Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1852-10-20
The Great Gardner Fraud-Mr. Corr
wins Connection with il. Y

on publishing the report of the committee nppoin-
ted by the House of Representatives to investi-
gate the claim-This article states sundry facts
in relation to this fraud, OF momentous interestto
the people of Ohio. we call attention to this
article The facts stated are all sustained by the
Report, which we shall publish in full on next
Tuesday.
The report of the committee appointed to in
| vestigate the connection of the Hon. Thomas
Corwin with the celebrated Gardiner claim, will
be found at length in the columns of the Union
this mourning. AS it is document that has
been long looked for, it will be read with deep
interest. The report is signed by two democrats
and one whg and its statements are the result of
laborious and candid investigation of the facts.
We do not intend at the present time to enter in
to any lengthy comment upon the evidence dis
closed by this committee, the conclusions agreed
upon, or the parties implicated. But we do not
hesitate to say that the report presents picture
political profigacy and of personal ahasement
which has not been paralleled in the history of
the present administration, from the days of the
Galphins down to the present hour.
Our readers will recollect that the committee
to investigate into this CLAIM, was raised at the
last session of Congress, upon resolution offer
ed by Hon. Edison B. Olds, of Ohio and amend
ed Hon. R. K. Meade, of Virginia; and that, in
the course of the discussion preceding the adop-
ton fthe resolution by the House of Represen-
tatiyes, Hon. Lewis D. Campbell, of Ohio, the
friend of Mr.. Corwin, and now one of the imme-
diate abolition friends of Gen. Scott, made the
following declaration.
''The proofs were furnished by Gardiner and
his agents; and have the authority of the mem
bers of the board of commissioners, composed, as
it Yves, of distinguished men and able iurists, fer
saying that there was no clearer case presented
| to that board than this of Gardiner. The papers
were most perfect, both in matter of form and
substance, and contained internal evidence by a
combination of corroborative circumstances, to
force the conclusion that the claim was just. 1t
was allowed"
DR.. Olds, in reply, took issue with this state
ment; and the fact is now established upon the
amplest evidence, that the Gardiner case WAS
FRAUD THROUGHOUT, AND THAT IT WAS so BASE
FRAUD THAT THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WHO
HENsIoN AND REBUKE. In this conclusion the
committee ofinvestigation, of both parties, fully
agree! The following facts are also made cleal
by this report; aud ask the reader to pause anc
ponder upon them:
1st. That Mr. Corwin, whilst acting as Senator
from the State of Ohio, and receiving eight dol
lars per day for watching oevr and guarding the
nationol treasury, took large contingent fee fol
the prosecution of a claim against the United
States-the amount of his fee depending upon
the amount of money he could get out of the
United States treasury. '-7s SO
I'd. That when he was appointed the head o.
the Treasury Department under the present adj
tional treasury and when this claim, if paid. mus,
be paid upon his warrnat, he sold his contingent
claim for large sum of money.
We may be answered, that the committee Of
investigation declare that in their opinion Mr.
Corwin did not know that the Gardiner claim was
fraudulent but it is apparent and undeniable,
that he received large sum of money for his SER
vices in this case; that he advocated it in the face
of the notorious suspicious that surrounded it
suspicious even shared by the commissioners,
! (who were censured by the committee;l and that
he stH retains the money and refuses to surrender 1t,
the ground that he did not knoo the claim ,oas q
fraud! As it is now proved to be fraud, which
public opinion long suspected it to be, Mr.. Cor
win can rid himself of all completely in the dis
honor Of the cleim by returning the money to the
public treasury. He is bound to do this. The
law may not be sufficient to compel him to do it;
but common equity and justice to the plundered
treasury of the people demand that he should pay
it back to the treasury; make it good to those who
purchased his interest in the claim; and stand be-
fore the world vindicated from the condemnation
which his present position will draw upon him
from honest men of all parties. ~,
There are other important points in this report
which we shall discuss hereafter. 1t presents a
most revolving picture of the morals of the pres
ent Scott leaders-the men who sat in the board
of Mexican eommissioners-who decided in favor
of this utterly groundless clain-who urged it
through-and who received the greater share of
the proceeds. The fact that no such mine ever
existed in the district of San Luis Potosi as that
upon which the claim was based; the fact that
Mr.. Gardiner is now indicted for his connexion
with it, and is awaiting his trial under heavy sure
ties before courts the fact that the board that
decided in favor of this claim admit that they them
selves suspected it; the fact that they neverthe-
less decided it just; the fact that, in the face
of the suspicious that. surrounded the claim, the
board never sent to Mexico to establish its true
character; the fact that this board was composed
of decided wings, and Scott wings withal; the fact
that this board has been censured by the commit
tee; and, finally, the fact that Mr.. Corwin, now
the whig Secretary of the Treasury, and now the
confidential friend of General Scott, advocated