, 1862-12-11


To the Editors Of the National Iutc]ligenccr:
An official report Of mine Nude to Presi-
dent Lincoln, March 80, 1851, OH our South
crn forts, was published on the :3l6t Of Octo-
ber last. To this ex-Presldcnt Buchanan rc-
Piled at great length, in the same month. A
November, and here is another paper from
Mr. Buchanan, dated the 17th Of the salle
month, and on the same subject. 4 brief NO.
tice Ut this paper shall Terminate my part in
this controversy.
Mr. Buchanan has intimated that 1 hare
bcen :ctuatcd ly !. feeling Of personal i'll will
towards HIN This is unjust had no pri-
yate resentment to crafty. On the contrary.
I hayc well remembered the many official
courtcsics received from him as well as from
Mr.. Floyd, both rs Governor Of Virginia and
Secretary If War; but to vindicatc justice and
the truth Of history is 4 paramount obligation.
had s.:d tlEtt, with l view to the medita-
ted rebellion, Secretary Floyd lad ordered
1l5,CG0 cStria stands Of muskcts and rifles
from Northern Repositories to Southern
arsenals. To this Mr. Buchanan now replies
i'll substance:-1-- That the transfers were
made under Ill order dated nearly Il ye:ir be-
fore Mr. L1ncnn's election to the Presidency.
True; but ii Mr.. Buchanan has persuaded
himself that the revolt had not long before
been planned {delendcnt on The election Of
onu Northern mary it is not likely thai lie
will ever make Il second convert to tlE,t t,,,u-
LIZ
1T arms transferred, emitting thu 1O, 600 rifles
5 lie says that the miiskets {105,0oU) WIRE
condemned, and tlat purchasers could no. be
found for many Of Them at $40 each. Now,
here is an official statement, made to me
eighteen months ago (just received from my
r:spers at Wasllngto1a,) showing 65,U0 Of
thnsc arms were ''ierrussion muskets," pro5-
ably entirely neW, ard Il, ,tSD others, termed
t'mllskets altered to pcrcussion, with 10000
sspercuszion riIscs"-not one Of the 1i5,oo0
| was ever "cc1ltlemued," but Ill precisely
| like most Of tile small arms issued to
1EGf 1ESEe ius 81 ere s:s s,efr 10 s,za IN
| some degree, the deposits among the different
States, as if these had any State prize in
I allowing s'o7agt to the property Of the United
States within their particular limits If SO,
wl,v not establish ssorage places in tue great
| States cf Ollio, Indiana and Illinois, within
| which the United States has lad no deposit Of
poses nic to brand the transferred arms with
| the cpitlct *'stolen.'7 In my rejoinder TO
! him i nowhere used the term, because knew
tile transaction, though quietly conducted,
was officially recorded. and the freight paid
for .y Inc United States, whose property thu
rits.
Mr. Buchanan mixes ur-pcrhap5 I ought
rather to say H.s to c0,Jon7tt-qulte differ
cut class oi arms with the foregoing, viz: the
1lQtaS ol arms N1St StTlUulEG stlllUH5 luc StfE[s1
States under the annual appropriations to
wards ar,ning the whole body Of the militit
of the Union Thus he says, The Southern
States received in 1860 less instead Of mort
than the quotas Of ar1us to which they Wer.
entitled ly law.'' This is most strange, con
trasted with information given to lne las
year, with ard q telegram just received from
Washington aud 4 high ofHcer-not Of tn
Ordnance Bureau-1n these words and figures
"Rhode Island, Delaware, and Texas hi,
not drawn ut the end Of eighteen sixty {1S6o
their annual quotas Of arms for that year, all
| Massachusetts, Tennessee and Kentucky o11
in r1rt: Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia
/ Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi an
Kansas were, By the order Of the Secretary
War, supplied with their quotas for eightce
sixty-one {1SG1) in advance, and PennsyIyani
and Maryland in Tart-''
States is a.suthcient commentary by itself .
the transfer, about the same time, Of til
| 115,m muslets and rifles.
III respect to the heavy cannon orlcre
from pit:sburg to the gulf Of Mexico, 81
| Buchanan Ias Shown me that was in crre
| in saving that their shipment vas countc
mandcu in March instead of January, 1856
This was the only im,naterial part Of II,
statement, for I was correct in the dec!ar;
| :ions that I gave information to Mr.. Sccrctal
Holt that the shipment had commenced, al
| that he ordered tie guns to be refunded, Ill
+ stopped The robbery. WINFIELD ScoTT.
!. New York, Dec. 2, 1862.
*ovar and above the previous and usual aepo=i