The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-08-02

ne Little Cor fiosu1s nIas 90 sHx WAsniaf IA
Lobby = What Lstais Co.Gdsscv can be
fsscsd ." his T~Ass~".y
One OF She Seward organs-the Ts1acs--of this
city keeps, OF did keep for sOme ycars pas, one
of its re -uted proprietors as letter writer
in Washington who colAbired the business OF
correspondent sitb shat Of lobby scent and Of
broker or the sale of votes. AT the com.
mencemeDt OF she session before last this little
confidence man felt himself impeiled, on account
Of lobby exposures which were then being made
by the HERALD, to come ont ana en5esver IN
~ard Off suspicion from himself by crying out
most yocifer Cusly 'stop thief" He made him
self 20 conspicuous, however, in this assumed
role az to attract the notice Of an investigat
ing committee appointed by the House OF
Representatives to examine into the subject OF
Congressional corruption, and he was accord.
ingly placed on the witness stand before that
committee, to declare under oath all that he
knew on the subject and to "tell the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth
Well, when the confidence man Of toe lobby
first appeared before the committee on the 18th
of January. 1857, be was very pert and GLIB,
and prone to be somewhat communicative. For
instance be volunteered this bit of information,
without any inquiry having been made calcnlat
cd to draw it out =:
Members Of Congress (sa,d he).-mors cus--hAve
Como 70 and asked private iutsrvie<, stating that
they ha; socetAiog cf importance 70 Say 70 me
Having thus entered in9 The intervis~ with iaem, men
beTs OF Congress bsve requested me TO procure Tor them
interests particular named by them pending
before the House satng the amounts which ihes d-alred
10 receive for sucn AID ss they should be able 70 give
This bit of information was volunteered, to
prove to the committee the strong evidence
which this confidence man had that an organi-
cation of members Of Congress was then exist
ing, or had existed since the commencement Of
the previous session, to secure the passage or
defeat of bills for money or other consideration.
The extract which we have quoted had therefore
direct reference to persons who were then mem
bers of Congress. 1t will be recollected, also,
that, on being pressed to give the names of
members who had thus engaged him as their
broker, Smonton lodged and squirmed, and
pleaded moral convictions, aud finally WAS
turned over, as contumacious witness, to the
custody of the Sergeant Arms, until at
length, on the 18th of February following, he
made this statement:
O. By the ChArmar-HAye you been solclclted by any
member Of Tie present Congress- directly or indirectly
70 make any by ~hioo Che meober va 70
receive valuable consideration for his support Of any
measure curing the present Congress-
wiirsss-I oapnoi cay, under oath, tbss have, aud
never have intended 10 be Understood 70 70 mean
That answer satisfied the committee that no
reliance was to be placed or the statements of
such O witness, and 80 he was released from
custody, having been previously expelled from
TIE floor of the House as reporter; but
Mesrs Matteson, Gilbert and Edwards were
expelled as unworthy members, or only saved
themselves from expulsion by resignation.
Events, however, have recently come to light
which show that not alone In the particular
matter referred to above did this yote.broker
prevaricate under oath, but that, as concerned
his own direct lobby dealings his testimony
wac equally unreliable. We will state briefly
the evidence ON this head, and ask how 1t can
be explained away.
On that same occasion, when Simonton was
before the Committee Of Investigation for the
frs. time, be affected to be model Of honor and
ncorruptibility. and in the most approved
PecbsniIian style volunteered the following
neat little certificate of his own virtue -
DO not knew, ~ said before, Of my own knowledge
TIA. money has been pd oou.y 2, mas pen offered
Why 60 not know the fact H. because have given par
tee ready N avail themselves Of such means. 70 under
stand tnAs could be party 10 no such transactions
The committee, however, were not satisfied
with this self whitewashing declaration, but pro-
ceeded to probe deeper into the matter. In the
official report Of the examination OF this para
gon Of virtue and honor, We find the following
questions and answers
by M orr-Hsve you any personal interests, OF have
you had any personal interest," Ia measures nov pending,
or heretofore psnorg before the present Congress-
wHnta-I have rot Any interest In any measures
peDdlg before Congress and have no; had any loyal
tcr,si any measures pending before toe present Con
sre s,, td ty outside parties ,pss 4 Il passed should
receive certz!o conpensaon. have NO legal claim
uIop any such interest AID never have received the
W Mr. Davis-C Can you designate that mcnures
wiibtEs-Yes. cir, II the committee desire II II Twas
the Wisconsin Land oil never expected Any interest In
airy Dill, arr never Rked any, and never hal any
before, stbcush the policy OF granting alternate sections
Ct The pubic lands Tor railroad purposes has Always been
tng. several years ago. These parties this party
IAiter-Io; member Of Corsress-came 70 ms, and said
n sr, you are 10 favor OF this and tha.
believe W. be jus, one, zee from Jour corres
yctdtIee. ttsLe you 10 rerdsr vs. aay personal
at you can in presenting your views Individually.
r,Jld, fhni tsde circumstances could reo.re con-
nistior far oryhi-g nn might rrite aad plitiish; but
soUd aid them by personal effort IN This matter,
Which believed 70 be TgS, sod would accept the CON.
persston u q vss made That = tse whole Of a.
II win be observed that Simonton's whole in
tertst in this Winconsin land grant is thus
represented by himself to have been that he was
told by outside parties that be should receive
a certain compensation If the measure passed;
that be repudated being paid for anything he
might write or publish, but that he said he
would give bis personal influence and accept
compensation IL it was made. Would any one
imsgipe from this testimony that the witness
bad actually at the time q written contract.
signed by himself on one part aud by n. K.
Wheeler, ageR, Of the Chicago, st. Paul and
E,pd An az Raiiroad Cornpanv IN tho .tho.