The Portland daily press., 1870-10-18
THE PRESS.
Tuesday Morning, octobsr 10, 1870.
Pfesiicni Lincola and secrefa'ies Sew
Yelie..


late Secre. ary of the Navy, always laughing |
stock? From the first days of his Washing |
ton life, when the newspapers began TO fire off
their squibs at him, till the close of the war
when he was established as a permanently in
the comic papers as firmly as Horace Greeley,
and his patriarcha beard was as familiar il
caricatuIes as the Tribune editors white hat,
and even down to the present day when he is
no longer conspicuous as public man, he has
rarely been mentioned except with sheer
Yet he cannot be lacking in certain kind of
sagacity, Tor he managed to retain his position
In the Cabinet through two entire admins
tratio1s, while several of his colleagues who
are credited with much more sa.acity and
not a particle more honesty found it impossi-
bic to do so.
But it is since his retirement from Office
that the old gentleman seems to have got
thoroughly walked up for the first time in his
Life. During his official career he was pru-
IDENTIFY reticent, letting the world laugh and
sheer as it would. But now when gentlemen
OF any prominence undertake to amuse them
selves by harrassng "Grandfther Welles," as
l[r. Lincoln called him, they find to their as
Constituent that Rip Van Wrinkle is at last
wide awake and eager for the fray.
Mr.. Borie, Grants first Secretary of the
Navy, was, we believe, the first who made
the discovery. In his annual report he took
occasion to contrast his Own economical man
sgement of the department with Mr.. Welles'
alleged extravaganza. The asperity and vigor
of the exSecretary's reply are no doubt well
remembered by our readers. Next Mr.. Thur
low Weed, "the American Warwick" in the
course of some personal "reminiscences lately
published, carelessly spoke disparagingly OF
the sold Man of the Sea-" The reply was
not only conclusive, but placed Mr.. Weed
where he has not often been in the whole
course of his life, in a ridiculous POSITION
Not content with the total overthrow of his
adversary Welles has followed up his advant-
age by an article directed against Mr.. Weeds
political associate, VIM. H. Seward, in the
last number of the Galaxy. This article pos
sesses genuine historical interest since the
story it tells has not only strong antecedent
probability but internal evidence of its truth
He alleges that the expedition fitted out for
the relief OF Fort Sumter, q part of which ar
rived oil Charleston on the day of the bonn
bardment of that fertilization, was defeated
by the articles of Secretary Seward. He in
/, sinuates that Mr.. Seward had come to an un
Outstanding with the Rebel leaders even be-
fore tie close of Buchanan's administration
and that he had given assurances that the in
coming administration would take no meas
ures to reinforce Fort Sumter. However that
may be, the Secretary of State exerted him
self to the utmost to prevent troops or provis-
ions being sent to the relief of Major Ander-
son, though that officer reported that he could
hold out only till about the time the lombard
ment began. For long time Mr.. Lincoln
and the whole Cabinet, with the exception of
Montgomery Blair, were of the opinion that
it wonld be useless to attempt the relief of
the Fort. But gradually other views prevail
ed, much to the disgust of the Secretary of
State. Finding that preparations for an ex-
petition to Sumter were going on with the
approval of the President and that orders had
been given by the Navy Department to that
effect, he now adopted course of proceeding
that seems to indicate an intention on his
part to usurp the whole executive power oil
the government. Taking advantage of the
immense pressure of public business upon
Mr.. Lincoln and his want of acquaintance
with the details of administration, he induced
him to sign number of extraordinary papers
One Of the orders placed Capt. Barron, who
was shortly after captured by our forces at
Fort Hatteras where he was in command of
the Rebels, in confidential position in the
Navy Department already occupied by Com
modore Stringham, sending ships of war TO
distant ports and ordering Stringham. to Pen
sacola. All this without the knowledge or
consent of the Navy Department. Upon be-
ing demonstrated with by Secretary Welles
the President promptly disclaimed all knowl-
edge of the contents of the orders, and said
they were placed before him by Seward and
Capt d. D. Porter of the Navy, and that he
had signed them without looking at them,
supposing they were all right. So they were
annuled and the fitting out of an expedition
for the relief of Sumter went OH apace at
New York. The Commissioners from the
Rebel government, Messrs. Forsyth, Craw-
ford and Roman, were alarmed and accused
the Secretary of State of bad faith, but his re-
ply was "Faith as to Sumter kept-wait and
see." Thereupon Seward got the President
by the same means formerly employed to sign
an order detaching the Powhatan, the flag
ship of the expedition, and otherwise disar-
ranging the plans of the Navy Department.
The consequence was that the whole enter
prise miscarried and on the 18th of April only
few vessels lay off the bar at Charleston
witnessing the assault upon the flag they
could not defend. And here Mr.. Stewards
attempt to play the part of an English Pre-
mier came TO an end. The President at last
saw clearly what he was driving at, I'd took
peremptory measures to put stop to his
usurpations.
TIE ELECTION MOB IN PHILADELpHIA-
The Morning Post of Philadelphia, in its ac-
count of the election mob in that city, says
that the Judges of Election declined to receive
the returns from the 10th ward, and VIM, B.
Mann and Lewis c. Cassidy were sent for.
When Col. Mann arrived, he was obliged. on
account of the crowd collected around the
Court room door to pass through an ante
room into the presence of the Judges. He
was followed in by John Nolan, the man who
was shot. The crowd meantime, broke in
the door, and some of the crowd entered the
room. A loaded pistol was snatched from one
OF them by one of the Judges and Nolan
grabbed stone spittoon and Crowford pre-
scented a revolver. Noen was then between
the lawyers table and the jury box, about ten
feet from Crawford. He lifted the spittoon
above his head and threw it, 1t went toward
Crawford and fell to the floor in a bundled
pieces. Noen then stopped, thinking that
Crawford wauld shoot wildly, but he took de-
liberate aim and fired Nolen dropped to the
floor, and was picked up and taken away by
his friends. Crawford maintained his posi-
ton, threatening to shoot both Alderman Nc
Mullen and Ahern, who had approached to-
ward him, the latter with long piece of the |
railing that surrounds the courtroom, until |
he was disarmed by the police. Crawford |
was arrested by the police.
HE ELECTION LAWS TO BE ENFORCED
IN NEW YORK BY THE MIL1TARY,-It is
SAID mat Marshal Sharpe thinks that he can
not enforce the United States Election Law
unless trOODS are in rood:.. |