Part 268

It was likewise moved that the name of Charles Whitney should be comprehended in the resolution, because he also was taken into custody. The resolution, as amended, was agreed to. Mr. BALDWIN, Mr. W. SMITH, Mr. MURRAY, Mr. COIT, Mr. GILES, Mr. LIVINGSTON, and Mr. GOODHUE, were named for a committee.

Randall was now brought in, by Mr. WHEATON, Sergeant-at-Arms, and the City Marshal. That part of the journals which refers to his conduct was read to him.

The SPEAKER then interrogated the prisoner, whether these charges were true or false? Randall replied that he was not prepared to answer. He hoped that time would be given him. The SPEAKER asked what time he wanted? He could not positively tell; perhaps till the day after to-morrow.

Mr. W. SMITH was disposed to give him the time required.

Mr. BLOUNT said, that he felt for his own dignity as a member of the House, and for the dignity of the House. To suffer the prisoner to go away from the bar till he had said guilty, or not guilty, when thirty or forty members are positively charged with such conduct, and we suffer the culprit to withdraw, without obliging him to explain, will excite public suspicion that guilt is here.

Randall was then ordered to withdraw, till the discussion should be over.

Mr. RUTHERFORD was for making him say yes or no, directly, as to the guilt. If he wants to have time for pleading any thing in mitigation of his punishment, that is a quite different affair. But the honor of the House was concerned in making him give an immediate answer to the queries now put.

Mr. HILLHOUSE was for bringing Randall forward directly. He ought not to be allowed time to think of an answer.

Mr. HARPER felt as much as any man for the dignity of the House, but this would not induce him to proceed in a hurry. Mr. H. enlarged on the danger of indulging passion on this subject. It would be wrong to force the prisoner to answer unprepared. What if he refuses to answer at all? Confession amounts, in this case, to conviction. He was for granting indulgence.

Mr. VENABLE felt as much as any man for the dignity of the House. At the same time, he felt himself above suspicion, and the House above it. He would not wish to trample on the rights of an individual. He saw no danger that could arise to the House from a short delay. He referred to what Mr. HARPER had said about the hardship of making any man convict himself.

Mr. CLAIBORNE was also against hurrying the prisoner. He recommended that coolness and moderation should distinguish the proceedings of the House.

The question was then put, whether the prisoner should be obliged to answer immediately. Ayes 42, noes 48.

It was then moved, by Mr. W. SMITH, that he should be allowed till twelve o'clock, to-morrow.

Mr. BLOUNT proposed the yeas and nays on the latter question. A member observed that they should rather have been put on the one immediately preceding. The motion was supported only by four or five members. A fifth part of the House are requisite for calling the yeas and nays.

Mr. BLOUNT then laid on the table a long resolution. It was, in substance, that before Randall was recommitted, he should be interrogated as to who were the thirty or forty members that had been gained to the scheme.

Mr. HARPER thought it extraordinary to bring a culprit before the House for contempt of it, and then encourage him to criminate members. He should ever protest against persons being brought to the bar for that purpose. He therefore moved to strike out from the resolution proposed by Mr. BLOUNT, the words: "And if you did, who are the members whom you considered as so secured; and what were your reasons for thinking them so secured?" This was the last clause of an interrogatory which Mr. BLOUNT proposed putting to Randall.

Mr. BLOUNT declared that he had never meant bringing an accuser to the bar, or propounding a question that should bring forth an accusation.

Mr. HARPER replied.

Mr. BLOUNT then modified his resolution, by striking out the exceptionable words; to which Mr. HARPER then agreed.

Mr. MURRAY called upon gentlemen by their sensibility to personal dignity, and the character of the House, to arrest the motion. Its tendency certainly was to place the honor of the House, or of a very great part of it, in the power of a man of whose profligacy of principle there could now be no doubt. Will you, he observed, permit, nay, invite him, whom you arraign at the bar of this House, to be a public accuser? Will you adopt a charge against him, which is in its nature an imputation that however lightly and wickedly made, will implicate perhaps innocent men? These men, to rescue their own reputations, will be obliged to risk their characters, on the weight of their veracity, by denying this man's charge in the face of a world but too prone to suspect. By this motion, Randall's assertion to the gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. GILES,) the only member who has mentioned it, is to be alleged against Randall as an offence. That Randall said to the gentleman that there were thirty or forty members secured, he had no doubt; but he believed the fact to be that Randall was both deceived himself and attempted to deceive the gentleman. Why, said Mr. M., the fellow told me that those thirty members were secured. Mr. M. had not thought proper to state that circumstance, because he did not so much consider it as a fact material to the detection of Randall's guilt, as it was one which, if mentioned, might possibly afford to malice an opportunity of affixing a stigma to any thirty or forty names at which personal enmity might point. No public good could result from such a disclosure; for the assertion of such a man as Randall could not, among men of honor, be deemed a sufficient ground of suspicion; and yet the malice of the world, or the rancor of personal enemies, might attach suspicion and infamy to almost the whole House, from the indefiniteness of the charge. When Randall informed him, on Thursday night, that there were thirty members who would support his measures, he had felt in the very conduct which he then was himself pursuing to detect Randall, to arrest his scheme, a principle of candor towards others, which taught him that other gentlemen to whom Randall had communicated his scheme confidentially, were probably determined as honestly as himself to crush the infamous plot against the honor of the House. He knew that he who would be wicked enough to attempt seduction, might be weak enough to use this intelligence artfully, for the purpose of leading him the more readily to accept terms of infamy; because the object was painted as easily attainable, and that Randall might wish to diminish all qualms, by exhibiting a pretended group of accomplices whose company would at least diminish the appearance of singularity. I entertained, said Mr. M., no suspicion of any man--I knew Randall to be a corrupt man from his offers to myself--I therefore placed all his intelligence to the score of flimsy art: I knew that such a man was not to be fully believed, where his interest was to magnify his success. I drew favorable auspices with respect to the corps to which I belong, from another piece of intelligence of his, which was, that he communicated to some members, one of whom he had named, and whom I knew to be a man of honor, in what he called the general way. This general way was a display of the sounder part of his scheme merely, and not the corrupt; consisting in developing the advantages which would result to the Union in the disposal of their lands, provided the harmony of the Indians could be secured. In this view of his plan he gave the subject an attitude far from unimposing; and I conceived that, as in proportion to the numbers engaged confidentially he must know that the hazard of detection increased, he would not communicate the corrupt view as long as he found the more honest part of the policy might appear to strike any gentleman as a measure useful to his country; I therefore did not believe Randall, in the sense he evidently intended; therefore, sir, I did not feel myself at liberty to mention the assertion which I conceived to be unavailing as a circumstance necessary to the example I wished to make, but which, if communicated, I thought might cast a stain, by the mystery that enveloped it, upon a body whose character ought to be held sacred to the confidence of the country. My duty was to bring Randall's attempt to corrupt unequivocally into light, not by repeating all the arts which he excited to corrupt; nor by exhibiting them in a way that might wound the feelings of men of honor, who, if charged even personally by Randall, would have no refuge from odium but in their characters and counter-assertion: this, though always conclusive with those who personally know them, is not a protection to minds of sensibility against the stings of calumny. The voice of fame is not composed from the voice of men of honor.

Mr. HILLHOUSE was convinced that there was not a gentleman in the House, whose character rested on so slender a foundation, as to be affected by any thing that this man could say. He felt no anxiety for the reputation of the House, for he knew that it was not in the smallest danger. The resolution went merely to make Randall confess that he had said so and so. It implied nothing to affect members. A man covered with infamy making such charges could not expect credit, or obtain it from any body. Mr. HILLHOUSE was, for these reasons, in favor of the resolution for interrogating Randall.

The resolution was now read, as follows:

"Resolved, That it be made a charge against the said Robert Randall, that he declared to a member of this House, that a number consisting of not less than thirty members of this House had engaged to support his memorial."

Randall was then brought to the bar. The resolution was read to him, and he was informed that he must answer it to-morrow, at 12 o'clock.

A motion for adjourning was then made. Ayes, 26; so it was lost.

It was next moved and agreed, that Whitney should be brought to the bar. The SPEAKER then said, Is this the prisoner? Answered, Yes. What is your name? Charles Whitney. What is your usual place of residence? Vermont. What are you? I was bred to the farming business. Do you know one Robert Randall? Yes. The Clerk will read to you the charge that has occasioned your being brought here. The charge, as stated in the journal of the House, was then read to the prisoner. He was next interrogated by the SPEAKER, as follows: Are you guilty, or not guilty? Not guilty. Are you ready to speak in your defence? I am ready to tell every thing. Are you prepared to do so just now? Yes. Whitney then stated that he was connected with Randall in a plan for the purchase of eighteen or twenty millions of acres of land, lying between the Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan. He had come to town on the design of presenting a petition to Congress, but had no knowledge of any improper kind of applications. Randall had several times called upon him at his lodgings, at the Green Tree, in North Fourth street. He considered the scheme to be of probable advantage, and a handsome thing to the United States as well as to the prisoner himself, who repeatedly observed that he would not have engaged in it, but with a view partly to his own interest. He had wished to engage influential characters in the business. He was then asked what associates he had. He answered, Colonel Pepune and Mr. Jones, of the State of Massachusetts; and Mr. Ebenezer Allen, of Vermont. He also, upon a query from the SPEAKER, mentioned the name of another person, which was not distinctly heard. He was asked if the partners meant to divide the land into forty shares. He answered forty-one; but this was only in speculation. They had only a rough idea of the extent of the land, which was inhabited by the Wyandots, and was of a very good soil. The land was to be divided among the proprietors. The prisoner knew, in general, from Randall, that he called on Mr. SMITH, and other members; but was not privy to, nor suspected any unbecoming overtures. He was then asked the names of the associates at Detroit. He mentioned Mr. Erskine, Mr. Robertson, Mr. Innes, Mr. Pattison, and Mr. Erskine, junior. He said that some of them were Indian traders, to a considerable extent. He had called at Mr. BUCK's, of Vermont, (a member of the House,) as he was riding by his house. He knew him to be a gentleman of character whose name would add credit to the business. He had told him that there were several other persons intending to be concerned, and that, if it was consistent with his situation as a member of Congress, he would be glad to have him engaged, but at the same time carefully noticed that this proposal was conditionally made, and only if it was proper. He was asked what Mr. Erskine was. He is called Judge Erskine, but whether he is now a judge, or only was one in some other part of the country, at a former period, the prisoner cannot tell. You say that you came to Philadelphia about a month ago. Why were you so long in presenting your petition? He had a bad cold, and had been sick, and wanted to make a personal explanation to the members before bringing the affair before the House. Have you got any new associates in this city? None. Mr. LIVINGSTON then proposed a question, Whether any of the shares had been left unappropriated by your associates and you? Answer: It was at his own option to dispose of shares as he pleased. He was asked if he could produce any written agreement between himself and his associates. He believed that he could, and that it would do him no harm to do so. It was at the Green Tree. But, as a matter of candor, he requested time to consider whether the production of it could hurt him or not. This ended the examination.

Mr. W. SMITH then made a motion, consisting of three points, that Whitney should be ordered to re-appear at the bar, at twelve o'clock, to-morrow; that he should be ordered to produce the bond; and that, till to-morrow, he should be remanded to the custody of the City Marshal. It was likewise recommended that, till to-morrow, the two prisoners be kept in separate apartments.

Mr. GOODHUE requested that Whitney might be ordered to withdraw; which was done. He then related that the prisoner had made an application to him at different times. Mr. GOODHUE told him that he knew very little of the Western country; he had always lived on the sea-coast, and land jobbing was quite out of his line. Whitney did not make any corrupt proposals to him. He believed that it was because he was very averse to wasting time in speaking at all on the matter.