The Bellona Arsenal guns
--Another Statement.--A letter from the Secretary of War to J. M. McCue, of Virginia, was published a few days since, denying that any order had been given for the removal of the guns from Bellona Arsenal to Fort Monroe. The Enquirer publishes the following letter, showing that an order had been given:
Ordnance office,
--You will please forward to Richmond the cannon at your foundry which have been inspected for the United States, with as little delay as practicable; and as soon as they are shipped from that place the amount due on the last inspection will be-paid.The Quartermaster's Department has authorized Messrs. W. D. Colquitt & Co., Ship Brokers, to receive the guns and to attend to the re-shipment, and the delivery had better be made alongside the vessel that is to transport them to Fort Monroe Arsenal, for which the usual amount paid for hauling will be paid to you.
On the same day that the letter to Col. McCue was written by the Secretary, denying that any such order for the removal of guns had been issued, a letter was written to Mr. A. M. Barbour, of the Convention, by Capt. Kingsbury, of the Ordnance Department, informing him that, by direction of Col. Craig, the order for the removal of the guns had been countermanded. How could an order be countermanded that never had been given?
The Ordnance Bureau is a part of the organization of the War Department. Is General Cameron so ignorant of his duties as not to know what has been done in one of the subordinate Bureaus of his department, or is this a deliberate misrepresentation intended to operate on and influence the action of the Virginia Legislature?
A letter from Quartermaster Gen. Johnson, to Messrs. W. D. Colquitt & Co., dated 22d March, states that an agent of the Ordnance Department would deliver to them fifty cannon, which they were directed to forward immediately to Lieut. Taylor, at Fort Monroe, who would pay all charges.
