"I will faithfully execute the office of President "of the United States; and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Consti"tution of the United States."

"By a clause in the 1st section of the 2d article of the Constitution, it is declared," that the Pre"sident shall, at stated times, receive, for his ser"vices, a compensation, which shall neither be "increased nor diminished during the period for "which he shall have been elected, and he shall "not receive, within that period, any other emo"lument from the United States, or any of "them."

"By the 3d section of the same article it is directed, "that the President of the United States "shall take care that the laws be faithfully exe"cuted."

"By a clause in the 9th section of the first article it is declared, "that no money shall be drawn "from the Treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law."

"By the act of Congress to establish the Treasury department, passed the 2d of September 1789, it is made the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, "to grant under the limitations therein esta"lished, or thereafter to be established, all warrants for money to be issued from the Treasury "in pursuance of appropriations by law."

66

By the same act it is made the duty of the Comptroller of the Treasury, "to countersign "all warrants drawn by the Secretary of the Treasury which shall be warranted by law.”

By the act of Congress, supplemental to the act establishing the Treasury department, passed the 3d day of March 1791, it is directed that every officer in the said department shall take an oath "well and faithfully to execute the trust committed "to him."

"By the act of Congress for allowing a compensation to the President, passed the 24th of September 1789, there is allowed to the President at the rate of 25,000 dollars per annum, for his services, to commence with the time of entering on the duties of his office, to continue as long as he should remain in office, and to be paid quarterly out of the Treasury of the United States.

"By an annual act of Congress, provision is made for the President's compensation by a specific appropriation of the sum of 25,000 dollars and

no more.

"Between the 30th of April 1789, the day on which the President qualified into office and the 30th of April 1790, which completed the first year of his Presidency, he drew by warrants from the late Secretary of the Treasury, countersigned by the Comptroller, the sum of 25,000 dollars and no

more.

"Between the 30th of April 1790 and the 30th of April 1791, being the second year of his service, the President drew by like warrants the sum of 30,150 dollars, being an excess beyond annual compensation made by law and the appropriation thereof by Congress of 5,150 dollars.

"Between the 30th of April 1791 and the 30th of April 1792, being the third year of his service, the President drew by like warrants the sum of 24,000 dollars, which, being 1000 dollars less than his annual compensation, reduced the excess that he received the year before to 4,150 dollars.

"Between the 30th of April 1792 and the 30th of April 1793, being the fourth year of his service, the President drew by like warrants the sum of 26,000 dollars, which again made up the excess of his second year's compensation, to 5,150 dollars more than the law allows.

"On the 4th of March 1793, when the first term of years for which the President was elected into office expired, he had drawn from the public Treasury by warrants from the late Secretary of the Treasury, countersigned by the Comptroller, the sum of 1037 dollars beyond the compensation allowed him by law, estimating from the day he qualified into office.

"The evidence of the sums drawn, and of the truth of the facts here stated, will be seen in the official reports made to Congress of the annual receipts and expenditures of the public monies, signed by you as Comptroller of the Treasury, and which have been published for the information of the people.

"But, Sir, as if it had been determined by the late Secretary of the Treasury, and yourself as Comptroller, to set at defiance all law and authority, and to exhibit the completest evidence of servile submission and compliance with the lawless will and pleasure of a President, attend to the following facts:

"On the 4th of March 1793, the President qualified into office, and commenced the second term of four years for which he was re-elected.

"On the 18th February 1793, Congress passed an act providing "that from and after the 3d day "of March in the present year (1793) the compen"sation of the President of the United States shall "be at the rate of 25,000 dollars per annum, in full for his services, to be paid QUARTER YEARLY at the Treasury."

66

66

"Between the 4th day of March 1793, and the 4th day of June following, being the first quarter after the passing of the last mentioned act, there was paid to the President out of the public Treasury, by warrants from the late Secretary of the Trea

sury,

sury, countersigned by you as Comptroller, the sum of eleven thousand dollars, being an excess of 4750 dollars in one quarter beyond the compensation allowed by law, and making at the same rate a compensation of 44,000 dollars per annum instead of the 25,000 dollars fixed by Congress.

"Upon you, Sir, the late Secretary of the Treasury, and the President, must rest the responsibility of these extraordinary outrages upon the laws and constitution of our country; since it remains to be seen how far the independent and impartial justice of the national legislature will be exercised in punishment of the offence already committed, as well as to prevent the repetition of it hereafter. In vain, Sir, are the numerous prohibitions of the Constitution and of the laws; in vain, Sir, are all the obligations of oaths and duty, and in vain will be all future precautions of the legislature to guard the chastity of the public treasury from lawless violation and abuse, if one man can exalt himself above the law, and with impunity disregard those high restraints which the people have ordained.

"Is there any other man in the government of the United States who would have dared to ask, or to whom you and your predecessor in office would have presumed to grant the like favour?

"Is it or is it not a small favour to receive 4750 dollars of the public money in one quarter beyond the amount of legal salary, and in addition to the former excess of 1037 dollars, already in hand and not refunded?

"If the precedent which this donation from the Treasury furnishes, were to be followed in favour of other public officers, how many hundred thousand dollars per annum would thus be lawlessly taken. from the public Treasury and saddled upon the D d 4

people?

people? Was it or was it not the duty of the late Secretary of the Treasury and of yourself as Comptroller, to have checked and restrained the abuse of power that has been stated, and why, instead of doing so, did you become, obedient like, the servile and submissive instruments of it?

"Can the people feel respect for the constituted authorities of their country, when those very constituted authorities are the first to trample upon the laws and constitution of their country?

"What will posterity say to the man who has acted in the manner I have stated, after having thus solemnly addressed the legislature of his country: "When I was first honoured with a call into the "service of my country, then on the eve of an "arduous struggle for its liberties, the light in "which I contemplated my duty required that I "should renounce every pecuniary compensation. "From this resolution I have in no instance de"parted; and being still under the impressions "which produced it, I must decline as inapplicable

66

to myself any share in the personal emoluments "which may be indispensably included in a per

manent provision for the executive department, "and must accordingly pray that the pecuniary "estimates for the station in which I am placed,

66

may, during my continuance in it, be limited to "such actual expenditures as the public good may "be thought to require *." Will not the world be led to conclude, that the mask of political hypocrisy has been alike worn by a CÆSAR, a CROMWELL, and a WASHINGTON?

"A CALM OBSERVER."

* This extract is taken from his first speech to the Congress.

"To