Houston, who had apparently made himself ac

quainted with the bids which had been put
in, informed that citizen that he, Houston, had
not put in a bid, in his own name, but had en-
tered several bids in the names of other per-
sons, of which bids he had the control; that the
individuals referred to having put in a bid at
eight cents, Houston proposed to him to with-
draw it, and to buy the bids of Wm. Prentiss
and D. Butler, Jr., and then join with said
Houston and his friend, whom the did not
name; that this friend was concerned with said
Houston in a contract which might be secured
at a much higher rate than the bids of either
the individuals referred to, Prentiss or Butler;
that, by this arrangement, the said individuals
and the said Houston might secure an indepen-
dent fortune; and that, until March 24th, 1830,
Houston each day successively inquired of him
if he had secured the bids of Prentiss and
Butler. -
I will now state that the gentleman who
proves the foregoing facts, accordingly sought
and obtained repeated interviews with me, at
which he offered to buy my bid, inquiring how
many thousand dollars I would take for it. I
peremptorily refused to come to any terms
with him. W.M. PRENTISS.

Disraict of colusiara or.

County of Washington, $to wit: This day william Prentiss personally appeared before me, the subscriber, a justice of the peace for the county aforesaid, and makes oath, in due form of law, that of the matters and things contained in the foregoing state. ment, such as are therein stated as of his own knowledge, are true, and such as are therein stated on the information of others, he believes to be true, and that the copies therein given in the whole and in part, of original popers, are true copies, Given under my hand this 17th day of April,

1832. D. A. HALL, J.P.

Mr. Prentiss' testimony sheds a flood of light on the transaction, and fully explains the tea. son why Houston put in no bid in his own name. It was because, as it appears from Mr. P.'s affidavit, “he had entered several bids in the names of other persons, of which bids he had the control,” and had a previous understanding with Eaton that, if the bids of prem. ** Bytler, and Blake could be disposed of he and his partner, whom he did not name, should have the contract at a “much higher rate than the bids of either of the innios oferred to" and “that, by this arrangement, the said individual and the old Ho might secure an independent fortune.”

UNITED STATES WEEKLY TELEGRAPH.

parties concerned! Hence, while Blake was
acting under Houston's commission, endeavor-
ing to buy out the bids of Prentiss and Butler,
Eaton refused to inform any of the bidders
what he intended to do, and it was not until the
23d of April that he notified Mr. Prentiss, after
he had ascertained that his bid could not be
bought up, that “since the proposals were sub-
mitted, and recently circumstances have arisen
which impose the necessity of advertising for
new bids, upon certain and specified conditions,
or else to confide the business to the Com-
missariat's Department.” (See his letter to
Prentiss.) If the reader will compare his
letter of the 23d of April, with mine of
the 19th of March, and also with the conversa-
tions had with him and the President, he will -
find much to confirm a belief that those con-
versations and that letter had their effect upon

him. This may also appearin Houston's letter
of the 23d, of December following, published
in the Arkansas Advocate, in which he uses al-o'-

most the same language as that in my note to
Eaton of the 19th of March. Is there any
one who can longer doubt that Houston and
Eaton contemplated a fraud? I now proceed
to give some of the facts which satisfy me
that Lewis was a party to it.
The clerk, whose statement was published
in the Globe says:
“Pending the whole of this time, Major

Lewis, as Second Auditor, and As in duty
bound, was assiduously occupied in having
statements made of the different expendios

for Indian rations which had been audited in
the office over which he presided, the result of .
which was that they exceeded even. the offer
by Governor Houston, though I verily believe -
the agent who conducted the emigration was
zealously and honestly devoted to thos:
of the government. He also procured similar
estimates from the subsistence Department of
the cost of rations for the United States'
troops of the several posts most contiguous to
the route the Choctaw emigrants would proba-
bly pass, which showed a cost something less,
think than Mr. Prentiss' bid, and about equal
to that of Mr. Blake.” - - -

By a reference to his duties, it will be found
that Major Lewis audits and allows the contin-
gent and other disbursements on account of
Indian affairs. The statement of his clerk
shows that he had examined into the cost of
the ration, as expended by previous agents, and |
that the result was, “they oceeded the offer of
Governor Houston,” which he also tells us was
thirteen cents. The same clerk tells that he
had also ascertained that the rations for the U- |
states troops, at the several contiguous posts.
was about equal to Blake's bid, which was 8
cents.

The ration for the The ration for the Indians was 1 pound United States' troops and a quarter of fresh wo pound and a beef, or one pound of quarter of fresh beef, fresh pork, with two or three goers on quarts of salt to every pound of salt-pork,

EDITORIAL REMARKs, &c.

half pounds of candles
* every hundred o

is the transaction which i

not hesitate to affirm our belie
enge that of every hones: man.
have advised the making of s
with Houston, if he had not been a party to it?
It is now admitted, that he knew that the
ration could be furnished or less than 8 cents;
why, then, did he .* that it.
should receive 13; Would hoisafaithful officer,
have o * such a contract. Are not the
facts such as to warranta belief that he the
officer who was to have allowed the son,
was a party in the ontemplated fraid;
But there is another strong and almost con-
clusive proof that a fraud ** intended, on
his was to be found in Major Eaton's estimate,
sent to the Indian Committee. That estimate
was for four millions, *nd estimated the ration,
as I understand, at twenty cents: Why did Major
on estimate for a rai. * twenty cents,
when, as it is now admitted, he knew that the
*ions for the United so ops costless than
eight cents? The Indian bin was a favorite
measure with the admini ion's such an esti.
**te was calculated to do." Passage; yet
it was sent in How is this to be accounted for?
The answer is at hand. It was ascertained
that the ration would cost less than eight cents.
The estimate being at twenty- cents, it
***PPosed that bidders would look at the
stimates and regulato their bids by them. Hous-
ond Cooknew that all above six cent. would
be profit to the ***, and the so.
*cted as inducement to prevent competition,
and also to proto the department from cen.
* , Major Eaton said there were from sixty
to eighty thousand ondians; and to these at eigh-
een cents, the issue would be $12,000 per day.
A. eighteen *s there would have been a Sav-
ing on the estimates of two gents per
one ninth of $12,000, soy 1,333} perd

f, and to chal-
Would Lewis
uch a contract

cents per ration, or $4,800 per day, or $1,732,000

Per annum on the *male this slim
would have made Precious exhibit in the
items of economy and retrenchment! although at

8 United STATES WEEKLY TELEGRAPH

DARING OUTRAGE AND ASSAULT. The attention of the reader will be arrested by the proceedings in the House of Representatives, on Saturday, on the motion to arrest General Houston, for an assault upon the Hon. Mr. Stanbery, a member of that body from Ohio. The pretext for this outrage was the remarks which Mr. Stanbery deemed it proper to make in the House, relative to the contract for furnishing rations to emigrant Indians, contemplated by Gen. Houston with Major Eaton. That the reader may know what was said, we here give his remarks. Mr S. said : “The superintendent of the Cumberland Road is not the only officer who has been suf. fered to continue in office after proofs of his trangressions had reached the President, was the late Secretary of War removed in consequence of his attempt, fraudulently, to give to. Governor Houston the contract for Indian ra. tions? I derive my knowledge of this transacs tion not from the columns of the Telegraph. The whole affair was known to me at the time it took place. The editor of the Telegraph gives himself too much credit for defeating this attempted fraud. I understood that it was in consequence of the remonstrances of the dele. gate from Arkansas, that the contract was not completed. There is one fact, however, for which I am indebted to the Telegraph; and that is, that the President had full knowledge of the business, and that it did not meet with his disapprobation.” Upon reading the report of Mr. Stanbery's speech in the Intelligencer, Mr. Houston addressed him a note, through a member of Congress, from Tennessee, demanding an explanation. Mr. Stanbery informed the member who bore the demand, that he recognised no rightin Mr. Houston to interrogate him upon the subject. Houston then threatened that he would make a personal assault, and accordingly he, accompanied by an attendant, both armed with heavy bludgeons, was, for some days, seen sauntering about the Capitol, and Houston himself was frequently on the privileged seats within the Hall of the House. It is said, and we believe with truth, that his intention to make the attack was known to sundry members of Congress; and we have heard, from a source entitled to credit, that Mr. Speight, of North Carolina, who aspires to be considered a leader of the administration party of the House, advised him not to make

the attack in the rotundo of the Capitol, as in

that case, he (Mr. Speight) could not defend o him, because it would clearly be a breach of * - Privilege. Accordingly the place of assault was transferred to the public streets, and on Friday, about 8 o'clock, Mr. stanbery was assaulted, near his lodgings, in the manner he has stated, knocked down with a bludgeon, and much and severely injured—his right arm being disabled, the left hand severe. ly fractured, and his head and body much beat. en and bruised. What gives more importance to this transac

to the President of the United states. It is
now ascertained that he was the individual who
placed in the hands of Gen. Jackson Mr. Mon.
roe's letter to Mr. Calhoun, which was purloin.
ed from the owner, and made so importants
part of “the correspondence” between the
President and Vice President. Although he
left Tennessee under circumstances which
produced the deepest excitement, took up
his residence with the Indians, and adopt.
ed their costume aud habits, and, although
the proof that he contemplated a fraud
upon the government
he has continued to enjoy the special coun-
tenance and favor of the Chief Magistrate.

of an old favorite. It is also said that Houston
proceeded directly from the assault to the The-
atre; that Mr. Barry, the Postmaster General,
met him, and congratulated him on what he
had done; that they went to the bar of the
Theatre, drank together, and enjoyed the af.
fair with great glee. We have this, as well as
what we have said of Mr. Speight,from sources
entitled to the highest credit. These state-
ments, taken in connection with what trans-
pired on the floor of the House, are calculated
to create a belief that the outrage receives
sanction in high places. It is possible, but
barely possible, that there may be some mis-
take; if so, the gentlemen we have named, can
explain. - - -
The proceeding itself is before the proper
tribunal, and we forbear to comment on its
enormity; but the reader will see in it anoth
branch of that system of intimidation of which
it has become our duty so often to speak. The
first action upon the indepeneence of Congress
was the appointment to office of a much great
er number of its members than had ever been
done by any preceding administration. Next,
direct appeals, made to the worst passions of the
people themselves, in which the President him.
self has called upon his partisans, to excite the
people against their representatives, and thus
to overawe them into a conformity with his will.
not on greatmeasures of public policy, but on
the question of the “spoils of victory”—the dis-
tribution of Executive patronage! The last
remaining act was personal violence, to int-
midate and overawe members of Congress,
thus prevent an exposure of the frauds and
malpractices of the Executive favorites.
The reader, on perusing Mr. stanbery'.
remarks, will be at a loss for the cause of
offence. It was his duty, as one of the repo
sentatives of the people, to speak; what o
said, was predicated upon information derived
from the Delegate from Arkansas, to who
and not to Mr. Staubery, Mr. Houston,
innocent, should have addressed himself. And,
under the circumstances of the case, Mo.
Houston, if innocent, was under obligations."
Mr. S. for the opportunity which he presen
for asking an investigation by the House.
he been conscious of innocence, such wo

tionis, the known relation which Houston bears
---

have been his course; and the attack is but

is conclusive, yet

He is still received at the Executive mansion, and treated with the kindness and hospitality

10 UNITED STATES WEEKLY TELEGRAPH. -—

- _-
To the Editor of the United States’ Telegraph:
The injustice and indignity which I have re.
cently experienced from the President of the
United States, are of such a nature that they
cannot be suffered by me to pass in submissive
silence. I am aware that my appealis perfect.
ly hopeless; but I will not bring myself to be:
lieve that there is not a sense of justice in the
breasts of my fellow citizens, to which the last
may successfully appeal against the Fost in
the republic when I say the first I have re-
ference only to official station.
The public is already informed of the act
which prompts me to make this communica.
tion. The glaring abuse, on the part of the
President, of the power conferred on him by
law, by means of which abuse, the judiciary of
the territories has been placed in a state of de-
pendence on the will and pleasure, or rather on
the tyrannical coprice of one munis sufficiently
revolting to the mind of every virtuous and en-
lightened American. The principle is as new in
ourcountry, since we shook of the power of the
British tyrant, as it is in itself detestable. It
would be equally superfluous to enlarge upon
the violation of free and democratic principles
in the contemptuous disregard of the wishes of
the people of Florida, as expressed through
their delegate, through their local representa.
tives, and under their individual signatures in
relation to the continuance of tried officers in
offices established for the protection of their
vital interests. Col. White, the delegate of
Florida, not less distinguished for his splendid
talents than for his manly independence, has
laid a soots Poorest before the Senate of the
United States, against this unnecessary, wan
ton, and dangerous, disregard of the locatin-
terests and wishes of the people. The dele-
gate, as the proper organ, has expressed offi.
cially the wishes of his constituents, and to
prove that he faithfully represents those wishes,
he is supported by memorials signed by a num:
ber equal to the votes of the district, as well as
by the representation of the members of the
legislative council. No reasons have been giv-
en for this extraordinary conduct on the part of
the President, but the sic volo sic.jubea of the
despot. Was it not enough, under the pre-
tence of reform, to consider all ministerial of
fices in the republic as the private perquisites
of the President, to be disposed of at his plea.
sure, for his personal gratification, or of that
of his favorites’. Must the pure and honest ad-
ministration of justice, in which every citizen
is interested, at every moment of his life, be
also poisoned in its very fountain for the same
wicked purpose? I will not waste a moment
in discussing the motive which could have
prompted the appointment to the judicial sta-
tion of persons,however respectable, yet stran.
gers to Florida, to its inhabitants and its laws.
No impartial man can hesitate to say, that the
motive cannot be a regard to the best interests
of the Territory of Florida; in other words
that it cannot be pure. , -

-These are topics of deep interest to every enlightened freeman in the nation—he cannot be indifferent to them, without at the same time being indifferent to that freedom which exalts him above the base and abject slaves of despotism, otherefore consign them to my

personal injury received from General Jackson,

and which i cannot suffer to pass without
expressing a just indignotion, for a no
without indignation is without virtue.
accuse him of having acted towards me
in a faithless and dishonorable manner ac:
cuse him of having inflicting a wound a thou-
sand times more painful than the mere deprivo.
ing of office, we can bear the loss of fortune
or of political preferment, but we canno bear
the insult offered by the shameless violation of
a pledge, which honorable men consider so-
cred, especially where the person who has thus
violated it has been a friend.
I had rendered important services to Gen.
Jackson, of which he had expressed his grate-
ful sense. No opportunity presented itself
until he was raised by the gratitude of the

his present station, to give some solid proofs of

American people for his military service; to

his feelings towards me, than those expressed

in the subjoined letters, and in others in my
possession. . -
When the opportunity did, at lastortive, so
far from manifesting any disposition to serve
me, he could not, it seems, even permit me
to remain where had been placed by Mr-
Monroe, who was my friend and his My feel-
ings towards Gen. Jackson were those of the
most perfect goodwill, and I had no reason to
suppose he entertained ony other towards me
Influenced by this impression, I paid my roo
pects to him, at washington, lost spring. He
received me in the most cordial, frank, and
friendly manner; invited me to a family dinner,
and, after it was over, retired with me,
smoked his pipe, and exhibited to me his non-
nation, by the Legislature of New York, as a
child exhibits its baúble. Finding him in such
excellent humor, I took occasion to mention
that my commission would have to be renewed
at the next session of Congress. I had conso
dered the renewal as a matter of course, as the
term had been always, hitherto, practically re.
garded as being during good behavior had.
been renewed on this principle by Mr. Adams,
(although I had just before made a publication
undermy own signature, which operated info:
vor of General Jackson's election,) but I. wo
willing to pay the compliment of oooooo.
from the General, as a favor, that which, from
any other President, I should have claimed as
a matter of right. He appeared surprised, that
I should entertain a moment's doubt o she
subject. “When did you soy youro
expires? Upon my word I never thought of
it. Appoint jou, certainly, Sir. When Iknow to
o's. opinion is not to be changed