Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1861-02-27
he COMMITTEES. he wanted to write bis esd

, J
indirectly, give to any person any eonsid
Grafton. or make to any person any presen
for services rendered to you connected wit
your business with the War Department.
Mr.. Russell declined to respond before con
sulting with his counsel.
Upon this suggestion the examination
, was at once suspended.
On the 2Sd of December he again ap
peared, and was reminded of what haC
bOen said to him on previous occasion, anC
more fully admonished that he was not re
quired to answer any questions that woult
criminate himself He then avaded the
question asked him.
THE ACCEPTANCEs ISSUED BY THE sEcRE
TARY OF WAR.
When the iniquitous act perpetrated by
one of the subordinate officers of the Int.
rior Department. in the abstraction Of bonds
was made known, it was discovered at the
same time, that acceptances, unauthorized
by law, and deceptive and fraudulent in
their character, had been issued by the
Secretary of War. in favor of Messrs. Rus
sci, Majors & Waddell.
If your Committee could rest here, and
could feel justified in expressing the belief
that there are no other outstanding liabil-
tiles, and that no further demands would
be made upon this or any future Congress,
in connection with these extraordinary pro
ceedings, they would deem this an occasion
for cOngratulation to the House. But, un-
fortunately, there are transactions of a SIM
liar character. but of still greater mag
nitude, that claim your attention.
In 1858, the Secretary Of War commenc-
ed the issue of acceptances, and, at the
same time. wrote to various banks and in
dividuals urging their purchase or discount.
One of his letters. and ore from Col. Drink
ard, Chief Clerk of the War Department,
to James T. Soutter, Esq, President of
the Bank of the Republic, will be found
included in the testimony taken in New
York
These letters and representations are i'm
portant, as showing the means adopted by
the Secretary Of War to get the paper he
issued into circulation.
MORE THAN sG,0OO,OOO OF AccEPTAYCEs
ISSUED.
In relation to the acceptances issued un-
conditionally by the late Secretary of War,
your Committee deem it their duty to state
all the facts they have been able to dis
cover, as fully as possible. They amount.
in the aggregate, to the enormous sum of
lS5.I79,395. Add thereto the conditional
acceptances which have already been thrown
back upon the Government through the
agency of Mr.. Bailey, and the SUM total is
/ IS6,977,3 ,39J. This estimate is based upon
data furnished by the War Department
Itappears thGrefrom that acceptances to the
amount of S $4,000 were returned to the
/ Department for cancellation. Mr. Russell,
however claims to have returned only
s20OOOO or 100000. He further states
that Sac acceptances which he did return
were those which had matured in his own
pocket, ani could not, Therefore be negoti-
ated. But this assertion Is positively con-
tradicted By the endorsements on the re-
turned acceptances. and by the testimony
of Mr.. Irwin, clerk III the War Depart
ment
From the careless and irresponsible man.
ner in which business was transacted by
that gentleman and the late Secretary Of
War, and from the fact thai 1t was the
habit of Governor Floyd to issue accept
ances at the Department or at his house,
or at whatever place he happened to be, i:
is matter of great uncertainty whether or
not $4,000 should be deducted from the
sum heretofore stated. The probability
Is, that when the acceptances were return
ed to Governor Floyd by Mr.. Russell, he
accepted others at the same time for the
same amount, of which there was no regis
try made 1t is deemed safest to proceed
upon the suppOsition that the aeceptances
made in the place of those returned were
REGISTERED. Upon this hypothesis, the
$4,000 must be deducted from the So
I79,3 of unconditional acceptances made
and registered in the War Department.
This would leave of them, so farsas is
shown by the records of that Department,
$685. ,3S9, still in circulation, and to this
amount, the S79S,000 of conditional ac-
ceptances received by Mr.. Bailey, in lieu
of the bonds, and the aggregate is Sc ,l37,-
395. Here, then, confning the statement
to the records of the War Department, is IA
deficit of S6,137, ,395 to fall upon the
holders of these acceptances, or to be as
sumed in some way by the Government.
WHAT WAS DONE WITH THE ACCEPTANCEs.
The evidence shows that the acceptances
have been sold in various parts of the
United States wherever a bank or private
individual could be induced to purchase
Inasmuch, however. as the amount of
those that have been traced directly into
the hands of the present holders constltut-
ed but a small fraction of the sum still
unaccounted for, and as owners are daily
filing additional claims at the war DEPART
ment, it is deemed unnecessary to give
detailed statement of the discovered accept
ances, or to make other mention Of them
than to refer to the papers relating thereto.
presented by the War department, and to
the general evidence.
1t is proper, however, to remark In this
connection, that while Your committee do
not deem it necessary to give said details
the data in the War Department fixes the
mi,nip,,1n, amount of outstanding accept
ances known to the Department at ST.
44j,000.
FURTHER LIGHT OF dov. FLoYD's PROCEED
INGS.
Mr.. Richard B. Irving, the faithful and
intelligent clerk to whom reference has
been made elsewhere in this report, says
in his evidence: ''There may, of course,
be outstanding acceptances, of the where
abouts of which the Department has no
knowledge" There will also be found
embraced in his evidence, given upon be-
ing recalled before the committee on the
9th instant, a letter addressed by R. A.
Barnes, Esq, President of the Bank of the
State nf Missouri under date of January