The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-09-17

Balance in my favor ........... sl.4s6 So
| "EoTEs.
| "'I bought in New York, November %, 1916.
Treasury notes, and pad the interest then due on
| them, and lost the interest on nearly the whole
| amount Treasury notes, even with the interest
| little while in The city of Mexico Thus, haa to
deposit the notes and pay interest to my banker on
my drafts till they could sell the notes (nearly the
whole) at par, includsns interest. Besides, paid
\ my bankers ia vera Cruz and Mexico a commits
sion q bali per cent. ! do not, however, propose
to bring thore items and other heavy Losses into
this account, considering them covered BY the
commission Of three apd ha!f per cent. 1 have
charged on account ef losses, trouble and respon-
| sibilities.'"
Mr.. Secretary CONRAD speaks above of an
account current rendered by General Soorr to
the War Department in July, lS4S. That &C
count embraced every cent of money that came
into the hands of General Scorr, viz, the
S26l ,69l 81, and also every item expended by
him, viz. $255,l29l as. Among these expen-
dinres the account will show $llS,797 l9 re-
milted to the Treasury or paid into the military
chest. on account of Military Asylum for
worn out or disabled soldiers, (rsgulars and
| volunteers and which sum has since been
specially appropriated by Congress to that use
| sixty odd thousand dollars for blankets and
| shoes gratuitously distributed among the sol
diers at Mexico; some fifteen or twenty thou
sand dollars for extra comforts in hospitals,
including ten dollars paid to each crippled dis
| charged man; sixty odd thousand dollars for
secret service money, including the pay of a
native spy company for nine months; thirteen
| thousand dollars turned over to General BUT
| LER, who succeeded General ScoTT, &c., Sc.
See the account current. If not in print, it
ought to be printed.
| 1t appears by the correspondence that when
General Scorr, in lS48, rendered his account
current to the War Department and demanded
aquietus, together with the balance ($l ASS 33)
due him on that account, Mr.. Secretary MARCY
replied that he could not then settle the mat
ter, there being, in fact, no statutory provi-
sion whatever applicable to the $225, 29l as,
Exclusive of the $40, 00O,) as no part of that
large sum Contributions, &c. had ever be-
longed in any sense to the Treasury of the
United States but Mr.. MARCY said he would
apply to Congress for a law to enable him to
deal with it as public money, and to allow a
|
settle the account under the law as it existed
and not to wait for an er post tacto law; and
hence he has held that the rendition of his ac-
count was a final settlement. Mr.. MARcY's law
! (March B, lS49) was passed some eight months
after that settlement.
We now see with what indecency the Union
newspaper Gas quoted above) charges General
ScoTT with retaining the 81 1856 10 "without
authority Of law,' when the statute book had
nothing whatever to do with the subject
| The Union's comments on many other items
in the receipts of General ScoTr are equally
garbled and disngenuous. 1t says that a GER
tain extra allowance ($l 1852 for making ar
| engagements as commissioner with The Chero-
kees) was made to him by "a clerk" of the
Department, instead of Secretary of War ad
interim, (there being no other Secretary;) and
the Union neglects to quote the judicial au-
thority for the allowance, endorsed by that
"clerk," or rather Secretary
There are twenty other explanations in favor
of General SCoTr equally decisive, which the
document, when printed, may probably sup
Ply-all of which are suppressed by the Union,
or Congressional printer, with the imprinted
papers in his hands.
10 swell the amount Of public money paid
to or on account of General Scorr, the Union
Jumps his transportation or mileage with his
pay, as if mileage made any part of an officers
compensation, instead of being, what it is, an
indemnify, or refunding of fares previously
paid by the officer. These journeys are made
not tor the convenience Of the officer, but I'M
der the necessities Of the public service. Cen
eral ScoTT, in forty-four years, must have
made some thousands Of such journeys, through
cold and heat, by night and day, often at the
imminent hazard of health and life, and, on an
average, (for some thirty odd years of $500
miles year. Thus the amount of mileage
refunded to him cannot, it is believed, be less
than $4,000.
The Union regards with indignation the
per diem allowed to General ScoTT when hold
ing negotiations or making treaties with In
dians-not choosing TO remember that General
JACKSON and many other officers, while hold
ing the commissions Of major generals, brga-
der generals, or colonies, and paid in the army
as such, always received the same per diem for
| negotiating with Indian tribes
General SooTT has, in fact, as an officer on
strictly military duty, as a negotiator with In
dian tribes, a diplomatic agent Of the Go.
vernment abroad, and as the author of the text
books in the hands Of the army, on an average,
received from the Government, as compensa-
ton, in the last forty four years, less than
$4,000 a year. But if he had been paid for
the captures make by him, as all foreign off
GERS are paid and also our own naval officers,
his prize money in the war of 1912 would have
been $4,000, and in the war with Mexico
$3.50 900, making $320,0OO-not one cent of
which ever came into his pocket.
Having seen what the receipts of the Amer
lean General-in Chief have been, let us take a
hasty lance at the receipts of the Command
erin Chief Of the British army.
From the following statement, which APP