The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-20

uTanL never issued any suCh permit to the
Mack Brothers as the father of General Grant
alleges that he did, basing upon that allega-
tion- a suit against the Aforesaid Mack Bro.
theirs for refusing to pay over to him, the
father OF General Grant aforesaid, his Just aud
proper compensation for obtaining the said
permit. .BE VIZ TT I'D Iva
1t is no concern of ours to vindioate the
veTaoity of General Grants father against the
opinion and belief of Mr.. w p. Mellen. But
since Mr. Mellen has thought fit to obtrude his
opinion and belief upon the attention of the
public, and since the Tribune cites Mr.. Mel
lens opinion and belief as the fiual and con-
elusive evidence of General Grants disinter-
estedness aud purity, it is proper to say that
Mr.. Melen very seriously damages the value
of his testimony not only by the extravagaut
application which he seeks to make of it, but
also by the way in which he misrepresents
and exaggerates his own position during the
war. . .-.
Mr.. Mellen says of himself
"All trade in territory recovered to our pos.
session 10y The western armies was conducted
10y Of the seeeasy Of sSeGps 10 H
from the beginning TO the end of the war. This
made IL necessary that should be constantly
conferrlng with General Grant and other COM
manders of the Western armies, in regard TO
their views and wishes concerning trade I'm the
rear, and also with the assistant agents of the
Treasury Department VINO Issued the permit.
/ am satisfied that no permit to trade could
have been given byGeneral Grant which would
certain that he never gave one to anybody at
any time or for any purpose" ....
Now, as a matter of fact, Mr.. Melleu never
possessed this general supervision" of which
he speaks until after the act of congress r-gu-
lating trade with the reOccupied States, which
was approved on the 18th day of March, 1858.
Before the passage of that act aud the publica-
tion by President Lincoln of his trade procla-
nation of March 81, 1863, the regulation of
trade with the Rebel States was assumed and
exercised Exclusively by the military authO-
rites" This is the language used by Score
tary Chase himself in his Annual Report for
the year 1863 The Secretary expressly says
that the act of March u, 1863, "devolved upon
the Secretary of the Treasury the duty of re-
gulating trade" and it was in the discharge
of the duty thus devolved upon him that
Secretary Chase, late in the spring of 1863,
conferred upon Mr.. Mellen the Office which he
now rather generously describes as having
given him general supervision" of trade
in the territory recovered by our Western
armies from the beginning to the eud of the
war.
As the transaction between the Mack Brothers
and General Grants father took place in De-
cember, 1862, nearly six months before Mr..
Mellen enjoyed the authority of a general
supervision it will be seen at once that this
gentleman is somewhat rash in asserting that
DO permit to trade could have been issued by
General Grant without the knowledge Off him,
Mr. Melen aforesaid
Once more, we repeat, we desire to get at
the truth and at the truth only in this matter.
And it must be admitted to be extremely odd
that no distinct, contemporaneous and authen-
tic evidence has yet been prodaoed to show
that the curious coincidence in point of time
between the signing of contract by the Mack
Brothers and General Grants father on the 6tn
of December, 1862, and the issuing by General
Grant of an order fol bidding personal appli-
cation'' by Jews for permits to trade,'' on
the 10th Of December, 1862, was coincidence
only.