Savannah morning news., 1885-11-06

Hamilton. JUSTICE.
PARoCmAL REsIDEECE,(
y ATTORNEY STREET.
ST. MARY's CHURCH,
Con. GRAND AND RIDGE STREETS
NEW YORK, oct. 20, 1885. }
MY DEAR SIR-Your favor of Oct. 26 is just
received. In it You state substantially that,
having become a candidate for the office Of
County Treasurer, your Interests in this re-
gard, as well as your reputation, is put IN
peril by false charges against you in the mat
ter OF the Savannah cotton claims, it being
charged that you were an informer to the
government against the owners of cotton,
among the number of owners being the Sisters
OF Mercy Of Savannah, and IN consideration
of the fact that / was one of the
ROGUE and MacFarland, the regular
counsel of Duncan, Sherman 81 Co., the rep
resentatiyCs Of the claimants i'll the cotton
cases-and, perhaps, the attorney most inti-
mateiy connected with getting and taking
the evidence in most of the cases-and thus
having special knowledge Of your connection
herewith, you ask me to write the exact
truth herein and thus clear you from this
great injustice to your interests, name and
reputation. In reply, permit me to say that
since / saw you IN Savannah have left the
law FOR the ministry; and, while on the one
hand a as Catholic priest | never
in the contests Of office or politics, and do not
seek TO do so now, yet on the other hand,
am sure nothing is more deserved than the
prompt refutatiOn of these false charges
against you, and nothing will afford me great
tr pleasure than TO assist IN doing you this
act of simple yet necessary Justice. Indeed,
were | to refuse your just request herein, this
would be the greatest injustice of all. AS
well as now recOlect them, the facts are as
follows: The cotton in question was seized in
December, 1864, and turned over to the gov
ernment. 1t was shipped North and sold and
the proceeds of sale were paid into the United
StAf4E ITpQEnFE pnnln hn
brought against the government, but sub
sequently law was passed permit
ting this owners to sue the govern
ment in the United States Court OF Claims at
Washington, and recover the proceeds of sale
less expenses, etc, on clear, specific and legal
proof Of certain facts, one of which was that
of identity or ownership. The proof demand
ed and insisted on by the government under
this head was most rigid and exacting, more
than this it was extremely difficult if not ut
terly impractlcable for the real owners to fur
nish it, owing to the circumstances growing
out of q state of war and capture, and entire
ly beyond their control. The bales of cotton
soon after seizure, as | always under
stood It, were all mixed together, most
prOmiscuously, and many of the letters
marks, numbers, etc, which had originally
been placed upon them by their owners a.
means Of Identification. were greatly OBJ it.
Grated and destroyed. This was done partly
by some of the seizers on purpose to destroy
The identity. partly IN handling, Shipment
and transportation, and partly in rehaudling
and in rebaling at the North, so that it was
almost impossible for the owners or claimants
themselves to prove the specific marks OF
Identity required by the government as a
condition precedent in paying the claims-the
government taking the position that it would
not pay any claimant who could not dis
tnctly prove that it was his particular cot
ton which I I'd been sold, and the proceeds
thereof paid into the Treasury. True, the
government itself had an exact record taken
at or about the time of the seizure of every
bale seized, the marks, numbers, etc. on it,
but not less true is it that the government
kept this for its own secret and exclusive use
and benefit; aud what is worse in this regard,
there was no law compelling the government
to furnish this clear, 1ndlsputable record evil
dence in court, and against itself On the
contrary, the only law on the subject eX-
pressly permitted the government TO use its
own discretion whether it would admit this
record in court or not; and in the exercise OF
its discretion 1t exercised it for the
benefit of the government in almost
every case. This was arbitrary, no doubt,
and different from the ordinary rules of evil
dencc, which could compel the production of
probably all existing record evidence But
suing the United States, or the sovereign pow
er, was very different from suing an lndi-
vIdual. In the latter case the rights are
equal. IN the former they were unequal.
with extraordinary privileges on the side OF
the government and against the claimant.
case could not be recovered without evil
dence, and If the government ever produced
this particular documentary evidence in court
10 could use the evidence when it was favor
able to iis side, aud could reject it when
it was unfavOrable, and this is what
itsdid. 1t was not q right at ALL but q
great privilege to be permitted TO sue the
government, and, in so doing. the suitor had
10 submit to all the conditions, no matter how
hard, harsh or arbitrary they were, or how
different they were from the ordinary rules of
evidence universally employed in all other
courts and in all other cases. Under the cir
cnmstances there was one way and only one
way out of this grave difficulty. 1t was that
you, ana you alone. had privately and as your
own property an exact duplicate OF the whole
government record made, | believe, at the
same time as the original, and of equal yalue
with the government one. and which the gov
ernment had TO admit and did admit
as o0tdeHce, whereby all that was
recovered in the cotton claims and suits in
question, was recovered only through VOur
prudence, foresight, judgment and assistance.
llld TINS look Ike informing and helping the
goyernmcnt2 Evidently then, my dear sir
not only are the charges referred 10 manifestly
untrue and UnJOUnded, but the very reverse Of
mem is me truth and, IN my opinion, except
Tor your extraordinary forest ght and labor
skill aud care, not dollar would ever have
been recovered from the government bV the
claimants in these cases. Besides this it gives
me pleasure TO add, as truth aud gratitude
compel me 70 do, that will never forget the
very great and very special assistance which
you and also your lamented brother John
r. Hamilton gave me while collecting infor-
tIAIluAnNA
these cases. held many and repeated con
situations with you IN your Office and else
where by day and by night, in behalf 0f these
claimants. and on all Of these occasions Won
freely, cheeriully ana courteously gave inc
much valuable time, help and Information for
them, and rendered, IN fact, every assistance
IN Your power, and with as much zeal and IN
teEest as II u were for your own self: where
as, In point OF fact. you asked and
expected nothing for it and re-
celved no return whatever. During
an this time ] know OF nothing which Won
did either directly or indirectly against the
claimants or their interests, ana even To this
day they DO not fully know all the kind and
valuable assistance which yOu rendered me in
their behalf. II my word herein be OF any
service 90 you, you are at liberty to make
such use OF TINS letter rs you may deem prOp-
or. with many and heartfelt thanks for an
your kindness, courtesy and help in the cot
ton cases, and wishing you all The success pos
slDlo, believe me, my dear sir. 20 be- with
highest respect and esteem. very gratefully
yours, WM, a. DuApHY.
To MarzHaduke H1jdHtoH, Esq. .SdrIaAdh, "a.
Goodness, Gracious Me,
Mrs. Partington exclaimed, what a fast
age we are living in. Mashlnary makes.
everything so cheap tnat we will soon get
nf hHa NwW tsaNh IA