The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1871-02-04

a.
Under this law the ordnance bureau, with
ont any special order from the head Of the
department, gave to each state that applied
lOr 1t her proper quota of muskets and les
OF the best pattern and make for the regular
army. During The year 1860 tie number
Of uIuskets so distributed was exactly s S.423.
Of which the southern states received 2 O0l
while the northern states got nearly three
times that number. to wit, & 1872 Some
iong-rapge rifles of the army calibre were
distributed. The aggregate number amount
ing TO / 1873 and they all went to northern
states except 1858, about half enough ior one
regiment, Yhich We're divided amorg Vir-
sIuia, Kentucky, Tennessee North Carolina.
Mississippi, and louisiana, the other states
of the south receiving none. Why did vou
conceal these tacts2 You knew them, and
you could not help but see their strict reie-
vancy and great Importance Perhaps YOU
did not know that the SUpprcsSio ce,5 is as
bad as the Suggestio .taiSi, and thought it
iaIf TO make out a criminal charge against
the dad rebel by keeping back rs much
OF the truth rs did not suit your purpose.
The lact that the south n states neglected
to take their proper aud just quotas, 2bch
they might have got for the asking. satisfied
the committee, and DO doubt fully convinced
you, that there could have been no fraudu-
lent combination Ia 1850 between them apI
tie war department TO roo the government
o! its arms for their benefit That cauclu-
CeG the whole case. since il was impossible
for q sane man to believe that such plot
could have been formed and acted upon at
a previous time, aud yet had no existence
in the year immediately preceding the war
Nevertheless, the committee went back. aud
it was proved that in 1859, before auv war
was aVpreheudea-befJr the election cl
Lincoln was dreamed of-before the division
Of the democracy, which made his election
possible with a million majority against linn
Floyd ordered transfer e ll5 900 mus
kets from northern 10 southern arsenals-
This yoU parade with great uri-h as evil
ideucs IF a most wicked robbery. But here
We fpd you again at the disingeuuous bust
ness lis not thar q safe phrase p Of keeping
back the truth which would lave spoiled
tie force Of your story. These cymS arcle
all acCrihlcSS and unSerUicsGj}e We had
SOC, coo Of 1hcInj they numbered tie uorth>
cru aEseEas. aud could not be used a
law had been passed To authorize the sale Of
them they were ,fIeTcd for years At two
dollars and hl,y cents apiece, about one
tenth tie price Cf a good gun, and thev
could not be got of Twice a considerable
number were sod, bat the purchasers upcn
further Information refused to take them -
OF these go, eco condemned muskets. ;bo
secretary OF war in 1859 ordered Us 600 to
je sent south, ,ublless flT the mere crnve-
uieuce Of storage. To ''weap,n the rebel
lion" with arms like these would have in
suIed its destruction the instant its force
came into the presence Of troops ha:ing I'M
proved modern guns In their hands. FLOYD
could not have done a greater iujuTy 30 The
y
\ r Is it possible to believe that southern
leaders would have couspired with him to
puIiuiu these useless arms ia 1859, aud then,
iu 1860, declined to take the share that le~
galiy belonged to them Of the best muskets
aud riGss ever invented. All these facts ap-
pear IL the evidence reported by the com
uittee. from which you pretend to be making
fair and candid citations, and you say not
woId about tHem.
If You were "a mere LAWYER or any
lawyer at all, and would go before judicial
tribunal mutilatIug the truth after thls fash
ion, you would INN ediately lie expelled
from the profession. and no judge would ever
permit yun TO open your mouth in court
Of Justice again. Ii you would appear as a
witness, snd III that character testify 70 the
contents Of written document in the way
Won have set out this report to your readers,
it might he followed by very G.sagreeable
consequences, which | would not shock your
polite ears by mentioning.
Mr.. Cobb. while secretary Of the treasury
performed his duties with singular parity.
uprigbtuess and ability. No enemy has ever
vgnsLred 10 point our 4 single public act
done 10 that department by him Of which
the wisdom, the Iawfuluess. or the honesty
could he even doubted. The disi,intea and
loose accusation # your first paper implied
that by some official delinquency he had
uurposely disorganzed the fiscal machinery
Of the government, or otherwise pcrVetrated
some malicious mischief on the public cred
it, Now, however, you are reduced to the
old and never failing resort of Unreasonable
utterauces,' - something that he said in phi
vate conversation had the effect Of iuinling
the credit Of the United States What was
it ? Il is well known that the prices Of all
securities, public and private. began to go
down Immediately TpOn the Presidential
election of 1860. and continued going down
for years afterwards. j this Attributable
to the reasonable utterances of Thomas, and
Dix. and Chase But what is the use OF
pursuing such . subject? Mr. Cobb was
dead, and you felt sort Of necessity for do
ing some despite upon his grave. This
feeble absurdity was all you could do
/ considered myself bound to defend Mr..
/ Stanton against the praise which described
his character as infamous. Down to the
time Of his apostacy wa were close and in
timats friands, and thought I knew him
as we'll as one man could be known to an
other. do not claim that he owed me any
thing; FOR l made no sacrifices Of myself or
( anybody else to serve him. I advanced him
in his profession and thereby improved his
fortune. hut he got nothing in that way for
which he did not render equivalent services.
7 strove long, and at last successfully, to
I remove the prejudices Of Mr.. Buchanan and
! others against him, because thought them
unjust, and because it was inconvenient for
me that the President should not trust a
man in whom I had unlimited confidence.
I recommended him pressingiy for postmas-
ter general upon the death of Mr.. Brown.
solely for the reason that the exigencies oil