Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1866-08-17

How THE CONTINENT Col ISF.EE,rIlN
PROM R,ouv.ND.--A Eicam a5 correspond
eft Of tte Sew York Times gives tie follow
ir-
The l-try Wll reusI tr that during the
winter OFT Government Obtained assurance Of
the hope.ess1ess % the rebel cause by coming
into TC-sl-s.ou 81 tie testimony Of Gen. Lee be-
fore % c.-.-,-,es &c the rgls. Clngr.sz, vLich
VS. never ~. rcd 60 the houses. except m
secret r. &c m cl. a fIl history of the
manner u wl-.a the Government obtained that
Information would be- more interesting than any
nance, t-t D. is 200 soon yet 90 DO more Oh N
outline it. The evidence q Gen. Lee was taken
hts 10 the winter By ibis committee, and long
before The committee had determined what
coarse they should pursue-a,mcst before "a
i-s was Try upon their notes.-the entire state
u5ut Of the re'l General. word for word. was
iu the possession % President Lincoln 40 Wash
iu-tou. Ia the room where tie committee met
was a closet. and trcu that closet, Immediately
ai.er tleir adj1ulDmsLt. clme the priceless, H.
formation. Outs De tLa house 70 90 ooce CHANGED
hands, and q second party walked l-isurely
through the streets o. Richmond with 70, until
ny the cuvirous he encountered one Of the
cnu'n country carts Of this section proceei-
Ing With The half Of q newly killed beef toward
the rebel lines 70 Buffers front No commu-
l.'at'oE that The most YAK eyed c0ali perceive
passed between the man and the cart, but the
former gradually changed bis direction. aud
WIS soon walking back in the direction whence
he had come. The csrt went en-, reached and
passed on through the rebel camps without mo-
l.aiauon, and reached the picke's, whore II
halted as a msttcr Of course The beef was dss-
tined ilr the house Of planter just beyond the
re,el hles aud Ia plain sight Of their outpos's,
sni about equidstant between them AMI cur
cWn outpr s's- Thess explanations made sud
careless search Of the cart made by the rebel
sentry, that is look into il. the cart proceeded
on MS way. just as Il reared the house small
party q cur cavalry made a dash At it. and to
the utter surprise Of the rebel pickets. Ebo saS
whole affiir. cur men only lowered a NO
nent around the cart, ID Valioped back with
o-e more than they came with. leaving cart and
beef and driver sod mule behind them. They
DID Dot know 1t then, but nuier the beef vas a
man. anl the man had a package, aud the
package contained the statements Of Gen. Lee
oeere Tue committee Of Congress a few hours
before.
IL outline. this was how the tbin- "a. dime
Il may seem strange, but Lincoln and Grant
knew long before many + the hizhes, officials
Of the insurgeut Government the sworn state
nents Of their commanders as to the hopeless
ness Of further resistance. Knowing that the
Government and Grant had this information eI-
pisins many things IN connection with the srri-
va wilma cur lines Of Hunter. Stephens. and
campbell At the time Of the Hampton Roads
conference, which at the time w.re Inexpliesole.
Tie isat OF obtaining this information IS unri-
VALID IN the annais Of war. and gradually, as
the facts come to light. it will be found that
Grant had every day such particular iniorma-
ton from the rebel Capital that be knew what
JET. Davis was talking about each day 10 the I
most private Of his conversations With bis csb-
met and nsnSssx Of bh esnSgsH-