Daily Texian (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 46, Ed. 1, Tuesday, February 1, 1842 Page: 2 of 4
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Mr. Greer could not agree with the views of
the hon. gentleman from Nacogdoches who was
willing to violate the best principles of propriety
and interest-by turning- round and supporting
the majority merely because a bill may have
been vetoed by the Executive. Although he.had
voted for the bill without being entirely .pleased
with the whole of dls provisions still he did not
consider it so important and yet he regretted that
it had not received the signature o"f the President
fec (fee.
'Here Mr. Patter interrupted Mr. Greer with
an apology and stated -that the bill had been "evi-
dently erroneously enrolled; whereupon' it was
laid on the table for further investigation.
The veto of ihe -complimentary joint resolu-
tion of honorable acquittal and thanks to Capt.
John G. Todd late of the. Texian Navyr was
next taken up and read.
Mr..Pilsbury confessed that he was willing.to
give every consideration to the views and opin-
ions of the Executive; who. he said haying been
selected by the people to direct the destinies ot
the nation must be presumed to porsess qualifi-
cations and virtues that would enable him to judge
impartially of the propriety of all measures pre-
sented for his consideration wiih a total exemp-
tion from the local prejudices or predilections
which too- often influence the votes of members
of Congress. Mr. P. stated that without feeling
the least interest he had .given the subject the
fullest and fairest investigation' and had found
that Capt. Todd's accounts were entirely correct:
that the difficulties originated from feelings of
jealousy in. the bosoms of individuals who were
aspiring to office; and that the. charges had: ori-
ginated principally with Commodore Moore who
is at swords points with Capt. Todd; that Capt.
Todd had been challenged and bullied and per
secuted because he is apeaceable religious man
who depends on sustaining his repntation by his
honesty and. industry and .that he had made
every effort to obtain redress at the hands of the
last administration without success. He said he
regretted deeply that he was cpmpelled to sepa
rate from the Executive on any point but that it
was a rare occurrence for a. man to' go off to a
foreign country with forty or fifty or eighty thou-
sand dollars as Capt." Todd had done; and return
with so fair and satisfactory an .account of the
manner in which it had been expended: That
he had been abused was evident to all; but that
said Mr. P. was no evidence of his baseness for
that there were gentlemen upon the floor of Con-
gress who were honorable high minded and in-
' c . ....
telligent and yet they were so inconsistent as to
assert that-the President does not possess fine sin-
gle qualification for commanding an army. The
vessels had been represented to the Sec'y of the
Navy as being considerably rotten; but .was this
testimony of the deadly enemy of Capt. Todd
sufficient for the Executive to adopt as a pretext
for withholding his signature to a resolution of
approbation and thanks? He thought not. Mr.
P. said te'had been" called a most deplorable vil-
lain and yet no one had specified) wherein he was
so base; he supposed it was because lie was like
.the vessels rotten all over"! ! CaptvTodd said
Mr. P- las served the country and has always
received more kicks than coppers and now theie
is an objection to paying him off in thanks instead
of money. -His conduct bad been meritorious;
it deserved at least an acknowledgment and as
no one was injured by the vote of thanks he sin-
cerely regretted that the Executive had thought
propeT to place his vetoon it. And besides Capt. .
Todd had been nccused in the U. States of being
a defaulter; he had too suffered a great deal in
feeling and Mr. P. said he trusted the Senate
would not consign him to disgrace l.y voting
against the Fesoluiions. Mr. P. said that if the
President was as much greater than Caesar as
Csesar was" greater than himself he should vote
against his veto when it conflicted with his own
principles or opinions as to what was right.
Mr. Byrne remarked' that he as one of the
committee was fully satisfied. of the correctness
of the accounts of Capt. Todd as well as the
justness of hisclaims; but as the gentleman irorn
Brazoria had amplified so largely on the subject
he did not' deem it. necessary to say a word more.
Mr. Webb rose he said to make but a few re-
marks but lie wished the Senate to recollect that
Capt; Todd was the Agent only- and sent on to
receive. the vessels equipment supplies fcc
from the contractors. He said it would be re-
collected that there were 6 vessels being.built at
the same time and that unless Capt.- Todd pos-
sessed ihe power of ubiquity he could-not have
been present at them all at the same moment so
as to have" inspected every piece of timber that
was put into them. Iftr. W. continuded that
when the vessels arrived they were examined by
all of the officers of the navy and that nothing
was to be heard throughout the country but ex-
travagant plaudits as to the superiority of our
fleet. He said that it would have been impossi
ble for Capt. Todd to have judged correctly of
the interior timbers of the vessels when Commo-
dore Moore had commanded them some two
years before he by- breaking up the timbers for
some alterations found them to be rotten; he
therefore thought it unjust to hold Capt. Todd
responsible for tlie'alledged condition of the navy.
Mr. Dangerfield assured the Senate that ho
had had every opportunity1 of judging of the ca-
pacity and conduct of Capt. Todd while he was
Navy Agent in the U. S..that he had many mon-
ied transactions with him. that he could testify
to his promptness and abilities and believed him
one of the purest and most 'incorruptableirieu
with whom he had ever met in the whole course
of his life. Still with all these high considera-
tions towards Capt. Tood he thought perhaps
the Senate?had gone rather too farj such a course
might render thanks too cheap; he objected per-
haps a little as to the manner in which their ap- 4
probation had been expressed but notwithstand-
ing he should vote for the Resolutions and. in
opposition to the veto of the Executive.
Mr. Muse was pleased to hear gentlemen" de-
fend' others it exhibited a spirit of generosity
t .hi
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Harrison, G. H. Daily Texian (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 46, Ed. 1, Tuesday, February 1, 1842, newspaper, February 1, 1842; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth80282/m1/2/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.