for the inftru&ions from the Secretary to his agents, because in the report made in pursuance of that order, the Secretary presents, by order of the President, his own letters, to Messrs. Short, Willink and Van Staphorft, as the au thorities to apply the proceeds of the loans. It followed therefore, that the pa per relied on was not intended to be given as the only inftrudtion refpefting the ap plication of the loan ; the interference from it was coofequently erroneous.' The 'President could never conceive that the house meant to call for his private induc tions from time to time imparted to his immediate agent under the words "of the resolution : that link must have been pre furned ; he therefore diredted a transmissi on of the authorities ffom the Secretary to his agents. But what has the want or breach of in ftruftions to do with the breach of the law ? Suppose no inftiuclions given, or 330 the Inftru&tons tiot putfued, *nd yet sup pose the law to have been completely purlued, could it be said there was any breach of law ? or suppose inftru&ions given and ftriftly pursued, ami the law to have been depaited from, would the adherence to inttru&ions have- jullihed that departure ? Either what was done was nugatory, or it would have been agreeable to law ; to affirm the contrary, would be to confound two things perfedtly diftinft, inilru&ions, and laws. The resolution imports that the secre tary has violated the law of the 4th of A>ugo(t 1790, by not pilrfuitig the in ftruftions of the President ; that law is silent as to inftruftions ; it does not re quire that the President shall give instruc tions to the secretary, nor doe's it require that the secretary (hall be alone guided by the inftru&ions of the President ; it only dire&s the President to cause a certain sum to be borrowed, and leaves it to him to cause a proper application to be made of the proceeds. The drawing money into this country, with or without authority, to apply it to the purchase of the debt cannot be deem ed a violation of the law of the 4th Au gust, for it was not loaned under the au thority of that acl alone, but under the joint authority of the two a&s; if any thing is meant by the resolution, it oughc to mention both the acts. To go furthei, Mr. Smith infilled that the Secretary had, virtute officii, a legal authority to apply the monies, when bor rowed, according to law, without inflec tions. The loans might have been made in the United States as well as abroad ; sup pose them obtained of the bank of Boston, would it have been criminal for the Se cretary, without inftru&ions, to have drawn the money to the places where it would be most advantageously invested ? Suppose the loan obtained of the bank of the United States, would it have been deemed irregular to have, without in ftru&ions, issued a wartant to place it in the treasury ? Why was it more irregu lar or more criminal to draw it from abroad as a preliminary step ? The moment the foreign loans were ne gociated, and the monies paid into the hands of the Secretary's agents abroad, from that moment they became as much utjder his controul and fupenntendance, fubjeft to legal appropriation, as any mo nies in the tteafury. 'Twas not necessary to establish this po sition, that the fubjeft of foreign loans should have been specially mentioned in the co'nftitution of the treasury depart ment.. Many things resulted collaterally from the general ftru&ure of an institution which were not expressed in it. He did not however intend, that the doctrine here advanced, (hould touch the question astowhat official propriety might have required between the chief magif trate-and(the Secretary. 'Twas the point of legality only, which he meant to exa mine. In all executive functions, relating to the finances, the Secretary must be consi dered as the agent of the President, and the legislature must- take it for granted, where the contrary is not manifeft, that the relation has been properly attended to ; justice to both characters di&ated the presumption. • It clearly resulted from these remarks ; ift, that there was no ground to infer ei ther want of inftrudtion or breach of in ftruftion, but diteftly the reverse. 2dty. It as clearly resulted that if there was, it would not follow that therp had been a violation of law. Having gone through this resolution, Mr. Smith observed, that if there was as little of criminality in the subsequent char ges as in that which he had just difcufied, and from an attentive examination he fiti cerely believed it, he was fatisfied that notwithllanding all the severe animadver sions within, and all the virulent calumny without the walls of Congress, the cqndnft of the Secretary would come forth chaste and unblemished, itiftead of any thing be ing dete&ed which would disgrace Pan demonium, nothing could be chargeable to him, which wouid fully the purest an gel in heaven. Whatever difference of o pinion might exist as to the wisdom and benefit of his meafutes, he was confident in faying that in every thing the Secreta ry had done, he had been guided by prin ciples honorable and patriotic, and he frirfted that a very preat majority of the committee would by their votes evioce the fame fentiinent. The sword of justice, it wa, Uid, ought at times to be taken from tbe scabbard to keep great public fun&ionaries within the pale of the law, but it should be remem bered that if justice had its sword to nti ni(h the guilty, it had liltewlfe its fticld to protest the innocent. If the Secretary had committed a wanton violation of law let the sword be draw» forth forfcispimiQ,. ment ; but if he had purfurd the of an enlightened patrtotifin, the com mittee were called upon to raise the fTtic'd for the defence of a faithful officer. ' V Mr. Hillhoufe argued, that the inter, eft paid was not paid out of the 2,000,000 loan; and that the drafts were madca<*rec ably to the dire&ions of the President He (hewed this by the documents which had been already referred 10. He put in a cleat point of visw the propriety of avoiding the expence and ri(k of drafts and correspondent remittan ces ; and concluded by giviug his appro bation to the condud of the Secretary in the tranfa&ions complained of, and by exprefiing it as his firm belief—that a ma jority of the committee, from the evi dence before them, would undoubtedly be of opinion—that the charges brought forward are unfounded. Mr. Sedgwick rose to correct a mltlake of Mr. Mercer's. That gentleman had aflerted, that the Secretary had drawn on Europe, before the loan obtained bythe commifiion*rs under the old government was ratified. This was not the cafe, he said ; the loan had been ratified in purfu. ance of the provisions of the ast author ing it. The President, in his speech on the Bth of .Dec. 1790, fays, " that agree ably to the powers vested in him at the lad feflion, the loans in Holland had been completed." By existing acts of the legifiature, and from express communications from the St. cretary of theTreafury, it appears, that all the monies borrowed were deemed as borrowed under the joint authority of both adts, and not to be solely appropria ted for the payment of the foreign debt, Mr. Mercer explained, that he had said that the Secretary had drawn from the loan obtained under the authority of the old government, before said loan was le galized by law. If the legiftattifi had a right to legalize it, they had the right to reject it. [7"o le continued.] LONDON, December 20. In times like the present, when the principle! of the French Revolution are so much recom mended by some, for our imitation, everything is interesting which tends to confirm or contra dict the degree of general happiness which thofc nations received who have adopted the opinions of this new philosophy. There is so much good sense in the following, and it is so applicable to the present times in this country, that we have thought proper to give the article a very conspi cuous place. " WE have already remarked, that the level ing principles of the French Revolution were not (o fuccefsfuj in Germany, as-in some other coun tries. . . *, , « The firft instance of this appears in the ad dress from the inhabitants of Mayencc, 10 which they declare a desire of adhering to their ancient conrtitution, modified however with fomc ( trm'ng alteration, whicb they had formerly petitioned from their former sovereign. Frankfort has ma nifefted a fnnilar difpofnion, in a modeempha tically pointed, and not very palatable 10 the French Gene? al. " When General Cuftine laid this town under contribution, it is well known that he ordere the sum of two millions of florins to be levied upon the wealthy inhabitants polTeffed o rnore than thirty thousand florins* in personal eltate. The inferior class of people, persuaded that in dustry, which forms the great resource ot tn§ poor, is entirely annihilated from the moment that the rich are deprived of the 0 U P" porting them, have frankly expressed their len timents to General Cuftine in the follow.ngad drefs, in which the good sense of the Gernun#i peculiarly predominant, and cxptefled in a extremely pointed. " You have declared, t'ha y actuated By the best intention* towards the low er class of people. Permit us in our turn, equal freedom to exprefj our sentiments. " You pretend to protec* us against ops► - fions of which, God be praised, «« havc 4 knowledge, and ft rll less experience. ™ give us Liberty which we already er '.l ov j., i .expences of the gnvernment are equ* Y between the magistrates and ourre ve , have the wealthy formed a diftinft cW the poor; their profpenty exten Ito a, their flouriftring commerce rende. happy. Every per(on able and wi ins bour, is certain of finding fubfiflence, quence of which we find so many Dr [[ property. Poor indeed will * countries; but so numerous are th |. merits provided, by the munificence o 1 . r oc |, thy ancestors, from which our poor [f . relief, that our small (late excends, A o urift>- fpefls, countries much larger an m ing. * Between tzuoani three fhouf"rii pom*'.
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