The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-02-28

OUT TIRE SOUTH TO THE REBELs-THR PRE-
sIDENT's CONDUCT TO BE INVESTIGATED
STARTLING CHARGES BY oFrIcERs or THE
FREBDMEN's BUREAU. fs ~ .-s /.
spscisl sorrsspondence Of the New York Tribune.
WASHINGTON, d. c., February rs, 1867.
The Judiciary Committee had taken up
the question Of abandoned and con6scable
property as II relates to the investigation
Of the charges preferred against the Pre-
sident. Mr.. Conway, formerly commits
sioner Of the Freedmen's Bureau in Lou
isiana, was summoned before the commit
tee. and in the course Of examination he
presented q complete record Of all that de-
scription Of property which he held in
that State. The record was deemed
Of snch importance that the commit.
ten prepared, and offered In the House,
Q resolution calling upon the Secretary
Of War for all the facts connected
with 1t. On Saturday last the Com
missioner Of the Freedmen's Bureau, Ge-
neral Howard, was ordered by the Secre-
tary Of War to report without delay all
facts relating to such property as was en-
braced in the resolution Of the House of
Representatives. General Howard 10 now
preparing q report on the subject, and it
will be presented to Congress in day or
tyo. The report, as called for by vote
Of the House, will embrace the following
points-viz., date Of seizure by the United
States; by whom seized; why seized /;
owner Of property; date Of seizure how
used since its seizure; monthly rent to the
Government from time Of seizure location
Of property; by whose order it was re-
stored; by whom leased since its seizure
by the United States.
The report already presented by Mr..
Conway, covering about thirty pages, each
as large as one page Of the Tribune, shows
that the value of this kind of property
held by the Government in Louisiana was
somewhere between fifty and a hundred
millions Of dollars; that the estimated va
lue Of the property, as represented in the
report, is hardly one-fifth Of the actual va
lue at the time the report was made that
the whole of it was restored to its rebel
owners by the President, under the order
given by him at the time, of which the fol-
lowing is an exact copy:
EXECUTIVE OFFICE, August 16, 1865.
The records of this office show that B.
F. Leake was specially pardoned by the
President on the 9th ultimo, and was
thereby restored to all his rights of pro-
perty, except as to slaves. Notwithstand-
ing this, it is understood that the posses
sion of his property is withheld from him.
have, therefore, to direct that General
Fisk, Assistant Commissioner at Nashville,
Tenn, be instructed by the Chief Commits
sioner of Bureau of Freedmen to relinquish
possession of the property of Mr.. Leake
held by him as Assistant Commissioner,
&C., and that the same be restored imme-
diately to the said Leake.
The same action will be had in all SINH
lar cases. ANDREW JOHNSON,
President Of the United States.
General Fullerton, who was sent by the
President to relieve Mr.. Conway Of the
duties of Assistant Commissioner of the
Bureau, has acknowledged to several per-
sons in New Orleans at the time he reach
ed there that he had private instructions
from the President touching this property.
What they were can only be inferred from
his conduct. He was not in New Orleans
twenty days before nearly all the property
of rebels which was held by the Bureau
was given up. The record presented by
Mr.. Conway to the committee showed
that nearly all had been restored, either
by direct pardon by the President or by
the order Of his faithful servant, General
Fullerton. Those who are acquainted
with the laws of Congress touching rebel
property held by the Government as
either abandoned or. confscable say that
the President had no shadow of authority
to restore it, and that his action without
such authority is an usurpation of the most
serious character. ~
Various generals in the army, all of
whom have held this description Of pro-
perty, have, over and over again, decided
that its possession by the Government was
as legal as the possession Of any property
could be. General Candy, who was in
command in the State of Louisiana at the
time this property was restored, frequently
put on record his decision : "That this
property, being abandoned in the sense of
the laws of war and Of nations, is the pro-
perty of the United States"
At the time when this property was re-
stored to its former owners, much of it had
been leased out by the Government under
warrant of law of Congress on the subject.
What is extraordinary about this feature
of the question is that the leases were
abrogated by General Fullerton in some
instances, and, as is believed, under the
private instructions given by the Presi-
dent to General Fullerton. In the resolu-
tion concerning this property which has
passed the House the case Of Duncan F.
Kenner, of New Orleans, is specially men,
toned, coupled with that of j. W. Zacha-
rie, blockade-runner during the war.
Kenner's plantations had been leased
under the law Of Congress-. He was
among the most distinguished Of all the
rebels. He was in the rebel Congress, and
a chairman Of one of its important COM
mittees. The lease of his plantations
was abrogated by General Fullerton, act
ing under the Presidents private instruc-
tiOns, as he said, and the property, with
the growing crops, belonging to the lessee,
was all returned.
The facts connected with the recovery
by the rebels of all this kind of property
in all the States of the South will startle
the public. They cannot only be shown
from the records Of the Bureau in Louisi'
ana, but from those Of the Bureaus in all
the southern States.
INSTRUCTION IN VIRGINIA.-Go-
vernon Peirpoint is inclined to favor the
reconstruction plan Of Congress. We also
49, rohohly a dooidod iorifv of