The Portland daily press., 1869-03-30

USE First Page To-Day-The Revolution in
Hayti-Anocities of the Insurgents; Curious
Superstition in Indiana; Woman's Wages: A
Yankee in the New York Sewers; Recent Pub
lications; Gleanings and Gossip.
Fourth Page-The Madrono; The Boy Who
Wouldn't Lie; Gibraltar Caves
The Charges of Corruption against Pub
lie Men.
Ii tithe of the charges against our most
prominent public men have the slightest foun-
dation the experiment of republican govern
ment is failure, and the sooner we invite one
Of the younger sons of Queen Victoria, refu-
gee Bourbon, a stray scion of the house of Or
leans or Gen. Butler to rule over us in dicta-
torial capacity the better There are plenty OF
Kings out of business who will take our httie
affairs off our hands in no time upon tne
smallest possible amount OF sollcitaton' Ma
poleon has cousins by the score VINO desire
nothing better than to setup Dranch OF the
imperial establishment ON this side of the At
lantic and would be glad to put up the tricolor ON
the capitol and the White House with out delay
Canada would take the States for a small con-
sderation, and incorporate them into the Do
minion, thus saving further fretting about re-
ciprocity, the fisheries or the navigation of the
st. Lawrence and other Canadian waters.
There is hardly one Of our high officials up
on whose reputation somebody somewhere and
sometime, has not attempted to fix stigma.
Our late President made himself Justly an OBJ
iect of suspicion and >dstrust by keeping
about him an army of corrupt pardon-brokers,
whiskey thieves and dissolute women, and by
exercising the pardoning power in manner
that only the broadest charity can reconcile
with pure and patriotic intentions. 1t is said,
however, that he retires to his home in Ten
nessee no richer than he came to Washington,
and it consequently becomes necessary to as
sumo that his weakness and want of capacity
are sufficient to account for his malfeasance in
office. But his Secretary of the Treasury and
Postmaster General will hardly escape in this
way. Randall and McCulloch have been
charged so generally and with such particular
ity of detail with corrupt practices that only
equally specific counter-statements can save
them from lasting reproach The Internal
Revenue Bureau'of the Treasury Department
has also been freely accused of the most wick
ed practices, but Commissioner Rollins never
theless goes out OF Office with the confidence
and respect of the best men in the country
Secretary Browning of the Interior Depart
ment, it is alleged, so managed the affairs OF
the Indian Bureau as to give thieves almost
unlimited scope for plumber Secretary
Welles was charged at times during his tenure
of Office with the gressest partiality and nepot
ism in awarding the contracts of his branch of
the government. John p. Hale, Minister to
Spain, accuses Secretary Seward of being in
terested with Secretary of Legation Perry in
Spanish jobs which made it impossible for him
to perform his official duties in an upright and
disinterested manner.
One of the most remarkable cases of damag.
ing attacks upon the character of public
man is that furnished by the New York Com
merbial Advertiser, paper of considerable in
fuence, which daily accuses Mr.. Fenton, the
newly-elected New York Senator, of such
conduct in his official capacity of Governor as
would send him to the penitentiary for se-
ries of years if the charges could be sustained
Since the failure of Mr.. Thurlow Weeds
health Hugh J. Hastings has taken charge of
the Advertiser, and he is supposed to be the
man who manages the war on Fenton. Hast
it seems; yet it is marvellous that man of
Fenton's standing and antecedents can permit
to go for single day unrefuted declarations
so specific, so bold and SO calculated to utterly
destroy his influence, as those of his enemy
The Advertiser has over and over again stated
that Governor Fenton received money for
signing or Withholding his signature from GER
tain bills-has told who paid the money, how
much it amounted to and who paid it, Yet
Fenton makes no sign, and the eminent body
of men with which he is associated has taken
no measures to investigate the subject, as it
ought to do, and either vindicate the character
of the Senator or hurl him from his official
seat, if it is found that there is reasonable
ground for supposing him guilty.
Other Senators, like Harlan of Iowa and
Pomeroy of Kansas, are accused of being un-
duly influenced in their official acts by the
money of the great railroad corporations of
the West. Harlan has made his defence and
denies that he has grown rich in the Senate,
but Pomeroy has been content to let time set
him right before the country. The so-called
carpet-bag 6euErUrs and REPRESENTATIVES, from
the South are peculiarly the object of either
the ISLANDERS or the just reproaches of those
who lie in wait for the detection Of the crimes
of official personages.
Fernando Wood, Representative in Congress
from New York, and James Brooks, his COLI
league, are accused of such practises in their
private lives az no civilized and Christian ma
ton can afford to co1ntenance by leaving
those who are guilty of them unwhipped Of
justice. There are not half of the members of
Congress who have not at sometime been. ac-
cused of selling their votes. There are only
few of the State Legislatures whose menl-
bers are not accused of making merchandise
of themselves and very poor merchandise at
that
Very little of all this scandal, we must hope,
is true. But SO long as men take no pains to
refute it--and an innocent man may almost
always successfully refute whatever slander
enemies my strive to tasten upon him-there
will remain an unpleasant feeling of distrust
and anxiety concerning those upon whom i'm
portant responsibilities rest. The knaves who
are really guilty should be made an example
of, as Mr.. Cumback of Indiana was. By those
who are falsely traduced, scourges should be
prepared for the backs of the slanderers. So
should every man of integrity and virtue rest
secure in the possession of that which of
all things is most valuable to him-his reputa-
ton.
A 1EAl T11nv 10 nf