During my Administration all expenditures for contingent expenses of
foreign intercourse in which the accounts have been closed have been
settled upon regular vouchers, as all other public accounts are settled
at the Treasury.
It may be alleged that the power of impeachment belongs to the House of
Representatives, and that, with a view to the exercise of this power,
that House has the right to investigate the conduct of all public
officers under the Government. This is cheerfully admitted. In such a
case the safety of the Republic would be the supreme law, and the power
of the House in the pursuit of this object would penetrate into the most
secret recesses of the Executive Departments. It could command the
attendance of any and every agent of the Government, and compel them to
produce all papers, public or private, official or unofficial, and to
testify on oath to all facts within their knowledge. But even in a case
of that kind they would adopt all wise precautions to prevent the
exposure of all such matters the publication of which might injuriously
affect the public interest, except so far as this might be necessary to
accomplish the great ends of public justice.
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