Litchfield enquirer., 1869-03-25

~OdSSS~S~~S sAAS S~SSS@D~~
 H. Barnum to Congress-:
 >"1. He is not qualified fol, the position. "2 He has, throughout his past term grossly and inexcusaby neglected the duties of the posi- tion.
 "3 He is shameless, wholesale corrupter of 70, ters." To our charges the editor of the Sentinel at first made no reply; but, last week, the Democracy made grand rush on us with no less than five different articles, varying from half column to column in length, and evidently from as many different pens
 We propose to examine these replies only wherever they bear upon our three objec- tions, rejecting surplusage and irrelevant l matter. ta.., ---- Our first charge is denied, point blank !: Hundreds of men throughout the State. with whom he has business relation, know that whether in public assembly or in the private meeting ofa corporation, there is no man who can speak with greater clearness or to more purpose. than the Hon. Wm H. Barnum. have heard Mr. Barnum make speech whenI felt proud of him. aE 4Yati. saa5s-. sgs
 That millionaire, speaking before stock holders or directors meeting of Q corpora ton of which he probably owned control' ling interest, should be listened to with att tention, and, on announcing 50 per cent dividend with ''pride" even, will surprise no one. But that MT. Barnum should ever summon the confidence to rise in Congress and speak on any question whatever, would we feel certain astonish those most who know him best. The case of President l Grant is not parallel one. He has not been elected member of deliberative body; were such the case, his incapacity as public speaker would certainly have been serious objection. If the public opinion l of the District does Mir. Barnum injustice in this respect, he can easily right himself. If he is, as the Sentinel asserts, thoroughly versed in all questions of finance and na- tional policy, let him follow Mir. Boards. ley's excellent example and address his constituents on those questions but if he cannot open his mouth before few hun dred friends. he will hardly make himself heard in the House of Representatives.
 Our second charge, the Sentinel also de- clares to be ''totaNy without foundation:" MT. Barnum has worked day and night" answering letters. he has labored for Protec- tion (queer Democratic argumentO 'has been faithful and hardworking member notwithstanding the fact that his ayes and noes do not appear as often" &c. Now, in the face of all these false statements stands the record itself, showing that Mir. Barnum was absent from his seat just about two thirds of the time that the Fortieth Con- gress was in session. The most confident assertions will hardly counterbalance that.
 With regard to our third and most im- portant objection to the election of Mir. Barnum, the replies are wilder and more feeble, if possible, than to our two first. Only one deserves notice-that if there had been any conclusive evidence against Mir.
 Barnum he would have been busted from
 his seat. It must be recollected that the
 tee. NeItner party bfesseu the nfatref: Republicans were not anxious for another campaign with Mir. P. T. Barnum as their
 standard-bearer. The sitting member was anxious that no more damning evidence should come out against him; and the case remained unfinished till the last session, when the press of businesss rendered it i'm possible to give MT. W. IT.. Barnum his deserts. Now, how rests the case against that gentleman? The Sentinel itself admits that thousands were spent to prevent poor men from being bribed by MT. P. T. Bar nun. That these thousands were furnish. ed by MT. Wm. H. Barnum it does not de- ny. Let us look at the evidence sworn to before the committee, extracts from which will be found in another column, and see if MT. Barnum was probably aware of the way in which those thousands were used: l- le-
 In the first place we have the evidence of Mr. John McMurtry, man whose word no one would doubt, that Mir. Barnum tried to buy his influence in the town of Cornwall. Then we have the evidence of MT, Barnum's employee, Eli Ensign, that $2, 500 were drawn from bank on the mor- ming of election and no entry made on the books of the firm to show the disposition of that money. We have the further evi- dence of MT. Ensign that he bribed from thirty five to forty workmen in the employ of Barnum, Richard & Go, with ''presents" of $1O. each. We have also the evidence, of Henry E. Wetherell, ''in company with w. H. Barnum and Wm J. Canfield in the iron bushes" that he bribed three or four voters, who pretended they had been of- fered $25 by Republicans, with $1O each, and that the money was refunded to him by Mir. 1ali Ensign. Barnum's agent. All this, except the testimony of McMurtry, comes directly from Mr. W. H. Barnum's trusted agents and political friends. Taken in connection with the wholesale corrdp- tion proved to have been practiced in Salisbury and the adjoining towns, with the absconding of four important Demo- cratic witnassos ono If fhav,o m, ;r~ooAa. of