The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1866-11-16
REPUBLICAN FALsEHOODs RE-
FUTED.

No falsehood is too gross for radical news
papers. or radical speakers, and We are not
therefore, surprised TO notice the continued
rspetion Of oft refuted calumnies, just on the
eve Of. an election. Il is, however, . poo,
compliment to the people to repeat these old
and worn out falsshoods; and 1t shows eli
ther gross ignorance OF malicious lying ON tbs
part of those who utter these calumnies.-
Here is one to which we wish to call attention.
1t has often been refutsd, and by republican
testimony, but still it is repeated. 1t 10 this:
That oil our public arms were sent south, by
Mr.. Buchanan's administration, or stolen by
the south, just before the close of his admin.
istration and that all our war vessels were,
ct the same time, scattered in distant coun.
tries so as not to be made available for the
protection Of the pubic property.
The charge, of stealing arms. or ssnding
them south, many well meaning republicans,
from its frsquen. repetition, probably believe
to be true. Their party papers have studi.
ously avoided telling them that a republican
committee OF a rspu bllean congress investi-
gated the charge and pronounced it false
hood. And their papers. continue to repeat
it, notwithstanding a com nitsee of their own
party pronounoedit untrue, and their stump
speakers reitsrate it, knowing it to be false,
while ii constitutes one of the staple argu-
ments of their street corner and doggery pol
iticians.
In relation to this matter, Mr.. Buchanan
wrote letter to Gen. Scott, in the early part
of Mr.. Linooln's administration, which was
published in the National inteligencer, and
from which We make the following extract:
I should have nothing more to add, had Gen.Scott
in his rejoinder confined himself to the topics en-
braced in his original lette. He has extended them
and now for the first time, and in sarcastic and no
kindly spirit, refers to the alleged stealing of public
arms by Secretary Floyd, and their transportation
te the south, in anticipation of the rebellion. The
conclusive to this allegation that
withssanding the boasting of Mr.. Floyd, at Rich
mond, evidently with the view of concSting his
new allies, cited by the general his authority,
public stolen. The fact is establish
ed by the report of the committee military affairs
of the house of representatives now before me,
made by Mr.. Stanton, of Ohio, their chairman, Ia
republican, on the 18th of February, 1861, and to
be found in the second volume of reports of commit
tee of the house for the session of lS60-6l. This
report, and the testimony before the committee
tsblish:
l. That the southern states received in 1861 less
instead of more than the quota of arms to which
they were entitled by law: and that three of them
North Carolina. Mississippi and Kentucky, received
no arms whatever, and this simply because they
did not ask for them Well may Mr.. Stanton have
said, in the house, that ''there a great deal of
rumors and specuations, and misrepresentation rs
to the true state of facts in regard to this matter
2 Secretary Floyd, under suspicious cireumstan-
ces, the 9th of December, 1860, and but fe W
days before be left the department, had without the
knowledge of the President, ordered one hundred
and thirteen ooumbiads and IL thirty Founders
to be transported from Pittsburg to Ship Island and
Galveston in Mississippi and Texas This fact was
brought to the knowledge of the President by com
from Pittsburg: and Secretary Holt i'm
mediately countermanded the order of his predeces
s0r, and the cannons never sent The prompt
tude with which We acted elected vote of thanks
dated the 4th day of January 1851, from the select
and common councils of this city, ''to the President
the Attorney General, and the Acting Secretary of
War" Mr.. Holt
This report is a complete and unanswera-
bic rsfutssion of the "stolen arms" story and
newspapers which profess to deal honestly
with their readers will inform them of the
taoss and cease repeating the story.
As to the other charge. of scattering our
navy where it could not be available for the
of tbs public property, the follow
ng documents are sufficient refutation of
he story.