Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-07-26
GRANT AND CATACAZY.
Several Leaves from the Pamphlet Re.
Gently Published BY the Ex-Rus-
sian Minister.
The Most Shameful Of all the Grant In.
famies-A Timely Exposure.

There are some depths of infamy {,
which we had thought that even tn,
Grant administration could not have
sunk. We never suspected Mr.. Fish
the Secretary of State, Of being a mar
Of brain, but we believed him to be :
gentleman, and, as such, a lover o.
truth, of honesty, and of manhood. OF
General Grant we expected nothing but
avarice, nepOtism, SenSuality, and ayul.
gar self-seeking, which disgusts every
honorable man. From Fish, however.
we hoped for better things. In this we
have been disappointed. General @. NJ.
Clay, a few days ago, exposed in part
the secret OF the Catacazy scandal. and
We gave u readers the substance of
that exposure. We did not. however.
suppose that it was by half as bad as Mr..
CatacaZy proves that it was, and that il
reflected by half 50 much diseredit upon
the Washington administration.
Nh. Catacazy proves every one of his
assertions, and the documents which he
attaches to the exposure fixes the truth
Of his statements beyond any contradic-
ton. From this statement it d
that General Grant and his Secretary.
M. Fish, together with Grants father
in-law Dent, sought TO have MI. Cata-
cay removed, and to imperil our rela-
tons with Russia because Mr.. Catacazy
would not aid them in preparation of a
fraud.
Of this fraud Mr.. Catacazy gives the
following account. He says:
A merchant captain by the name of
Benjamin Perkins associated himself in
1855 with a Polish Jew by the name of
R~akielvitch, a dismissed agent of the
secret police of New York, as well as
with a Mr. Kidder, a doctor of medicine
and q merchant in gas-piping, In order
to eXtort money from my predecessor in
the United States, Mr.. Stocked, in pro-
posing to him to furnish powder and
arms for the Imperial Government.
Mr.. StoecH declined these offers,
while as to the powder and the arms, he
sent Mr.. Perkins to u military agent
n the United States, Captain Liiien-
feldt.
This latter gentleman accepted eondi-
uonaly the proposition of a contract for
talrty-hye thousand carbines-that is to
say, be accepted il while. reserving ex-
pressly the right to annul this prelimi-
nary engagement. Being assured of the
insolvency of Mr.. Perkins, and of his
fnabilitys.tO fulfill the projected engage
AA~LNf S-RN1~AA AAsAG4AcAdN aNdlleI nlnl-
self Of this privilege of canceling the
contract by declaring in writing to Nh.
Perkins that their preliminary conversa-
void.
Not one grain Of powder, not N car
bine, was ever delivered to the ImperfaI
government, and in spite Of a judgment
without appeal of the Supreme Cont of
New York, a Judgment to which Mr.
Perkins adhered while receiving. under
the name of anamicabIe comprOmise. a
SUM Of two hundred dollars, his heirs
formulated his rights after his death
into a claim amounting to eight hum
dred thousand dollars.
The widow Perkins ceded these pre-
tended rights in consideration of a small
compensation, TO an advocate named i
b. Stewart. In q to insure the sue
cess of this enterprise, Mr. J.. B. Stewart
it ia shares, which he djsposed of
at a low rate in such a manner as to
create powerful protectors interested in
realizing the nominal amount of their
value. ~
From 1866 to 1869 the Federal Govern
ment made, on three different occasions,
advances, more OF less earnest, in order
10 support this pretended claim. The
imperial Government responded to it
With all the respect due to the demands
d a friendly government, by refusals
grounded on the absence of proofs and
IF all justice.
soon alter the cee:sion of General
5rant 70 the supreme magistracY of the
Union, he Federal Secretary OF State
proposed TO the Imperial Cabinet TO sub
MT the question 70 arbitration.
The Emperor, my august master,
ieigDed 70 name me at this time his
representative to the United States.
Betore furnishing me with nay instIac-
ions, His Majesty ordered al investiga-
ION TO he Instituted, in order to
thoroughly sound the Perkins affair.
OIthis Investigation / was named re-
'orter, The Chancellor of the Empire