The sun., 1870-03-09
THAT LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT.
The Gold Panic Invcstiga tou-wbnt Ohio
People Think.

CorvesDondeHce Of ne Cincinnati Commercial
TuE ARLISGroY March 9, 1s70.--You will recol-
lect that some four months since called attention
TO the belief, in certain quarters that high onicas
Of the Administration were implicated in the in
famous GouldFisk- k-Corbin conspiracy, through
which so many thousands were ruined and our en-
tire business thrown into state OF painful un-
certainty aud confusion
I said then that the evidence duplicating Presi-
by special messenger from the brother~in-law Cor
bin TO the President at Washington, Pa.
My letter setting forth these facts gave rise, am
assured TO the investigation since made ny the Com
mittee on Banks and BANKING in the House.
This morning the report OF the majority is pub
lished and lis searching Inquiry is only equalod by
the dexterity with which all Is omitted that the peo
pie most desired to know.
which referred, hut Gen. Garfield, who. on all
other points, Is as keen and shrewd as lean ndvo-
cate after contingent Fee walks around this letter
trap with egg In II. He eyes the egg longinrly
but breads to spring the trap. The questions put to
Gen. Porter are neat specimens OF the question sug
gestive. We must remember that the report admits
the importance Of this letter and yet here s the way
%eBo yon know wheshcp the letter r. addressed to
the Tresldeht Is ia exisIeqce or Soti Any under
S * ,Ss SS S s S e,sns s
Iss' tSst "a % are q es great
DIR that letter were in existence would you have
EnSNsSsS q tF Alt would be In my custody IN all
Note the artistic dcllcocy and beauty Of that e1a,
mination. The sweet euggestiyeness OF the hrst
question IL beond oil praise, " Do you know wbe
ther the letter is in existence notl" And so the
scholarly Garfield might have gone, aud corrugated
the vero to know
do we Know" &c.
Andsso through all the modes and lenses. And
the learned Porter could respond understanding
In your understand" And then how delicate tho
proposition that this letter, II Ia existence, would
thing 70 pu the letter oS Se m ss se sp
the habit Of bis Exceency to destroy letters. That
question, too, Is so suggestive. Not leading ques
what is the habit OF the President in that respect
whether he is in the habit of DESTROYING letters ad
great msuy-all that are not Of Importance for the
nles.' This one YVES not important for the files,
"argel," u was destroyed. And this Ia the under
celiency the President The shrewd Garfield had
said to himself that 1t was better to have this uay
letter destroyed. He therefore suggests its destruc
was destroyed.
- But tho contents were not DESTROYED. Certainly
Corbin could have given US copy. The President,
who has hurried before the committee and the coun-
Try every other letter. every other scrap Of his,
bearing on this business, Is strangely reicent when
II comes to this most important mission OF them ALL
Any man is u stuffed iool who deoounces this re-
and artistic piece OF painting ever turned out
And so TAR as Grant In concerned, the finding OF the
mot proven" The foul odor yet remains. What
with the open worship of rich men, the ready aocep
lance Of rich gifts, thst ugly sale OF the patronage Of
OF the git house, thoughtful people say, "Well, IL
would have been better 70 have given that eter" "
Corbin, Gould, Fisk, Butter1eld, and all concur in
asserting that no high o1icial had anything to do
with the conspiracy. Poor devils. they stand with
ropes about their neeks, and are glad to escape on
any terms. They might duplicate the President, but
ia 80 doing they would swing themselves. As the
Administration seems as willing to drop the affair
the wcllknOwn actors arc, the general impulse on
the part OF all concerned 10 to let 1t 20.
The strangest rart OF the affair, and the indi-
cative ot the spirit that animated the investigation,
is 10 be 'ound IN the use Of the Presidents letter to
boutwell,, written wnon about taking the train for
Washington Pa, where Corbin's mysterious letter
found the Administration engaged In the innocent
game OF croGuet. This letter actually advises Bout
wcll TO pursue the course insisted upon BY Cor'in
Fisk, and Could II advised him " to move on with
out chanzo. TO move on without change was
precisely what the rogucs wanted.
II would have been better, and, in fact. more dig
niied, had the committee called upon an parties i'm
plic1ted TO come forward ana testify. We ought to
lave enough OF The ola Jefofsonian Democracy left
20 consider tho President on the witness stand
no better than any other citizen OF the Republic :;
but this walking on up-toe and speaking with batcd
breath In the presence Of Official royalty makes
the true patriot sick We seem 10 be losing rapid
ly all that makes Repuohc distinctive aud dear
to Us.