Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1855-11-23
WASHINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP.

erescence growing up on the public service,
than that of the interminable demands for
extra compensation, which have been
brought of late years against this or that
branch of the Government. In old times such
an idea was unheard of, though now It seems
TO be taken for granted that Congress at least
will honor any draft whatever on the public
purse, made under the plea Of the performance
Of services in addition to those alleged by the
applicant to appertain peculiarly to the par
ticular Office or position, the duties of which he
was originally employed to discharge We
are reminded of this fact by the plea set up
In the letter Of DOM Piatt Esq, Ex-secre-
tary Of Legation at Paris, to the conductors
of the New York Times, referred to in our
issue of w ednesday. In that, Mr.. P. intimates
that having been forced to act as Charge d. At
flares during the illness Of the chief of the
Legation, his personal expenses were necessa-
rily much greater than they would have been
otherwise.
To ga man up tree" that means that no
is coming TO Congress with claim for extra
compensation for extra services so performed;
more especially as he takes due care to re-
mark that his predecessor in the Secretary
ship Of the Legation, was awarded ST. 900 by
Congress, for acting temporarily as . Cha rye
d'Afaires. ..
Without stopping to argue the question of
the propriety of that action Of the National
Legislature, We may not inappropriately say
that Mr.. Sanford (the predecessor in question:
acted as Charge when there was no full minis
ter to France in commission Not so Mr..
Piatt. During all the time the latter was in
Paris, on behalf of the Government of the
United States, Mr.. Mason was the Minister,
being duly paid as such, and being absent
from his post only when his health was in o
condition to force him to seek its improvement
through flying trips to other parts of the con-
tinent. If he, Mr.. Piatt,) was a charge DAT
fairies; except by his own appointment, we
are curious to know by whose authority he
was commissioned; as the President certainly
Charge to a court at which this Government
has full minister accredited. Indeed, it was
understood in Paris that when Mr.. P. was
| playing Charge there, the Government took
| occasion to disclsim his authority so to do;
and that Mr.. Minister Mason disclaimed ever
having left him in any such official position;
| or in any other than that Of plain Secretary
of Legation.
We have no disposition whatever to discuss
the condition of Mr.. Piatts accounts in Paris
| with which the newspapers in New York have
been directly and indirectly busy of late,
but we do not feel it incumbent on us to be
equally as silent under the intimation in his
letter, that he has claim on the Government
for extra services as a Charge d'Afaires. In
truth, this whole system Of extra allowances
for nominal extra services is an extremely
vicious one, and the sooner it is brought to an
end, the better it will be for the future Of every
branch Of the public service.
A Verdict.-The verdict of the jury re-
Gently trying Judge Sidney H. Stuart, Of the
New York Criminal Court, will strike the
mind of the country at large most painfully.
The facts evolved in the course Uf the progress
Of the case have produced very general i'm
preston that he is a corrupt msn-one utterly
unit to discharge duties such as those with
which he is entrusted. We cannot conceive it
possible that he will not be regarded hereafter
as being quite as bad, morally, as the woman
who was the principal witness against him-a
confessed companion of professional thieves,
burglars, and other disreputable people. lie
was acquitted because, while it was satisfac-
torily proved that he received $500 from her,
las she alleges,) for procuring a mol. pros. of
the indictment for burglary, hanging over
her husband in the court over which he
(Stuart) presided, it might possibly be that he
received it as a loan rather than o bribe-her
testimony on that point with reference to the
consideration for the paymenD being unsup-
ported.
There is no question as to the illegally and
gross improperly Of the steps he took to get
the indictment quashed, or with reference TO
his long and close intimacy with the disre-
putable witness above referred to. The jury
coupled with their strange verdict of "pot
guilty" under the circumstances, proviso
that reminds us strongly of the verdict of the
Arkansas jury trying the horse thief" not
guilty, provided he leaves the State" They
pronounce that he has been guilty of gross ir-
Irregularities and improprieties in the discharge
Of his official duties, and on that account re-
commend him to resign; which advice, we
already learn from New York, he has not the
least idea of following. We question whether
the public functionaries of any country or
city that ever existed were more corrupt than
those of New York are at this time; if one may
fairly draw conclusions from the testimony
brought out on this trial, and the action Of
the grand jury in several very similar cases
Ar. Secretary Dobbin We are satisfied
that there is no truth in the accounts in Wash
ington correspondence to the New York pa
psrs, saying that this gentleman designs re.
signing bis position in the Cabinet.