New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-03-05

|
| low and not precede investigation.
I Mr.. President, it is right guaranteed by
the solemn sanctions of our constitution
that the vilest criminal shall be fairly tried
before he is publicly condemned. Ana
shall this Justice be denied to men whose
| lives have borne faithful testimony to their
private and public probity! 1t is due TO
them, it is due to public justice. the bright
| est Jewel in a nations crown; it is due to
ourselves and TO the high office with which
we have been intrusted, that we see TO 1t
! that in the wild rage against official mis-
| conduct we do not take accusations tor
proofs, and thus involve in common dis
grace the honorable and the corrupt.
1t is one OF the evil symptoms OF the times
| that men are as liable 70 be cried down
| when innocent as when guilty. No man s
character will shield him from suspicion.
| Indeed it has sometimes seemed as though
| an endeavor with rigid impartialitv and I'M
swerying integrity to discharge the duties
| of public Office was almost the surest way
| to bring upon ones head a perfect torrent
of vilifcation and abuse. There are evil
men in this country in abundance whose in
terest it is to make il impossible for an honor
able man who regards his character TO hold
| a responsible position under the govern
ment, and the ready way of carrying into
effect their foul conspiracy is to join in a
| general howl, which makes it impossible for
the public to discriminate between the hon
est and the rascally, and so men conclude
that all are corrupt alike. For one, l am
not disposed to join in this mad rage for ac-
cusatiOn. know how easy it is for men to
err in matters of Judgment, and AN not dis
posed to say that whoever differs from me
must not only be wrong, bur also dishonest.
Thus it is charged that General Dyer an
officer OF rare merit and a gentleman of high
character, has gone beyond the limit of his
authority in selling arms that, being fit for
service, ought not to have been sold. The
duty of discriminating as to what arms
came within the rule OF the statute de-
volved upon him. and necessarily included
| the exercise of discretion. He was author
lied to sell arms that were damaged or
otherwise unsuitable for the United States
| military service Statutes will not execute
| themselves; they require human instru-
mentalites to carry them into effect; and it
was for the Secretary of War, or in practice
the officers of ordnance. to determine what
arms were for any reason unsuitable for our
military service. They are liable to err
and we are just as liable to be mistaken in
the Judgment We may pass upon their
action.
| very respectfully submit to the honor
able Senator from Missouri that it is unfair
to pass Judgment upon letter from high
officer of the army when we are to base our
opinions upon retranslation from foreign
language of a letter written originally in
English. 1t may we'll be that in this double
translation the sense may have been al
! tered, as certainly the language could
scarcely be expected to be literally re-
stored But accepting it as he reads it,
what does the language of General Overs
letter to the Secretary of War mean I! Bear
in mind that the context implies that he was
writing to inform the Secretary whether the
arms are worthless or tit for use, and his
statement is that the arms were good Tor
service" "tit to be issued to our troops"
Does it therefore follow that the Secretary
be sold under the statute directing him to
sell arms which are damaged or otherwise
unsuitable for the United States military
service! Note this language. the Secretary
of War is directed to SELL about this there
is no discretion. He must SELL and sell
what2 First, damaged arms; and secondly.
arms which though not damaged. were un.
suited for the military service of the United
States. How was this unsuitableness to be
determined! Necessarily by the 4isc,e-
tOnary judgment of his officers of ordnance.
Some standard Of excellence must first be
established as that proper for our military
service. and then il was for the officer in
charge to determine what arms came up to
and what fell short of this standard. The
of the statute.
The United States then owned vast GUAM
titles of arms. which. though fit for Use-
for they had been used through our war of
the rebellion-still, might be unsuitable for
present purposes. They might be tit for
use under a pressing emergency. such as
had once come upon us. and was then crush
ing France to the earth, but nevertheless.
they might be. within the meaning OF the
statute. unsuitable for the military service
of the United States.
With arsenals now filed with superior
arms and with workshops engaged in turn
ing out new ones in quantity, meeting all
the requirements of present and prospective
wants. is it to be charged against these OH
GERS that they fixed hi Oh standard of eX-
cellence, and retained only weapons that
we would be willing to take into our hands
should the dread exigepcies of war again
fall upon our country
Mr.. President, it would scarcely comport
with the dignity of the United States Sen
ate to send out committee OF men-less
qualified, possibly, to judge of the matter
than General Dyer-to examine into this
subject. and come back here to tell us that
General Dyer. included in his sales some
arms which were suitable for our military
service. The question would naturally
arise in ones mind well, what of it, g The
gravamen of this charge must he that there
was guilty violation of an imposed duty
not merely an error Of Judgment honestly
exercised. Ifthere be suspicion in the mind
OF any that such guilty intent existed, by
all means let the investigation be thorough,
nut let us not PREJUDICE the question. 1t
will be due time to form our opinions when
we know the facts and what Is the eXp.au,.
ton.
At present all discussion is premature.
and | have been led into it only because of
the prominence given to Il is uoint by the
honorable Senator from Missouri, and it Is,
| believe. the only one he makes under his
second inquiry, whether in these proceed
ings our own laws have been violated! I
reply to him that he has presented no salts
factory evidence that they have. but that
if lie wants the question investigated he
shall have my support. And when the
testimony is adduced he may expect fair
hearing before the Senate il he has any
thing to propose, though | venture the pre-
diction that the matter will never be heard
of again after the committee has reported
Entertaining these views, Mr.. President
upon the question of our international Cbli-
cations, have come to the conclusion. after
more mature delberariOn. not TO vote for
the resolution embOdyiag the amendment
of the honorable Senator rom New York,
and l have consequently not embraced his
amendment in the substitute that | have
offered. But recur again to what ( con
slider the legitimate and expedient sphere of
investigation of the sale OF arms by the
Senate. Under the statute, arms are per-
mitted to be sold under certain circumstan-
ees. We know that arms have been sold
Wherein does it concern us to inquire. for
our own satisfaction, to whom those arms
were sold That question should be an-
swered when 1t IS propounded by others
who may az some future time claim to have