The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-07-21
The Famous Nlires Case.

The Famous Mires Case.
We publish in another column the evidence
taken in the famous Mires case, at Paris, and
our readers will find it hardly less interesting
as a description of the conduct Of a French
court of law, than instructive as an expose OF
the mode in which business is transacted upon
the Change Of Paris. AS it stands, the case
seems to be simply this:-Mires, the agent Of
the General Railroad Banking Company, is
charged with stock gambling, swindling and
embezzlement, and, by the evidence, is con-
yicted of the charge. His defence, az far as
revealed, is, that he is an honorable man, of
the greatest delicacy of feeling, and that
he is altogether guiltless of any intention
of defrauding. Upon its face the case seems
to belong to the class of the Paul frauds in
England, and the Schuyler swindle in this
country; and it simply proves that financial
corruption, with its outcroppngs of gigantic
embezzlements and populations, is not confined
to any one nation, and that no one country can
claim exemption from these inevitable accesso-
res Of an immense monetary interest
1t will be remembered, however, what an
immense sensation the discovery Of these
fraudulent transactions of Mires created
when first announced to the world 1t
was said that the greatest personages
Of the French empire were concerned
in and accessory to these frauds; that
the throne of Napoleon himself tremblca at the
shock, and that the government never would
dare have the case brought to trial. We have
not the slightest doubt that there were good
grounds for these rumors; but in the report Of
the trial the government is in no way connected
with the case, except, perhaps, by the am
bguous hints thrown out by Mires, and in
stantly suppressed either by his advocates or
by the Prosecutor General. Different countries
manage these delicate semi-political swindles in
different ways.
In Russia the case would never have been
tried at all, and the government. would not
have cared for the differences drawn from its
suppression. In the United States we should
the newspapers would have teemed with re-
ports Of governmental corruption and with
attacks upon government officials; and foreign
nations would have raised their hands aud
rolled their eyes in holy horror at the manner
in which republican governments are conduct
cd. In England and France they do better
They manage to avoid equally the Scylla
Of complete silence and the Charybdis
of complete exposure. They allow
the case to proceed, and the assumed
offender to be tried, but they keep the govern
ment out Of the muddle, and wash and dry their
dirty clothes behind the convenient screen
of official reserve. That is certainly the
more respectable way, and it better pre-
serves the dignity of the government
but is it as well for the people at
large? Are the dirty clothes washed as spot
less and dried rs pure as if the public took a
hand at the washtub and hung the foul con-
Germs out in the open air?
Scarcely any one needs to be told that
there is more official corruption, swindlpg
and peculation in England or France in
week than we have in this coun-
try in year; but it seems hardly credible
when we consider the comparative noise made
about the matter. Here, in such cases,
every one SHOUTS "a rat. rat.' and the
verlnin is dug out of his hole forthwith
and despatched. There, almost before one
has time to see the rathole, an official
walks up, delicately and politely closes his OIL
factories, seals up the hole with an official
plaster and leaves you in doubt whether you
have really discovered anything after all. But
the rat gnaws away, and is not killed; the pub
lie treasury is drained, and the people are large
everything goes on SO quietly and respectfully.
That is the moral of the Mres affair, and we
should learn from it to like our own way best
in such matters, and bear the lecturings of our
transatlantic monitors more patiently from the
comparison