Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1858-05-08

The Fort Smelling Case before Congress-
On the 9th inst. the Select Committee on
the facts and C. rcumStanceS attending the
sale of Fort Smelling and the Reserve oil eooo
acres If land connected with it, made their
report to the House of Congress.
The report of the maj 'riIy was presented
nv I,,t> l.. PERTH IF Indiana, and signed by
himself. JrsriN S. MORRILL, of Vermont, and
TuoN,s y. NORRIS of Illinois, the two first
Republcan,, and the last named Democrat.
A minority report was made by HENRY c.
BURNETT, Democrat, of Kentucky.
Both reports were laid on the table, d.
rcied TO be printed, and made the order OF
the day for the 18th of May next.
Tie majority report las is stated by the
teleyraphic dispatches, enters fully into his
tory of tie proceedings; says that the sale
was effected with such priracy. that outside
of the Secretary of War, none but the COM
6ina.ion Immediately interested had any
knowledge of it: and that the fact obtained
publicity only after the confirmation of the
sale by the Secretary of War; That no
special authority was given him to sell nor
did existing laws confer on him the power TO
sell military posts or reservations, until they
had already become useless.
Our contemporary of the Times, who re-
ceiyed a retainer 10 defend this Fort Smelling
liz l,a ont
will please make note of the oregong IN
telligence. The main points of objection to
the sale. it totally evades in its special
rleadngs yesterday. These points are
l. The whole transaction is the result Of
. combination of individuals, embracing CT
tizens and officers in Minnesota officials
and citizens in New York officials and CT
tizens in Washington city; to cheat the goc-
eruueat!
III. Mr.. FRANKLIN STEELE is we'll known
10 have been only the catspaw, with certain
military Commissioners conniving, and proba
bly, the Secretary of War in partnership, of
the combination aforesaid.
Ill. The whole proceedings of the " com
iinatiog' of corrupt officials and spectators,
were conducted secretly.
In the first place, the lille 1roriso to the
appropriation act by which the Secretary OF
War was authorized to make these sales of
obsolete military posts and their reserves,
was surreptitiously inserted therein, aud pas
sed through Congress without that body be
ing aware of its purpose or bearing. 1t is
supposed Mr.. Henry NJ. RICE knows some
thing Of how this provlso got through, as
well as he did how the word 'or" was chan
ged to San / in the old Congressional Land
Grant claimed by The Minnesota and North
western Railroad Company
In the second place, no advertisement was
published proclaiming the desire of the gov
ernmcEt to sell the Fort and its appurtenan
ces. No proposals were solicited! Mr..
STEELE made Mr.. Secretary Of War an Of
fer for it; and the first anybody in thes'
parts knew that the Fort had been for sale,
was obtained by the announcement that II
ec4s So,i! Is this an honest mode of pre-
cee,iing Does 1T not rather loo., l,.,
STEALING operation prtnt fucie ? And Their
the price at which it was solids it not per,
fecty notorious and papable that at 100000
more shameful sacrifice OF government
property was never recorded The Fort
buildings a.one have cost twice that amount
I'ne poorest acre upon it is worth the ST.
per acre which was agreed to be paid for the
whole tract-even the ." low lands" which
the Tsa.cs speaks Of which are valuable as
meadows if for nothing else.
The Times in defending this corrupt trans
action Of the officials and supporters of b.
CHANANs Administration, endeavorS to iusti
fy the rascaity by asserting that Hon. ROB
ERr SMITH, member of Congress from Hi
uois, who has considerable real estate inter
ests adjoining the Reserve, offered a larger |
price for several choice portions, and that
because he did not get it, he has din spite;
raised all the clamor in regard to the transac-
ton. "When rogues fall out, honest men
come to their OWL" 1t matters not to the
public whether Mr.. SMITH would or would
not have done what Mr.. STEELE's combina-
ton of spectators eiiected-the question is,
was there or not q combination to defraud the
government and the people out of this prop
erty? Mr.. SMITHs character is not in issue:
though We cannot not see that this could be
very bad either, for it is admitted he offer
ed for portion Of the Reserve much lar
ger price than the Steal Company covenant
ed TO pay. We are very thankful to him at
any rate, for turning States evidence in the
matter, whatever may be the inducing cause
or his taking such a course.
Touching the retaining of the post as
Military Depot we suppose the commits
ion of army officers now here, to whom has
'een delegated the duty Of determining the
Of such course, are the best
Judges of its advisability and with them
We leave that question. 1t certainly would !
re no disadvantage to the country adjacent !
o have the government keep up som thing
# an establishment at the Fort but OF
curse, for the purposes OF Depot, more than
ne or two hundred acres of land need not,
nd we presume would not, be retained with n
he building. In our opinion, the balance OF
le 5000 acres should then be advertised for c
lie to the highest bidder proposing therefor
rrhiag to the War cpartment-thesc pro- II
,Sal, t. be publicly opened and awarded in
re manner that contracts are usually dis
,sel OF, instead Of in the dark, hidden,
r;aAing, ard stealing mode in which the pre- VI
ous fraudulent sale of the Fort and Reserve =,
as conducted.