Postmaster-General.
The Speaker laid before the House the following letter from Gideon Granger, Postmaster-General of the United States:—
February 1, 1805.
Hon. Nathaniel Macon, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States.
Sir,—I have received information, from various sources, that both my public and private character and conduct have been arraigned on the floor of the House of Congress by a member of that House, in a debate of the 29th, and in another of the 31st ultime, in a case where no examination of my official conduct was proposed. As there is not, within my knowledge, any instance of a similar abuse offered to an officer of Government, I know not of any precedent whereby to regulate my conduct. I wish at all times, and more especially on an occasion so extraordinary and unprecedented, to approach the representatives of the nation with all that respect and regard to which they are entitled. My feelings do not allow me, at present, to exercise that coolness and judgment which I might call to my aid in a case less interesting.
Conscious of the purity of my conduct, and that no charge can be made or supported against me consistent with truth and justice, it is a duty which I owe to my country—to the government which has confided in me—to myself and my family—to declare (and I do now most solemnly declare) that every charge or insinuation which has been made against my private or public character, or against my fairness and impartiality, or of my attempting, by bribery, or in any improper manner, to influence any member of Congress upon any question pending before that honorable body, is absolutely and altogether untrue, and founded at least in error only.
The high respect due to your body and every member of it during your sessions, will not allow me to hazard a conjecture as to the motives of the gentleman who has proclaimed these charges.
I court and solicit of Congress an investigation into my official (and if they please my private) conduct, from the first moment the Post-Office Department was committed to my charge to the present period. Nor have I any favor to ask, save only this, that an investigation may be had the present session.
I pray you to communicate this to the House of Representatives; and I tender to that honorable body, and to you, their Speaker, the assurance of my high esteem and respect.
GIDEON GRANGER.[24]