The weekly standard. (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1865-1867, 1865-12-23
MR. BUCHANAN's BOOK,
+ W a8s IN p RELATION. TO THE
Arms said to have been Sent South
.by. Secretary Floyd

Arms said to have been Sent South
by Secretary Floyd
------------V . =
We. present our readers With the fol-
lowing chapter from Mr.. Buehanan's
aHistory.of ishis Administration, Z just
published BY the Appletons, Of this
city. 1t explodes, utterly, all the false
hoods which the Abolition press have
80 industriously circulated the,past five
veass ' in regard to the. arns said to
have been sent South BY 4 Secretary
Floyd: a<aeac aTaok III ~
REPUTATION Of THE CHARGE THAT ARMS
f..s,I HAD BEEN STOLEN. asiis \ I +
But the most remarkablesinstance Of
General Scott's, want Of memory re-
mains to be exposed, This is not con-
tanned in his. report to President
Lincoln, but, it is to be found in his
letter. of the 8th of November, 1862,
to the National Intelhgencer, in reply
to that tof ex-President Buchanan.
Unable to controyert any Of the mate
rial facts stated in his letter. the gener-
al deemedit wise to escape from his
awkward position by repeating and
endorsing the accusation, against Sec
retqry Floyd, in regard to what has
been called .ithe stolen.arms, /" although
this had been condemned as unfounded
more than eighteen months before, by
the report Of the Committee on Militia
ry Affairs of the House of Reptesenta-
.tiyes. This was that the Secretary, in
order totfdrnish aid to the approach
ing rebellion, had frauddiently sent
public arms to the, South for the use
of insurgents The charge chimed in
admirably with public prejudiceat the
moment. Although the committee,
after full lIlsihhyestigationn, had SO long be-
Tore as. january, 1861, proved tito be
unfounded, yet it has continued not
.withstanding to be repeated and exten-
sively credited up till the present mo-
meht Ndnerous RESPECTABLE citizens
still believe that the Confederate States
have been fighting us with cannon, ri.
Alss, and mpskets thus reaeherously
placed in their possession. This deiu-
sion presents striking illustration of
the extent to which public prejudice
may credit o falsehood not only with
out foundation, Int against the eisarest
official evidence. Although the late
President has net been implicated as
an accessory to the alleged fraud, yet
he has been charged with d want of
vigilance in not detecting and defeat
ing it.
Thepretext on which General Scott
seized to introduce this new subject Of
controversy at so late period, is far
fetchedt ana a@kM0rdE Mr. Buchanan,
whilst repelling the charge in the gen
erals report to President Lincoln, that
be had acted under the sinfuenceB Of
Secretary Floyd in refusing to garrison
the Southern Notifications, declares
that all my Cabinet must bear me wit
ness that. Iiswas stheeP Presidents myself,
responsible for Gl the acts of the Ad-
sAsEra a..
ministfation; certain it is that during
the Last six months previous to. the
29th of December 1860, the day on
which. he, resigned his Office, after my
request, he exercised less infueneesin in
the administrator than any Fothq.
member of the Cabinet Letter to
National Inteliigencer, 28th October,
189aa 4 Nhereupon the genGalgin or
der to weaken the force and impair the
credibility Of this declaration makes
the following insiduous and and sar-
castle remarks: "Now, notwithstan-
ding the broad assumption Of respon-
sibllity, I should be sorry to believe
that Mr. Buehanan specially consented
to the removal, by Secretary Floyd, of
l15,000, etxra muskets and rifles, with
all their implements and amISsunition.
from northern repositories to southern
arsenals, SO that on The breaking out
Of the maturing rebellion, thaH might
be found without cost, except TO the
United States IN the most convenient
positions for. distribution among the
insurgents. So too, of the one hun
dred sndStMsntgk gkoFf. one hhadfsd and
forty pieces of heavy artillery, which
the same Secretary ordered from Pitts
buggtg Ship Eslands in 4.skeI Bague,
and Galveston, Texas, for forts not yet
erected. Accidentally learningS eanly
IN March, that under this p0sthunaous
order the sAipmeat Of these gums had
commenced communicated the fact
. osecretafy Holt acting for Secretary
Vaneron) just in tins. to, defeat the
robbery. Whilst writing this para
@aphiitl would seem impossible that
tae General had ever read the report
A