xlviii MEMOIR. 



On the 24th March, 1852, during a debate upon various 

 appropriations, Mr. Jones, of Tennessee, moved to strike 

 out the sum of $12,000, proposed to complete the im- 

 provements around the President's house ; complained that 

 there were great abuses under the proviso of this appro- 

 priation, and declared, quite directly, that Mr. Downing 

 was overpaid for his services. Mr. Stanton, of Kentucky, 

 replied : " It is astonishing to my mind and I have no 

 doubt to the minds of others with what facility other- 

 wise intelligent and respectable gentlemen on this floor 

 can deaf out wholesale denunciations of men about whom 

 they know nothing, and will not inform themselves ; and 

 how much the legislation of the country is controlled by 

 prejudices thus invoked and clamor thus raised/' After 

 speaking of the bill under which the improvements were 

 making, he continued : " The President was authorized to 

 appoint some competent person to superintend the carrying 

 out of the plan adopted. He appointed Mr. Downing. And 

 who is he ? One of the most accomplished gentlemen in his 

 profession in the Union ; a man known to the world as pos- 

 sessing rare skill as a 'rural architect' and landscape garden- 

 er, as well as a man of great scientific intelligence. * * * * 

 I deny that he has neglected his duties, as the gentleman 

 from Tennessee has charged. Instead of being here only 

 three days in the month, he has been here vigilantly dis- 

 charging his duties at all times when those duties required 

 him to be here. He has superintended, directed, and 

 carried out the plan adopted, as fully as the funds appro- 

 priated have enabled him to do. If all the officers of the 

 Government had been as conscientious and scrupulous in 

 the discharge of their duties as he has been since his 

 appointment, there would be no ground for reproaches 

 against those who have control of the Government " 



