The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1863-11-26

olated An article Of war, and usuroed
prerogative Of the President. in ordering
the court Of inquiry.
This very extraordinary court of inqui
~ vas directed to inquire into the con
duct, pertaining to certain matters, O
any officer Of the army, or al of them
embracing in itsgeognphic.l Jurisdiction
all that immense country watered by the
Mississippi and al its tributaries There
never Was court Of inquiry with suct
powers since tho world was made.
quote from the order authorizing il. /,
was direoted to enquire and report:
"lst. Whether any, and What ol6eer.
in the service have been engaged. or d.
rsctly or indisscsly participated in traffic
- cotton o. ctsss Prodass, on the Miss.
issiPpi river o. IL tribuiaries."
1t wss in obedience to this order th,,
the court, which 70 say truth vas some.
thing OF perspatesic Jurisdiction" !" &C.
tuslIy Travelled from st. Louis to Lake
Providence, and without . violation O,
the words Of its powers might have gone
up the Missouri to the Rocky Mountain.
or the Ohio to Pittsburg. 1t was, never.
theless, An illegal court. 1t was convened
by order of Gen. Halleck. not by that oil
the President, and that order was ! VIC.
lation Of the articles of war. An zen
vious commandans" who would thus vio-
late Law in convoking . court Of inquiry,
would scarcely hesitate in the matter oil
its particular formation. And though !,
was. formally, BY order Of The Secresary
Of War that Gen. Mcdowell vas made
President Of the Court, it was really Hal.
leck's work. McDoweli was known TO be
heartily despised (whether With or with
out resson, do not ny BY the Iowa
delegation in Congress. Who had vithou,
reserve spokes Of him 10 terms Of positive
contempt. Gen. Curtis himself, then /.
member Of Congress, had personally Wit
messed the disgraceful rout of Bull Run,
and had publicly spoken Of the comman
der in no very exalted praise. For my
own part, do not think 90 shabbily oi
Mcdowell, bat it must be obvious to Ill
candid mep, from the statement Of noto.
rious facts here made, that be was the
last man in the world to sit in judgment
on On Iowa Gsnersl-nevertheless, the
best man On the Commission. Gen. Phil
lip St. George Cooke was associated viii
him: He is the General who vas in
command Of the cavalry Of the Potomac
Army when Stuart made bis famous raid
going the entire circuit of our army
Stuart WAS this Cookies son.in-lsw
This same Cooke had son recently kill
ed 10 the rebel army
Commencing. then, with court lille.
gslly constituted, and putting at the head
OF 1t an improper person 10 examine
charges against Gen Curtis. it might be
supposed that "Mr. Hslleck" would have
things pretty much his own way.
And he did seem to be getting along
swinningly At 6rst. / remember ,ha,
friend from Illinois came up to me, ons
day early last summer. in front of the
Tresssry, and asked me who was the rich
est man in Iowa. l said l did no. knou
probably Senator Grimes. Upon ,
rough guess in response to bis inquiry a.
to how much she Senator was worth, be
replied: "Pshaw he is nowhere. Cur
It's has made more than million out Of
cotton T. A member Of Gen. Steele.
staff, it seemed, had been here, and thi,
vas one Of his stories, freely ventilated
here and elsewhere. Take it at the very
worst for Gen. Curtis, and the court o
inquiry does not pretend to fnd that be
had any connection whatever with mors
than -four lots Of cotton, upon which ths
profits, at the most enormous rates imsgi
nable, could not have been more thar
$4,000. Only difference of $500, ,00l
out Of the million! A prosecutor could
scarcely be more surprised to hear . yer
dict Of justifabIe battery for the defend
ant in . case Of murder, the murdered
man being alive aud well after all, thar
must be these assaila3ts Of Gen. Curt,
w6o have done so much TO cast q stair
upon his reputation.
1t would require too much Of you
space to go into full exposition of III,
testimony before the court Of inquiry
having reference 70 Gen. Curtis. In tn,
frss place, it was exparte; in the mex
place, the great bulk Of it was opinion
and in the thirl place. the rest Of il ws
hearsay. I have lAbored through tn,
whole of it. and solemoly aver that Of h,
many columns of 6ne type used to set n