North Branch democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Pa.) 1854-1867, 1862-12-03

ever, and this simply cause they 0.d not
ak for them VII NAV Mr. SrAkroS bave
laid in II e THAT 'hcr, az, 4 good deal
Of rnm"rs, AMI speculation and ,ni~apprehen-
sion as to the true state C facts n regard to
this matter"
FLOYD AND THE PrrTeBURG guns.
2 Secretary Flows under snspicnns cir.
cnmstances, on the 27, D,ctn' ber, 1860, and
hri few days before he lef, the Department.
had, without the knowltd.e Of President,
! "rerrd one hundred and thirteen (ll3) cul-
umbiads and eleven (ll) thirty-two FOUNDERS
TO be Transported from Pttsburg to Ship Is
land and Galveston, in Mississippi and Texas.
Tins fact was brought To The knowledge nf
the President by communication from Pitts
bureh; and Secretary HoLr Immediately
thereafter cUunte ermanded the ordsrJ his
predecessor, an5 the cannon were never sent.
The pr"mptitude with which we acted elected
uote OF thanks, dated on the 4th of January,
1861. rom the Select and Common Councils
IT that cry ITO the President, the Attorny
Gener.l and the acting Secretary Of War;"
(Mr. HoLT.)
QUITEA BLUNpEa. - -
After this statement, how shall We account
tr the explicit declaration If General Scorr
that, the accidentally hearing early in March
that under this posthumous order (tilat Of
MIR. FLOYD, of the 22d of December) the
shipment of these guns had commenced, I
communicated The fact to Secretary HoLr
(acting for Secretary CAMERoN) just in time
tr defeat the lobbery 2" And this n the same
Secretary HoLT who had counterrnanded
"the posthunous order" in the previous De-
eember. Aud, strange to say these guns,
but for the alleged Interposon OF General
> OFT. Were about tn be sent So ,te AZ Mlrct
rom the loyal States into those over which
JEFFERSON DAVIS had then for come ti o
presided
Had General ScoTT reflected for a moment
he could not have fallen intp this blunder.
1t is quite manifest he was "w,th' ut a printed
document and my (his) own official paper..'
A QUESTION Settled
3. The Government had on hand in the year
1850 about 100000 old muskats, which had
been c"hdemned las unsuitable for public ser.
vice, Under the act of Sd of March, 1925.
They were Of such character; that. although
offered both at public and private sale fJt
So so each, purchasers could not be obtained
at that rate, except for a comparative email
number On the 80 Of November, 1859, Secre-'
tary FLOYD ordered about one fifth If the
whole number (l05, ,000) to be sent from the
Springfield arm ,ry, where they had accumu-
lated, to five arSena-, I'm proper, !on to their
respective means Of proper storage" This
order was carried into etfcc; by the Ordnance
Bureau in The usual course Of administrator
and without reference to the President. le
is hut justice to say that from the testimony
before the Committee there is no reason to
suspect that Secretary Floyd issued this Of
der from any sinister mot I'VE It's date was
months before Mr.. LINeoLN's nomination for
the Presidency. and nearly year before his
election, and whilst the Secretary was still
an avowed opponent Of secession. Indeed the
testimony Of Colonel Craig and Captain
MAYNADIER, of the Ordance, before the COM
mittee, is wholly inconsistent with any evil
insrution on his part.
And yet these "condemnd mI<kets," with
few thousand ancient rifles of a calibre then
no longer used, are transformed by Gen.
ScorT snto "ll5 600 EXTRA muskefs and rifles,
Nth all their implements ammunition."
This is the first time have heard-certainly
there was nothing of the kind before the COM
mittee-that ammunition was sent with these
condemned and inferior arms to their places
of storage-jus as though they had been in
tended, not for sale, but for immediate use in
the field, The truth is that it is Impossible
to steal arms and transport them from one
depository to another without the knowledge
and active participation of the officers of the
Ordnance Bureav, both in Washington and
at these desp"sitories. II may be observed
that Colonel CRAIG. the head of the Bureau
at this period was as correct an officer, and
loyal and as honest man as exists in the
country. ,,
Yours, very respectfully.
JAMES BUCHANAN.
Wheatland, sear Lancaster, Nur. II 1859