FRANKLIN W. SMITH, a Boston contractor, was tried by court-martial, and found guilty of pocketing a thousand or two dollars out of a contract with the Navy department for supplies. The report of the court-martial was sent to President Lincoln for his examination, who returned it with this characteristic indorsement:

“Whereas, Franklin W. Smith, had transactions with the United States Navy Department to a million and a quarter of dollars, and had the chance to steal a quarter of a million; and whereas, he was charged with stealing only then thousand dollars, and from the final revision of the testimony it is only claimed that he stole one hundred dollars, I don’t believe he stole anything at all.

“Therefore, the records of the court-martial, together with the finding and sentence, are disapproved, declared null and void, and the defendant is full discharged.

A. LINCOLN.”