Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-01-24

forgotten, but which he had opposed by
every open act of his life. He was prob
ably fresh from one of these syDS9osSo
when he went into court In the Sickles
case, and loudly Dragged that he was the
son OF stGoe holding parents; his father
was North Carolinian, and his mother a
Virginian. You may see that part of his
speech on page fifty-one of the printed
trial. 1t is hard to run with the hare and
hunt with the hounds, but Stanton seems
to have mastered the difficulty. = - y
| There is another fact corroborating your
view, which you have not mentioned,
but of which you are fairly entitled to
the benefit. When Mr.. Stanton went
into the War Department, he immediate
ly began to act with reckless disregard of
bis sworn duty. He surrounded himself
with the most loathsome miscreants, and
used them for the foulest purposes. Law,
| justice and humanity were utterly out
ragged. Those who knew him as / did,
and heard him curse the perpetrators of
such crimes only month or two before,
exercised the charity which belieyeth In
all things, and concluded that he was
moved by some head long impulse which
had suddenly reyolutionized his thoughts,
feelings and principles of action. But
your proofs show that in the kindness of
our construction we did not give heed
enough to the maxim, Memo repeate
fuit ta@2oSSSin1xS. Such depth could
not he reached by single plunge. The
integrity of his moral nature must have
previously undergone that gradual process
of decomposition which could result only
from long and sympathetic association
with the enemies of the Constitution. i.
On the whole, it must be admitted that
you have made out this part of your case,
With Democrats he was Democrat, en-
joying their confidence and taking their
favoIs, while he caused tito be well under
stood among linen of your school in mo-
rails and politics" that his devotion to the
Democracy was entirely simulated. 1t is
now also clear beyond doubt that to
Southern men he avowed himself full
blooded secessionist The testimony of
Gov. Brown to that effect is as good
as any that you have produced to prove
him an abolitionist, and you have made
the fact so probable in itself, that very
slight proof would be sufficient to estab-
list it.
Is not my conclusion fair one from
the premises, that this is the most "mar-
velous" imposture upon Iecord9 Does
the history of the world hold on all its
pages of wonders another case in which
q man has raised himself to the highest
public employments under two different
parties of Numerically opposite and hos
tile principles, by making simultaneous
professions of fidelity to both of them2
Do not mention Sunderland, for his ny
pocrisy gained him nothing; nor Talley-
rand, for he was merely trimmer; nor
Benedict Arnold, for he acted his double
part only during few months, and closed
it with ignominous failure. To fcd a
parallel, you most go to another scene of
action. and far lower line of life. iona
than Wild for twenty years imposed him
self on the London police as an honest
man and a most jealous friend of Justice,
pretended to assist the officers in their
business, and shared richly in their re-
wards; but during all that time he was
the adviser, the ''guide, philosopher, and
friend" of the principal thieves in the
city, and to them he constantly betrayed
the measures taken by the public author
tiles for the preservation of order and
law.
WAS STANTON AN RMBBzzLRRf
A word before we part about the two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars raised
out of the Treasury for Gov Morton.
Taking your account of that business as
correct proved in my former letter that
it was in the highest degree criminal.
You left no escape for the conclusion that
the parties were guilty of embezzlement
under the act of 1916. Your narrative
of the transaction impressed it with all
the marks of what is called in the flash
language of Washington ga big steal >"
You showed that the parties themselves
30 understood it at the time, for you put
a conversation into their mouths by which
they are made to admit their liability to
prosecution and imprisonment.
l saw plainly that this could not be
true. Mr.. Stanton's worst enemies never
charged him with that kind of dishonesty,
and Gov Morton had a reputation which
placed him far above the suspicion of
such baseness. Both of them may have
had serious faults, but they would not
rob the treasury under any circumstances,
or for any purpose. l asked three mem
bers of the Indiana delegation whether
there was any foundation for your asser-
ton; they all answered no, and gave me
the explanation which used in my pub
lished letter.
rnvl;oo4;r,, 20 fhfa V1nipf &c O,,a Of
the most astonishing parts of all your
wonderful production. denied that
Messrs. Stanton and Morton had commit
ted felony, and gave a version of the
affair which showed them both TO be
perfectly innocent. You grow ill-tem-
percd and vituperative upon this, and
charge me with "unconcealed, not to say
ostentatious, malignity." I confess this
is turning the tables upon me in way l
could not have expected. In general, the
malignity is presumed against the party
| who makes an injurious charge, not
against him who repels it.
There might have been some hopes for
you yet if you had reeanted your first as
| sertion, or admitted the errors of your
statement, or made some effort to explain
away the effect of it, by showing that
you did not mean what you said. But
you hold fast to every word of it; not
syllable do you retract. On the contrary,
you insist that it is efirOntery in me to
affirm that a debt was due to the State,
and that it was paid according to law.
What you say in your last, in addition TO
your first statement, makes the case look
worse than it did before. But it is not
true. The payment was not made on ac-
count of arms furnished to loyal citizens
! in rebellious States, nor was the money
| given to the Governor to be disburSed by
him on his own responsibility, as agent of
| the President. This much l can say on
| the official authority of the present Secre
tary of War, who wrote me on the 9th
| of last month that ''the transaction ap-
pears to be based upon the claims of the
State of Indiana for expenses incurred
in raising volunteers.
But Gov. Morton is still above ground,
and can take care of himself. If he
made raise out of the public treasury
without authority of law, and in defiance
of the penal statutes in such case made
| and nrOVided he OWES il to Won to con-