Part 17

At the date of the contract, 30th March, 1863, the price of Banca in the market was fifty-seven to fifty-eight cents a pound. Revely was less. The price stipulated in the contract was fifty-seven cents. But it is plain that the respondents could not undertake to supply an article at less than its market price. This would be absurd. Of course, as merchants, they expected a profit. Therefore, in their bid, they would naturally take into consideration the various elements which would enter into the final price. These would be, first, the original price; secondly, the commission; thirdly, the condition of the currency, which at that time had begun to depreciate; fourthly, the variation of the market for a month; fifthly, store expenses and interest; sixthly, postponement of payment; and, seventhly, risks of a contractor in placing himself within the unhesitating grasp of military power. So far as these can be estimated, they are as follows:--

Original price .52 Store expenses and interest at 5 per cent .0260 ----- .5460 Commission at 5 per cent .0273 ----- .5733

But the price was fifty-seven cents.

Now can any person, not to say any merchant, assert that fifty-seven cents a pound was a high price for the tin called Revely? Would anybody but a fool offer to supply the tin which in this prosecution is called Banca at fifty-seven cents a pound, when its original price was more than this, and the contractor must lose store expenses and interest, with the risks of currency, market, postponement of payment, and military tribunals, without the possibility of a mill for commissions? Clearly not. It is evident, therefore, that, in offering to supply Banca tin at fifty-seven cents a pound, they must have intended that species of Banca tin known as Revely, which, according to the usage of the Navy Yard and of merchants, had been recognized as Banca tin.

On this point we have the testimony of Mr. Richards, a witness for the Government, whose cross-examination thus confirms the foregoing conclusion.

“_Cross-Question 37._ What would it be worth to give a party the refusal for, say, five thousand pounds of tin for twenty or thirty days?--_Ans. At least fifteen per cent._”

“_Cross-Question 44._ During the year 1863, how much, in addition to the cash market price, would you have considered should be added for a refusal of thirty days?--_Ans. From, ten to fifteen per cent._

“_Cross-Question 45._ Tin being sold to us at fifty and three-fourths cents net cash in the market, would fifty-seven cents be an improper sum for us to charge the Government on a time refusal?--_Ans. I should think not._

“_Cross-Question 46._ If you were to be subject to a delay of vouchers for merchandise delivered for thirty days, if there should be a reservation of twenty per cent until the contract was closed, and if then you were liable to be compelled to receive certificates of indebtedness that would not sell in the market at par, what, in addition to the cash market price, would you consider should be added?--_Ans. From five to ten per cent, I should think._”

“_Cross-Question 50._ Upon a Government contract, to run three months or one year, with a reservation of twenty per cent, a bid being made which amounts to a refusal for twenty or thirty days, and subject to terms of Government payment, what would you consider a fair addition to the cash market price on a sale to the Government?--_Ans. At least ten per cent._”

“_Cross-Question 52._ Among Boston merchants what is the character of the house of Smith Brothers & Co. for integrity and fair dealing?--_Ans. A No. 1._”

Such is the testimony of a Government witness. In the face of this testimony, concurring with the reason of the case, it is hard to tolerate the allegation against these respondents founded on price. Indeed, it is hard to tolerate the allegation on any ground.

Under these seven heads, this whole case, so far as concerns the contract for tin, may be considered. It appears that the loss to the United States, from the delivery of Revely instead of what is called Banca, was not more than one hundred dollars in a mass of transactions amounting to more than one million two hundred thousand dollars; that, according to extensive and long-continued usage, Revely is included under Banca; that, according to usage at the Navy Yard, it was treated as Banca; that the whole transaction and the delivery were open and without any concealment; that Revely was actually accepted by the officers of the Government in performance of the contract; that the respondents never expected to supply other than Revely; and, lastly, that the price paid shows that Revely was intended. This is enough. I forbear to go into the evidence of founders and plumbers, derived from experience, of assayers and chemists, derived from analysis of the two tins, and also of business men, as to their comparative value,--for all this is superfluous. To charge fraud against the respondents under such circumstances is cruel, irrational, preposterous. Their conduct cannot be tortured or twisted into fraud. As well undertake to spin sunbeams into cables, or extract oil from Massachusetts granite.

It is difficult to imagine the origin of these unfortunate proceedings, which, beginning in unheard-of harshness, threaten to end in unexampled injustice, unless arrested by the President. But there are certain facts which may shed light upon some of the hidden springs. Nobody supposes that the able and candid Head of the Navy Department became acquainted with this prosecution until after it had been already conceived, shaped, and set in motion. Others in the Department used its great powers, if not for purposes of oppression, at least recklessly and unaccountably.

It appears that Franklin W. Smith, one of the respondents, published a pamphlet, in which he exposed abuses in the contract system of the Navy Department; and it is understood that sundry officials felt aggrieved by these disclosures. The spirit of these officials appears sufficiently in the following extract from a letter of a Government witness, holding an important position in the Navy Department, addressed to another witness, himself also an official.

“I have been summoned before the Select Committee of the Senate for investigating frauds in Naval Supplies; and _if the wool don’t fly, it won’t be my fault_. Norton, the Navy Agent, has complained that I have interfered with his business: he and his friend Smith are _dead cocks in the pit. We have got a sure thing on them in the tin business._ They that dance must pay the fiddler.”

The writer of this letter, after appearing before the Senate Committee at a later day, came on from Washington to appear before the court-martial at Charlestown as a witness against the respondents, where he underwent a cross-examination on which I forbear to comment. If the prosecution did not originate in the spirit which fills his letter, it is evident that this spirit entered into it. “If the wool don’t fly, it won’t be my fault”; “Dead cocks in the pit”; “A sure thing on them in the tin business”: such are the countersigns adopted by the agent of this dark proceeding, showing clearly two things: first, the foregone conclusion, that these respondents were to be sacrificed; and, secondly, that the case turned on “the tin business.”

It is hard that citizens enjoying a good name, who had the misfortune to come into business relations with the Government, should be exposed to such a spirit; that they should be dragged from their homes, and hurried to a military prison; that, though civilians, they should be treated as military offenders; that they should be compelled to undergo a protracted trial by court-martial, damaging their good name, destroying their peace, breaking up their business, and subjecting them to untold expense,--when, at the slightest touch, the whole case vanishes into thin air, leaving behind nothing but the incomprehensible spirit in which it had its origin.

Of course, the findings and sentence of the Court ought, without delay, to be set aside. But this is only the beginning of justice. Some positive reparation should be made to citizens who have been so deeply injured.

CHARLES SUMNER.

WASHINGTON, March 17, 1865.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

The President promptly overruled the judgment and sentence. The result was received with manifestations of joy. The defendants, whose cruel prosecution had been protracted for six months, had an ovation in the congratulations of their friends and fellow-citizens. Strangers at a distance, feeling that public liberty had suffered through them, sent their sympathy. The press gave expression to the prevailing sentiment. Nor was Mr. Sumner forgotten. The defendants made haste by telegraph to say: “Accept the lasting gratitude of Smith Brothers, their families, and their many friends.” Others wrote in the same spirit,--as, for instance, J. C. Hoadley, of New Bedford, who, though not knowing the sufferers, said: “I thank you, in the name of all fair dealing, for your opinion upon the case of Franklin W. Smith”; and John Clark, who, having been connected with the press in Boston, had passed into the public service, wrote from Norfolk:--

“Will you permit me to thank you for your able exposition of the case of the Smith Brothers? I do not know those parties; but I am interested in public liberty, and I have seen no abler defender of it, since the beginning of the war, than you have shown yourself to be on this occasion. I thank you, Sir.”

From these expressions it appears that the effort of Mr. Sumner was regarded as not only a defence of the individual citizen, but a contribution to good government. The testimony of Mr. Clark was of the more value, as he had not been accustomed to sympathize with Mr. Sumner in his public course.

* * * * *

Independent of its character, this case has an incidental interest. It was one of the last, if not the last, having a personal relation, that ever occupied the mind of President Lincoln. His indorsement, overruling the judgment and sentence, bears date March 18th. This was Saturday. Meanwhile the Rebellion was about to fall, and the President left Washington, by boat, Thursday, March 23d, for City Point, the headquarters of the Army of Virginia, where he remained till after the surrender of Richmond, returning to Washington Sunday evening, April 9th, and being assassinated Friday evening, April 14th.

* * * * *

Some circumstances associated with this case help exhibit the character of the President. They will be stated briefly. As soon as Mr. Sumner had prepared his Opinion, he hurried to the President. It was late in the afternoon, and the latter was about entering his carriage for a drive, when Mr. Sumner arrived with the papers in his hand. He at once mentioned the result he had reached, and added that it was a case for instant action. The President proposed that he should return the next day, when he would consider it with him. Mr. Sumner rejoined, that, in his opinion, the President ought not to sleep on the case,--that he should interfere promptly for the relief of innocent fellow-citizens,--and urged, that, if Abraham Lincoln had suffered unjust imprisonment as a criminal, with degradation before his neighbors, an immense bill of expense, a trial by court-martial, and an unjust condemnation, he would cry out against any postponement of justice for a single day. The President, apparently impressed by Mr. Sumner’s earnestness and his personal appeal, appointed eleven o’clock that evening, when he would go over the case, and hear Mr. Sumner’s Opinion.

Accordingly, at eleven o’clock that evening, in the midst of a thunder-storm, filling the streets with water, and threatening chimneys, Mr. Sumner made his way to the Presidential mansion. At the very hour named he was received, and at the request of the President proceeded to read his Opinion. The latter listened attentively, with occasional comments, and at the close showed his sympathy with the respondents. It was now twenty minutes after midnight, when the President said that he would write his conclusion at once, and that Mr. Sumner must come and hear it the next morning,--“when I open shop,” said he. “And when do you open shop?” Mr. Sumner inquired. “At nine o’clock,” was the reply. At that hour Mr. Sumner was in the office he had left after midnight, when the President came running in, and read at once the indorsement in his own handwriting, as follows:--

“I am unwilling for the sentence to stand and be executed, to any extent, in this case. In the absence of a more adequate motive than the evidence discloses, I am wholly unable to believe in the existence of criminal or fraudulent intent on the part of one of such well-established good character as is the accused. If the evidence went as far toward establishing a guilty profit of one or two hundred thousand dollars, as it does of one or two hundred dollars, the case would, on the question of guilt, bear a far different aspect. That on this contract, involving from one million to twelve hundred thousand dollars, the contractors should attempt a fraud which at the most could profit them only one or two hundred, or even one thousand dollars, is to my mind beyond the power of rational belief. That they did not, in such a case, strike for greater gains proves that they did not, with guilty or fraudulent intent, strike at all. The judgment and sentence are disapproved and declared null, and the accused ordered to be discharged.

“A. LINCOLN.

“March 18, 1865.”

Then followed an incident as original as anything in the life of Henry the Fourth, of France, or of a Lacedæmonian king. As Mr. Sumner was making an abstract of the indorsement for communication by telegraph to the anxious parties, the President broke into quotation from Petroleum V. Nasby, and, seeing that his visitor was less at home than himself in this patriotic literature, he said, “I must initiate you,” and then repeated with enthusiasm the message he had sent to the author: “For the genius to write these things I would gladly give up my office.” Then rising and turning to a standing-desk behind, he opened it and took out a pamphlet collection of the letters already published, which he proceeded to read aloud, evidently enjoying it much. For the time he seemed to forget the case he had just decided, and Presidential duties. This continued more than twenty minutes, when Mr. Sumner, thinking there must be many at the door waiting to see the President on graver matters, took advantage of a pause, and, thanking him for the lesson of the morning, left. Some thirty persons, including Senators and Representatives, were in the anteroom as he passed out.[185]

Though with the President much during the intervening days before his death, this was the last business Mr. Sumner transacted with him.

RESPECT FOR THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

RESOLUTION ADOPTED AT A MEETING OF SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES, APRIL 17, 1865.

President Lincoln breathed his last on the morning of Saturday, April 15th. Congress not being in session, there was a meeting of Senators and Representatives then in Washington, April 17th, at noon, when Hon. Lafayette S. Foster, President _pro tempore_ of the Senate, was called to the Chair, and Hon. Schuyler Colfax was chosen Secretary. Senator Foot, of Vermont, stated the object of the meeting. On motion of Mr. Sumner, a Committee of five from each House was ordered to report at four o’clock, P. M., on the action proper for the meeting. The Chair appointed Mr. Sumner, Mr. Harris, of New York, Mr. Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, Mr. Ramsey, of Minnesota, and Mr. Conness, of California, on the part of the Senate, also Mr. Washburne, of Illinois, Mr. Smith, of Kentucky, Mr. Schenck, of Ohio, Mr. Pike, of Maine, and Mr. Coffroth, of Pennsylvania, on the part of the House of Representatives. On motion of Mr. Schenck, the Chairman and Secretary of the meeting were added to the Committee.

The Committee reported a list of pall-bearers for the funeral, and also a Congressional Committee of one from each State to accompany the remains of the late President to Illinois, which were adopted by the meeting.

They also reported the following resolution, drawn by Mr. Sumner, which was unanimously agreed to.

The members of the Senate and House of Representatives now assembled in Washington, humbly confessing their dependence upon Almighty God, who rules all that is done for human good, make haste, at this informal meeting, to express the emotions with which they have been filled by the appalling tragedy that has deprived the nation of its head and covered the land with mourning, and, in further declaration of their sentiments, resolve unanimously,--

1. That, in testimony of their veneration and affection for the illustrious dead, who has been permitted, under Providence, to do so much for his country and for Liberty, they will unite in the funeral services, and by an appropriate committee will accompany his remains to their place of burial in the State from which he was taken for the national service.

2. That in the life of Abraham Lincoln, who, by the benignant favor of republican institutions, rose from humble beginnings to the height of power and fame, they recognize an example of purity, simplicity, and virtue which should be a lesson to mankind; while in his death they acknowledge a martyr whose memory will become more precious as men learn to prize those principles of constitutional order, and those rights, civil, political, and human, for which he was made a sacrifice.

3. That they invite the President of the United States, by solemn proclamation, to recommend that the people of the United States should assemble on a day appointed by him, in public testimony of their grief, and to dwell on the good that has been done on earth by him we now mourn.

4. That a copy of these resolutions be communicated to the President of the United States, and also to the afflicted widow of the late President, as an expression of sympathy in her great bereavement.

RIGHT AND DUTY OF COLORED FELLOW-CITIZENS IN THE ORGANIZATION OF GOVERNMENT.

LETTER TO COLORED CITIZENS OF NORTH CAROLINA, MAY 13, 1865.

The letter to Mr. Sumner by colored citizens is the first public expression of their interest in the suffrage. The answer was according to the sentiments Mr. Sumner had early declared.

WILMINGTON, N. C., April 29, 1865.

HON. CHARLES SUMNER, _Washington_.

DEAR SIR,--We, the undersigned citizens, Executive Board of the Colored Union Leagues of this city, respectfully ask your attention to the subject of Reconstruction in this State, and for a few plain directions in relation to a proper stand for us to make.

We forward also a copy of the _Herald_, containing an article on Reconstruction, which causes us much anxiety, in connection with other facts that are constantly pressed upon our attention in this Rebel State, although much is said concerning its loyalty that is unreliable and untrue. Many of us have done service for the United States Government, at Fort Fisher and elsewhere, and we shrink with horror at the thought that we may be left to the tender mercies of our former Rebel masters, who have taken the oath, but are filled with malice, and swear vengeance against us as soon as the military are withdrawn.

We are loyal colored citizens, and strive in all things so to conduct ourselves that no just cause of complaint may exist, although we suffer much from the unwillingness of the Secessionists to regard us as _freemen_, and look up to the flag of our country with trembling anxiety, knowing that the _franchise_ alone can give us security for the future.

We speak with moderation and care, we lay no charges, but we fear that an ill-judged lenity to Rebels in this State will leave little to us and our children but the bare name of freedmen. We remember Louisiana! Better “smash the egg” than permit it to produce a viper.

We beg an early answer. Direct, simply, “Alfred Howe, Wilmington, North Carolina.” Do not frank your letter: I send a stamp. For reference, Jonathan C. Gibbs mentions the name of Rev. H. H. Garnett, a colored Presbyterian minister in Washington, and Hon. Judge Kelley, from Pennsylvania.

ALFRED HOWE, _President_. D. SADGENAR, H. D. SAMPSON, JONATHAN C. GIBBS, OWEN BURNEY, HENRY TAYLOR, RICHARD REED.

WASHINGTON, May 13, 1865.

GENTLEMEN,--I am glad that the colored citizens of North Carolina are ready to take part in the organization of government. It is unquestionably their right and duty.

I see little chance of peace or tranquillity in any Rebel State, unless the rights of all are recognized without distinction of color. On this foundation we must build.

The article on Reconstruction to which you call my attention proceeds on the idea, born of Slavery, that persons with a white skin are the only “citizens.” This is a mistake.

As you do me the honor to ask me the proper stand for you to make, I have no hesitation in replying that you must insist on all the rights and privileges of a citizen. They belong to you. They are yours; and whoever undertakes to rob you of them is a usurper and impostor.

Of course you will take part in any primary meetings for political organization, open to citizens generally, and will not miss any opportunity to show your loyalty and fidelity.

Accept my best wishes, and believe me, Gentlemen,

Faithfully yours,

CHARLES SUMNER.

This letter was extensively circulated. The New York _Herald_ printed it in an editorial article entitled “The Chase-Sumner Political Movement--Social War Threatened,” where it said:--

“As soon as Mr. Johnson assumed the reins of the Government, Mr. Sumner made an effort to control his official action and secure his assistance in carrying on this appendix warfare to the Abolition question, and thus plunge the country into a sanguinary social war. Finding it impossible to draw President Johnson into his schemes, he at once plants himself in opposition.…