The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-08-02
The DOCUMENTARY PURCHASE. The
recent purchase of Confederate State

4dh DOCUMENTARY HUROHASE.-Tho
recent purchase Of Confederate State
papers by the Administration, with a
view to their use and rabiica as
campaign documents" IL ,he present
canvass. does not promise to turn out
much OF speculation after all. Fears
are entertained that the weapon aimed at
the Democratic and Liberal candidates
may prove like boomerang" in un.
skillful hands, more dangerous to the
thrower than to the party aimed at
Judging Of the value of the whole pur-
chase by. the sample document already
published-i. e., Jacob Thompson's re-.
port OF the operations OF Confederate
agents and emissaries in Canada during
the latter part of the war, the Philadel.
phia Inquirer (Republican) evidently,
thinks it bad lot It says:
I'VE think that, unless there is some
thing more valuable than this report of
Thompson's to be printed, the whole
mass should be got out of the way as
soon as possible. The taxpayers cannot
regard with pleasure the sight OF q
whistle that costs 80 much and yet plays
30 feeble, and, at the same time, 80 vim
diotive tune.''
Nor is the Inquirer alone in this feel
ing, it would seem, from the concluding
portion of the following Washington de-
spatch, published on Saturday:
''Since the recent publication of Jacob
Thompson's letter, the Treasury Depart
ment has been applied to by q number of
parties in the Southland elsewhere, offer
ing TO- furnish to the Government. for
pecuniary confederation, other Confede.
rate manuscript documents, representing
them to be of Importance. No further
purchases, however, will be made"
The market, it appears, was soon glut-
ted. mo further purchases will be
made" The antioipations OF those who
rushed too hastily to the conclusion that
the Administration was about to open q
national junk shop for the purchase of
old war litter are, therefore, doomed to
disappointment. Meanwhile, as was to
be expected, Col. Pickett, the fortunate
person who succeeded in working off the
first lot at the modest figure OF $75, 900,
1t ls said, for what the Inquirer seems to
consider as 80 much waste paper, has
been drawn ont, by the structures which
the transaction has called forth, in let
ter IN his own defence. In this letter,
which appears in Saturdays New York
Herald, and which We print elsewhere,
Col. Pickett Indignantly replies to the
suggestion of one of his ''critios" that
the "archives had been stolen." He
says:
"Stolen from whom? If I have any
knowledge of law, logic or ethics, it
would seem to me that precisely the re-
verse is the case; for 30 far from being
stolen, they have been most scrupulously
delivered to the rightful owner-the
heir-at.law and residuary legatee of the
defunot Confederacy-the United States,
to wit"
Again he says, in concluding his letter
"Finaiiy, am still firmly persuaded
1t was the duty of the Government to
acquire the property, as it was mine to
preserve and restore it."
Adopting Col. Pickett's own view of
the case. and it is one that must have
suggested itself at once to the mind of
most persons when they first learned of
the extraordinary purchase the
documents were the rightfui property of
the United States, as ''the heir. .at-law
and residuary legatee of the defunct
Confederacy," why were they not "re-
stored" long before, and where is the
qualification now for the demand on the
part OF Col. Pickett or his "client," or
for the payment out of the Treasury of
the United States of the sum of $75. 900
as the consideration for this act of resti.
tution3 seYen years is tolerably long
period for any mans conscience to be
engaged in solving the problem whether
to keep or ''restore" that which it is ad-
mitted is and has been all along the pro.
perty OF the United States, and $4,000
is good round sum to pay for the ''ac-
QUESTION" of ones own property. No
wonder the Lnquirer's "tax payers are
not expected to ''regard with pleasure
the expenditure of so much money for
such purpose.
When General Joseph E. Johnston
surrendered in April, 1865, he sent word
to Gen. Schoaeld, at Raleigh, that he
had in his possession at Charlotte, N. @. :.
certain records and archives of the Con.
federacy, which he was ready to deliver
on General Schotield's sending an officer
to receive them. An officer was sent.
and number of boxes were delivered
and transported to Washington. They
were surrendered by General Johnston
just as the arms, munitions and material
OF war and other public property of the
Confederacy in his possession were sur.
rendered. Upon the same principle
claim was afterwards made BY the United