The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1863-02-25


quite unwilling to zee the latter taking posses
sion Of any portion of the GrscIan territery.
The probabilities are that prompt representa-
tons from the English Ambassador at Paris
will nip this scheme in the bud.
The Bill 70 Prevent and Punish Frauds
Against the Government.
1t appears by recent proceedings of the United
States Senate that the vital provision in the
bill to prevent and punish frauds against the
government was cut out by that branch of Con-
gress. The section to which we refer was to the
effect that every person contracting to furnish
supplies Of any kind to the army or navy, and
every person procuring or aiding to procure any
claim for any such supplies, should be considered
the military or naval service, and subject to
military laws and regulations. This was held to
be monstrous by one, and its constitutionality
was doubted by another Senator-men who had
no scruple about passing monstrous and sweep
ing confiscation acts in direct antagonism with
the spirit and the very letter of the constitu-
ton. Thus our sage legislators strain at a gnat
and swallow camel. They emasculate bill
to prevent frauds by depriving it of its most
effective provision.
The necessity of such measure il
demonstrated by the report of the Van
less and enormous frauds were exposed,
and by the report of the Grimes COM
mittee, to which we lately referred, exhibit
ing the most extensive swindling in contracts
for chartering transports for army expeditions,
involving serious losses to the government,
ship with it, to say nothing of the imperling
Of the lives Of our soldiers in rotten ships,
which can only be regarded as little less than an
intent to commit wholesale murder, if not trea-
son, by giving aid and comfort to the enemy; by
the Olcott report of the vast subsistence frauds
in this city; and, lastly, by the immense
frauds ih the Custom House which have been
brought to light in the report sent by Secretary
Chase to Congress. Napoleon the First made
short work of fraudulent contractors and quar-
termasters. He ordered them to be shot or
hanged to the first tree. And till some exam
pies are made, corruption, plumber and gigantic
swindling operations will 60 on unchecked.
We hold that the War Department is respon-
sible for the army frauds. The Secretary is ac-
countable for the conduct of his Assistant Secre-
tary, to whom be assigned the duty of superin-
tending the chartering of transports. "There
was nothing" says the Grimes committee, "in
Mr.. fuckers antecedents to qualify him for the
business of procuring vessels for the War De-
partment, and nothing in his official position
pointing to the duty Of superssding the Quar-
termaster or any of his assistants in this i'm
portant branch of the public service" Mr..
Stanton is thus doubly responsible. His imbe-
cility and incompetence are fragrant. His con-
idential assistant was known to the country
hitherto only by his signature to the lettres
de cachet by which innocent men were dragged
from their homes and immured in dungeons
without warrant or authority of law. OF this
official the committee Observer
All the foregoing facts and testimony point to Mr. John
Tucker late Assistant Secretary Of War, the
government were chiefly perpetrated Tucker the
only person in the government employ who had cd
long acquaintance with Pickrc Tucker selected Lopez
70 "examne and recommend, and Lopez brought bis
old acquaintance OF forty years standing Amasa c.
Hall. Danforth is Of fuckers familiars. Tucker
chartered ALL nearly ALL the vessels for the Burnside
expedition the Mcclellan expedition TO the peninsula the
Mcclellan expedition from the peninsula, and for various
other enterprises.
Why has not the Secretary of War arrested
Tucker, and Lopez, and Hall, and Coblens the
Jew; and Pickrell, and Belger, and
Danforth, and the rest! Has he not
pleaded "the war power'' as his justi-
6cation in arresting and imprisoning in
bastiles men who had committed no offence
10 &ha In, ~ 3ho
power" be equally valid for the arrest of the
sharks and harpies who have been preying on
the vitals Of the country in the hour of its ex-
tremity. If the habeas corpus can be legiti-
mately suspended in the loyal States, to what
better use could it's suspension be applied than
to the incarceration of the swindlers of the
government till they are compelled to disgorge
their plumber! But we expect to see no reform
in the War Department till its present Secretary
is dismissed, and such man as General McClel-
Ian placed at its head.
The RISE IN GoLD-WHAT ARE We FRIGHT
ENED ABoUT?-Gold rose yesterday to III. In
other words, one hundred and seventy-one dol
lars in paper money were required to purchase
one hundred dollars in gold. Many people,
reading this quotation on the bulletins or in the
HERALD, purse up their mouths, elevate their
eyebrows, shake their heads, and walk away
with hearts depressed and general feeling and
air of what shrewd physician calls 'gone-
ness" But what of it 4! What If gold is at
l7lf Wall street is not the nation by any man
ner of means.
If you ask any Wall street broker why gold
has risen to premium of seventy-one cents on
dollar, he will probably tell you that II is be-
cause Of our deprecated currency. If he tells
you that, he talks nonsense. The rise in gold
does not indicate accurately the depreciation Of
the currency The currency is just the same to-