The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-10-22
8ithntond Dispahh.
NoNDAY...s OCTOBER q, 1866.

NONDAY...s.......O OCTOBER 70, 1866
The PhfladeIphfa Canard-. Druid >
Owns Up, bat Believes the Forkery
10 be True.
To the Editor of the Herald.
am anxious to afford to the public
every explanation In my power in relation
! to the dispatch of October 10 which wa.
published in the Philadelphia Ledger. The
statement which has been made by thai
paper does not contain the whole truth. /,
studiously conceals the fact that 1t did no,
receive the dispatch from Washington, but
from New York. It charges me with
having written the questions without
having any reliable data before me. And
1t keeps entirely out of sight the fact tha,
on the strength of the dispatch, as they re-
ceived it, (but not from me) person il
lPhiladelphia, in close business relations te
the proprietors of that paper, engaged in
gold operations by which, had the new.
proved true, as believed it TO be true, be
would have been largely benefited.
A simple statement of the facts will per.
haps set the matter In its clearest light
On the 9Th and 7th instants learned that
the subject Of the extent Of the powers
and duties of the President under the Con.
| stitution in relation to the exclusion Of the
southern members Of Congress and in rela.
tion to the legal and constitutional status
Of the present Congress was occupying q
great deal of the Presidents attention
On the 9Th and 9Th sought more definite
information on this subject from two gen
tlemen to whom have been in the habit
Of going when wish to verify any doubt.
ful point or to get tangled piece of news
unravelled. They are men whose friend.
ship have proved and tried, and which
value and have found in my intercourse
with them that they are not only truthful
and reliable, but that they have remaka.
BILE faculty of being able to get at the truth
of almost any alleged matter of Washing.
ton news, of detecting errors and Of distin.
gushing mere rumors from actual matters
of fact.
From one Of these gentlemen learned
that the President, in quite q recent con.
versation with an intimate friend, had
dwelt at some length upon this subject, and
had required to what he had said in his
speeches and messages upon it, and had
remarked that he had said nothing hastily
or unconsidered, and that what he had
said he would stand by, and that whatever
might be his duty he would not shrink
from performing it; but that he would
take no step in the matter without con-
sulting the Attorney General, and Il think
it was added) that he intended to do so.
From the other learned that paper
had been seen in the Attorney-G Generals
office, with the printed heading "Execu
tive Mansion," containing series of ques.
tions in relation to the actual status under
the Constitution of the present Congress,
and the nature and extent Of the powers
and duties of the President under the Con-
stitution both as regards the present Con-
gress and the right of the southern States
to representation.
With these facts clearly impressed upon
my mind, and believing them to be true, ]
returned home, thought over the matter,
and wrote out the questions. The data
which had before me was ample. The
words Of the questions had not been fur
nished to me. But had before me the
subjects to which they related, and the al
legged fact that they had covered the whole
ground in relation to that subject. 1t is
true the questions might have been written
by some one else, might have been in the
Attorney Generals Office by accident,
might never been seen either by the Pre-.
sident or the Attorney-G General. But the
natural inference was that the questions
had been officially sent to the Attorney.
General; and with that idea impressed
upon my mind as fact, wrote out the
questions.
saw nothing inconsistent in these ques.
tions with the uniform utterances of the
President. 1t seemed to me perfectly ma.
tural that the President should seek coun.
sci of his constitutional legal adviser on SC
grave subject, especially when the lead
ing Radicals were boldly proclaiming their
intention to depose and imprison him. The
questions at issue between the President
and Congress are not questions of policy
or expediency, but questions of constitu.
tional law. The Attorney General is the
proper person to investigate these ques-
tions, and the "questions" which / wrote
amount simply to statement that the
President has consulted his constitutional
legal adviser in regard to the extent of his
powers and duties under the Constitution
They do not in the least imply any revolu'
tionary intention on the part Of the Presi.
dent, for the only answers which can be
made to the questions will show that, hard
as the necessity may appear to him, the
President must continue to recognize the
present Congress, and must leave the quas
ton of the admission Of the southern mem
bers for them to decide.
/ sent the questions, not to the Ledger
but to valued friend of mine in another
city. / did not write them for the Ledger
but for one Of my own friends. sent il
to him simply as matter Of important
news, which / believed to be true. Tht
Ledger virtually says, and has made tht
public believe, that they received the dis
patch from Washington which is not the
fact.
The Ledger says the verdict Of the public
| will be against me. l do not think it viii
be now. Truth has but one voice, and the
public can generally tell when they hear it
Very respectfully, yours,
HENRY M. FLINT.
WASHINGTON, October II, 1866.
SUSPECTED MURDER.-In retired par