[19] This dispatch, after remaining unquestioned for more than a month and for several weeks after the date of this speech, was finally contradicted by the French authorities. See Telegram from Minister Washburne to Secretary Fish, March 19, and Note from the French Chargé at Washington, M. de Bellonet, to same, March 30, 1872: Report of Committee on Sale of Ordnance Stores,—Senate Reports, 42d Cong. 2d Sess., No. 183, pp. 524, 604.
[20] Speech of February 14th: Congressional Globe, 42d Cong. 2d Sess., pp. 1008, 1013. This important letter may be found in the Report of the Select Committee on the Sales of Ordnance Stores by the United States Government during the Fiscal Year 1871-72: Senate Reports, 42d Cong. 2d Sess., No. 183.
[21] Ante, p. 12.
[22] Joint Resolution, July 20, 1868: Statutes at Large, Vol. XV. p. 259.
[23] Executive Documents, 42d Cong. 2d Sess., H. of R., No. 1, Part 2, pp. 250, 251.
[24] De l’Esprit des Lois, Liv. III. chs. iii. vi.
[25] Senate Reports, 36th Cong. 1st Sess., No. 278, pp. 140, 253.
[26] Law of Evidence, Part II. ch. xiii.
[27] Ibid., p. 250 (Rex v. Hardy, 24 Howell’s State Trials, 808).
[28] Ibid.