Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-01-27

oeen made public, The character
arawn of the successful candidate is
not SO well or so generally known.
The New York Commercial ADDER
tiser, staunch Republican paper,
has brought charges against Mr..
Fenton, which, in the purer and bet |
ter days Of the Republic, would have |
covered him with ignominy if they |
had not been promptly met and re
futed. The Advertiser openly accused
him of making his administration, as
Governor of New York, "notori-
Gus by system of black mailing"
Of sharing with his confederates the
profits derived from ali sorts of dis.
reputable jobs, and of retiring from
office with larger bank account,
and more goods, chattels, bonds
and mortgages than when he entered
the Executive Chamber" Finally, it
described him as the most success
full fraud that ever held a high posi-
ton in the government of the
country" declared that his admin
istration was utterly corrupt and
disgraceful, and that no Governor
of New York sever brought the
same amount of scandal to the doors
of the Executive chamber as Reuben
z. Fenton.n
Bold and scathing as these articles
were, and covering as they did i'm
putations of the most serious kind
on the honor and honesty of Mr..
Fenton, the latter has remained to
this day entirely silent. The charges
were libelous, if false The editor
of the Advertiser, Mr.. Hastings,
took upon himself whatever respon-
sibility might attach to them, assert
ed they were true in every particular,
and challenged Mr.. Fenton to bring
the matter before the courts. Mr..
Fenton did no such thing. He went
on quietly intriguing for the Sena-
torial nomination, and succeeded in
getting it; in spite of the stains upon
his character and of the lavish use
of money by Mr.. Morgan.
Accepting simply these statements,
made by the Republicans them
selves, it is quite evident that the
three elements of bribery, intrigue
and the grossest corruption, were
mixed up in the recent Senatorial
contest at Albany.
Turning next to Harrisburg, we
find that Mr.. John Scott has been
nominated by the Republicans to
| succeed Senator Buckalew whose
term of Office expires on the 4th Of
March next. OF this Mr.. Scott
we know very little, except that he
is alawyer by profession, that he was
brought forward as a candidate fol
| the Senatorship under the auspices
of the Pennsylvania Central rail
| road, and that large sums of money
are said, in this instance also, tC
have been used to procure his nomi'
nation. How many members re
quired to be bought we have not tho
means of knowing; but it has been
gravely stated that the price Of &
vote ranged from one thousand up
to five thousand dollars, varying
with the amount of influence which
capable of exerting, and also with
the eXlgencles OF the occasion.
We have referred to these two
cases, because they relate to recent
Republican nominations, and be-
cause the testimony, in respect to
the practices resorted to, is derived,
in the main, from the very highest
Republican sources. 1t may be very
true that they represent but another
phase of that universal corruption
which has spread itself over the
whole body polite since the Repub-
licans came into power; but the
moral is not the less evident, even
though men may not heed it until
the evil has gone beyond all possible
endurance . .r...-. ......