Arkansas true Democrat., 1857-12-08
Tho General-ip.Cb;ef first aw,

| The Chlet, hrst dwelt upon the great importance of peace to our country, and the anxious desire of our government to bring it about He said, that influenced chiefly by these important considerations, and his belief that movement upon the capital would cut of all prospect of an amcable adjustment of difficulties, he had halted thus long at Puebla That General Pierce, with considerable body of troops under his command, was shortly ex- pected to arrive That our numbers were now weak for the formidable enterprise before us, and that the expected reinforcement would be of great importance. He therefore requested the opinion of the officers present upon the 1 propriety of awaiting the arrival of General Pierce.
 He desired to consult them upon another sub 1 ject of great delicacy and much importance.- That the prospects for peace were now slight, but that he was informed by some foreign resi- dents in NJ exico that this desirable result could certainly be attained by the application of a considerable sum of money; that the Mexican leaders expected the negotiation to be attended by d0uceur; that they were not In the habit of moving without it; that the use of money tor such purposes was justified by the practice of other nations; and that considering the great good it would in this instance bring to our own country, he regarded the means as moral and proper, and did not perceive how any sensible man could think otherwise. He further added, that Mir. Trist had no power or instructions to use the three millions voted by Congress, or any part of It, to such purpose; that sum must be accounted for on the face of the treaty; that, however, if 1t should be considered advisable, he General Scott) had credit, upon the assent or request of Mir. Trist, to raise a million or a million and half of dollars to apply to this purpose-a sum sufficient to insure the success of the negotiations; that he had already expend- ed ten or twenty thousand dollars, which he regarded as ' bread thrown upon the waters" He then presented and read note from Mr. Trist on this subject, assentng to- if not request ing, that the scheme should be adopted He concluded by inviting the opinions of the officers present upon the measure. After some pause, General Pillow expressed his opinion in favor of awaiting the arrival of General Pierce. and proceeded to express in detail his concurrence with the views of the General-in- Chief on the proprlety of raising and applying the money as proposed, pledging his influence as an officer and cltlzen to sustain the measure
 l followed. Abiding 10 the importance of commencing our march upon the capital during the partial suspension of the rainy season, 1 shll concurred ln opinion that we should wait the arrival of General Pierce's command. if it could be expected in a few days On the other question: declared my decided opposition to the secret use of money for the purpose of pro. curing treaty of peace. Without undertaking to discuss the morality of such a measure, 1 held that all our dealings with other countries should be high toned and aboveboard, not re- qulnng concealment from our own people, nor from the world. That such transaction, in- volvlhg the payment of a large sum of money, however secretly it might be conducted, neither cn111d chn lAa lad tl,, l. of the United States. That whatever might be the views of casusts upon the subject, there was among the people of the United States a high tonc and nice sense of public morality, which would lead them to denounce and con- demn treaty obtained by corrupting the rulers of a sister republic etc., etc.
 Gen. Twiggs expressed his occurrence in the proprety of awaiting the arrival of Gen. Pierce. The other subject he regarded as political, and not military, upon which he had not formed, and would not express an opinion, etc.
 General Shields followed, and expressed his decided opposition to the scheme. He enlarged upon its impropriety He hoped that money would never be used to purchase peace by corruption. It was, in fact, a plan to brihe the government of Mexico; and he would sooner see our country in war for ten years, than resort to this mode of purchasing peace. Not doubt
 
 General, he thought it his duty, as d friend, to caution him against the assumption of such responsibility, etc.
 General Cadwallader being called upon final ly said he agreed with General Shields and n.y. self.
 Colonel Hitchcock's opinion was not asked nor given.
 l had no knowledge nor intimation, before the meeting, of its object; nor do know, nor have l ever heard, that the project was prosecuted any further. Indeed, supposed it was entirely dropped and abandoned. 1 know not by what meaus or from what source this matter became public.
 I took no notes of the transaction at the time, and have made this report of it entirely from memory, and of course may have stated the language inaccurately.
 The occurrence made an impression on my mind at the time and 1 think the substance is above correctly stated.
 J. A. QUITMAN, Maj. Gen. U. s. A.
 Hon. w. l. MARCY, Secretary of War.