Dear Sir—I have recently been informed by a letter from Jackson, that a rumor prevails to the effect that I have endorsed the statements made by your correspondent "Veritas," in letters written from this place in December last.
To those who know me, I hope it is unnecessary to say, that I would not adopt such a mode to attack any man, or thus circuitously proceed to guard our State against "intrigue" and "insult.' Had there been no other consideration than my own position, it would have been left to time to correct any false impressions which this unfounded rumor may have created; but the so-called "facts" contained in these letters are of a character to excite prejudices in Mississippi which may prove injurious to our common interests; and therefore, without taking upon myself the part of advocate or apologist of any one, I wish to disabuse the public mind by a simple correction of the most prominent mis-statements in the letters referred to.
In the letter of the Dec. 20th, 1845, it is stated that Wm. M. Gwin received a draft for $7,972.24, drawn against an amount of interest decided to be due to the Chickasaw Indians on monies deposited in the Agricultural Bank of Mississippi.
The writer says: "This amount Gwin received while here a few weeks ago. He got the Secretary of the Treasury to allow the claim had it passed through the several accounting departments; and the Doctor pocketed the snug sum, and hastened forthwith to Mississippi, to attend to Mr. Walker's orders in the Senatorial campaign."
Here is an act asserted to have been performed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and a corrupt motive insinuated for the performance of that act; constituting a charge which might well arouse suspicions, and create fears for the safety of the public funds under the present administration. What are the facts in this case? By the books of the 1st Comptroller, it appears that on the 21st January, 1845, the claim of Wm. M. Gwin, agent for the Chickasaws, was allowed for the sum of $7,992.24, and that sum paid on the same day, by draft on the Bank of Louisiana; the transaction being closed a month and a half before the present administration came into power.
I have learned from the Treasury Department, that shortly after Mr. Walker became Secretary, large claims were presented by Dr. Gwin, agent of the Chickasaws, for allowance and payments; and that under the provisions of the Act of 3d March 1845, they were all rejected, and that no money has been so allowed or paid to Dr. Gwin by the present Secretary of the Treasury.
With regard to the charge of interference in our Senatorial election, made elsewhere more distinctly, and with violent appeal to resent the insult, and resist the attempt at official dictation; I have made inquiries, and been distinctly answered, that Mr. Walker did not write a single letter, or otherwise interfere in the late canvass for a Mississippi Senator.
In the letter dated Dec. 19th, 1845, it is asked, where does the Secretary of the Treasury deposit the public funds in this District? and the writer answers: "Why, he selects the firm of Corcoran & Riggs (brokers and money dealers in this city) as the depositories of the public moneys." The writer does not stop to inform you whether a better selection could have been made, but goes on to tell how "the story runs" that these Bankers "give fine dinners; they dine and wine the Secretary of the Treasury," and that "they also build a fine house for Mr. Walker to dwell in.”
Now, sir, this second "fact," this second insinuation of a corrupt motive, is of the same baseless character as the first.
The Bankers were not selected as depositories by the present Secretary of the Treasury, (Mr. Walker.) The security they deposited has been found ample, and they have been continued. If an "Independent Treasury" law should be re-enacted, for which no one has shown greater solicitation than the present Secretary of the Treasury, all future connexion with these Bankers would be precluded. As to the house suffice it to say, Mr. Walker resides in the house he has occupied for years past, and I have been informed that Corcoran & Riggs are not building, nor ever have built a dwelling house in this city.
From these samples you will be able to put a proper estimate upon the many other points which are contained in those letters, and to see the propriety of this move to arrest at once the
impression that I was connected with, or responsible for, the veracity of "Veritas."
I will, before closing, notice one other point in the correspondence treated of. In the letter of December 23rd, 1845, your correspondent, ("Veritas,') referring to the circumstances connected with the "Lost Commission," says of the Secretary of the Treasury, "if it does not cost him his seat in Mr. Polk's cabinet, it will at least paralyze his efforts, his aims and desires for all practical and useful purposes."
Like yourself, I have from the beginning contended that the public had a right to know all that their agents had done in relation to a transaction so important as the appointment of an U. S. Senator. Before this reaches you I hope the correspondence thereon will have been published, and that like many other secrets, its importance will have been lost in the act of disclosure.
In the mean time, sir, I would say that it would be with the greatest reluctance, and the deepest regret, that I would entertain the idea that the efforts of the Secretary of the Treasury are to be paralyzed at the moment when all his energies are directed to the accomplishment of those great objects, "the divorce of Bank and State," and "the repeal of the protective Tariff of 1842."
Am I deceived when I expect Mississippi to nerve the arm engaged in such a contest, rather than to strip it of its power? It is her cause, and her prayers belong to him who enters the lists to sustain it.
The political aspirations of individuals are only important as they are connected with the public good. This is, I think, the case in the present instance. Mississippi has now for the first time in her history, a representative in the Executive Cabinet. We have believed that our interests were unjustly neglected by the Federal Government; we find the Secretary of the Treasury, with his acknowledged ability, laboring for us. Shall he not receive the cheer necessary to sustain the laborer? Shall vague rumors shaped by private spleen—shall dark suspicions anonymously thrown into circulation, be permitted to rob your public servants of the only reward the honest politician seeks, the approbation of those to whom his time and toil have been given?
Please publish this, that it may follow the misrepresentations it is designed to correct.
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