Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1872-03-01


Nj Sumner, resolution has been before the
eouatr- nov Icy two weeks. I; MSS mad pro
lonra5 discussion IN tie Senate, Snj n the
ps9ers.-ui the following facts have been develop
CT a. he close Of the Wal, our government found
i,fa.f 10 possession If large quantities Of arms,
ordnance sui oriusnce st0res, for which 10 hadno
use All which were constantly leterioratng. The
Secre,s-y Of Var, under the authority o. an
act Of Congress, commenced a. esriy Ss 1850,
long before The fr81co-I russian war, TO sell thif
unnecessary p111eris . much 1f which hid been
rendered less valuable oy Lew inventions q aruis.
When tbe Gaudst.s French Government bad al
i:s spare arms licked up dy the Ger mans IN
Metz, DO was compelled 10 tu7 where j. could. 20
rurriy losfes ou the field, and to srr its new
ls7ies. 2. purchased largely il England Austria,
Holland. Belgium. Switzerland, ard tn United
States. Other supplss--s0ons for Il French
army aud equipments u Ftr-EngiAnc exported
w;,hou. limit Mr. Remington, one Of our larg-
est manufacturers Of aad dealers II guns bought
largely OF thiz time, of our rovernme lt,tl ne vas
discovered to be S. agent q. the F. ench govern
1nent. when his bids were rejected. Messrs. her
mann Boxer Is Co..smong tle larg, st German iul-
portert IN New ok. zlsc bought hfrT thousand
stand Tor the Prussau govern nent. Quite
uuuocr Of other parties pureh sed freely, and
tue competition raised the price Of guns from i've
dollars 10 twelve All thess gu ls, three hundred
and ff-y THOUSAND IN number, Shether bought by
Americans OF Germans. were oventuslly secured
by Nj. Remington and sold by him to the French
government With these gnns there were sold
sblu. thirty three million raIt-idges, including
some new cartridge, Which were made for
twenty-five or thirty tiouss nd guns ether
wise unstable, Some ffty batteries we're
also so.i. Of oour1e, Al wss perfectly under
stood thar these puleh-ses, although msie
boy private individuals sad mercantile firms,
we-e iatendel. ultimately, for foreign govern
nenu Private iniividuals do 10; buy muIksts
by the thousand, for the Owl Us. For what
government they we're INTENDED, 3wever, came
II 10 oficisl or author -zti.e way TO the gov
eminent The Remirgtons commenced their
purchstes five yeGrs before the Franco-Prussian
vtr, and they had been supplying foreign gov
ernmcnts al over the We. I'D. When, finally, in
formation that Reminr ton was purchasing for
the French governments reached the Secretary Of
War, hall an hour before some bids. in snEwer
TO his proposals, We re TO be op.red, he immeii-
ately direetei the opening 70 be postponed, snd
having satisfied himself jha- there was ground
&c believe th1t the bid CT Remington 8 sons
vss in the int rest Of the French government,
he refused TO receive IT, This is the grave viol.-
ton OF our neutrality laws on which this a.
raignment = IS been made, and on the strength
Of which d whole Germaa vote Of the country
has been promised 70 the coalition Of sublime
Democrats and dissatisfied Republicans
But this is not al The sane s2gsciry that
discovered this violation Of the neutrality lsws
has also discovered that the amount reported by
the Seer etary Of War, - having been paid into |
the Treasury. is greater taEn the amount re
ported by the Secretary Of the Treasury, " hsy-
ing been received But the two accounts are /
f0r different periods Of time The Secretary Of I
War has sent 70 the House Of Representatives a 4
report Of a.. the sales Of a-as since 1850, tive I
names OF the purchasers, and the amount paid, .
every dollar Of which. except sum retained, (
according TO law. for putting IN orde- other (
arms thst remain TO be sold, Lac been paid into
the Treasury, as appears by the books of both
department..
- II, 49,
government which, ike the Prussian govern
ment, purchased during the war arms and mu-
niuous where il could yet them, was cheated by
some Of its sgeats With this, whether 50 or
not, cur government has nothing vhatev.r
to do
such are the facts As to the principles in
volved, the right ofs government to sell its fur
plus arms and munitions cannot be disputed It
viii hardly be eonteaded tl.t, because two
nations with vhish we were st peace, went to
var with each other, we w,;r, prohibited from
going on with the sale Of military properly, for
which We had 10 use. II We were forced to wait
tor the millsnnial period, when there should be
10 wa, before We soli our wsrlike stores, we
should not and very active market for them
and if We could not sell, when Frsuoe and
Prussia were 81 wsr, we.conlo rot sell when any
other two nations were st Wal. After the guns
had passed into private hands. our government
was under no obligation to prevent tn cir being
exported to France for the treIty with Prussia
contained a clause, inserted Al the in rance Of
that power, expressly granting the right Of ex-
port Of contrxband articles by either puver, in
case the other were al war. Al the adm inistrs-
ton was bound to do Was to warn our citizens
that they engaged in the trade at their own
risk and TINS i. did. Prussia could not and