The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-10-07

submitted to it since the present dynasty was
established.
The Roman question, then, viewed in its
present form, may prove good Imperial card
for the time. Even if the movement should
result as the revolutionary party expect it TO
do there is much gained for the Emperor aud
his system in turning up as the Chief Defender
| of the Faith. There is a diversion of the
| political mind of France from the serious
| humiliation involved in the defiance so coouy
| thrown down by the PTussan minister. There
is a chance of demanding indemnity from
! Italy for what Imperial logic might easily
| prove to be violation Of the treaty of Sep
tember. And there is, beyond ALL the pros
| pect Of preventing the domestic concerns of
France from thrusting themselves too rudely
| before the Imperial eye and under the gaze of
Europe. Whether these Roman outbreaks
are the work solely Of the revolutionary party,
or whether they are encouraged by outside in
iluence, they inure, for the time, to the credit
and sustenance of French Imperialism.
A Way to Reduce the Public Dobt.
From The ". T. World
In prosecution for larceny proof may be
given of possession by the accused of the stolen
article. So, too, possession of a large amount
of money, several weeks after the criminal act,
not identified as the stolen property, is admit
ted as tending to prove, in connection with
evidence Of the previous property of the de-
fendant, single act of larceny by him. We
remember to have read a report of case tried
in Massachusetts, where the charge against
ticket-master of railroad, was in the nature
of embezzlement, extending over a period of
two years. The railroad brought a civil action
against its former ticket-master, claiming to
recover of him a large sum, upon the
ground that he had fraudulently distracted
and appropriated it to his own use while
4 4. H.. - -
road could not establish its case by direct
proof, but was compelled to resort to circum-
stantial evidence. 1t offered to prove that
the defendant, when he entered upon the
employment referred to, was insolvent; that
his salary had been limited to a certain
amount, and that, subsequent to his alleged
misdoings, he was the owner of largo property,
far exceeding the aggregate of all his salary
while in the service of the railroad. This
proposition was denounced by the counsel of
| the ticket-master as monstrous in law, and
| not sanctioned by the rules of evidence. 1t
| was urged that to permit the introduction of
evidence by the railroad of the defendants
poverty and riches, would compel the latter
| to prove transactions and negotiations during
| all that time from which the property in his
| possession resulted. The Court, however,
| admitted the evidence, telling the jury that
| it was not a competent way to prove that
| money had been distracted from the railroad,
|
that the railroad had really lost money, then
| they could consider the insolvency and subse-
| quent solvency of the ticket-master as bearing
on the inquiry whether he had abstracted or
| appropriated the money.
| 1t would be edifying to see this rule of law
| practically applied by the Government to its
| internal revenue officers, in a suit begun to
recover money belonging to the United States
| embezzled by them, That the Government
| has lost money can be substantated by the
| Tribune editors, who assert that half a million
day is fair statement of the amount. The
| next question would be whether the accused
| officer of the internal revenue had taken any.
| and how much. A plenty of witnesses could
be called to testify to the general bad charac-
ter, in an official sense, of the men appointed
by the present Republican administration, and
confirmed by radical Senate. Commissioner
Wells, in his report of December, 1866, says
''That a very large percentage of these
losses is due to the incompetency, neglect or
completely of officials, no one who has
had any experience in the supervision of
our revenue system can doubt" Mr.. McCul-
lOch, in his communication to Congress of
July Is, 1867, testifes that his "oficers have
been not only inefficient in the discharge of
their duties, but in many cases they have been
suspected of direct completely with dishonest
men to defraUd the Government" Commits
sioner Rollins declares, under date of July l6,
| lSOi:-'I regret TO state that dlStlllerS and
holders of spirits seem to have turned their
attention to cOrrupting the revenue officers
themselves, and am mortified by the apparent
frequency of these cases." TO remedy this evil
and stop the admitted embezzlement, the
Metropolitan Revenue Board was organized-a
tempomzing eXpedient, which treated only
symptoms, and did not touch the cause of the
disease. But the Board has, by the necessity
Of removing one of its members, furnished
other testimony useful to the Government in
| the suit we are considering.
There would be testimony enough forth
coming to justify introduction of evidence as
to the insolvency of most of the internal reVe-
nue. and law officers when appointed, and
their better pecuniary condition now. We
can imagine the feelings with which some OH
Ger of the Government in New York or Ohio,
or Michigan, or elsewhere who, as collector
assessor, special agent, or district attorney
has been concerned in the administration OF
the revenue law, cOntemplates the disclosures
in his case if the facts were made public OF his
slender means, economical habits when ap-
pointed to Office, and his changed condition
now, with fine house, plenty of horses
much jewelry, and altogether unlike the
poverty-stTicken individual he was when he
passed the ordeal of a Republican Senate
And yet, Republican oflice-hoder, the time
may not be far distant when the people VIII
demand all these things to be revealed ana
the guilty one to be victim of that justice
which conquered KohDstainer, and so wres-
tied with Henderson, publisher of the @'"y
Post.
To the public this legal notion of ours holds
out bright visions of reduced indebtedness