The National Republican And Ohio Political Register

VICE-PRESIDENT CALHOUN

Our readers will recollect, that in December last a publication made its appearance in the Phoenix Gazette, of Alexandria, a paper notoriously devoted to the political schemes and ambition of Henry Clay, containing an attack on John C. Calhoun, the Vice-President of the United States. It related to transactions which occurred while Mr. Calhoun was at the head of the War Department, and no doubt was intended to destroy his reputation for integrity of conduct and honorable intentions, in the administration of that important branch of the government. It in effect charged him with having been concerned and interested in the celebrated Mix contract, made by the War Department, in 1818, for the delivery of one hundred and fifty thousand perches of stone at the Rip-Raps, near Old Point Comfort. This publication was made on the 28th December, and professed to be founded on a letter from Elijah Mix to the author of certain anonymous publications under the signature of "Hanceck," who was known to be Major Satterlee Clark, a Paymaster, dismissed from the service by Mr. Calhoun, for official delinquency and for not settling his accounts. It was also represented in that publication, that Mix's letter had been made the basis of an official act, by the present Secretary of War, and would, of course, be filed with the documents of that Department. The attack was most insidious, and under the circumstances of the case, as diabolical in its character as any ever made upon the official conduct of a public man. Mix's conduct had been such as to render him altogether unworthy of notice as an antagonist: Satterlee Clark had forfeited that standing in society which could entitle him to the consideration of honest and honorable men; and the Phoenix Gazette is the common sewer for all the political filth of the department of state.- Such were the means employed by the "coalition" and its understrappers, to break down the character and high standing of a man who had long been distinguished as an active, vigilant and faithful public officer, and a sound and correct politician. Mr. Calhoun promptly met the attack, and in the only way in which he could calculate to obtain a free and full investigation of the case. He made an appeal to the judgment and decision of the nation, through the representatives of the people. On the morning of the 29th of December, he addressed a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, desiring that body to investigate the facts connected with the charge as made against him in the Phoenix Gazette. The House immediately acted upon the subject, and a committee of seven members, five of whom were his political opponents, were appointed to examine and report thereon, with power to send for persons and papers. That committee, after a laborious investigation of forty days, in which they seem to have examined the official conduct of Mr. Calhoun during the whole time he administered the War Department, instead of confining themselves to the charge in question, made their report to the House, on the 13th inst. fully and unequivocally acquitting the Vice-President of the facts with which he had been charged, and pronouncing Mix to be a man of so infamous a character for truth and veracity, as not to be entitled to credit under oath. The following extract of the Report contains the result of the examination, and the unanimous conclusion and opinion of the committee:

"From the nature of the duties imposed upon a Committee of Inquiry, especially when connected with the distinct wish, as expressed by the Vice President, in the present instance, for the "freest investigation," it has been impossible for the Committee to give to their proceedings the connection and conciseness incident to trials, when the testimony is ascertained and arranged before it is presented. They have, however, diligently applied themselves to the subject referred to them, and after a long and laborious examination, they are unanimously of the opinion, that there are no facts which will authorize the belief, or even suspicion, that the Vice President was ever interested, or that he participated, directly or indirectly, in the profits of any contract formed with the Government through the Department of War, while he was entrusted with the discharge of its duties, or at any other time."

It is proper to remark, that this report was made by a majority of the committee; the minority of which have also made a report, the same in substance, but more in detail as to the infamous conduct of Mix in this transaction, with the reasons which induced the committee to consider him entirely destitute of credit, even under oath. The result of this investigation, however, although made by Mr. Calhoun's political enemies, is a triumphant refutation of the charges preferred against him, by the retainers of Adams, Clay & Company, and will place the Vice-President in a higher and more elevated rank in the estimation of his fellow citizens.

In connection with the report in this case, is a document from Mr. M'Duffie, protesting against the admission of illegal and irrelevant testimony; against the extreme latitude of examination to which the committee extended its inquiries, and the consequent delay which that extended and unnecessary examination produced. Mr. M'Duffie constantly attended the committee, as the friend and counsel of Mr. Calhoun, throughout the whole examination,- and his protest against a portion of the proceedings, for clearness of conception, elegance of diction, correct discrimination, energy of language, force of reasoning and power of argument, is worthy the pen and the talents of a Burke. It was not made for the purpose of restricting the committee in their inquiries into the conduct of Mr. Calhoun, but as an appeal to the nation against a precedent, which, if followed in future cases, will sanction proceedings as partial, unjust, and as dangerous and arbitrary, as those which formerly distinguished the Star-Chamber court of England.