The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-03-17

n
inpton made brief allusion to a report
made to the House of Representatives
from the committee on commerce by Its
chairman, Mr. Washburne of Illinois, the
next friend of Lincoln and bosom friend
of Gen. Grant. The special object OF the
report was to investigate the case OF 6.
w. Lane. of Baltimore, but 80 broad a
field was discovered upon entering upon
this case, that the committee probed the
fostering sore on the body polite little
further down, bringing to the surface this
revelation of the effects OF adminlstra-
ton management:
[EXTRACT.l ..
1t has induced a spirit of speculation
and plnnder among the people, who have
entered into u disgraceful scramble for
wealth during a time of war, waged to
save the life of nation, and has fed that
greed of gain which must wound the
public morals. 1t has tended to the dc
moyaH=afion and corruption of tie army and
ndry by the exhibition Of the vast re-
wards which have accrued from this trade
and'from the temptation and bribeuwlth
which they have been constantly assail-
ed. II is 6elicr6d 10 hare led 20 the p10lOn-
g,iiioa of the rcT, and TO hare cost the eO'in-
fyu thousands Of Tires and millions upon
millions Of treasure. .r]
The object of the existing laws has
been almost entirely evaded. The testi-
,souy before The committee discloses the
shameless aid reasonable character Of the
t,ort rbich h0s been carried on withm the
r,bE lines fHA ,tbA agents, and for the use
OF rebel afbjics. The amount of supplies
necessary for the support of rebel armies,
which under the cover of this trade, has
been sent through the rebel lines at New
Orleans, Memphis Norfolk. and other
places, almost sarpdsses belief. Negotia-
tons Race been entered MtO, and correspond
eacr c,0y,cd on, by cihaess of the United
states ,cih rebel agents to delirer for the
rebel goccJUmcoI proriSiOus and other neces-
return fer cotton
Persons holding office a',de, The government
of the Emitted States appear as contractors
Contracts. certificates, and Presidential
orders have been materially altered and
changed. 1t is in proof that the orders
of the President have been altered with
out his knowledge or consent,
Your committee cannot, ia this prelim-
mary and partial report, extend their
comments upon the nature, character
and effect of this trade. They believe. the
natural result of ii aciU be to pyOlong the
struggle in Thich zoe are engaged By furnish
ina TO the rebels articles whick are ndispen-
si5le to them in keeping up their armies. The
closing of their ports through which
thew have been enabled, heretofore, to re-
ceive supplies from abroad, must make
the pressure for this particular trade
vastly greater than.eyer before.
Major-Genera1 Candy, who has been
in command ~, New Orleans, and who
has had'the largest opportunities for OBJ
servatiou, states in u communication to
the Secretary of War, that If this trade
he carried on in the manner and To the
extent claimed by, the Spectators who
now control it. its inevitable result, in
his Judgment, would be to add strength
lad Efficiency 10 the rebel army east and ,rest
Il the M sissigpj eqairaleat 10 az addition
az ftiy thousand men, and ig0uM stimulate
jato dCtiue opposition ~ the sncOessfM prose
cution ofLOur operation at least ten thousand
men ,rithin our o,rn lines that cotton
sreoulators in the Mississippi Valley
have ahfospeetive, and hope to have an
actual interest i'll every bale of Gotten
within the rebel lines They know that
expeditions in the ,enenly,s country are
followed with tbeT capture Of cotton, or
its destructionby The rebels to prevent
its falling into our hands; hence it is to
their interest to gire INTERPRETATION to The
rebels Of esersi con khiplased f,ore&eat. He
states, further, that he has never sent an
expedition, into the ensmy's lines with
out finding agents of this character in
communication with the rebels. giving
them information regarding onr move
ments, aud that nearly every expedition
has been fooled u some extent in some
OF its objects ny information so commu-
uicated --------