The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1849-10-01
7 H E R E ? U B Ii G..
WASN'T N GTON:
MONDAY MORNING, OCTOBER /. ls4s.

1t might be supposed, by any one who
was not familiar with the remorseless
strategy CT Locofoco partsanship, that
Commander Carpenter had suffered quite
enough from the brutal instincts which
requite good with evil, at the hands of
those whom he had succored and saved,
to have deserved the sympathies, at least,
if not to have merited the support Of his
countrymen of all parties. His conduct
in rescuing a foreign ship from imminent
peril has been denounced by those whose
lives and property he saved; his disgrace
has been demanded for an act of noble
humanity. He has waived his rights,
guaranteed by the law and practice Of ma
tons, upon a frivolous excuse set up
against mertorious claim. He has been
subjected to the detraction of a foreign in
| crate, and has been, in effect, denied the
| right to be heard in defence of gallant
action, which should have won the APP
plause of those who now seek his destruc-
ton. But this is not all he has to endure.
He has to run the gauntlet of misrepresen-
to subserve party purpose. His charac-
ter is needed to patch up the respectable
ty of his accusers, and he is to be slaugh-
tered to appease disloyal fanaticism
which allies itself with every thing that is
foreign and aggressive in assailing the
President and Government of the United
States.
In illustration of the violence and eager
ness with which he is pursued by those
whose foreign connexions absorb all their
sympathies and tax all their resources, we
shall proceed to make few extracts from
the Union, whose claim to be the organ of
the anti-American party is established by
the greatest perseverance and the most un-
scrupulous service. From long and labored
leaders in this Unnatural vocation we clip
the following:
"The French government did not complain of
Commander Carpenter for claiming salvage Of
the Eugene 1t complained because ne, as a naval
4
claim to court Of competent Jurisdiction but used
the naval force under his command TO seize and de-
tain the Eugene within few miles of her port Of
destination, TO satisfy private and personal claim
Of his and Of his crew"
We venture to say that more wanton
and shameless perversion of truth than the
above extract contains, for a more cruel
and criminal purpose, cannot be produced,
unless its parallel is found in other parts of
the same journal. In the first place, the
French did complain Of Commander Car
pender for claiming salvage. In Mr..
Poussin's opening communication upon the
subject, he expressly states that
"Mr. Carpenter, the commander Of the American
wsr-stcamer Iris, after fastening 10 the assistance
Of the French ship Eugene, Of Havre, which had
struck on the bank Of Rico, near the anchorage Of
Anton Lizardo, advanced claims wholly inadmissi-
BILE on account Of remuneration for his services"
And in his last, and most insulting de-
spatch, he repeats the complaint, by treat
ing with contempt Commander Carpen-
der's opinion, that "the case was one Of
salvage" This complaint is distinctly
made and reiterated, and the detention of
the vessel is put as an aggravation of the
wrong in claiming salvage. Admitting
the claim Of salvage good, the lien on the
vessel follows Of course.
But the boldest and most despicable per-
version IS that part of the extract in which
the Union makes the complaint of the
French government charge Commander
Carpenter with using the naval force un-
der his command ''to seize and detain the
Eugene" "to satisfy private and per
sonal claim" This accusation is a coin
age of the Unions zeal. The e'foreign
organ" outstrips its constituency. The
French government never suggested that
Comman,.der Carpenter seized the Eugene.
There is no tr;S.i,h in it. There was nc
pretence made of his having come illegally
into the possession of the vessel. There
is not word about setting the Eugene IN
the whole correspondence. And yet the
Union, TO damn an American officer, ekes
out the accusation of the French minister
and, by implication, charges Commander
Carpenter with falling aboard Of French
merchantmen, with an American armed
vessel, TO extort "a private and persona
claim"
To break the force OF a case cited by
Captain Stringhan, of the navy, in which
a French war vessel exacted and recovered
salvage for services rendered merchant