Record Data
Source citation
Scarborough, William Kauffman, ed. The Diary of Edmund Ruffin. Vol. 1. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1972, p. 24.
Type
Diary
Date Certainty
Exact
Transcriber
Meghan Allen
Transcription date
Transcription
The following text is presented here in complete form, as true to the original written document as possible.
Jan. 14….A committee has been raised in the H. of R. to inquire into the charged & suspected bribery of members of the house, by individuals to obtain votes to pass laws for various measures of public plunder. I rejoice at it, & trust that some good may be produced. But there is not much to be expected of the exposure of villainy, by a committee selected by the present speaker, the appointee of the corrupt & plundering northern party, As a body, the majority of the northern members of congress are as corrupt, & destitute of private integrity, as the majority of southern members are the reverse. This difference is admitted by some of the northern papers. And if such difference is permanent, & applies to constituencies as well as the representatives, this along would be sufficient reason for separation of the northern & southern states. In Congress, we have not only to contend with a decided northern majority, & to be beaten in all questions in which that majority is interested, but in every question of private gain at public cost, bribery & corruption will be still more efficient than numbers.