Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-05-19
WASHINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP.

mittee with reference to it that has yet met our
eye:
Correspondence of the Richmond Enquirer
WAsHINGToN, May Il, ISIS.
Ssfiiemsat o the Kansas Question Adjournment
o. Consrsss.Ths Fort Smelling AGair-Mr.
FdKiknsr'S Majority Report - UHdHSIrsTdbLs
'HdtcdttOH Of the Secretary Of Var.
There is general congratulatiou here on the
settlement OF the long -vexed question of Kansas.
A calm has succeeded, which all are enjoying
save the Black Republicans. whose motto is that
of Millions fallen angel, Better to reign in hell
than serve in heaven"
Congress it is thought will adjourn in the fist
week OF June. III il does, it must utterly fail of
one of its prime and most sac red dutes-atteption
TO private claims.
There is ii great crying evil in the adminsira-
ton OF the Federal Government, which is ex-
citing ve:y general complaint, and which il ia
weakening, the attachment Of the people to II,
and loosening the chords OF the Union-I mean,
the utter denial of private justice. To this may
BE- added another-the vexatious and often the
ruinous delays which befaIl those who have
business with the Government. General Jackson
once said he % hoped to the day when any
citizen having business with the Government
could tie his horse to the rack at nine i'm the
morning, ard, having his business dispatched
before three in the afternoon, leave for his home
the same day, IL he chose But alas. few men
had the same warm and generous sympathy with
the masses as had plain, honest, good hearted
"Old Hickoly!n
Party spirit, it is well known. has ruled high
IN our land FOR many years and has been the ffnt-
full source of hard jul "mrnt Injustice md wrong
Eat know of no sIiCh outrage in the history OF
party maiignity rs is eNampled i'm the late assaults
upon Governor Floyd for his course in regard to
the sale Of the Fort Smelling reserve
For months past, both in the columns OF tue
opposition press aud even in the halls OF Con-
@rrss. cauinny has been busy at its foul work
but NJ length. a ii ever will be
"ErIor wounded, writhes in pain
And dies among her woFshipperS.n
hp M pf diSti SbaI
Der Of the Virginia delegation, the Hon Charles
James Faulkner, made after Il most proracted
and thorough investigation of all the facts bear
ing upon the transaction. has left the calumnia-
tors not foot of ground 10 stand upon utterly
overthrown evervrosition Of the majority report
and placed far beyond the reach Of lmpeac hnpnt
The whole action Of the SECRETARY Of Wa in the
matter
The first charge preferred by the majority of
the committee, ali Black Republicans was that
the sale of ;he Fort Smelling reservation was
made without @Ey sanction of law and vet no
later than March }. 1857, law was passed by
Congress authorizing the O. Secretary of War
under the direction OF the United States, to cause
to be sold all military sites, parts thereof,
which are or may become useless for military
purposes
So, finding express Legislative authority for the
sale OF useless military reservations. and know
ing that The President, as Commander in Chief
of the ARMY. has undouotrd right TO decide and
dccldre when a military site has become use
lra~, the majority of the committee, determined
pretrxt that Font Smelling had NOT become useless
military post and thai, tLerefo.e c, no author
ity 10 sell lad accrued.
An ingenious device. truly But, unfortunately
for these assdiiants of the Administration. this
notion is utterly subverted by the very highest
military authority. Gen. S..Ott, Gen. Prisiier
Sm.,h, Gen. Jes*up, Col. Francis Lee. Major
Eastman, and many other officers of the arIny
positively aver that Fo't Smelling has ceased 10
he of any sort of consequence a. IA military post
W DO is the better qualified To decide this point.
fraction Of Congressional Committee, or the
General-in-C Chief and other distn2 uishrd officers
of the army, the country will be at no loss to de-
termine.
Fooled in this second device, the movers in the
matter fell back upon yet another though not less
valid position-that if ort Smelling had no value
as post Tor defence. il was highly valuable as n
depot for military supplies. But, unfortunately
for them again, the highest military authority is
still against them on this point too. Gen. Persi-
ser Smith, Col. Lee, Major Eastman, Capt Todd
Capt Whitehall, and Lieut.. Drum. expressly
testify that Fort Smelling had ceased to be uss-
JIM for any military purpose lChGtsrsr'
& As point of defence (says Gen. SMITH Fort
Smelling has entirely gone. Ii is within the
frontier. Asa point OF depot, in great measure,
its value Las gone too ; think, myself, entirely
gone, because great many supplies can be- got
fi Their towards the frontier -
II consider Fort Snelling (said Major East
man) perfectly useless as military staff m. do
not consider it necessary even as q depot -
Col. Lee testified AZ follows:
= was in command of Fort Smelling between
three aud four years, from the spring of 1851 Ia
the SUMNER of ISL had charge OF the whole
reservation. ] see no reason why Fort Smelling
should have been retained cannot conceive
that II Is OF aGv Importance as military station.
Fort SnrliiDg il on high bluff, and never will
be, and never has been, to my knowledge, us. Il
a depot Ia. provisions and supplies -
Col Lee tGrn mai r> II perfectly manifest that
il was much cheaper 10 the government to send
supplies direct, than by making Fort Smelling a
depot for th-m, in other wofds, that economy re-
quiTtd its abandonment u depot. La these
views many distinguished civilians concur bat
thu question is "a military one altogether, and the
best military ,hofity approves and justit-s the
action Of the Secretary OF War.
The manner of the sale is next assailed. The
sale should have bfen 1T public auction and not
ivy private contract, IL is Sd Il.
Here again the testimony is overwhelming
that the properly would have sold for FAR less a,
public sale, than it did under the private con-
tfact made by tie commissioners. No less than
seven witnesses, among them the Hon. Mr.. Rice,
Senator elect from Minnesota, testify that d sys
TEN of combination, regarded a '!sacred un
written law in the West, prevails there, which
ia this instance, as had been the ease in all 9th
er., would havS bTOug LIT down the price of the
lands, If sold publicly, to the minimum rate Of
81 > per acre. Hon. Mr.. Rice declares his be-
lief that in this case 4 combination actually ex-
istcd, and that the effect would have been a
knocking of of the property at not more than
the minimum price OF ST. per acre. g have
never known sale to take place in the West,
(Says the Hon Mr.. Rce,) that these combina-
lions Were not formed
The plan, then, Of sale by private contract was
FAR the best for the government, and the com
miSsioners. MessTs. Eastman aud Heiskell did
well 10 adopt il, and the President and Secretary
Of w r 10 approve it.
Bnt the reservation, IL is next charged, was
sold for price far below its value
Ii isSsutlcitnt answer to this allegation that
while only seven witnesses express this opinion
twenty three soemnly hi IN that. in theii opin-
ion, the reservation sold for more than it's real
value: among these latter, Hon = A Douglas
ii on. IL. NJ Rice, and Sc ator Stuart of MicLi-
gan.
The testimony on this point is indeed abso-
lutely crushing and il anything were wanting
Tor the entire vlud icaton of the Secretary of ar
IL may he found in two most significant and con-
elusive facts rst that with the exception Of the
lots ia the city Of Chicago, this sale OF the Fort
Smelling reservation was infinitely the best of the
kind ever made by the Government and second
| iy, that moe than 25,OUO acres of this same re-
serve were sold in ISL at public sale the mini