The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-02-08

Governor General, in which detailed the cir
cumstances and occurrences of my late cruise,
up to the time of my arrest. In this communi-
cation expressed many regrets for much i'm
prudence of language on my part whilst in
Sumatra but denying doing or devising any
hostile act against the Government of Neither
lands India This personal appeal to the Gov
ernor Generals justice and magnanimity was
simply handed over to the Attorney General as
levidence against me, but was rejected as such
by the court of justice at Batavia"
Unless could obliterate my own statements
to the Department, it would avail but little to
destroy the letter put forth as the one sent by
me to the Governor General. could not prevent
the Dutch from transmitting more copies, nor
could l obliterate from the dispatches of the
Dutch Minister the statement of what it con-
tained Mr. Gevers, the Dutch Minister, offers
copy to supply the place of the lost document
before the Secretary of State had actually msde
the discovery of the loss. With the eye of che
Dutch Minister upon the files of the State De-
partment, who could hope successfully to alb
stract papers therefrom to the prejudice of the
Government of Holland. / needed the letter
of the 25th February, to correct the inference,
as to its import, created by the dispatches of the
| Dutch Minister The letter is the best COM
mentary on the despatch.
In a word, while nothing was to be gained
by suppressing the letter, its absence, from
whatever cause it might arise, could not fail to
embarrass my relations with the Executive and
| with Congress. 1t would inevitably furnish the
first opportunity for open attack on the part of
my enemies. AS far as motive-ca point out
the guilty, it lies with my enemies rather thsn
with myself to defend the accusation.
| When have laid the true and the spurious
letter side by side, as / shall presently do, ae>
companied by the proof and the attendant cit !.
cumstances, it will be seen, plainly enough, that
far from having occasion to get rid of the le'-
ter, as troublesome circumstance, l had res
son to congratulate myself that the infatuatioh
of the Dutch Government had furnished me
with the most irresistible argument of my inno-
cence and the duplicity of my enemies. In
Judging my arguments, I ask no credit for my
integrity, but merely that may be accredited
with the sagacity common to rational men.
3. 1t is not true that, beside myself and per-
sons attached to the Department, no others had
access to the papers in question. l myself
know of several others that have had such ac-
| cess.
Before / became aware that the letter was
missing from the files, and on the 9th instant,
the day before Mr.. Gevers's letter to Secretary
Marcy was dated, saw copy of the letter in
question, in the hands of a gentleman in the
city of Washington, for the purpose of being
transmitted for publication in one of the New
York papers and on the 10Th instant, four
days before the message was sent to Congress-
it was actually published in the New York
Daily Times. This fact was known to Secre
tary Marcy before he penned the accusation of
my having purloined the letter. 1t was the
knowledge Of this fact that first led the Secre
tary to inquire for the lost letter. will not,
! L. la IL -
the act of obtaining and giving publicity to this
letter, at all events, by those who believe am
most interested in suppressing it. 1t then fol-
lows, that as copy of the letter was obtain
| ed by those nowise concerned in my interest,
the fair inference is, that it was obtained from
the files of the Department This inference is
rendered the more probable from the fact that
it is not an unusual occurrence for copies of
papers on the files of the Department to be OBJ
tanned by persons connected with the press, for
publication.
am unable to give any explanation of the
circumstances and, acting upon a. principle
widely different from that which prompted the
Secrstary's letter of the 18th instant, l shall
fOrbear to insinuate what l have not the means
| to prove or the reason to believe.
1t is proper to state, however, that it is pos
sible that the lost letter may have been taken
from the files for the purpose of being copied
for publication, and that the excitement occa-
stoned by the discovery of its loss may have
prevented the person in whose possession it
was, from returning it to the files, and by that
means subjecting himself to censure, if not pun
! ishment.
Whatever conclusion may be formed as to
the real cause Of the disappearance, it is cor
tain that the circumstances furnished no rea-
son for the Secretary's believing that was in
any wise connected with its absence. But if
he entertained such belief, it must have re-
suited from predisposition to Judge me with
severity, and upon the slightest evidence.
Thus it is seen, that, with nothing alleged
against me to my discredit, with no other fact
than that / had the means of purloining the
letter, had the disposition so to do, the Seore-
tary of State of great nation, protesting to
hold the honor of its citizens in the highest re-
spect, has ventured to spread before the world
a charge affecting my integrity. He has said,
in effect, that he suspects me of highly dis
honorable act, and has given the widest pub
licity to this statement. The expression of even
a suspicion from so high a quarter is calculated
to do the highest injury for it is not generally
believed possible that person occupying the
position of Secretary Marcy, of his ability and
usual sobriety of character, would yield himself
up to the guidance of his passions, and inhict a
blow on the character of a citizen whose great
est misfortune is that he is compelled to seek
justice at the hands of his Government.
Secretary Marcy states that Mr.. Gibson
has been questioned in relation to the paper"
| The meaning these words are obviously intend
ed to convey is, that have been in an official
manner called upon by the Department to ac-
count for the absence of the letter. In this
sense declare that statement to be false. No
official intercourse has ever taken place be-
tween the State Department and myself, on
this subject. In fact, the only conversation
ever had with any member of the Department,
on the subject of the absence of the letter, took
place on the occasion of a social visit at the
house of Mr.. Mann. 1t was the duty of the
Secretary to address an official note to me, if
he had reason to think that could give an ex-
PLANTATION of the absence of the letter. 4 could
in that case have placed on record the extent
of my knowledge relating to the lost letter.
would gladly have avaled myself of such an
opportunity, and have taken great pleasure in
furnishing the Department with another copy
I Of the letter. Had Secretary Marcy in that case
thought it necessary that the matter should be
laid before Congress, the President would
doubtless have seen the propriety Of transmit
ting my statements with his own views.
What adds to the injustice of the act of the
Secretary is the fact that no such demonstra-
ton was called for.
Had copy of the lost letter been transmit.
ted, with the simple explanation that the origi-
| nal had been missed from the files of the De-
partment, every demand of etiquette would
have been satisfied Had Secretary Marcy
been my friend, he would have hesitated to lay
before Congress and the world such state,
ment, even if he had the best reason to know