The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1871-02-23

mHnGlcS a public record must not complain ii bis
good faith is doubted when he presents private evi
1encc.
Mr.. Attorney General Iloar, believing this sean
dial to be true tried in good faith to get the evidence
which would prove it. When he found it to DC
false he passed over to YOU the letters which he had
got in the course of his search and you printed
them = The lawyer was too honest to reassert a
tale which he discovered to be unfounded; bat the
politician had not magnanimity enough to retract 1t
and therefore he let you burn your fingers where
he would not put his OWL
This story of a cabinet scene,' as it floated
about among irresponsible newsmongers, seemed
Tor while like a formidable SANDER; but you nave
made il utterly contemplate.
VI. Your account of MIR. Camer0ns retirement
from the War Department and Stanton's appoint
ment on bis suggestion demanded refutation, be-
cause it not only perverted and misrepresented a
fact of some general importance, but was serious
injury to Mr.. Stanton's character as it then stood,
Between these two men if did not seem as if there
could be any relations which implied confidence
friendship. II Stanton himselfwas any authority
for his own sentiments, he had no respect either
or the horse contracts, or the ''nigger armng las
he called it, of his predecessor, and Mr.. Lincoln
had just as little Stanton was appointed not to
carry out but TO put an end to Cameron's policy
with all its corruptons | admit that since the
idence you have furnished of Mr.. Stanton's duplic
ity in other matters, it becomes possible to believe
he may have been insincere about this also. Still
your attempt TO deceive the public was ineXcusa-
bic.
OF my own knowledge | know nothing about
talneron's appointment or removal; but L will
give You the main facts briefly and without the
o(tu cnoIml0, as l have them on undoubted atl-
thority, and rs ] firmly believe them. A bargain
was made AT the Chicago Convention of 1860, that
III ease OF Lncoln's nomination and election Came
should receive Cabinet appointment. Mr..
Lincoln was no party to this contract but after
much persuasion he consented to ratity 1t by try
ing Cameron as Secretary of War. Before the end
0fnne months the experiment ended as you know
and as everybody else knows, in a complete and to-
al
10 get rid of him. and expressed his resolution in a
letter addressed to Mr. Cameron and carried by
Mr.' Chase, then Secretary of the Treasury. That
letter is not now in existence, hut Mr.. Chase de-
scrbed it ct, that is to say, plain, short and di
rect. Mr.. Cameron understood and felt it as an alb
rupt dismissal. He afterwards got it suppressed,
ana correspondence different in its whole tenor
and effect substituted in its place. Ever since then
he has been trying to create the opinion that he re-
tired from a Department full of rich Jobs, not only
without compulsion but in spite of the Presidents
aiiectionate desire that he should remain and man
age them as he had done before; aud he makes it
part of the story that he permitted to desig-
nate his successor. He cOntrived to produce some
belief OF this on the mind of Mr. Chase; but if Mr..
( hasc had known more of Cameron's character
and previous history, he might have been less cred
llous.
OF the fact that Stanton was appointed on
Cameron's suggestion we may not have spark of
direct evidence except Camerons own statement
and all the circumstances make that improbable.
If the President made up his mind to remove the
he certainly would not have proceeded
10 execute his resolution by writing him curt let
Ter of dismissal, without having settled on some
body 10 succeed him: for at such time as that he
could not mean to leave the War Department dcph-
aipNS while he wonld be hunting head for it. But
rnncede that no thought was taken for the new Of
ticer before the removal of the Old one, can it be
That the President decided the whole question in
favor OF Il man never mentioned before, on the mere
suggestion of the officer he discarding and with
ont seeking advice from those members Of the Cab
met who still retained his tayort The suppre ssed
letter is, therefore, not only important fact in it.
self, but it has the gravest influence the CREDIBLE
lty of Mr.. Cameron's whole tale. Other questions
-lgnlfy but little in comparison to that. Ii the
fespondcncc afterwards published was not that
which actually took place, we must presume every
thing against the party for whom, or at whose in
stance the srolaton was committed The short,
plain. direct, curt note with which Mr. Lincoln
opened the business, would have explained every
thing. if it had been permitted to the light; and
it could not have been destroyed except for the prr
pose of making false impression. This compes
me to show that your conduct i'll the affair has been
such as admits of no justification except that burn
ing loyalty and intense patriotism which converts
all vice into virtue.
After your first article appeared, and before my
answer to it, leading and very distinguished
member OF the Republican party in this state told
YOU that you had misstated the facts concerning Mr.
'amerons retirement, and especially the important
and principal fact Of the suppressed note from the
President: and he referred to the Chief Justice
who upon being interrogated, gave you the anthem
Tie information that such note had been written,
delivered and suppressed. Thereupon you sol
clnny promised that if you ever had occasion to re-
fer to the subject again, YOU would tell the whole
truth. Besides, Judge Chase, after my review of
You, wrote me a letter from Sandusky, Ohio. in
which he said that he bore the note in question,
and mentioned that he had also written to you.
What he wrote you of course do not know. but
he certainly did not give you one version and me
another. You had, therefore, the written statement
OF the Chief Justice in addition to his verbal assur
nnce. With all these lights before you, and with
all the obligations Of common Veracity, strength
cned by an express promise to tell the TRUTH what
ITO you do in your second article! Why, you sim
ply stick to your first story. Nay, you take great
trouble to smuggle the truth away, and bury it out
of sight; for, instead of producing Judge Chase's
letter to yourself in which the fact, no doubt, is
fairly stated, you give us an extract from another
letter written by him to Cameron, from which you
are permitted to matchmaking whatever on the
subject of that important letter. | forbear TO say
much that ought TO be said about this part Of your
behavior, because the distinguished gentleman be-
fore spoken OF has taken YOU in hand, and will
doubtless Jerk an acknowledgement of the facts out
of YOU in spite of all your shutfling.
VII. A word before we part about the two hum
bred and fifty thousand dollars raised out of the
Treasury for Governor Morton. Taking your ne
count of that business as correct, proved in nv
former letter that it in the highest degree Grim
mai. on left no escape from the conclusion that
the parties were guilty of embeZzement under the
act OF 1916 Your narrative Of the transaction i'm
the flash language of Washington ~ big steal"
on showed that the parties themselves so under
$1,000 Al the tilne Tor you put conversation into
their mouths by which they are made to admit
their liability to prosecution and imprisonment
saw plainly that this could not be true Mr..
1tanion's worst enemies never charged him with
that kind ofdishonesty, and Governor Morton had
a reputation which placed him far above the sus-
plrion of such baseness. Both of them may have
had serious faults, but they would not rob the Treas
ury under any circumstances, or for any purpose
asked three members of the Indiana delegation
whether there was any foundation for vour asser-
'toh; lhey all answered no, and gave me the ex-
PLANTATION which used in my published letter.
our replication to this point is one of the most
astonishing parts OF all your wonderful production.
denied that Messrs. Stanton and Morton had COM
mitted felony, and gave version of the affair
which showed them both to be perfectly innocent
Y on grow ill-tempered and vituperative upon this
ana charge me with unconcealed, not to say osten-
tatloua, mallgnlty." ! confess this is turning the
tables upon me in way could not have expected
In general, the magnity is presumed against the
party who makes an injurious charge, not against
INN who repels it.
There might have been some hope for you vet if
you had recanted your first assertion, admitted
the errors Of your statement, made some effort
TO explain away the effect of it, by showing that
Won did not mean what you said. But you hold
fast to every word of it; not syllable do you re-
tract On the contrary you insist that it is effrOnt-
cry IN Inc oatlirm that debt was due to the State
and that it was paid according to law What you
Say in your last, in addition to your first statement
makes the case look worse than it did before. But
1t is not true The payment was not made on ac-
count of arms furnished to loyal citizens in rebel
nous States, nor was the money given to the Gov
rrnor, to be discussed by him on his own response
ility, agent of the President. That much can
say on the official authority of the present Secretary
of War, who wrote me on the 9th Of last month
that the transaction appears to be based upon the
claims of the State of Indiana for expenses incurred
in raising volunteers"
But Governor Morton is still above ground and