Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-07-29

terpriseI must be alleged by sworn an
swer. Iftrue, it was equally disgrace.
full to the defendants and the plaintiff,
and. if proven. would insure the dismiss
sal of the petition with reprobation to
the two parties, upon the principle,
among others, IN pari delicto, potion est
condito detendeatis. Demurrer 1overruled
and leave to answer. urr 1dt 81 saia11s|
81 Judge Storer agreed with the other
members of the Court on the question of
the, pleadings, and felt constrained to
say that the whole of the trade as dis
closed in this proceeding, was not only
disgraceful, but tends directly to dis
grace the country. It is the price of
blood. ;is2 7oi 81 .lgisi1a 5suat ~ .biod
appears, from the opinion of Judge
Hoadly, that the firm, Of Mack Brothers,
the defendants, ground their refusal to
pay Jesse R. Grant his one-fourth of the
net profits, according to their agreement,
on the unlawfulness of the service rem
dered by their silent partner. The
whole Court were of the opinion that
such unlawfulness would be a bar to his
claim, but they said that the defendants
had not proved it by sworn testimony;
and gave, them an opportunity to adduce
suce proof. This is the position in which
the case stood at the dates these pro-
ceedings. gr-lls IT, f5 Er.. ,s,gfT5- a..
Even; if it should turn out that there
was. a Treasury permit to give a show of
legality to this cotton speculation, it
must have been procured by the infu-
ence or the sconnivance of General
Grant. There was no other man in the
army to whom Jesse Grant held such
relations as would have made his SER
vices in such a transaction worth one
fourth of the net profits. The defend
ants do not allege that the stipulated
service was not rendered, but that it was
not lawful. That large quantities of
cotton were procured is admitted by
Jesse Grant himself by the very fact of
his bringing this suit. Now what
basis had he for successful speculation
of this kind2 What had he to put in as
an equivalent for capital? What was it
in his power to do to entitle him to one
fourth of the net profits without risking
dollar Of his own money, although the
enterprise was full of hazard? There
can be but one answer; the fund on which
he traded was his relationship to General
Grant. Whatthe Cincinnati firm agreed
to pay him for, was his supposed inhu-
ence with his son. Their expectations
were not disappointed; but failing in
that kind of honor which prevails among
thieves, they sneaked out of their en-
gagement because the stipulated Service
was illegal.
This transaction suggests some very
painful inquiries. Jesse Grant being
self-convicted of trading on his sons in
tiuence in one cotton speculation, how
can it be known that he has not done
the same thing, with equal claims to
profit, in many others? As he had an
equivalent for capital, he could as easily
be silent partner in twenty such spec
ulations as in one. The extent of his
partners transactions must have been
limited by the amount of their capital
or by the amount they were willing to
risk; but Jesse Grant, who risked moth
ing, was under no such limitation in
working the rich placer which he discov-
cred within the military lines of his son.
His other partners may have kept the
honor of thieves, so that as little
+is-kncwn- of their traasectinns as would
have been known of this one, if the firm
of Mack Brothers had stood by their
bargain. Jesse Grant long ago gave up
the tannery at Galena, and changed his
residence to Covington, Kentucky a
convenient point for speculations like the
one which has been exposed. 1t seems
that he made no money by dis cotton
speculation; did he gain the means Of
retiring from the tanning business by
others2 Even if Treasury permits
were in some cases procured, by whose
influence, other than his sons, could
Jesse Grant have procured them2 What
besides this relationship, could have
rendered his services so very valuable
that sharp business men deemed it fol
their interest to pay for them at so high
a rate? We look to the Republican
press for answers. i- - ''''