Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1872-02-29
The French Arms. as.

fallible. We the think ne could coun
up few mistakes which our presen
Administration has made; though, OF
the WHOLE, we believe it has actet
with great wisdom. We were, there
fore not inclined to look with prejudici
on the charges nude in Mr.. Sumner's
famous preamble that our Government
had failed of its duty in the matter O
the sale of its military stores.
/ The facts arc these: The Frencf
| Government had all its spare arlns-
three hundred thousand stand-lOckeC
up by the Germans in Metz. They
were compelled TO buy where .they
could. They purchased largely in Eng.
land, Austria, Ho. land, Belgium
Switzerland, and the United States.
Other supplies -rations for the army
and equipments of war-England eX.
ported without limit. '' -
Just then the American Government
happened to have guns for sale. Ever
since the war it had been selling eff all
its old military stores as rapidly as pos
sibfe. Mr.. Remington, one of our
largest manufacturers of and dealers in
guns, bought largely. He was after,
ward discovered to be an agent OF the
French Government, and his bids were
rejected. Messrs. Hermann, Boxer &
Co., among the largest German iinpor-
ters in the city, bought fifty thousand
stand, it was suspected at the time, and
we have no doubt correctly so, for the
Prussian Government. Quite a num-
Der of other parties purchased freely,
and the competition raised the price
! from five dollars to twelve. All these
erl1nc thrao hun6rad op6 fiffxy in NM,
ber, whether bought by Americans or
Germans, were secured by Mr.. Reming-
ton and sold by him to the French
Government. With these guns there
were sold about three million cartridg-
.es, including some new cartridges which
We're made for twenty-five or thirty
thousand guns, otherwise unstable.
Some fifty batteries were Galso sold.
The business was dQAe In a way per-
fectly satisfactory to the French Gov.
eminent, and with but the reasonable
profit to Mr. Remington Of his commits
sion, which was at first five per centum,
batiwas reduced by him to two, and a
half when he discovered the. increase
in the orders sent to hun, The, alleged.
discrepancy between the amounts paid
by the French Government and that
received by the American is complete
ly explained by the difference in the
date included in the two summaries );
and careful examination Of the origi-
nal invoices made out by our own Gov
ernment officials and of the invoices of
the parties who transferred them to
Mr.. Remington convinees US that there
was no j0bbery in the matter.
These are the facts. Now for the
principles involved. And we treat on Y
of lower principles, for millennium prin-
ciples would beat bayonets into pitch
forks and melt bullets into waterpipe,
But, assuming military weapons TO be
Legitimate objects OF traffic at all, while
our Government could not transfer its
arms directly to another government or
to its known agent, it had a perfect
right to sell its guns to private parties,
and was not Obliged to ask them any
questions what they would do with
them. We had ne business to ask
whether the German purchaser wanted
them to sell to Bismarck, or the "IliOn
lawyer" to Gambetta. Indeed, the
Government had no occasion to know
anything whatever about the bidders
unless information were Voluntea red
by somebody, like that which threw
out Mr.. Remington's hids;l and, we
presume, did know nothing about their
profession or reSidence-nOthing more
than that they paid down the twenty
per cent. cash which G9vernmeft re-
quires to hold the purchases. And, in
deed, after the gans had passed into
private hands, We were under no obli-
cation to prevent their being exported
to France; for the treaty with Prussia
contained a clause, inserted at the in
stance of that power, expressly grant
ing the right of export of contrahand
articles by either power, IN case the
other were at war. All we were bound
to do was to warn our citizens that they
engaged in the trade at their own risk;
and this we did. Prussia could not and
did not complain OF US for allowing the
trade, though she did bitterly of Eng.
land for the same Otfense.
We turn now 10 the investigation
asked for by Sumner and SehurZ. OF
course, if they want it, they will have
it, 1t Will not do at this day to seem
to shrink from looking into any charge
of malfeasance But it is utterly pre-.
pOsterous to expect men who believe,
as we do, that our government was per-
ACCIiJ J0StlACAt fl1 OO0A1C, " fO1C AOA
long preamble which assumes the
factsin dispute. Strip that off, and the
investigation must be allowed,
But we are reluctantly forced TO say
more. We have more often agreed than
differed with Charles Sumner; and We
admire the talents and the S atesman-
ship of Carl Sehurz. But this action of
theirs displays neither craftsmanship
nor patriotism. 'a Bc. e-
| Allow, for the moment, that we had
violated treaty rights or international
law in thus putting eleven million
dollars into cur treasury. 1t escaped
Germany's notice at the tin,ei she has
not noticed it yet. Is it just the right
! thing to do to volunteer the information
to bismarck that the United States has
committed an International crime, and
to suggest to him that he present
immediate claims for direct and con.
sequential damages? Such c0nduci
during our war would have been ex.
pected of Bright or Vallandigham, and
] would have suggested to Seward his
''little help aid hort Lafayette. We
believe in the shdrpest criticism of al
4 administration on internal affairs; but
to volunteer, as the attorney of fforeigr
nations, to discover faults which it
too late to correct, and which nigh
Justify those nations in declaring wa
against Us, would be an extravaganza
of honor and impartiality such as JohI
Quincy Adams never imagined whel
he exclaimed,
,'And say not. then. my country right o
wrong:
! But when the country wanders from tn
: right, tt-
, Furl up the banners and avert thy sight"
: though, indeed, we think to 'avert tn
sight would have been the part {
r patriotism now, had the charges of MI
J Summer been well founded.
But this Is not a matter of patriotism