Norwalk Gazette, Tuesday, March 18, 1862 · page 1

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PUBEIsEEEETEETHT'UESEAY—II—OEN—ING'Ev A. H. BYINGTON & CO., II AT Two DOLLARS TEE ANNUMHNADVA CE.
g. gaming Egtwayspa, gonna in final gain and gamma. (neutral guardians, gamma, - game, gamma, antacid, tan-cannons in lflflfl.

 

 

NUMBER 741--NEW SERIES.

 

NORWAL‘K, CONN., TUESDAY, MARCH 18,1862.

VOLUME XLV--N UMBER ll.

 

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NORWALK GAZETTE.
OFFICE IN GAZETTE BUILDING.

A.H.BYINGTON & CO., ,
A. H. BYINGTON, J. B. ELLs, G. N. ELLS.

Subscription Rates .

All Subscribers by Carrier, Mail, Post Riders and
Wagoners, per year 2 00

Those living out of any Carrier’s District, if
paid one year in advance,

Clubs of six or more sent to one address, to be
paid in advance,

Single copies 4 cents.

150

 

, Advertising Rates.

)nc Square, one insertion,
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Two S uares, one year—with paper,
Each a dltional, Square, per year,
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cell lines, or 100 w0rds,make a square. Fraction-

al arts of a square char ed for as a whole.

Year y advertisers have t e privilege of changing
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Yearly advertisements payable 1st of January do July.

Yearly advertisers restricted to the business contem-
plated at the time of contract.

Cards, Resolutions, Funeral and all other Special No-
t cos, 25 per cent. additional on thehabove.

These terms will be inflexibly adhered to. a

CI-JAOOHHH?‘

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888888861888

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BUSINESS DIRECTORY.

Norwalk rest Dace.
NAILS CLOSE- .

West 7.30 A. M.——2.30 P. M.
East 8.30 A: FIX—55.00 P. M.
Danbury & Nurwalk Railroad 8.50 A. M.
Weston, Bedding and Bedding Ridge, ’l‘ues-
days, Thursdays and Saturdays, at 12 M.
MAILS DUE.

West 9.10 A. M.—6.00 P. M.
East 8.20 A. M.—-3.30 P. M.
Danbury dc Norwalk Railroad 8.00 A. M.

POST OFFICE HOURS.

From 7.00 A. M. to 8.00 P. M.
. CHARLES OLMSTEAD, P. M.

NOW

HARDWARE &. PAINT STORE,
Main Street,
Opposite I. H: Campell’s Confectionery,

mum .& PROWITT,

Wholesale and retail Dealers in Hardware,
Cutlery, Paints, Oils, Glass, Paper Hang-
ings, Window Shades, &c.

ROOFING SLATE,

I'rdm Vermont,
VERY CHEAP,
At South ‘Norwalk by I

 

 

H. E. WING.

TEE ALLIs HOUSE,

(formerly Union House,)

 

New Haven, Conn.
L. P. ALLIS, PROPRIETOR.

1". A. MOSMAN, M. 3.,

 

Homeopathic Physician do Surgeon.

Ofilce over C. T. Cornwall’s Store, first buil- N0 COMiliionerretum3.—pu221°8 the will;

ding east of Norwalk Hotel,
NORWALK, CONN.
References .-

Prof. J. Beakley, Dean of the Faculty,
Prof. S. R. Kirby, Homeopathic Medical Col-

lege, New York city, or

G. W. Swazey, M. D., Springfield, Mass. 21

 

JAMES G. HARBOUR,
SURGICAL AND MECHANICAL
‘D I: N '1' I s '1',
Chloe at Residence, East Avenue, Norwalk,
Connecticut.

 

Architecture.
3138!! M. STONE,

. ARCHITECT,
Will furnish Plans, Specifications, Detail
Drawings, and superintcnd the 'erection of
public and private buildings. Office in Mar-
ble Block, Chapel-st, New Haven, Ct. “52

 

EO. F. BELDEN, Norwalk, Conn.,Man-

' ufacturer of Tin, Copper, and Sheet

Iron Ware; and dealer in Stoves, Ranges,

Furnaces, Cutlery, Brittannia, Wooden and

Willow Ware, Crockery; and a full assort-
ment of House Keeping articles generally.

 

E. BISSELL, Auctioneer, will give

0 particular attention to sales by Auc-

tion, of Real Estate, Personal Property and.
Household Furniture : terms low.

into. C. STREET & co,

Importers; wholesale and retail dealers in

HARDWARE, IRON,

Steel Cutlery, Guns, Agricultural Imple-
ments, Oils, Paints, Window Glass, 850.

o. s. noonwoon,
Fashionable Draper & Tailor,

and
GENTLEMEN’S FURNISHIN G

EMPOBIUM 1
No. 3 Skiddy‘s Block, Main-st, Norwalk, Ct.

S. E. (“INSTEAD 61.00.,

Wholesale and Retail Dealers in

Groceries, Flour, Peed, &c.,
14 and 16 Main-st, Norwalk, Conn.

ETNA INSURANCE comraur,

01' Hartford.
Incorporated in 1819, Charter Perpetual.
Cash Capital $1,000,000
Insure against loss and damage by Fire,
on Terms adapted to the hazard,and
consistent with the laws of
compensation.

GEORGE R. COWLES, Sole Agent
us For Norwalk and vicinity.

New Meat Market.

THE Subscriber would respectfully inform
the public that he has

REMO VED HIS STAND

to Curtis’ Building, Main Street, and
tends keepino' constantly on hand the ch01-
cest of Beef, Pork, Mutton, Poultry, &c.,_ &c.
Having had long experience in the busmess
heis confident of his ability to please. A
share of the public patrongfe is respectfully
solicited. JA ES BYXBEE.

Norwalk, Nov 5th, 1861. tf5

I noorrrvc.

THE subscriber is prepared to furnish par-
ties, building, with Warren’s superior
FEZI AND CEMENT ROOFING.
This article of Roofing is in use upon the
Norwalk Lock Company's Building, and at
Ironnsbury, Bisscll 8: 00's, where it gives en-
tire satisfaction, and is believ d to be the
cheapest as well as the best ro:..iug in-use.—
Anorders will receive prompt attention.
0. F LOOMIS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Tennyson, and ,the late

Prince Albert.

A new edition of the “ Idyls of the King,” just
published in London, contains the following dedi-‘
cation:

“ There to his memory—since he held them dear,
Per-chance as finding there unconsciously

Some image of himself—I dedicate,

I dedicate, I conse crate with tears—

These Idyls. I I .

g “ And, indeed, he seems to me
Scarce other than my own ideal knight,

‘ Who reverenced his conscience as his king :
Whose glory was redressing human wrong ;

Who loved one only, and who clave to her’—-
Her—over all her realms of their last isle,
Cummingled with the gloom of imminent war,
The shadow of his loss moved like eclipse. [gone;
Darkeniug the world. We have lost him ; he is
We know him now; all narrow jealousies

Are silent ; and we see him as he moved.

How modest. kindly, all accomplished, wise,
With what sublime repression himself,

And in what limits, and how tenderly;

Not swaying to this faction or to that;

Not making his high place the lawless perch

0f wing'd ambitions, nor a vantage ground

For pleasure; but thro’ all this tract of years
Wearing the white flowers of a blameless life,
Before a thousand peering littlenesscs,

In that fierce light which beats upon a throne,
And blackens every blot ; for where is he

Who dares foreshadow for an only son

A'lovelier life, a more unstain'd than his 7

Or how should England, dreaming of his sons,
Hope more for these than some inheritance

Of such a life, a heart, a mind as thine, ‘

Thou noble Father of her Kings to be,

Laborious for her people and her poor-

VOice in the rich dawn of an ampler day-
‘Far-sighted summoner of war and waste

To fruitful strifes and-rivalries of peace—

Sweet nature gilded by the gracious gleam

0! letters, dear to Science, dear to Art,

Dear to thy land and ours—a Prince indeed,
Beyond all titles, and a household name,
Hereafter, through all times, Albert the Good.

“Break not, 0 w'oman’s heart. but still endure;
Break not, for thou art Royal, but endure,

, Remembering all the beauty of that star

Which shown so close beside thee, that ye made

One light together, but has past and left

The Crown a lonely splendor. '

“- “ May all love—-

His love, unseen but felt—o‘erohadow thee;

The love of all thy sons encompass thee,

The love of all thy daughters cherish thee,

The love of all thy people comfort thee,

Till God‘s love set thee at his side again.”
«0». ’

J of Davis’s Soliloqny .

To run, or not to run, that is the question !

Whether ’twere safer in the end, to endu re

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune ;

Or with stol’n arms against a sea of Yankees

Try, by valor, to end them ? To run ;—to rule

No more ;—and, by escape, to say wo end

The reproach, and the thousand natural shocks

Which treason‘s heir to,—’tis a consummation

Devontly to he wished. To flee; to vamosc ;—

To vamofe! perchance be caught; ay, there’s ‘the

ru ,—

For in such case .what retribution ’d come,

When we had thought to escape McClellan’s coil

Must give us pause! That's the consideration

That makes rebellion of so long life ;

For who would hear the whips and scorns of men,

 

 

Opposite N. Y. do N. H. Depot, in Union-st, The “Natalee “HON and Wile" Poltroonery.

The reproach pf deceived and ruined countrymen,
The insolenco of Foot, and the spurns

That loyal citizens of the traitor take

When he himselfmight his departure make [bear
0n shank’s mare ? who would defeats and dishonor
And grunt, and sweat under a reign of terror

But that the dread of something horrible

In, that uncertain country, from whose hours

And makes as rather hear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of 1

Thus treason does make cowards of us-all ;

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of fear

And schemes of great pith and promise e'en

With Beauregard, their councils turn away,

And lose the name ofaction. WM. SanEerAnE.
—-;€’ouran t.

 

«O

; A True Man.

Such was our friend. Famed on the good old

A ;true and brave and downright honest man!

Ho blew no trumpet in the market-place,

Nor in the church, with hypocritic face,

Supplied with cant the lack of Christian grace;

Loathing pretence, he did with cheerful will

What others talked of while their hands were still 1

And while “Lord, Lord 1” the pious tyrants cried,

Who, in the poor, their Master crucified,

His daily prayer, for better understood,

In acts than words, was simply doing good.

So calm, so constant was his rectitude,

That by his loss alone we know its warth,

And feel how true a man has walked with us on earthl
. ll'lzittier.

 

plan,

 

~‘Qb.

From the N. H. Uour'zer.
The Triumph of Armor.

America has solved the naval problem
about which the maritime nations of
Europe have been speculating for the
past two years, and established the fact
that iron ships are hereafter to rule. the
waves. By one sudden dash American
genius has sprung upon the success .
which has baffled the slowly moving the-
crisis of Great Britain, and in one hun-
dred days, with no preliminary prepara-
tion or experiments, we have placed in
actual service the most efi'cctive armor
clad war vessel in the world. We have
tested her strength against, and proved
her superiority to, another armor-clad
vesseluthe offspring of nine months
American Rebel skill, and we have the
proud satisfaction of victory. Not only
does this romance of a sea-fight in Hamp-
ton roads establish the supremacy of iron-
clad vessels, bnt itutterly demoralizes all
the ideasof seamanship and ship-building.
Almost every principle of construction
and arrangement as applied to the Moni-
tor is novel and untried, ;and that they
should be so successful is most reasona-
ble. Instead of ships we have sent to
sea a revolving fort, only twenty-one feet
iii diameter, and proof against any shot
yet inventedf A round tower sails
through the water, presenting a small
and impenetrable target to an enemy’s
balls, and with but two guns defeats and
drives away a mammoth 0. iron armor,
which with her steel prow, her twenty
guns, and her thoroughly covered decks,
has wrought the destruction of two of
the finest of our old style of war vessels.

It was a great achievement—a won-
derful contest, which recalls the old en-
counters of Knights in armor. All hon-
or to the ingenuity which planned, the
skill which executed, and the confidence
which sustained and perfected this great
triumph over old nations and traditional
predjudices. It is gratifying to our lo-
cal pride that N cw Haven had so large
a share in the honor, and Mr. C. S.

 

Bushnell, who so perseveriugl y insisted
upon the opportunity being given to Mr.

 

Ericsson, and who, with his associates,
assumed all the pecuniary risk, and to
Mr. Thomas R. Rowland, the builder of
the vessel and the suggester of many val-
uable improvements, the country owes a
debt of gratitude.

The following description of the Muni-
tor will explain. the peculiar principles on
which she is constructed :

She ish long, wide and flat-bottomed
vessel, with vertical 'sides and pointed
ends, requiring but a very shallow depth
of water to float in, though heavily laden
with impregnable armor on her sides and
bomb-proof deck, on which is placed a
shot proof revolving turret, which con-
tains two very heavy guns. She is so
low in the water as to afford no target
for an enemy and everything and every-
body are belnw the water line, with the
exception of the persons working the
guns, who are protected by the shot
proof turret. The sides of the vessel are
first formed of plate iron, half an inch
thick, outside Of which .is attached solid
white oak twenty-six inches thick, outside
of this again is rolled iron armor five in-
ches thick. The bomb-proof deck is sup-
pOrted by heavy braced oak beams,upon
which is laid planking seven inches thick,
covered with rolled plate iron one inch
thick.

The turret consists of a rolled plate
iron skeleton, one inch thick, to which
are rivetted two thicknesses of one inch
each, of rolled iron plates. Outside of
this again are six plates of rolled iron, all
firmly bolted together with nuts inside,so
that if a plate is started it can be at once
tightened again. The top is covered
with a bomb-proof'roof perforated with
holes. The lower part of the gun car-
riages consist of solid wrought iron
beams. These are planed perfectly true
and are placed parallel in the turret,both
of the guns pointing in the same direc-
tion. The ports through the sides of the
turret are only large enough to permit
the muzzle of the gun to be thrust thro’.
Inside of them are wrought iron pendu-
lums, which close them against the enemy
as soon as the gun recoils. She is armed
with two of the Dahlgren guns, made to
revolve by a pair of steam engines placed
beneath the deck.

The lower vessel is of iron, one half
inch thick, and made in the usual man-
ner. She carrries her machinery, coal,
&c., aft, and forward, the ofiicer‘s guar-
ters, ammunition and stores. The two
partitions of the vessels are separated by
a wrought iron bulkhead. The ofiicers’
quarters are very roomy and handsome,
and are ventilated and lightened by Open-
iugs from the deck.

Her machinery consists of two hori-
zontal tabular boilers, containing three
thousand square feet of fire surface, and
two horizontal condensing engines of forty
inch diameter of cylinder and twenty-two
inch stroke of piston. The propeller is
nine feet in diameter, and sixteen feet
stroke. It has four blades.

The following is a table of the size of
the difl'erent portions of the vessel :

Feet. Inches.

Length of upper vessel, 172 .—
Beam of upper vessel, 41 4
Depth of upper vessel, 5 -—
Length of lower vessel, 124 ——
Beam of lower vessel at

junc. with upper, 34 -~—
Beam at bottom, ‘18 ——
Depth of lower vessel, 6 ——
Diameter of turret, interior, 20 —
Height of turret, 9 ——
Diameter of pilot house, 6 —-
Height above deck, 5 ——

The pilot house is only a few feet above
the deck, the helmsman standing on a
platform below it. l'his, with the turret,
are the only things above the surface of
the deck.

It will be interesting in this connection.
to see what results have been elaborated
by our British neighbors in their long
and repeated experiments with iron-clad
vessels. We find in an exchange the
following extract from the London Engi-
neer, giving an account of the trial of a
vessel armed with iron plates four and a
half inches in thickness, and subjected to
solid shot from the Armstrong and Whit-
worth rifled cannon. The Engineer
says :—

On the first day four shots. were fired
at 400 yards distance, with Armstrong
eighty-pounders, and each broke the
plating so as to expose the inner lining of
wood The fifth shot did notpenetrate ;
the sixth wag a bolt of puddled steel
weighing eighty-eight pounds; it pene-
trated the plate and passed in a slanting
direction to an upper deck beam, where
it was broken into 'several pieces. Ton
shots were fired at this distance, two of
which missed, but all the others broke
the outer plates, yet did little damage to
the interior lining.

On the second day’s firing, the distance
200 yards, with an Armstrong one hun-
dred pound iron conical bolt for the three
first shots. The first started a plate half
an inch at one end ; the second fractured
a plate the whole of its length ; the third
struck a joint and passed completely
through the plates, opening the joints
three-fourths of an inch. The fourth was
a bolt of homogeneous metal, (fine steel)
weighing eighty pounds. It struck the
started joint of the plate,passed through
it, struck an iron knee, tore it away, and
drove a piece of the iron plate into the
water on the Opposite side. The next
shot was a one hundred pound belt of
homogeneous metal. It forudin apiece

 

of plate nineteen inches long and seven-
teen inches broad, to a depth of eight
and one half inches. They either broke
or greatly damaged the plates, but the
inner planking of oak, twenty-five inches
thick, was little injured. _

Only four shots were fired by ,Whit-
worth’s gun. Each bolt was formed‘of
homogenous metal, hexagonal in form,
flat headed, and weighing seventy-nine
pounds. The first passed through the
iron-plating four and one half inches thick
and buried itself eleven inches Wltlllll the
wood behind. The second passed through
both the plating and the thick timber
lining inside, carried away part of an iron
knee, and drove a piece of the outer pla-
ting half way across the ship. The third
shot passed through one of the ports; the
fourth cracked a plate, pierced it, and
destroyed port of the upper deck water
way, but it did not enter into the ship.

It was found that the second shot of
the Whitworth cannon, which was the
only one which penetrated into the inside
of the ship,passed through part of a plate
that was unsOuud, andthe wood through
which it entered was also , defective.—
Whitworth’s cannon bad the greatest
penetrating p0wcr. '

From these experiments, with the most
powerful rifled guns and solid shot, at
200 yards distance, four and one half

of wood,.afi'orded immunity from danger
to those on board, although the plates
were greatly injured by the firing.
————o«.»
Fremont’s Hundred Days in
Missouri.

SPEECH 0F HON. S. COLFAX
0f Indiana, in reply to Mr. Blair of Missou-
ri, in the House of Remesentatz'ces, March

7th, 1802.

The House then went into Committee
of the Whole on the State of the Union
the bill regulating the franking privilege
being nominally under consideration. .

Mr. Blair, of Missouri, (Rep.,) pro-
ceeded to speak of the Military Depart-
ment of the West under Gen John 0.
Fremont. Mr. Blair said a very great
pressure had been brought to bear through
the neWSpapers to force Gen. Fremont
back into a command, and to force the
Administration against its judgment, ex-
pressed after delibertion, to employ him’
in some one of the military departments.
He (Blair) had seen it stated in telegrams
that Gen. Fremont had again and again
demanded a trial. This is not true.
Mr. Riddle, of Ohio, (Rep.,) asked on
what authority the gentleman made the
last statement?

Mr Blair,resuming, said : No demand
for ati-ial has been made, unless it has
been done within the last two or three
days. Gen. Fremont had not madé the
demand at all, for he (Blair) had taken
pains to satisfy himself of the fact by in-
quiry at the office of the Adjutant-Gener-
al and at that of the Judge Advocate of
the army. It was most extraordinary
that an officer of the army, charged with
crime, mutiny and misconduct of the war
and deposed from his command in conse-
quence of these charges, should not ask a
trial. He ventured the assertion that if
Gen. Fremont will demand a trial, the
Administration will grant it. It had also
been heralded that the Committee on the
Conduct of the War had demanded his
(Fremont’s) restoration. He (Blair)
undertook to say that such was not‘the.
fact. It Was simply a publication of some
of Fromont’s partisans, and it was also
said through the Press that Fremont was
to be restored to a command. He
(Blair) did not know whether this was
so or not, but inasmuch as this informa-
tion came in somewhat the shape of other
publications, he believed it was of the
same character. There were preliminary
symptons which foreshadowed and an-
nounced the simultaneous appearance of
the statement made by Gen. Fremont in
his defence before the Committee, and the
speech of his aid-de-camp (Shanks) in this
House. The statement and the speech
inaugurate a new campaign and a new
field, and the battle is to be fought with
weapons for different than the rude instru-
ments of war—with proclamations, which
up to this time, in Goa. Fremont’s hands
have had no serious effect. He (Blair)
commended Gen. Fremont’s choice of
weapons. Certain it was that his proc-
lamations did not help the enemy as much
as his exposed and isolated posis at Lex
ington and elsewhere. His proclamation
did not injure the Administration as-
much as a single purchase of worthless
arms and the erection of useless earth
works. He (Blair) dld not believe that
Gen. Fremont was authorized to publish
his statement, which was extraordinary
in its character.

Mr. Gooch , of Massachusetts, (Rep.,)
member of the Committee on the Conduct
of the War, said that Gen. Fremont hav-
ing presented a large number of docu-
ments, was requested by the Committee
to prepare a concise statement as to the
administration of afi’airs in his Depart-
ment, which he (Fremont) did at a sub-
sequent pcriod. Gen. Fremont again ap.
peared before the Committee and was
questioned. When he was about to leave
the room he was requested not to give
information to anybody outside, of what
he had stated to the Committee. He
(Gooch) understood Gen. Fremont to

acquiesce in the request, as he had in all
others made by- tbe Committee. He

 

 

inch iron plates, having a thick backing .

(Goocb) only wished to add that the pub-
lication was made without the knowledge
and against the consent of the Committee.

Mr. Blair—Was it all published?

Mr. Gooch—His (Fiemont’s) state.
ment and documents, and not the portion
in response to the inquiries of the Com-
mittee.

was as extraordinary as the manner in
which it found its way into print. It was

ingenious in the suppression of impor-
tant facts and suggestions of others
which never existed. In this he shows
he is a better apologist for defeat than a
General to achieve victories. Mr. Blair
proceeded to speak of his early friendship
for Fremont. He now had no private
jgriefs. And it was only for the reason
that Fremont was found to be incompe-
tent for his position that he recommend-
ed his removal. He had acted from con-
siderations of public duty. He then
spoke at length of the disasters at Spring-
field and Lexington, to show that these
were attributable to Fremont’s incompe-
tency. Those by whom be surrounded
himself had settled themselves down up-
on us like obscene birds of prey. No
men have as bad characters as those
who are Fremont’s familiars. Of course
there are honorable exceptions. No
greater slander was uttered by any man
than that, at the time Fremont went to
St. Louis, it was a rebellious city. The
declaration of martial law was, therefore,
superinduced by his apprehension of im-
aginary danger. Mr. Blair also examin-
ed Fremont’s contracts and other tran-
sactions. He spoke for about two hours,
the time having, by unanimous consent,
been extended.

Mr. Colfax, of Indiana, (Rep.,)—I did
not intend to reply at this time, and am.‘
therefore, ill-prepared to answer the elab-
orate charges made against Gen. Fremont
by the gentleman from Missouri. While
.I differ frbm him in regard to the super
ccdure of Fremont in the command of the
Department of the Northwest, I wish to
be distinctly understood to say that, no
matter who is in Command, I sustain that
General, with all my heart and soul, and
strength and mind, who acts most effec-
tually against the enemy. I believe it
my duty to do so, for this, under God, is,
our only hope of putting down this gigan-_
tie and Satanic rebellion. ,But I must
say that I deeply regret that the gentle-
man should havc indulged in the remarks
he did, in debating a grave question like
this; that on such an occasion he should
have mingled personalties and charges
which would be better indulged in on
some more fitting arena. I will not
touch upon the opening of the remarks of
the gentleman, with regard to his family’s
previous relations with Gen. Fremont, for
I am here to speak in vindication of his-
tory, of the fair record of the present day
and to prove that my fflend’s feelings and
judgment are'pcrvertcd by prejudices.—
The gentleman oppOsite had been the
friend of Gen. Fremont up to the latter
end of August. Up to that time be (Mr
Blair) was the warm and devoted friend,
the champion and admirer of _ Gen. Fre-
mout. Up to that time no charges had
been made by him. From the time the
war broke out, I tried, in my humble
sphere, to sustain confidence in our Gen-
rals. I endeavored to preach forbear-
ance and unity. I implored men to cease
deprecating Generals in the field. I felt
that when they went forth the cause of
the country rested on them; that they
had the lives of our brave soldiers on their
hands,nnd that they should be supported.
Whenever the Administration superse-
ded them, well and good. Let them go.
With regard to the charges to-day reiter-
ated on this floor against Gen. Fremont,
I will first say that I do not claim forGen.
Fremont the character of a perfect man.
As all men are follible,‘so he had his faults.
He was an impulsive and impetuous man.
But I regret that he published the state-
ment of defence he did.- But Gen. Fre-
mont must have concluded that he had
already abided his time long enough.—
After six months, under the whip and
spur and lash of howling enemies, he held
and, with an abandonment of self and a
reticeuce which has commanded the ad-
miration of friends and the approval of
the civilzed world, waited patiently his
vindication since the day he was deposed
from his command to the present. N ow.
without disparaging others, I say that be
is the only Major-General in the United
States Army who has gone with his
troops away from headquarters in pursuit
of the enemy, performing long marches,
forging rivers, and never haulting till he
had brought the foe to boy. Others, no
doubt, were willing to do all in their
power to the same cud—but this is the
only instance at the time of this determin-
ation and courage of Gen. Fremont.—
And new I say that no man can believe
the aspersion ventured upon by the gen-
tleman from Missouri, that Gen. Fremont
is a timid man. Every school boy in the
country knows the history of the man and
that history disposes of that aspersion.-—-
Whether, as a General, he was fitted for
the command of the Western Department
or not,,he is a brave and fearless man, a
man who has met death in various forms
and encountered perils in every shape; a
man who has written his name on the
page of history as a great discoverer—-
Jadveuturer, if you will; one who has rate

 

Mr. Blair said Fremont’s statement,

an apology for disaster and defeat, and-

ed the Stars and Stripes on distant soil,
through privationva'nd toil and suffering,
to the improvement of science and the
glory of his country; ’Last of all, even
while he knew the sword of Damocles was
suspended over his head by a single hair,
he went with his army in pursuit of the
enemies of his country, leading the ad-
vance in person, not bringing up the rear
as is customary with Generals in com-
mand. No, Sir, Gen. Fremont is no cow-
ard, but a. brave and fearless man. With
regard to the charge about the contracts
desiring to be frank, I say that I do not
approve of the contracts made by Gen
Fremont with regard to the fortification
for Missouri; hut in making these con-
tracts, it must be supposed that he was
guided by the Opinion of the head engi-
neer of the department with regard to
the price. But if his outlay in this re-
spect was improvident and extravagant,

I have only to express the hope that the
expenditures of the public money in other
departments have been managed with
scrupulous economy. We all know the
charge brought against him by Adjutant
Gen. Thomas, that the horses purchased

by him were ring-boned and spavined,&c.

Now, when I come to Washington I

found that there were fourteen hundred

horses purchased for the army of the Po-

tomac, condemned, and not a paper in the

country had a word to say about it, but

because a few horses were condemned in

Fremont’s command, all sorts of charges
are bro’t against him. The gentleman from
Missouri had beeuveryeulsgistic ofSt.Lou-
is its patriotism, &c. N ow,I wish I could
believe all he said in its favor.I, indeed be-
lieve with him,tbat the bulk of the people
are loyal, but I as firmly believe that the
wealth and capital, and social influence of
St. Louis were strongly on the side of se-
cession, even since Gen. Halleck took
command of that Department. They
held an election in that city for Chamber
of Commerce, and was called the “seces-

sion ticket” was elected by a large ma-

jority, in the face even of the Major-Gem.
eral of the United States comanding. In
speaking of the sentiments which actua-

ted a portion of the people of that city,

I speak of its wealth and capital as be-
ing strongly on the side of secession; and
so strongly was this feeling manifested,
that General Halleck compelled the
Chamber of Commerce to take the oath
of allegiance. I know St. Louis is loyal,
and one of the strongest proofs of that is
found in the fact that, when their deposed
General came back degraded and deposed

from his command, without power or

place, they gathered around him in tens
of thousands to welcome him. I take
that as a strong proof of their loyalty.—

The gentleman (Mr. Blair) says that up

to the time of the death of Lyon he had
been a warm friend of Fremont. Now,
the fact is that Lyon’s deathoccurred on
the 10th of August, and it is seen that
the gentleman’s friendship continued for

Fremont till even after this—continued

for him whom he has since arraigned as
a guilty criminal, as one whose skirts are
stained with the blood of that brave ofii-
cer—nrrnigus him now of a crime, which
if guRty of murder, which, if he (Gen.
Fremont,) had the power to relieve him
and did not. But though Lyon died
early in August, it is not till September
that the gentleman fromMissouri consider
Fremont guilty, becaused for twenty days
after he did not accdse him of the crime.
Mr. Colfax quoted several dispatches
from Gen. Scoficld Harding, and Gen.
Lyon himself, to show the impossibility of
reinforceing Lyon, even before the with-
drawal of the large drafts of troops from
the Southwest for the protection of Wash-
ington, and continued. It was under,
therefore, the most adverse cirCumstances
that Gen. Fremont took command at St-
Louis; and it was for raising an army to
protect theiUnion, and to put down rebel-
lion that he has been condemned from one
end of the country to the other. The
gentleman Opposite declared here that
Cairo did not need reinforcements but I
say it did. Fremont had at this timc'a
few regiments, three of three months’ men
who had not yet received any pay, and
who would not re-eulist, but were in con-
sequence of neglect, determined to aband-
on the service.

Now, I submit to this House, and to
the country, the consideration of the two
points to be reinforced. One was the

'ond of a common wagon road, from

whence Lyon could have retreated if he
could not maintain himself; the other
was at the mouth of the Ohio, which
commanded the Mississippi and the Mis-
souri rivers at Cairo, the furthest point
south we then had in our possession. It
was then in great danger of being wrest-
ed from us, and rebel Governors and
leaders had sent down troops to seize it
for the Secessionists. Now, Gen. Fre-
mont could only reinforce one of these
two points, and he chose the most impor-
tant, and went to Cairo. Mr. Colfax
read letters and dispatches from Gen.
Prentiss, to show the imminency which
demanded the stcngthening of Cairo, and
continued; Cairo was at that time threat-
ened by the enemy, thirty thousand
strong. He had with him only eight
regiments, and only two of these he had
a right to hold. He did the best he
could. He got together all the force he
could muster, and went down on steam-

boats to Cairo. And for this, too, he
was condemned all over the country, be-

 

cause, indeed, he should have traveled
by steamboats and thus make a parade.
But it was actually necessary to do so,
in order that he might impress the rebels
with the conviction that he commanded
a larger force than he really did. There
were also great complaints made because
Gen. Fremont went in a‘ carriage to the
boat. I inquired into this matter, and
the fact is that his friends brought the
carriage to his house for the purpose of
conveying him to the wharf. When he
saw the carriage he refused to enter it,
saying, “ No, I will not go in this state.”
His friends insisted, because they feared
he would be assassinated on the way if
he went on foot, while at the same time
it was necessary, as Major-General, to
show himself from an open carriage to
loyal people. A good deal was also said
about the six thousand dollar house be
rented in St. Louis. I also inquired into
this charge, and found that all his imme.
diate officers were quartered in the some
house, which was also used for the OR‘I-
cers of the Department, as there was no
time for traveling from office to office.—
A great public saving was afi‘ected in
this way, and yet for this also has Gen.
Fremont been denounced. Another of
the charges brought against him was with
regard to the purchase of five hundred
tons of ice, with which it was sneeringly
said there should be glorious times
making sherry cobblers for the Staff.—
From inquiry I ascertained that this ice
was ordered, on the requisition of the
Surgeon. At the time the requisition
was made for the ice, half the troops
Were sick from using the muddy waters
of the steams in the vicinity of the camps,
and when the sick men were sent to the
hospitals they remained sick, for even
there they had none but this impure wa—
ter, which first prostrated them. Of one
regiment—the Twenty-second Illinois——
the majority were in hospital from mala-
ria and the use of bad water. The ice
was procured, not to follOw the army,
but to be used in the hospitals by the
sick and wounded soldier—for the use of
the men who had- shed their blood for
the country. For this Geo. Fremont
had been denounced all over the country,
and to these charges and accusations he
has been silent and forebore to answer
up to this time. The gentleman (Mr.
Blair) said the hundred days of Fremont
were the saddest days that had over
befallen the loyal men of the Northest-
l difi'er with him there, also. Oh, no;
there were sadder days than those. It
was after Gen. Fremont was deposed,
when the gallant army, with which he
had driven off the enemy, was ordered to
fall back. Then it was that the loyal
men, who had so long sufi‘ered from the
presence of the rebels, and who hailed
the glorious Stars and Stripes with ac-
clamations as the promise of safety and
security, and with clasped hands and joy-
ful faces cheered once more for the Union
——it was when these people forsook their
homes to follow in sad procession the re-
treating army tq avoid the halter and the
gibbet, hopeless and fondless, the days
following that which saw Fremont de-
posed. These were the saddest days for
the people of the Northwest.

The gentleman from Missouri charac-
terized the proclamation issued by Gen.
Fremont as bombastic. I have this to
say about that proclamation ; I never
quarreled with the President because he
saw fit to say that that proclamation
should be modified. I regret that he did
so, but I know Mr. Lincoln is as honest
a man as lives on this continent, and he

noted, no doubt, from convictions of du-

ty, and while I differ with him in respect
to that proclamation, I would be the last
to asperse an act of his. The President
said it should be modified. But Gen.
Fremont said the President must then
modify it himself; he would bow to the
order as a subordinate should to the
rebuke of his chief. The gentleman
(Mr. Blair) might have refrained from
his remarks with reference to what he
called the “mutiny” at Springfield.—
Now, he had it from distinguished au-
thority, that a spirit of insubordination
was manifested all CV or the camps when
it was known that their General was su-
perceded in his command. It was then
that he delivered his farewell to the ur-
my, and the whole country was seized
with admiration when they saw how a
brave and noble man was stricken down
can fall without a word of complaint and
without a murmur. Gen. Fremont’s con-
duct on the occasion should have shielded
him from at least one charge of the gen-
tleman opposite. Even those New York
papers, which had most persistently de~
nouuced him, expressed in eulogistic lan-
guage their admiration of his conduct in
that trying moment. It is true he could
not escape au ovation in St. Louison his
return ; but in Cincinnati, when he
learned, as he was going through it, that
the citizens were determined to give him
an ovation, be avoided it by keeping on
his way, even declining to accept of its
hospitalities. Has there ever been a
man stricken down from high position
under a pressure of untoward circum-
stances, who has borne himself so meek-

ly ? I speak as an independent member
of this House, not having had one fact
communicated to me by Gen. Fremont.
New, with regard to the proclamation.—

 

tht difi'erence was there between it

and the declaration of that distinguished
man, Andrew Johnson, one of the most
loyal men living? Johnson declared
that no rebel had a right to own any-
thing. That was all Fremont said,
clothed in the language of a proclama-
tion. He said, “The real and personal
property of rebels shall be confiscated,
and the slaves of any shall be free men."
Johnson says, “No rebel has a right to
own anything .” Idon’t see any difi'er-
ence, and yet no person has attempted to
condemn Johnson. I come now to the
f all of Lexington. I happened to be in
St. Louis on the 14th of September, and
found the whole city excited with the
news which had just reached there, that
Price was marching upon the gallant de-
fender of the town of Lexington, and
when my friend speaks about the Home
Guard, it appears to me that CO1. Mul-
ligan didn’t hear very high testimony to
their gallantry then. But I saw Lieut-
GOv. Hall, and he told me that Price was
marching towards Lexington with 15,-
000 men, and that Fremont ought, to
send out a column to interrupt him. I
asked him how many men Fremont had,
and he said thought he he had 20,000. I
thought if he had that number he cer-
tainly could send out some ; and went to
Gen. Fremont, full of zeal for the rein.
forcement of Mulligan, and told him what
Lieut.-Gov. Hall had said, and that if he
had twenty thousand men some ought to,
be sent out. He said, “I will tell'yOu,
confidentially, what I would not have 4
known in the streets of St. Louis for my
life. They have got the opinion that I
have twenty thousand men here. I will
show you what I have really got.” He
rang the bcll, and his Secretary came
and brought the muster-roll for that day,
and by that muster-roll he had in St.
Louis, and within seven miles round
about, less thdn eight thousand troops,
and only two of them full regiments. It .
was a beggurly array of. an army, and it

time. But I asked him if he could not
spare some of these ? Sir, the tears
stood in his eyes as he handed me two
telegraphic dispatches he had that . day
reccived from Washington. I, will read-
thcm that you may see how little was at '
his command to reinforce Mulligan. Mr.
Colfax then read the dispatches ordering
him to rent] 5000 armed infantry to
Washington, and continued, . I have
shdwn you that he had men,but no guns;
and when he bought guns, the necessity
for which was imperious, he was de-
nounced from one end Of the country to
the other because they were not Spring-
field rifles of the best quality. . Yet he
must send five thousand well-armed in
fautry to Washington at once, and this
draft on him was to be replaced by troops
from Kansas, or wherever he could best
gather them. I asked him, “What can
you do (and my heart sank within meias
I asked the question) here with an infe-
rior force, and your best forces sent away
to Washington 1” Said he, “Washing-
ton must be in danger, and they must
have my troops, though Missouri fall,
and I myself fall.” After Iheard Lthat,
I would have been a traitor to my con-
victions if I did not stand‘ up to defend
this man, who was willing to sacrifice
himself to defend the imperilled capitol of

the country.

Mr. Blair said Gen. Fremont made a
return to Secretary Cameron about the
same time, which showed that he had
50,000 men in his department.

Mr. Colfax—l am coming to, that very
point. He telegraphed to Washington
that he was preparing to obey the order
received, and I doubt not it made his
heart bleed, knowing the strait Mulligan
was in. Then he telegraphed to Gov.
Morton and Gov. Dcnuison for more
troops, andthe answer he received was,
that they had received orders tdsend all
their trOOps East. SO there his reliance
failed. My friend says it cannot be
shown that be moved any of his men un-
til after Lexington had fallen. Lexing-
ton fcll on Friday, the 22d of September.
I well remember the day. Here are dis-
patches tO Gen. Pope, on the 16th of
September, and dispatches from Gen.
Sturges tO Col. Davis, hurrying the men.
The wires were hot with orders hurrying
the men to reinforce Mulligan. Pope
telegraphed on the 17th of September,
that his troops would be there day after
tomorrow, which would have been two
days before Lexington surrendered, and
Sturgis thought he should be there on
Thursday. Col. Mulligan told me him-
self that if Sturgcs had appeared on the
opposite side of the river, he thought
Price would have retired. Thus from
three sources, Fremont sent on troops to
reinforce Mulligan, but he failed to do it .
because the elements seemed, to be
against him, and not because hedid not
seek to do so in every possible way that
he could send succor to him. At this
very time there were all the different
posts in Missouri to be held; his three
menths’ men were rapidly retiring and
his best men sent to Washington ; Price
with 15,000 men marching to Lexington;
McCulloch threatening Rolla, Hardee
threatening Ironton, and Polk and Pil-
low at Columbus ; and all over the State
were organized bands of rebels—about
80,000 men—threatening him, and he
with an inadequate force to meet them.
And while thus struggling, from every

 

[Concluded rm- Fourth Page]

was all needed to defend that city at that ' '