The Daily Dispatch: February 25, 1861., [Electronic resource]

---

---

The National crisis.

the seizure of the revenue cutters — meeting of Working Menin Boston — affairs in Pensacola — important report, &c.

---

---

The seizure of the revenue cutters.

Secretary Dix has made a report to Congress about the late seizure of the U. S. revenue cutters at New Orleans. The following is an extract:

‘ On the 18th of January, ult., three days after taking charge of this Department, I decided to dispatch a special agent to New Orleans and Mobile, to save, if possible, the revenue cutters on those stations. Mr. Wm. Hemphill Jones, chief Clerk in the First Comptroller's office, was selected for the purpose, and on the 19th he left this city with instructions to provision the vessels, and give the commanding officers verbal orders to take them to New York. This mode of conveying the directions to them was chosen because no confidence was felt that the mails, or the telegraph, could be relied on as a safe medium of communication. That the authority of Mr. Jones to communicate to these officers the directions intrusted him might not be questioned, he was furnished with the following, addressed to the commander of the cutter Lewis Cass, at Mobile, and the Robert McClelland, at New Orleans:

’

Treasury Department, Jan. 19, 1861.
Sir:

This letter will be presented to you by Wm. Hemphill Jones, a special agent of this department. You are required to obey such directions as may be given you, either verbally or in writing, by Mr. Jones, with regard to the vessel under your command.

I am, very respectfully,

John A. Dix,
Secretary of the Treasury.
Captain J. G.Brushwood, Commanding revenue cutter Robert McClelland, New Orleans, La.

---

It was deemed prudent to detach Captain Morrison, who was from the State of Georgia, from the Lewis Cass, then at Mobile, and he was accordingly ordered to Galveston, to take command of the Henry Dodge, which was without a captain.

The precaution was too late. Before Mr. Jones reached Mobile, Captain Morrison, regardless of the obligation of his oath, had surrendered his vessel to the authorities of Alabama. His resignation was subsequently received, but it was not accepted, and the following order was issued, dismissing him from the revenue service:

[order.]

J. J. Morrison, of Georgia, a Captain in the revenue cutter service of the United States, late in command of the Lewis Cass, having, in violation of his official oath and of his duty to the Government, surrendered his vessel to the State of Alabama, it is hereby directed that his name be stricken from the rolls of said service.

By order of the President of the United States.

---

The revenue cutter Robert McClelland, one of the largest and finest in the service, and recently refitted, was on duty in the Mississippi river below New Orleans; and it was this vessel which the Department was particularly desirous of saving, on account of here value. The failure of the attempt is fully detailed in Mr. Jones' report hereto annexed. It discloses an act of official infidelity on the part of the Collector at New Orleans, F. H. Hatch, which cannot fail to receive the condemnation of all right-thinking men. The service to be performed by the McClelland was between the ports seventy-two miles below the city of New Orleans and the mouth of the river. On the 15th January, eight days before the Convention of Louisiana met, and eleven days before the ordinance of secession was passed, Mr. Hatch, in a letter secured by Mr. Jones, and now on file in the Department, ordered Capt. Brush wood to bring his vessel up the river and anchor her opposite the city, for the purpose, afterwards avowed to Mr. Jones, of getting her into the possession of the State of Louisiana. Mr. Hatch, at the time he was engaged in this conspiracy against the United States, held a commission in its service, and did not hesitate to violate his official oath, and to prostitute the authority with which his Government had clothed him, to accomplish an act of the grossest infidelity. Capt. Brush wood, as events subsequently disclosed, was a party to the treachery. On his refusal to obey the order of the Department, Mr. Jones sent the following dispatch:

New Orleans, Jan. 29, 1861.
To Hon. John A. Dix, Secretary of the Treasury:

Capt. Brushwood has refused positively in writing to obey any instructions of the Department. -- In this I am sure he is sustained by the Collector, and believe acts by his advice. What must I do?

W. H. Jones, Special Agent.

---

It was supposed, when this dispatch was received, that the McClelland was at her station at the mouth of the river, and the following was telegraphed in reply. It was intercepted by the Governor of Alabama, and forwarded to the authorities of Louisiana--only reaching Mr. Jones through the papers:

Treasury Department, Jan. 29, 1861.
Wm. Hemphill Jones, New Orleans:

Tell Lieut. Caldwell to arrest Capt. Brushwood, assume command of the cutter, and obey the order I gave through you. If Capt. Brushwood, after arrest, undertakes to interfere with the command of the cutter, tell Lieut. Caldwell to consider him as a mutineer, and treat him accordingly. If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot.

John A. Dix,
Secretary of the Treasury.

---

The officers of the revenue service are placed by law under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, and are required to obey his instructions. The refusal on the part of Capt. Brushwood to act as directed, was regarded not as a mere act of disobedience, for which he would, under ordinary circumstances, have been promptly dismissed from the service, but it was also considered as a prelude to the grand act of infidelity he was believed to be meditating. The only chance of anticipating and preventing it, was through an order, bearing some relation in severity to the enormity of the offence he was about to commit. Had the dispatch not been intercepted by the Governor of Alabama, who did not deem it beneath his dignity to violate the sanctity of a system of confidential communication, for the purpose of scrutinizing the correspondence of a department of the Government with one of its special agents, in a matter relating exclusively to its own interests, the vessel might have been saved, and the State of Louisiana spared the reproach of consenting to an act which all civilized communities hold in merited detestation.

It may be proper to add, in reference to the closing period of the foregoing dispatch, that, as the flag of the Union since 1777, when it was devised and adopted by the founders of the Republic, had never, until a recent day, been hauled down, except by honorable hands in manly conflict, no hesitation was felt in attempting to uphold it at any cost against an act of treachery, as the ensign of the public authority and the emblem of unnumbered vic- tories by land and sea.

The revenue cutter Henry Dodge, at Galveston, Texas, was understood to be so much out of repair as to render it very questionable whether she could be safely taken to New York. Under these circumstances the following order was sent to her commanding officer:

Treasury Department, Jan. 22, 1861.
Sir:

--If the revenue cutter Henry Dodge, to the command of which you were assigned by an order of the 19thinst., should, on examination, prove to be seaworthy, you will immediately provision her for six weeks, and sail for New York, reporting yourself, on your arrival, to the Collector of the Port. While making your preparations for sailing, you will exercise the utmost vigilance in guarding your vessel against attack from any quarter. If any hostile movement should be made against you, you will defend yourself to the last extremity. The national flag must not be dishonored. If you are in danger of being over-powered by superior numbers, you will put to sea, and proceed to Key West to provision; or, if intercepted, so that you cannot go to sea, and are unable to keep possession of your vessel, you will run her ashore, and, if possible, blow her up-- so that she may not be used against the United States. I am, &c.,

John A. Dix,
Secretary of the Treasury.
Capt. J. J. Marrison, commanding revenue cutter Henry Dodge, Galveston, Texas.

It was the determination of this Department to adopt such measures as to prevent, if possible, the revenue vessels for which it was responsible, from being taken by force and used for the purpose of overthrowing the public authority. Any attempt to gain possession of them by military coercion could not be regarded in any other light than as an act of war, proper to be resisted by force of arms; and it was deemed far more creditable to the country that they should be blown into fragments than that they should be pusillanimously or treacherously surrendered, and employed against the Government which they were constructed and commissioned to support.

At the last accounts, the Henry Dodge, in consequence of her unfitness to proceed to New York, was to be placed at the disposal of the Coast Survey, in the vicinity of Galveston for temporary service, in case of any hostile demonstration against her. Capt. Morrison, who was ordered to take charge of her before his fidelity to the Government was questioned, having been dismissed from the service, the command has devolved on Lieut, William F. Rogers, in whose good faith and firmness entire confidence is reposed.

It only remains to state under this branch of the inquiries addressed to this Department, that Capt. John G. Brushwood and Lieuts. S. B. Caldwell and Thos. D. Foster, who voluntarily surrendered the revenue cutter Robert McClelland to the State of Louisiana, have been dismissed from the revenue service.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant.

John A. Dix,
Secretary of the Treasury.

---

Meeting of Working men in Boston.

The working men of Boston held a crowded meeting, at Fauteuil Hall, on Wednesday night. From the Advertiser's report of the proceedings we make the following extracts:

‘ Mr. Charles W. Wilder, of Brookline, read a long address from the working men of Massachusetts to their fellow-citizens throughout the Union. The address sets forth, at great length, the causes which have brought the present distracted state of affairs upon the country. Among the causes given is, that the men who have been placed in power have misrepresented the people. By them the " be loved Union"has been broken. Among the chief causes of the trouble is, that the people of the North and the South have been betrayed by office seekers. It calls upon the people to put away those designing politicians who have brought this calamity upon us. The address is particularly severe upon the Abolitionists, who have "joined every party to carry their nefarious purposes, and have, in every case, betrayed the parties they have joined." The address calls upon all parties to lay aside party names and symbols, never to be taken up again, and to unite in an endeavor to preserve the Union. It recommends the formation of working men's associations throughout the land, whose only motto shall be liberty, justice, and equal rights to all; and urges a National Convention, if Congress does not adopt such measures as will again unite the people.

’ The address was received with prolonged cheers, and "Yankee Doodle" and the "Star Spangled Banner" from the band, which airs were also greeted with applause.

Mr. Wilder then read the following resolutions:

‘ Resolved, That we tender to the Hon. John J. Crittenden our sincere thanks for the manner in which he received and presented to Congress the memorial of twenty-three thousand citizens of Massachusetts, and for the eloquence with which he vindicated them from the unworthy aspersions which were cast upon the intelligence of his constituents by the Hon. Charles Sumner, the Senator of Massachusetts.

Resolved, That we respectfully request the Hon. Jno. J. Crittenden to act for Massachusetts, as well as for the great State of Kentucky, and to present in the Senate the foregoing address as embodying our reasons for the respectful petition of this meeting, that Congress will propose such amendments to the Constitution of the United States as will satisfy the Border States and restore tranquility to the country.

’ Mr. Crittenden's name was received with three cheers and that of Mr. Sumner with prolonged groans and hisses. The resolves were received with applause, and cheers were again given for Mr. Crittenden and groans for Mr. Sumner.

---

Affairs at Pensacola.

The Pensacola correspondent of the Columbus (Ga.) Times, writing on the 20th inst., says:

‘ Soon after the arrival of the Brooklyn, of which I told you in my last, the other vessels belonging to the Gulf Squadron came in sight, and since have been cruising outside the bar, never getting entirely from view. Sunday another bearer of dispatches for Fort Pickens arrived and was passed over to the fort. His mission must have been a peaceful one, for since matters have somewhat changed. The work of mounting guns on Pickens is stopped, and also the work going on at the Navy-Yard. Lt. Slemmer sent a note to Col. Forney, who has succeeded Col. Lomax in command, demanding that no more guns. should be mounted upon the battery which bears upon his fort. As the demand was made in conformity to the armistice, which is understood on both sides, it was regarded as right, and the work upon the battery was suspended. One heavy ten inch Columbiad was already upon its carriage, another just ready to mount, so it will be but little labor now should occasion require to place it in working order. Near night the Wyandotte ran up the harbor and sent a boat ashore to inspect the work. No opposition was offered and they returned, satisfied probably that the battery was a good one, even if built by volunteers. I learn also that for two weeks past several men have been busily employed in mounting sea-cost howitzers at Fort McRae, and in other preparations for defence — this, too, is now stopped. I have seen no published account of the reasons why hostilities were suspended, but presume it has already been made public, as both parties are acting under truce. The rumor here is that the fort is to be held until the fourth of March, and then peaceably delivered over to the officer who may demand it in the name of the Confederate States of America. There may be no truth in this, but it has gained considerable credence, and the recent action of the Federal officers, as well as some chance expressions, seem to confirm it.

’

---

Important report.

The Secretary of the Treasury, in response to the resolution of inquiry made by the House, has submitted elaborate documents, in which he says that it is believed that the duties on imports continue to be collected in the ports of entry established in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida, and that vessels are entered and cleared in the usual manner; but, so far as the Department has been advised, the Collectors assume to perform their duties under the authority of the States in which they reside, and hold and receive the duties subject to the same authority. Only about half the officers of customs in those States have resigned their commissions, while others appear to have entered on their duties to the Governments of those States without considering it necessary to perform this official ceremony — so greatly has the moral tone of individuals been impaired by the examples of disloyalty to the Union.

The documents transmitted embrace the correspondence relative to the Customs in New Orleans, the Mint, etc. In speaking of the general subject, the Secretary says ‘that throughout the whole course of encroachment, the Federal Government has borne it with a spirit of paternal forbearance, of which there is no example in history, of a Republic waiting in the patient hope that the empire of reason would resume its sway over those whom the excitement of passion has thus blinded, and trusting that the friends of good order, wearied with submission to proceedings which they disapprove, would, at no distant day, rally under the banner of the Union and exert themselves with vigor and success against the prevailing recklessness and violence.’