The New York Herald Newspaper, March 9, 1861, Page 4

4 NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, H 9, 1861—TRIPLE SHERT. TROUBLES OF A CABINET OFFICER. f the War | The Acceptances 0: Department. | STATEMENT OF BI-AECRETARY FLOYD, hey he bd TO THE PUBLIC. * The best men who bave ever held office in the govern- went have been traduced by the foulest calumnics. ‘Whore speech and the press are free, undue consare of | public men is the natural result of high party fecling and bitter sectional animosity. In my own experience I | have found that the most commendable acts of my public life have been those for which I ave been most slander- ously assailed, The only reliance of officers thus sot | upon by party rancor is upon the justice of the people. | Before that tribunal I present myself under accusations | of peculiar malignity, I come forward as a private citi- | zen solely to defend my character against a widely or- ganized sensation press, which has allowed itself to be made the instrument of manufacturing public opinion against me for many months; against a triumphant coa ition of partics flushed with victory and bent upon de- stroping every adversary that has ever stood in their patls, and against a portion of the expiring administra- tion, who vainly hoped to propitiate the incoming Moloch by offering me as a sacrifice, ‘So long as these accusations were confined to the press Tendured them with resignation, for it is the prerogative ofa free press to. criticise official conduct with uare- strained hberty. I rcconciled myself to this silence by the fact that the charges of the newspapers were too vague to admit of definite comprehension, or, when spe- cifled at all, were too extravagant and absurd to be credited by a sensible and discriminating public. I re- Geoted, too, that much better men than myself had beon foully |, insomuch that Mr. Jefferson wrote ‘as eariy a8 1807:—Nothing can be believed which ia | seen in a new! r. Truth iteelf becomes suspicious by being put imo that polluted vehicle. I really 1ook wi fe! ith commiseration over the great body of my fellow citizens, who, reading the , live and die in ‘the belief that they know something of what has been sin the world im their day. @ man who never | 0 a newspaper ia better informed than he who | them, inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer | ‘the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods | errors.” ‘Various committees have been appointed by the domi- ‘mamt party in Congress for the of calling in ques- tion and condemning the official conduct of the executive | ‘offeers of the government. Their reports were agreed | upon before the appointment of their members, and | ‘heir inquiries have been directed to the establishment of fei determinations rather than to the extraction ‘of . Wholesale charges of corruption and unscru- ‘defamation, in the absence of facts, were to form of these reports. It was a party necessity to call iu question the integrity of their opponents, and the cry of corruption was to them into power. Ihave recently been honored by the appointment of such a committee to condemn my official couduct, all but one of its members opposed to the political sentiments I oberish, and be (Mr. mas) taking little part in its | ge and no part in its report. ts labors havo industriously aided by members of the Cabinet lately disbanded, who were exasperated at the courso [ Ht F pursued in regard tothe Southern forts; and they have “also been actively stimulated by a strong popular senti- me at the North, excited by my orders, ‘making 1 more equal distribution of the public arms be- tween the sections. ‘The report of this committee, stimu lated by such influences, is of course full of virulence, and ig leveliea at me rather than at the persons really and ‘vonfessedly connected with the abstraction of the Indian trust bonds, the subject nominally under mvestigation. The report of this committee was submitted to the House of Ropreeentatives on the 12th ultimo, by its chairman, (Mr. Morris.) and its revelations exceed al! preceding performances of such committees, in the sea- sation sought to be produced. If the mere matters con- tained in it alone were eoncerned, I should treat it with silence, and let it, like a nine days’ wondet, dio of its ity aad absurdity; but the quasi official source it proceeds gives it official importance ant demande of mea forma! reply. reply is the more imperative from the failure of the committee to bring up the reperé for consideration, debate and refutation It was merely thrust upon the House and scattered broadoasr over the land, and thore the ma ter stopped short, All the harm was done me that could be effected, while action ceased at the very point where my defence would have commenced. I have been tried in georet, ‘and condemned without a hearing. The course of the committee has been like that of the bravo, who stabs ia the back, and when turned upon. This is not Anglo Saxon justice or American fair play. 1 desire to beheard. My appeal is to a fair doaling people. Before characterizing the extraordinary proceedings of this committee, I will examine and refute thoir charges against me in every case in which they have ventured to reduoe them to specific form. And, first, in regard to. TUE LEGALITY OF THE ACCEPTASCES whicb I gave to the contractors for army trausportation over the Weetern piaing. The committee allege, without ‘a particle of authority in fact, that I confessed to Mr. Benjamin they were illegal, and assert that they were given in ‘disobedience of law.’’ I could nover have con- {essed they were illegal, for I never believed they were though I never pretended that there was express law au- thorizing acceptances by name. They were not without precedert. At different times almost every department of the government has put out paper in different forms for negotiation. Durivg the war with Mexico it was for periods the Practice of Quartermasters to draw upoa the Quarter. master General in favor of creditors of the . ‘and for the latter officer, in the absence of , to ac- cept the orders; whereupon the paper went into the bands of capitalists. I suppose these acceptances ‘amounted to miilions of dollars, for it has been said (though doubtless with exaggeration) that the Mexican ‘war was carried on by this means. It is also a notorious fact that, within tbe last year or two, claims upon the Post Office Department to a very large amount have been ut into form to be made the subject of negotiation. to an earlier period of the government, it will be found that this practice was very early adopted. In- deed, paper precisely of tho kind issued by me, drawn in the very language of the uncouditional acceptances which I gave, have in ri peated instances passed even the ordeal of the courts unscathed. During the administration of General Jackson the Post Office Department issued ac- ceptances, unconditional as well as conditional. Not only did {t accept in favor of contractors to whom it owed money, but it induced coutractors, who enjoyed high credit,'with the puvlic, to draw upon it in order that i might accept and raise money on tho paper for its own uses. SS p. 19 0f the Record of case No, 1778 in the Court of Claims.) (Ove of these contractors having after- wards died, the settiement of his accounts with the government, involving eeveral of these accop'ances, be- came the subject of adjudication in Pennsylvania. In this suit the Coart allowed the acceptances to be esti- ated as valid; and ou its decision boing endorsed by the Court of Ciaima, Congress afterwards passed an act appropriating the amount recovered against thu govern ment, thus recognizing tho validity of the paper. (This was in the case of Reeside’s Executrix.) Thoro was also another suit instituted in the District of Columbia, turn- ing specifically upon the validy of this precise class of drafts; and the juigment of the court na wey thetr validity. The case went up to the few aim 9 wart of the United States, and that august tribunal affirmed the judgment , in an able decision, not one dissenting (See 15 Peters, 317.) Some three years ago the Secre- of the claimed the right to offset some pay- us, & court in Columbia, the United States, the Supreme Court and Congress, have all recogaized ‘paper as valid ‘apd legal. so in he ce Department, ie 80 in that of the War Department, which authorized to contract, without the authority the case, by the act of 1820, in these ww for ro > it no contract shall ‘State, or of the Trea ‘of the Navy, exoapt ton ir ; and excepting, also, owece for Scans ‘operiaants wNGs tag be "a Beparimen seeretaries of those department Seorotary of War is expressly anthorized to the Quartermaster’s departmont Of express law; avi I nocordingly ‘Of tho committos that my conduct law. I will now explain tho respons sg Hf +4 thortzing the same, or under a britdis Gtithgt i a Tey t cul & ae 33 i + ij i H : " # ij & | Hf . eit ie) ue i u ! 2 i Hi ae i | 3 iff if itr d fs = 3 28 i 5 i gi E z i z ; H We » Tham, in f outlay necessary in the outset; in the dangers encountered by the stock employed, from stam- pedor, Indian atiacks and accidents of flood and field, rendering it uselese »8 a baaia of oredit; in the extraor. Ginary lapeo of time requisite for collecting the carnings wi necessary for their operations. The of Majors and Waddell was universally esteemed it the West as to.none either pines, efficiency, and fair-dealing, won the confi- the Government Quartermaster’s for the fiscal year a Rak of my into office: bemaes wien hones was ne- coaaary for To Uuahy and hese fret ncoop'- ances given to meot the emergency thus present Moreover, trains of these: . riedzn with army oup- plies, bad about that time been by the Mormons, ip reapeci to which ‘the accounting officers of the government were bound, of course, not payment earned, but to alao the other dues of the contractors, who thus lost, not only their earnings, but the value of the goods for which had recoipted, as well as their teams and stock. lors, resulting from the act of the public enemy, and justly chargeable upon the government, could only be made gcod by Congress. The contractors have always estimated its amount at about $440,000. It has never yet been paid. It very cri resources: at the outset of their operations under my administration and threw them into the market as borrowers of money at high rates of intorest. The interest thus entailed up- on them for upwards of three years, added to the princi- , represents now a loss of more than half a million of ‘The country canpot have forgotten thas, at the time these ‘was in @ most periious condition from the fear of starva- tion. The troops were a thousand miles beyond the limits of our settlements, in a desert country affording not a solitary supply of any sort, aud annoyed constantly by an active, daring enemy, who bung continually around them ayowedly fer cutting off supplies. The country re- collects that our army was reduced to such extremity that oply a single week’s provision saved them from the necessity of eating their mules, What woull have been the censure of the country upon me if I had frem any cauge allowed the army there to suffer for provisions. I ‘was bitterly abused for the risk tho troops wore exposed to—what would have been the just coudempation heaped bm Dad if the impending dangers had actually befalion " I bave thus stated the controlling and accumulated rea- sous which compelled the department to pursue a liberal ppoliey in affording the contractors facilities of credit. he cotractors, deprived of capital in the mauner I have stated, found themselves constantly under the necessity of anticipativg the earnings of their trains; and I found the same reasons for affording them these facilities con- stantly repeating themselves, [ believed they were legal, and I willingly then, and would freely again, take the re- sponsibility of granting them, determined as I was to en- sure the certainty and punctuality of the service, which 1 did secure and which never failel. The com- ae against me now is, not that the service failed in a single particular, not that the army fell sort of supplies for a single day, not that a single soldier, or any of the people constituting tho army and its attend- apts, of the ten thousand poeted in the western wilds, suffered want or privation in the whole four biedy but that the men engaged in a disastrous contract have been unable t meet punctually all of the scceptanees which I granted them in the excess of my solicitude for the ser- vice. The President, Mr. Buchanan, was right, and said truly to Mr. Benjamin, that if Mr. Floyd had given these ac- ceptances they were, no doubt, right and Proper. So they were; they were in strict conformity with law, and they enwbled the War Department to ensure the maintenance of the army at points more than a thousand miles beyond the borders of our white settlements with as se tainty avd regularity as if they had been stationed tn ordwary frontier posts. And I assert, without fear of contradiction, that such regularity and certainty, in fur- nishiog supplics of every sort to large forces so remotely posted, at rates 80 economical and under diflioulties so imposing, were never witnessed before in the history of any military movement on the globo. Mr. Buchanan might well say the transaction was right and proper. 1 thick the pablic is now prepared to understand why THE AMOUNT OF THK ACCEPTANCES negotiated during the four years for the purpose ex- plaizcd, corresponded substantially with the earnings of tho contractors. I say corresponded substantially, be- cause the service was rubjected to too many pone cies to admit of any but conjectural estimates of carnings for specific periods. None could estimate with accuracy what they would be, even during a given year, as this would depend upon the movements of troops dependent upon emergenoics constantly changing. Thus a Quarter- master might conjecture that the earnings for 1861, for instance, would be half a million, while the Beer of ‘War might place the cetimate at double the amount. Stil greater uncertainty would exist as to any given month, quarter or fraction of the year. But notwith- standing the variable nature of the earnings, the amcunt of acceptances negotiated to antici them did substantially wi This matter was left in charge of the chief clork of the Wer Department; whose instructions were to keep tne amount of the acceptances within the proper limits. The total earnings of the years 1858, 1850, 1860, and those estimated for 1861, were $5,640,763; which ia exclusive of claims of an extraordinary character which Congress alone can allow. On the other hand, the accep- tances which I gave to anticipate these earnings, exclud- ing thoee which were returned to the department unused and cancelled, was $5,339,305; or $300,000 lees than the earnings. ‘Thus the amount of the acceptances that were given Taring the three years is duc solely to the unpre- cedcnted magnitude of the service performed. The com- mittee, for sereation purposes, endeavor to produce the impression thi. these acceptances were all outstanding at one time, and are still outstanding, liable to come up against the government for payment. As well might they have collected up all the bonds which the government had issued from its beginning, including all that had been paid and cancelled, and declared the grand total to be the debt of the nation. They had abundant proof be- fore them that these acceptances, for which the government bad at all times security in the amounts accruing to the contractors, were all paid by them as they matured until September last; and they confees in another part of their report that, deducting thoee which were put into the hands ¢f Bailey by Russe!l, aid which I immediately cancelled on discovering the version, there were but $576,000 of them outstanding nown to the department; which would of course receive notice of them all. (Deducting $870,000 from $1,445,000 leaves $675,000.) The committee were bound to admit ‘thie fact, but they cover up the admission in disingen3- ous verbiage which conceals it from the public. The committee could algo have jearned, if they pursued their inquiries far enovgh to embrace the whole truth, that the outstanding accoptances had been provided for by the contractors in an assignment of property believed to be ample for their od and that no ultimate loss to the government ie likely to ensue on account of then, indeed tbat a largo portion of them bad been secured by double assignments. Thus the committeo’s magnificent bubble of #:x or seven millions of acceptances, likely to fall upon the government, collapses under the touch of truth to less than six hundred thoosand, secured by assignment of property amplo to cover the debt. Unless voluntarily advanced by Congress not one dollar of lors can fail upoh the government where the committe — six millions. the government shall permit the earnings of the trains for 1861 to be applied 1o these ontetanding acceptances, they will be paid off without reserve to Lf py wig Bag eons te les of tho last fall and carly winter, which dimini the resources of the govern- ment, I issned conditional acceptances, contingent on their face earnings to the amount of $798,000, which were given on the condition that they were to be substituted for previous ones that were in course of matoring for the of extending them; and upon the declaration to me that the holders of the maturing ari agreed to recoive the conditional as collateral. t Ihave already explained this in my letter of the 27th December to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, every word of which I now reiterate. Upon the facta [have now detailed, 1 submit the pro- priety of issuing the acceptances, under the exigencies which pressed upon the department, to the judgment of every enlightened man and patriot. Whatever may bo the ontery of a too easily misled prees, or the clamor of packed committees of Congress, I claim that it was an act of merit, for which I deserve the commendation of the country. THE ACCOUNTS. The committee criticise the manner in which an ac count of the acceptances was kept in the War Depart ment; but its charges in thie particular are falsified by the records of the department, furnished in their own volume of evidence. These contain a minute of every fact in relation to the paper, except its payment at maturity; and as to tne payment it was the arrangement that the contractors should provide for and pay it as it matured. This waa their stipulation, not only with me but with the holdere of the paper, and’ therefore it is sufficient to say tbat it became incumbent upon the contractors, when they obtained credit — the paper, to protect their own engagements. It was for them to accurate accounts of ite maturity, as it was their duty to pay it, and such accounts I am sure they did keep at their office in Lea- vepworth; but if they did not, it was no fault of mine. trapsactions in bound books, it is the ge- neral practice of government bureaux to preserve them fon for trenaportation came on. continued and the credit of their contract, in an availa- ble form, became essential to them in. order to enable them to supply the upon the plains. For these Teapons I again afforded them tho assistance asked for. The committee's own citations from Mr. Ben; 's testimony do not sustain the declarations to him which ‘bey put into my mouth, |.eccured by these very acceptances against bonds? But, : B i pose any graver consequences ionsly to exnggerate the case. go to protest in mber, and still I remained in the Cabinet. Thus the imaginary pro! reputation that the whole fabric of imputation is built.” Mr. Drinkard’s conversation with Mr. Batley, vow f views of the consequences of to my official sf - and spoke holly without my authori The greater part of J 1 trust bonds were taken in July sited by mber. apy knowledge of the abstraction, to have allowed the acceptances to be deposited in their place. Is there a man ip all the world, besides this com- mittee, who could entertain so improbable a supposition? This report makes @ grave inquiry into “Mr. Bailey's motives for taking the bonds,” and under this head brivgs prominently forward Mr. Bailey’s declaration that “it was to protect the character of Governor Floyd, and to save him from dishonor and retiremont from the Cabi- net, that would be necessarily incident to the protest and discovery of the acce} which had been illegal- ly iesued.’? “If Mr. Bailey’s ‘conversations’ are thought worthy of repetition go far as tocover an insinuation that I might bave known of the transaction, or was in some indefiuable mavner connected with it, why did the committee not think proper, in common homesty and truth, to state also that Mr. Bailey most solemnly declared ‘to everybody on ull occasions that I never had = knowledge whatever of his interviews I any’ with Mr. Ruseell anywhere, or of his transactions in coa- nection with the bonds im any shape, or at any time, or to any extent, whateyer? Why did the committee repeat Mr. Bailey’s declaration ia justification or extenuation ‘of his — ‘ taking’”’ the bonds, when they knew the facts upon which Mr, iley predicated his action, assuming that he is Lonest in his statement of his “motives,’’ were wholly untrue. The coumittee knew the acceptances were not illegally issued; they knew that nothing could be more silly or preposterous than to talk of preventing ‘the dis. covery” of the acceptances. They seem to use the word “discovery” simply for the purpose of insinuating that there was seme concealment of the transaction attempted or desired, when they bad the fact before them, and have stated in this same report that “in 1858 the Seoretary of War commenced the issue of acceptances, and at the game time wrote to the various banks and individuals, tirging their purchase of discount.’ In fact, the issue of the acceptances had been generally known in commercial circles for three years. Thus the committee state a fact which gives the lie direct to the insinuation previously mace by them in the same report, and which insinuation lays the whole foundation, and was go intended, for their imputations against ine, It must be borne in mind that during all the time from July to December, whilst Mr. Bailey professes to have been moved by such a tender regara for my character, he never thought onee of intimating to me what he was doing for its protection. Besides this, the committee know, or could bave known by asking, that there was 00 sort of intimacy whatever between Mr. Bailey and my- self; en the contrary, that our association: of the most formal kind. J did not even know, until Mr. Bailey «is- closéd his defalcation to me in December last, that he oceupied any special position of trust in the Interior Do- partment. Tid not know that sich bonds were in_ his custody, or even in the office of the department, There was not a solitary circumstance between us of a sort whi h usually bind men together to bonds of friendship; no business connection, official or private, no association, no reseon why Mr. Bailey should imperil his character and ¢cstroy bis prespecta in life forever for the purpose of shie ym 4 me from a danger which had no foundation. A very high and noble motive was it certainly to risk his fame and reputation and inour the risk of the ties of earthly claim upon bim from an imaginary danger, an #til) more strange that he should not have thought it worth while to make the lesst inquiry about the subject of the man he desired to eerve. But it could harcly have escaped the sagacious ob- servation even of this committee—it certaimy cannot that of the public--that the course pursued by ley was exactly the very one calculated to do me the greateat possible injury and damage. Why accumu- late this vast sum of acceptances, which he consi illegal, without one word of caution or one intimatiya of the fact, or one syllable of inquiry upon the subject from ‘the man he professed to shield and protect? Why, be- lieving them to be i légal,as he declares, would he take them in exchange for State bonds belonging to the Indian ‘Trust, and then declare that the goverament was fully all loss on account of the abs'racted ove all, why did Mr. Bailey allege, as a justification or extenuation of his act, that he was moved to it fom a wish tosaye me from dirgrace, when all men must know that the assign- ment of this reason was calculated to do me a deeper in- jury than any act he could do on the face of the earth? It ‘was the ouly act he or any other man could do which coud tend in the least degree to connect act of my life with him or with his transactions. ‘is line of reflection from the unquestionable facts proved is so obvious that it is impossible it should escape the perception of the meanest comprehension. Why, then, if the committee were moved by an honest desire to as- certain “the facts connected with the abstraction of the bonds,”’ did they not discard these stupid and contemp- tible Hypotheses which rested upon such absurd data and seek for other explanations sustained by facts, or com- mon sense at least? The committee report the fact that Mr. Baliey advanced toMr. Rosrell four hundred and eighty-seven thousand dollars ($487,000) from July, when their negotiations be- gan, untib October, and that for this immense sum ‘the paper of Russell, Majors & Waddell was left as security” alone. It is perfectly clear from these facts that the ne- gotixtions between Mr. Bailey and Mr. Russell began and were carried on without any Cennection with reference to theee acceptances, but upon the individual creait of Rus- sell, Majors & Waddell, until nearly half « million of bonds were delivered. Suppose the exposure had taken piace at that point, what circumstance, even the most trivial and insignificant, could have been seized upon to impli cate mo in these transactions? There is neitheir mali- gnity nor stupidity enongh in all this world to pretend to such a belief It seems that there were but three men who knew of the taking of the bonds until it was publicly disclosed. Shey have declared that 1 knew nothing of the transac. tion, ond that 1 wes the last person they would have al- lowed to know of it, thas proving the nogative in regard to any knowledge on my part. Are these witnesees to be believed? The committee must vouch their credi- bility, for it is from tneir testimony alone that the ouly circumstances against me are drawn. But apart from this consideration, there are other facts and circum- stances which establish my ignorance and disconnection with this businees as completely, probably more com- pletely, than any positive testimony could do. Mr. Bailey's letter to me, dated the 19th of Decomber, revealing the fact of the abstraction of the bonds, and his possession of the acceptances, bears upon its face, in every line and syllable, conclusive proof that he was 're- vealing facts to me that he knew | was ignorant of. That was the whole object—that was the sole object of this letter; written for any other object it would have been nonsense. No man on earth would have written such letter os this unless to another ignorant of the subject disclored, aad £0 every honest man will decide. Mr. Bailey, in this letter, asks for a personal interview with me before I should make any disclosures. With this letter to me he sent a of bis proposed ietter to Mr. Thompeon—in which be determined to eonceal the traneaction until the close of the administration. Im- mediately after his interview with me, which took place according to his request, he determined to disclose the transaction at once. If 1 had known anything of the abstraction, or had been implicated in the slightest de- gree in it, or felt ay laterest whatever in concealing it, how ceey and natural would it have beef for me to urge Jir, Bailey to persist in his plan of concealment? And a8, at that time, the committee ansort, ‘‘Mr. Bailey, in the exercise of forethought, prudent to ‘avoid detection, made up his stock account last year, showing on its face that the bonds were safe in his custody,’ nothing could haye been more easy than to continue the con- cealment. But immediately after this interview, Mr. Bailey charged bia previously concerted plans, and made his disclosure. Mr. Bailey does not leave the reason for this change ia his plans in any doubts. He said, in bis conversations with various witnesses and others, ‘that he never would have changed his plans concealment but for the converration be heid with me.’ 1 would not consent to be the depository of such a secret and therefore Mr. Bailey concluded vory properly that farther concealment was utterly impossible; and, conse- — onthe very day of his interview with me, ho ire Mr. Wagner to deliver bis lotter of confession to Mr. Thompson immediately on Mr. Thompson's return to the city, It was not owing to Mr. Bailey's inability to arrange his coupon accounts with the Auditor to any ex- tent, or in any part, that caused the ‘‘early disclosure,’’ koow perfectly well. The com- had gotton Thompeon, completely were at any stage of the proceeding. But the committee knew another important fact Fo oat jog he vo pt orth whe to allude to in or ov in Fto induce MF. Rossel to Come at one to Washing. conspiring with him on my joast knowledge on my of bis transactions, much lees a participation in them, nothing could have been more important to me than his absence from the coun- try. "Fut why should I continue this formal refatation of cobweb absurdities? I leave the sinister tosinuationa of this committee to the judgment of all just and honorable men. ‘The sensation preee bas toomed with stories of my im- mease wealth in public plunder, and maguidoent deposite fi i set | F i f = the pul ceptances outstanding in the hands of bona for which government is responsible, it was bring forward come legizlation to save the innocent from loss. But they bave not done so, and their failure is a confeesion that their whole statement on the subject is a base falsehood ; it isan admission of what is the real fact, that neither the government nor a single innocent tizon will lose a dollar these drafts. It will not do for them to say that they have, by ex- posing their ‘‘inviolably secret’ proceedings to the Grand Jury of the District of Columbia, and by the ox- ercige of indecent personal industry, procured my indict- ment for malfeaeance in office; for the law positively for- bids the prcsecution of a witness for any act or fact touel which he shall have been examined and have testified before a committee of Congress, and they brought bine} wate the ooereten of this —. by = jecting me toa fogging examination. Nor fi Ieee oo for an offence of It is impos- sible, under the strict rules of pleading enforced in cri- minal courts, to embrace such a charge, and impeach- ment is the only preceeding which, by its’ freedom from technicalities and latitude of range, can meet the emer- gencies of such atrial. The committee have not ven- tured to subject the fallacies of their report to such an ordeal. Nor rr Ler 4 — forward or petition to passage Ww ward against @ re] of tie ta cao tee tegaie) to mee ‘Thus, by their omisrions of self-deflned duty, have they stultified themselves, faisifed their report and proved their whole proceedings to have been a wretched partisan @ ag sc wo fe and _—— a = ad- vereary. ave made 8 report | prognan every line with libel upon the head department, to have ordered several thousands of copies of it to be printed for circulation, and to have irstituted a mock prosecution serves very effectually a political object; but what great ends of honest and patriotic statesmanthip are accom. ished by stopping short here and trifling with a pab- lic duty? If they were determined to single out a victim for @ political offence, against which there is no law, and for which, in the minds of all juat men, there ought to be no censure, the committee ought, at least, to throw aside the hypccritical garb of indig- pant morality, under which they have not ecrupled to perpetrate a forgery in the name of truth. In this report a forgery is committed in the testimony of Mr. Drinkard, and for the word “apnoyed”’ is substitued the word ‘‘agonized,” simply to create the inference from the supposed intensity of my feelings about the non payment of the acceptances, that I would consent 10 abet @ felony in order to prevent a protest. I can scarcely resist a feeling of despair when called upon to defend my self against a committee of Congress, operating through the machinery of that powerful tribunal, and re- sorting besides to the weapous of forgery, committed in the gecresy of a privileged conclave, amenable to no law and subject to no censure. The very last phase of depra- vity and corruption, the most pitiable exhibition of a mean and despicable nature, is, with lofty professions of virtue, to use an accidental position of public trust to give circulation and point to calumny and falsehood. With the parties implicated, perfectly knowao and con- fessed, this committee have turned aside from investi- gating the causes of negligence and maladministration which led to the offence, or which rendered such a thing practicable; and have consumed six weeks in siemotions by the su jon of the real facts and the estabiish- ment of falsehoods, to implicate a political adversary. ‘The great course of public justice bas been abandoned, the interests pty country gorse yre med attempt to wreak vengeance upoa a opponent in the name of justice and pablio virtua, Tho whole con. duct of this committee in their investigation convicts it of a vindictive spirit and iuteution. Charged with grave | judicial functions, it has disregarded ita obligations ay an impartial arbiter, and perverted the judgment bench into @ position from which to shout forth indecent defa- mation upon my It arraigns me before Congress in the style and spirit of a prosecuting attorney, making the public records the vehicle, and the public archives the depository of its invectives. The whole tone and language of its mw proves that the relation it assumed towards mo was of prosecator rather than that of Nor will there be found in the many hundred pages of teetimony it has taken, a single interrogatory designed to elicit any fact tending to my vindication, or the whole truth in r to any of the matters under inquiry. Nay, more, where the true reply to questions propounded would bave brought out facts in my favor, the witnesses were oftener than not cut short in their etatements with demands for cat ical answers. One of the ini acts of this committee was to tiatory adopt a resolution enjoining “inviolable” secresy as to ail their proceedings, and yet there was no evidence elicited at any time tending to prajudise me in the pub- lic mind that was not fc Pret oe nee in the sensation prees—as if it been intended, by educating public sentiment for six weeks in advance, to to with wu credulity, the fate orc Setioos hnally bi ‘out in the t. Even his very document was ee at the No before it was submitted to the of Representatives, and garbled portions of the evidence surreptitiously printed ‘na volume before it was laid upon the clerk's desk of nat body. The cfficial document of the evidence is not yet printed, and I have only been able as yet to examine it by proxy and in the most cursory manner. I protest that this investigation, so far as Iam gon- cerned, has been conducted against every rule of justice and public decency. The Christian maxim, as old as civilization—‘hear the other si¢e’’—has been utterly disregarded. The time honored rule of common law— — man shall be held tonocent until his guilt is proved’’—has been reversed; everything has been as- sumed against me, and the onus of proving the negative thrust upon my shoulders. The opportunity for con- fronting and cross-examining witacsses, or even of knowing the charges to be inquired into,’bas not been afforded by this Star Chamber Inquisition, who have not even allowed the witnesses supposed to entertain friend- ship for me an yanity of correcting the proof sheets: of their testimony. But these proceetings only prove what is already too well kuown to the public—that these inveetigations of Congress have degenerated into mero engines of partisan warfare—infernal engincs, plotted in secret for indiscriminate destructiveness. Few men of character will now take part in them; and they have come to be composed of persons of tho basesi instincts— worse than assassins of life—assassins of character. For these reasons I protest against the validity of the report of this committee for any purpose, so far as I am concerned, except to prove the maliguity of its authors and their unscrupulous industry as scandal-mongors and detectives. I protest te goon thetr whole proceedings in regard to me a8 a brutal assault upon every sa’eguard of blic and private character, which modern civilization Rae been wont to cherish as sacred. I denounce them as utterly unworthy to pronounce judgment upon any politi- cal adversary, and I repadiate their accusations against me 96 the malicious aspersions of partisan opponents and personal enemies. A great fact stands prominently ont t f great stands prominently ont in apite of all ca lumny and detraction. It is this—that I have acminis- tered the War Department upon the Po ang omy mado by Congrers, and have asked for no deficiency bill to pay arrearages. The ¢ of ane 4 year have been kept within tho appropr! althoug the oa :imates of the Bureau bave iu most materially reduced by Con- gress, under circumstances calculated greatly to embar- rare the service. ‘These appropriations, it must be borne in mind, have all been made upon specific estimtes for each branch of the service and for every item. Congress could not fail to understand thoroughly and minutely everything they were doing. Tho expenditures were made in conformity with the estimates and the appropriations, and every contract and every order for a purchase, specityiag the articles contracted for or bought, the exact sum3 of mo- ney expended, and the names of the parties to the trans- actions, have ali been Ye nt! transmitted to Congress. So that'a perfect map of the whole transactions of the Department has been comslerly laid before that body every year, and not one syllable of censure bas ever yet Deen Uttered against @ Bingle transaction, I arrogite nothing when I say that # greater amount of service was never rendered before the United States for the same sum of money, The army has, during ny whole term of office, beem on a war footing, aid not that of peace, and have been carrying on active campaigns from Texas in the South to the British possessions in the North, whilst the teanaportation required and performed bas been be. yond all precedent greater than at any former poriod. Ley ‘ail this time, amid all tho difficulties arising from a distrustful and’ hostile course of legislation, not one doilar has been expended beyond tho tations of Congress, not one dollar lost to the government from fraud, peculation er thoft. There stand the accounts, in, , distinct, inviting investigation and defying If these facts, which neither malignity nor falsehood overthrow or shake, are not enough to shield mo from of fraudulent contracts and countices em. JOHN B. FLOY! Anuvcpos, Va., March 4, 1861, Notices of New Books. Hawn Boox or Active Ssavick, ron tae Use or Vo.onterns. By Egbert L. Vielo, late of the United States Army, Captain Engineers, Seventh regiment. D, Van Nostrand, No. 192 Broadway, New York. 1 vol., 12mo., 252 pp ‘This is an excellent treatise or manual for the volun- teer or regular soldier, comprising, as it does, many valu- able binta and illustrations to troops who are liable to be brought suddenly into the field, and who, by following out the directions and advice laid.down in this work, would obviate unnecessary privation and personal suffer- ing. This book treats in a familiar and original manner out bivouac, with a chapter on fortifications and a manual for light and hoavy artis. ‘The ney ieee will prove & valuable -DerarTaxst.—During the feet wide by 75 feet log. Owing to the lack of proper yeet'g e Uta fie Hf i H Lined ARS i # Kt [i F F Hl E € t 7 a Ly f GFE? Hl g° sé ~~, iff dae ue " City Intelligence. Cokriamat To THz How, Joux A. Dix.—The friends of the late Secretary of the Treasury intend to give that gea- tleman a flattering reception on his return from Washing- ton. A meeting was held yesterday, when it was arranged to give Mr. Dix a public dinner, at which proper expres- sion will be given to their approbation of hie course dur- pg the brief time he oceupied the responsible position of Becretary of the Treasury. Cxtxpration or St. Parrick’s Day.—Our citizens of Trish birth or extraction are making preparations on tho moat extensive acale for the celebration of the birthday of St. Patrick, the patron of Ireland. The 17th of March falling on Sunday this year renders a postponement of the customary exercises and festivities neceesary until the day following, when there will be, as usual, a grand mili- itary and civic parade, besides many agreeable dinners and reunions in the evening. The ty will turn out under the command of Robt. Nugent, and we understand that the civic display will surpass any thing of the kind that has taken place on a similar occasion in this city. The Rt. Rev. Dr. Lynch, RC B,, will deliver a lecture on the evening of Sunday, the 17th inst., at Irving Hall—Subject—‘St. Patrick, the patron Saint of Ireland.”? Tax New Law vor THe Berrer GOVERNMENT OF THE Fire coming week a special meet- ing of the Board of Representatives will be held at Fire- men’s Hall, to take action on the new law for the better regulation of the Fire Department, passed by the Lagia- lature. As tho Common Council has been deprived of all power over the Department, a new Board of Fire Com- missioners and a Board of Appeal is to be elected. Tho number of men allowed each company has also been re- duced:—Engine companies to fifty men, hook and ladder companies to forty and hose companies to twenty-five, Already there are quite a number of aspirants in the field for Commissioners. It is presumed that most of the members of the present Board of Fire Commissioners will be reelected. Mr. Henry Wilson, President of the Board, is spoken of ag one of the candi- dates to be put forward for the Board of Appeal. He is an old fireman, and will no doubt be- the unanimous choice of the department. It is certainly important tbat immediate action should be taken, for there is hardly a fire in any portion of the city but what is attended by a most disgraceful fight. At one fire a few days sgo there were no less than ten companies engaged in fighting. Chief Engineer Decker, has beon untiring in hie eiforts to seoure the passage of the pew bill, and is determined that no company shall go unpunished if they in the slightest way are engaged in any riotous conduct after the new law is in force. ‘Tur Pouce Commissioners yesterday roceived the re signation of pliceman W. L. Ostrander, of the Third precinct, and officer Murin, of the Fourth ward. Several bills were passed by the Board and erdored to be paid— among theta, $481 for board for the inmates of the House of Detention. The new of Detention in Mott street will shortly be completed, and it said that it will be taken pogseesion of on the Ist of May. There is some talk of increasing the number of the Broadway squad and havirg a portion of them on night duty, to-attend places of amusement, in place of the members of the Twenty-sixth Precinct. Tax Avwermanio “Riva”? Cuqve—An enthusiastic meeting of the members of the Kighteenth Ward Union Independent Demecratic Association wes held on Thurs- day ype last. There were no less than 360 members present, and the utmost unanimity prevailed. Tho do- sign of the association is to break up the influence of a clique of Aldermen known as the “Ring,” and to estab- lish the principle that Aldermen are to be elected by the people, and not by themselves. The meeting was called order by the President, Mr. James Irving, and the fol- lowing gentlemen elected permanent members:—Presi- dent, Hawley D. Clapp; Vice Presidents, Patrick Rontz and John 0. Hearn; Treasurer, Daniel Gillespie; Secretary, Williamsburg City News. Serious Fires —On Thursday evening a fire broke out in a large frame house, owned by Mr. Richard Berry, and occupied by Mr. Cameron, in First street, between South Tenth and South Eleventh. The building and fur- niture were injured to the extent of about $1,200. There woe no insurance. About nine o’clock on the same evening another fire was discovered in a frame building in Ainslie street, between Eighth amd Ninth streets. The building is owned by Mr. A. H. Purdy, and used asa stablo by Messrs. Mecker & Myers. Two vaiuable horses belonging to the latter gentleman, together with the stable, were burnt » third borse escaped with a few slight burns. insured, total loss 1s about $400. The property ts ®t] another fire broke out at about half-past ten o'clock, in the bg mm Hotel, Kent avenue, owned by Mr. Adolphus Frack. The flames were occasioned by the explosion of a fluid lamp which a young lady, bamed Amelia Lernes, was endeavoring to light. The flames communicated to her dress, aud burnt the poor gir! in so dreadful a manner thit it is thought she caa- not recover. The carpe's and furniture were damaged to the extent of about $50. New York Binz Soctety.—The regular monthly moct- ing of the New York Bible Soctety was heli at the Bible House, Astor place, on Thursday evening, March 7—the President, William Allen Butler, Fsq., in the chair. The Committee for the Supply of the Destitute Resident Popa- lation reported the completion of the visitation of the ‘Twelfth ward, showing an aggrogate visitation of 8,084 families and a distributien of 964 volumes. With a large increase of population the ratio of destitution had de- creased. ‘the Marine Committee reported distribution during the month of February among tho shipping of 164 Bibles and 1,621 Testamonts. Re were received from the other standing committees. The subject of jn: creasing the force employed in we work of systematic Hm 4 vas G onus the — popula. tion, with a vi 0 com ®& thorough supply of all destitution in the city every two yours, was EE and a resolution adopted authorizing the an additional agent. The Board Thursday of Apr: a American Brock Socrery.—The stated meeting of the managers was held on Thursday, the 7th instant, at half. past three P. M.—Hon. Luther Bradish in the chair, as- sisted by James Lenox, Benjamin L. Swan, Francis Hall, and Poelatiah Perit, Eaqs. Rev. Dr. De Witt read the ninety-seventh pealm and offered prayer. Seven new auxiliaries were recognized, of which five are in Missouri, one in North Carolina and one in Texas. Communica. tions were read from agents giving an account of their labors; from the American Railway Union, asking books for — depot at ee boy Asean pepe Gene. va, giving an account operations of colporteurs and Sitstrfbution of beoks in Italy under the supervision of the Swiss-Italian Committee; from Rev. Dr. Revel, Florence, in y to a letter of inquiry from this society in regard to the demands for the Bible in Kaly and the practicability of increased circulation— the answer is favorable ahd encouraging; from the ltev. 1. G Bliss, the society's agent in Constan: tinople, a the unexpectedly largo demand for the feriptures in the Rast, and Lege | ciroulation, and asking appropriations ‘for printing the Scriptures’ and supporting colporiours and sustaining the depository at Pera; from Rev. J. L. Mackey, imissfonary of Presbyte- rian West Africa, with regard to F gd the Gospel by Mark in the Benga tongue; from Rov. Mr. Tor- rey, missionary to the Cherokees, and Stephen Foreman tranalator, respecting the continuance of the work of translating the Scriptures into the Cherokee language. Grants of in various languages were made for dis- tribution in Chile, 8. A.; in Hayti, W. I; to thoColoniaa- tion Society, Phiiadelphia, for Africa; for distribution in Kansas, and Wi ‘ibles for Wisconsin, in neighbor. hoods where there is no auxiliary, with many smaller grants, and four yolumes in letters for ‘and $10,900 were iated for printing the Arabic ‘ing the Armeno-Turk t of tothe first ith Bible a imperial quarto; and on te juarto, carr; on ork at ; a quarto, ‘ying work ai Duat, Dust, Dust. TO THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD, Nothing but dust. Eyes, mouth, cars, property and health, all must suffer for the want of a little water to allay the dust. Tho sprinklers are ready to do their duty, but say that they are debarred from using the water un- til after tho Ist of April by the city authorities, they the loss of the water for the purpose of oxtin- guisbing fires, while Cy | and health are de- stroyed during the month ‘than shop, and the shop and storekeeper will not leave homo to make purchases, and eS eS is ata i” ill not some of tr leading the grentont sufferers by this in- ‘nuisaboe, make a move in this matter and ob- for the use of the water at once, and if not, cannot the sprinklers be induced to draw the water from the river, in which event none could be so uarea sonable as not to allow a fair equivalent for their extra services- To effect this object during the present mouth is to effect a good greater than can possibly be dorivet from such @ course during ail the other eleven montha of the yoar FYERER. funds to be in a very flourishing condition, there being a balance of $30,000 in the public chest after paying the Buge loan and all liabilities against the public. The session bids fair to be a very long one, es the Superintendent has already sent in his twouty-sixth mes- ‘sage, each one of which is the forerunner of an enset- ment. In addition t> those new measures the ditfereat members have brought forward half ss many more, ‘The Bay Islands are not yet given up to Honduras, aor is there much likelihood that they will be, as Guardicis will be more fouri, an ambrot; artist, was urdered return from the capt of juras. had about $3, oes oa Li one oa Ld illo, and, what is much worse, the debts due from the then are due now, and I fear will always remain. , The same aj ws now made by the of Ruatam, No trade, no cash, and we can’t pay, say they. Walker is the excuse of the poor and of the knaves, and the latter are ten to one of the former; but so goes the world. ‘TROUBLES WITH THE CLERGY IN REGARD TO LIBERTY OF CONSCIKNCK—THE BAY ISLANDS NOT YET Ut POSSESSION @F HONDURAS, ETC. The troubles between the goyernment and clorgy of Honduras grow out of the provisions of the treaty of cession of the Bay Islands, by which non-Catholics are permitted to worship according to their individual notions and pleasure. On the death of Bishop Flores, which oe- curred about the time of the cession, the Vicar Capitular of the metropolitan diocess, Don Miguel del Cid, actuated by his apostolic zeal and hatred of heresy, published o decree of excommunication against President Guardiola and all his aiders and abettors, for the alleged reasons that the death of the bishop and the free introduction of heresy were the work of the government. rf The decree of excommunication was posted all over the capital and distributed throughout the republic, profound gensation in the miads of the , - oe —_—— hea beer for the peace of the countr: rpetuity vernment. Presi- dent Guardiola, therefore, felt. himeelf called 'y iasue a decree depriving the Vicar of his functions, ishing him from Honduras, and ordering the destruction of his obnoxious publication. The following is a transla- tion of the government decreo:— Article 1. The publication of the excommunication fwl- minated by the Vicar Capitular against the President and others is prohibited, and is red to be torn from the places where it has been affixed; those to be treated as seditious, according to law. Art. 2. The said Vicar, bon Miguel dei Cid, is from the country, and the Apostolic. See shall in possession of those of his documents which j excite rebellion, in order that it may be ina position justly and properly. Art. 3. After the publication of this decree, all inhabé- tants of the republic are prohibited holding communica- tion, direct or indirect, of any kind soever, with the said del Cid, Those who infringe in this particular shall be Et ir ot eee Se comes. art. ‘venerable ecclesiastical ehapter will be called upon by the government to revoke the appointment to the vicarship of the said del Cid, for the very proper reasons which are presented; and that it ‘to no- inate his successor, if there be no obs! in the way. Art. 6 exacts obedience from all oflicials in the exeeu- tion of the decree. tf it il epolia- Property. In regard to the death of Bishop Flores, the official Gazeve of Honduras, ina re- view of the Vicar’s ‘‘censure,”’ shows conclusively that the bi died of cholera morbus,and produces the tes- timopy of @r. Holland, who bim at the recom. mendation of several eminent respectable \ pames are given. In short, the various charges are re. futed seriatim. Notwithstai all this, however, matter may yet cause a great Of trouble to the ge- verpmeat of the coun! i Supreme Court. William B. Lawrence, Jr. vs. B. K, Sharretis—Motion to set aside sale of property in Dey street Howe — Justice.—On tho question whether at the time of the entry of the judgmont in this case there was over $1,250 of rent due the plaintiff, and whether as to the amount of the judgment beyond that sum it was intended merely as security for rent to become due thereafter, the papors on the part of the plaintiff are by no means satisfactory. The defendant, Sharretts, swears positively that only $1,250 of rent was due when the judgment was given, and that as to the whole of the judgment beyond that sum that it was given as security merely. This allega- tion is confirmed by the aflidavits o: his brother, Haines Van Winkle, and by the plaintiff's receipt, dated’ Nov. 9, 1869, and by other circumstances. The plaintiff swears that the judgment (which is for $7,249 94) was given for rent due avd in arrears, and not as secarity for rent te become due, and his last affidavit contains a statement of the items making up the $7,249 94, as he alleges; but this Staiement is by no means satisfactory. According to this, $1,060 was for balance due on note for June 4, 1858, which note is stated in. his first ‘The items of the balance of the judg- given for rent. firet day of 8.x different months, and the sum of 38 on the first day of two different months when paysble by the lease was $626 monthly. Pk , for mere & stat figures which would foot th os jures due on the note, at the amount of the judgment. in part given for rent actually due, or in whole or in part for rent to become due, as this motion py TF When thio first order to show cause was the re- ths ment to abandon the first’ order to show cause and sent tothe sale, but the allegations to show the Py eg *ro very vague and unsatisfactory, the ner apgeeh bg bel my! sss. re tbe gagtse HB z z if i i i , brought an action against the Harlem Railroad Comping, asking for $20,000 for injuries sustained through the smashing of a car on which the plaintiff had taken pas- sage. Mr. Edgerton, the plaintiff, who is a morchant ée- ing business in Broadway, Now York, but residing tm Oypress avenue, Now Lotta, took a through ticket to Albany.on the 26th of February, 1860, The plainu@ changed the passenger car which he had taken for a ‘‘caboose”’ car on a freight train, the rear part of which was smashed at Chatham Four Corners, and the plaintift pon crutches, and partially yrovented foe tioning upon crutches, his business for some time. ‘On a former tatal a vi % was givon for the defendenta, on the ground that the intiff, by getting on a wrong train, had contributed to trial lowed, at this ‘lane Wao plant ras Awarded r and this time the was aw 14,000 damages.