The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-09-21
MA. MONTGOMERY Rr,ArR.

AAis Seut0Inau, whose recSut SPS
Ciarksvine Nd, contained such savage VI
siaughtupon various members ofMr. Lahcom
hrstcabinet and other persons proinhien' ~
the administration of public affairs during tne
first half of the year 1861, is rapidly co.nnns
;,,t,, .,,o ,,osition of the Ishmaelte, "his hand
ooo;,,st every man, and every mans hand
o9o;ro+ him" In the speech alluded to, he
made charges bearing upon the conduct OF
Hon Joseph Holt in connection with other
members of Mr.. Buchanan's cabinet during
the last two or three months of that admin
istration. Judge Holt denies them in general
and in detail, bringing witnesses to prove the
truthof his own, and the falsity of Mr.. Blair's
statement.
Mr.. Holt concludes his spirited reply as TO-,
lows.
In February, 1861, was denounced by Ja-
cob Thompson, ex-member of Mr.. Buchanan's
Cabinet, because, in cooperation with that
luxurious old soldier and patriot, Gen. Scott,
had attempted to reinforce Fort Sumter;
and now, in 1865, am denounced by an ex-
member of Mr.. Lincoln's Cabinet, because, es
he has alleged, by necessary Implication, not
only did not attempt to reinforce Fort Sumter
but actually prevented General Scott from do
ing so. The opinion is confidently entertain
ed that shall suffer no more damage from
this last denunciation that did from the
first.
General Scott also, in a letter to Mr.. Holt,
dated Sept. 4th, denies the accusation thai his
(Scott's) request to be permitted to reinforce
Fort Sumter was refused by Mr. Holt, then
Secretary of War; and bears te;tinony to Mr..
Holt's efficiency in "doing everything he could
to preserve and vindicate ourhappy Union"
Secretary Seward is another of those whom
Blair and Company have chosen to accuse in
reference to the Sumter and Pickens expedi-
tons. The statement charges Mr.. Seward
with concealment and double dealing in rela-
ton to these transactions and with throwing
hindrances in the way of the government, in
the effort to relieve Sumter by detaching the
Powhatan from that expedition, and sending
herto Fort Piclens. Whereupon Major Cen
eral Meigs comes out with long letter, in
which he relates the whole history Of these
two expeditions and effectually disposes Of the
malicious charges brought against Mr.. Seward
He says: % 9 = fe
The orders of the President in relation to
the Powhatan, and to whole Piekens expedit-
| ton were not known to the Secretary OF the
| Navy. The success of the expedition to re-
| lieve Fort Pickens depended upon secrecy
Washington and New Y ork were full of per-
sons ready to transmit the first intelligence of
such an intention. The telegraph was in
operation and as open to the rebels as to the
| United States and had it become known that
the expedition was being prepared to relieve
that post, the telegraph would have commune
Gated the fact to Bragg, who had several
thousand men, and who could have taken Fort
Piekens by assault, on any night, at the cost
of a few hundred men.
The Pickens expedition was planned and
ordered with the knowledge only of the Pres
ident, the Secretary of State, Lieut.. General
Scott, Col E. d. Reyes and myself When 1t.
Porter was detailed to command the naval por-
| ton of the expedition, its object was commu-
nicated to him. When Colonel Harvey Brown
was assigned to command the troops, his in
structions made known to him its destination.
70 none others, in or out OF the expedition,
was its destination known until we were near
" in sight of the sanl-hills of Pensacola. In
conclusion, permit me to remark that this, the
first successful military expedition of the war,
originated with Mr., Seward. Until Ii sailed.
the United States had declined eVeryWhore,-
FOrtresses and harbors had been lost. He
carried me to the President, merely saving
that he thought the President ought to see
some of the younger officers, and not consult
only with men who, if war broke out, could
not mount horse. When the President struck
out of the instructions prepared for the COM
mander of the expedition the authority to de-
clare martial law al Key West and on the Gulf
coast, Mr.. Seward induced him to restore it,
The authorities of Florida had, in February,
arrested and held me to bail, for defending the
rights Of the Yankee fishermen of the TOrtu-
gas against the unconstitutional impostions of
Florida sheriff The secession flag few over
the courthouse, at Key West, within musket-
shot OF Fort Taylor. But on the declaration
| ct martial law, which shortly followed our ar
rival in the CUT, judges, sheriffs, clerks, and
mayor fled from Key West to the mainland
and the present loyal Provisional Governor of
Florida alantad Mayor of Kay Most, end
that important post returned to its allegiance.
Some interference with the later plo-
gramme of another expedition, it seems arose
/ from the secrecy with which both were organ
lied; but the most important ports and fort
resses in the Gulf-the harbors of Pensacola,
| Key West and the Tortugas-were saved to
the United States, all well fortified; and the
fleets which, would have been necessary for
their reduction or blockade, were made avaia-
BILE at other points which had been lost by
supineness Of the preceding Administration.
Even il the vietualling of Fort Sumter was
thus prevented, the United States still, at Fort
Sumter, asserted its desire and determination
to possess that fortress, which could not then
have held out long against the batteries by
which the rebels had been already permitted
to encircle it; and who will assert that few
days provisions, more or less, in Sumter
could compare in importance with the reten-
ton of the well-fortified harbors of Pensacola
and the Florida Reef ~
Secrecy has its inconvenience, but upon
no. faot Ind .ka1xa
and so well kept was the secret, that in the
returning steamer Atlantic brought back to
| New York at once the news of the destination
and of the success of the expedition.