The Daily Madisonian

"MR. TYSON'S REJECTION."

We have been permitted to publish the following extract from a letter addressed by an eminent gentleman in Pennsylvania, hitherto a warm and devoted friend of Mr. Clay, to a member of the present Congress:

"The rejection of Mr. Tyson, by the Senate, has created universal astonishment here with liberal men of all parties. Every one is inquiring as to the cause and reasons for this rejection. I have heard many of the most prominent Whigs (friends of Mr. Clay) speak of this act of the Senate with feelings of deep mortification, regretting it as a palpable manifestation of factious opposition. I have heard many leading members of the Democratic party censure warmly the course pursued by Messrs. Benton, Buchanan and other Senators of that party, as unnecessarily proscriptive. Indeed, after many inquiries, I have not found a man who approves of this unkind, ungenerous, and impolitic conduct towards Mr. Tyson and the President. I am no politician. I want no office, for I have served long enough in public life to know that its paths are not strewed with flowers, and that its honors are but too often "obtained without merit, and lost without crime."

I have known Mr. Tyson from his boyhood, and I can assure those Senators who have been misled by newspaper misrepresentations or interested politicians, that Mr. Tyson, although only some thirty years of age, is surpassed in ability and experience by no gentleman of his age in this State. His private character is unassailable and unimpeachable, and for the truth of this assertion, I would appeal to every man who knows him, of any party, in Pennsylvania. I have understood that Mr. Tyson's age has been quoted as objectionable. I recollect that he was in the Legislature of this State during the years 1835, '6, and '7. He was one of the most efficient and indefatigable friends of General Harrison in the late Presidential contest, and to those who respect the opinions and friendships of General Harrison, I would say that I know that the General intended to appoint Mr. Tyson Collector of the port of Philadelphia. He was appointed Surveyor of that Port, and unanimously confirmed by the present Senate, and this rejection creates more astonishment on that account. As a proof of Mr. Tyson's standing with the Harrison party, I would re-call to your recollection that he was nominated as their candidate for Congress in 1840, in a district in which he did not reside, and received a larger vote than that polled by General Harrison about subsequently. If he is fit to be a member of Congress, surely he is competent and qualified for the station to which he was appointed. If he could perform, with universal satisfaction the arduous duties of Surveyor, there certainly could be no doubt as to his ability to discharge the duties of Commissary General of Purchases. But if there was originally a doubt, it has been dispelled, for he has performed the duties for six months, introducing reforms which have saved thousands, giving an earnest of his intention to do his duty faithfully and efficiently. If there are charges against Mr. Tyson they ought to be made public that they may be refuted, and the minds of Senators disabused. The objection made that Mr. Tyson is not a military man, is a very weak one. What has military knowledge to do with contracts for the purchase of clothing, stores, &c., and those contracts made under express instructions from the War Department, and specific as to articles and amount, and without any thing like latitude or discretion. Who ever heard that it required a naval officer to discharge the duties of Navy Agent?

As to age. Mr. Calhoun when at Mr. Tyson's age had acquired a reputation such as few men of any age ever acquire. Mr. Clay was a Senator at thirty. Many of our present prominent Congressmen are scarcely above, and some of them not above Mr. Tyson in age. I have always been a friend of Mr. Clay, but I must confess that my faith in that gentleman and his friends in the Senate has been shaken by the unnecessary and unjustifiable opposition to the appointments of President Tyler, and I would, in all kindness, assure those gentlemen that they are daily adding to the strength of the Administration by the course they have thought fit to pursue. The People are fast forming the opinion that President-making has unfortunately too much influence in these rejections. I and many others here, of both political parties, hope that the Senate will remove the injunction of secrecy as to the debates on Mr. Tyson's rejection, that we may ascertain what objections, if any, were urged against him. I am confident if they were made public, that their refutation would be so complete, as to ensure the unanimous vote of the Senate in his favor."