The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1871-12-20

Wherein Their ways Resemble Each
other. ..,

passion or revenge which would impute
to the President the character of a vul.
gar plunderer like Tweed. But the
President if he approach but little
way toward the bad eminence OF iiobbery
that Tweed attained, would do Infinitely
more mischief, and if possible would
prove himself a far worse man. For
consider the difference of the positions
the two mold, and of what, from nrece-
dent and custom, the public expected OF
their occupants respectively. Tweed
was a New York supervisor: Before
him was the example of long series of
jobbery and iniielity to municipal
trusts. BE did but improve on an
abundance of bad examples. He but
degraded offices already so condemned
by honest men that no tirst-class mer-
chant or professional man of New 7 ork
city would have been willing to accept
them. But Grant is the chief ruler of
great country. His office was the
goal OF the ambition OF the first men in
the land; his seat had been occupied by
men whose names are and ever will De
written among the highest IN the pages
Of human history. And this place, 80
pre-eminentiv honorable in itself and in
It's associations, had been, II not always
adequately Y, YET never dishonesty. filed.
On no former President record had
the .alntest stigma OF personal dishOnor
rested And this seemed natural. The
office IS so hign thai it makes great
man. like Washington or Jefferson,
seem like a demi-god, while il elevates
a common and ordinary man above all
mean temptations to personal fra.ltv.
The nobler impulse of ambition, graft
fed 10 the ,ull IN Obtaining this great
office, should so fill the heart OF any
man not OF the most groveiling and
iespicabie nature. as 10 leave IN II no
room TOR the pettier passions of greed
ana nepotism. # the President 10 5nlt
job sver 50 little. he must be infinitely
meansr md more deteStable than mere
commissioner Of 2vor:S ,0hO ,oo1tLd job srsr
so much. Society mas right TO measure
men by the trust il repOses IN them-;o
whom much IS given. OF him much
snail be required. Bearing this con-
5ideratiOn in mind, let us see what
grounds there are Tor instltuting COM
Darisou between Tweed as ne stood prior
10 the court house disclosures, when ne
vas suspected but not vet proven
plunderer, and the last officer IN the
country who can De psrdoned for DONG
anything even suspicious.
The first ground of suspicion against
Tweed vas that ne went into politics
after his interval OF trade and bank
ruptcvl poor. In ten years ne had be-
come VIGOROUSLY a millionaire, and the
Times correctly as 1t since appears,
Judged that he could not have
honestly made his million ont
d his salary as Supervisor anu
state Senator So Grant 'oent- HtO
JrTcs door and IS notori0llSiy millionaire
Ilready; and ne cannot have made MS
million ont of his official saiarv, or his
legitimate receipts in public service. No
torrner President saved anything IN that
office; most OF them were Impoverished
0v holding il. 1t vas not what his
enemies said of Tweed wealth, out the
0oastings Of his stipendIary organs con-
corning the luxurious appointments Of
his stables, that most fixed public at
tention upon his suspicious riches. And
30. it vas not what political oppo-
aents have vaguely alleged, so much
AZ the enthusiastic adulation Of an adj
hiring correspondent OF the Vest
en- Methodist 4dvoc1te concerning
Grants Missouri farm, with lts three
hundred thousand dollars worth OF
blooded stock and other property there
on. that best enabled men 10 realize the
vastness and rapidity Of the Presidential
accommodations.
The second notorious indication OF
Tweed's political profiigacy vas the
abundant provision ne made Tor ms
relatives in the purlic service. his
sons and sons-in-law, and the sons anu
sons-in.law of his political partners,
we're all in office under him. And 50
with Grant. The Sun has printed re-
peatpdly, uncontradic:ed from any
quarter, a list Of twenty-five or more
relatives whom Grant has appointed
TO office under himself And, TO carry
this parallel one step farther, whatever
their offenses, he will not remove them
His bruther-in-iaw, Casey, actually con-
vened a partisan State Convention IN
the New Orleans Custom House, and
had a detachment of the army of the
United States on hand 10 keep ont dele
rates whom ne opposed, and 10 overawe
and control the deliberations OF such
delegates as he chose to admit. Grant
has not removed Casey, nor even ne
bukei him, for this outrage. Grant 3
father vas proven. on the evidence Oh
his own letter, 10 have sold an appoint
nent in the Federal service for I'VE
hundred dollars. and vet ne IS still re-
tanned as postmaster at Cov'ngton'
Grants brother.in.law, Corbin, was
proven by mis- own admission to nave
ioined in a plot with Fisk az could, not
merely to defraud the people anu 10
suborn a public treasurer, but to traue
mis- family influence over the Fresiuen'
20 the dishonest purposes Of his fellow,
nIot,ers: and Grant, attera bret interval
Of affected displeasure, took Corbiu BACK
aoaiu into his intimate association anu
avowed friendehIp.
A third notorious cause OF Suspicion
Of Tveed's integrity was the general
understanding that he received pre-
ents" from people who had onlcial
fayors to seek at his hands. Everybody
knew or had heard of some one or other
vbo mad mad work to do tor the city OF