The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1871-01-12
Secretary Cox and the Me-
Garrahan Business.

Garrahan Business.
-6sXernor Hawley in bis Hartford
Courd gives the following exhanst.
i've rev ~ Of the Cox imbroglioI (
Soon Utter the organiEation II /
The bent Administratlon NJ
Presid in the presence of Sedz L
tary TX, stated substantially th1
this y McGarrahsn was : ysry I
noying and complicated cae6 -
IDLY tinctured with fraud upon Mn |
sides; that it was thcn undefko
in Congress, and ought
not to be acted upon by the Depart
ment until Congress- had dismiessd
or concludedsits investigationA ~
that under the circumstances his
name must not be signed TO 3 pAteht
for either party without personal H. !
rections from him, sitter complete
investigation. Not aware of this di-!
rection Of the President, and fearing
that the case might be passed through
the Department while yet pending
in Congress, tho chairman Of tho
House Judiciary Committse, before
which the claim wes pending, ad-
dressed q motto to Secretary Cox,
asking suspension of action Of the
Department until final decision OF
Congress. TO this Secretary Cox
replied with assurances that no %.
ton would be taken by the Depart
ment until Congress had done with
the case.
This was early in 1869. General
Cox obtained from Attorney General
Hoar an opinion that the depart
ment could not refuse to give acclaim
ant q hearing in due course of law,
simply because Congress had request.
ed q delay. At the next session the
Judiciary Committee required the
counsel for both claimants to agree
that they would not prosecute the
claim before theInterior Department
until it had been decided by Con,
gress. Yet, during the vacation,
General Cox was proceeding to hear
the New Idria Company whom tho
President wrote him that it might
DO we'll enough to examine the case.
but that no patent for the land could
be issued with the Presidents nam
to it until Congress had either deci-
ded the matter or declared its ina.
bility to do so. The President in no
way hindered General Cox from in
vestigatiDg, as has been asserted, but
only exercised his undoubted right
of Withholding his own constructive
signature from a patent. He could
not have been justified in doing other
wise in q case tainted with fraud,
which was in the hands of Congress
under an agreement Of counsel not
to press it in the Department. and
when it seems to bo quite possible
that neither party, but the United
States only. own the land.
In the face Of the plain instructions
Of the President, the uniform prac-
tice Of the Department. and this
positive assurance of the Secretary,
and in the absence Of the President
and Congress, Secretary Cox resume d
the consideration Of the McGarrahan
case with the evident purpose to
determine it himself Statements of
this purpose Of the Secretary reached
the President at Long Branch in such
convincing form az TO draw from him
the letter suspending further action
in the case, thus preserving the
practice and faith of the Department
from the proposed violation of the
Secretary. This it. WAS that gave
the honorable Secretary offence.
This it was that goaded him to an
exhibition of his character as advo-
cate whilst sitting as Judge, and
hurried him into . declaration that
unless he was sustained by the Pres.
ident he must ask to be relieved.
The President of course remained
firm, and the Secretary became con-
vinced that he must retire from his
offensive position or voluntarily
make good his threat of resigning.
Without courage to meet the Presi-
dent with personal explanation OF
his extraordinary position, he finally.
while absent from the city, rendered
his resignation in letter which
based it on the false assumption that
he had not been sustained in his
efforts to reform the civil service.
We submit that this assumption.
which he must have known to be
unfounded at the time he made it,
could only have been resorted to for
the purpose Of misleading the public
Judgment as to the real cause of his
retirement from the Cabinet, or some
other disiEgenuous purpose. The
President is an unsuspicious and for.
bearing man, and in consequence
General Cox, for q brief period,
enjoyed and complaisantly appropri-
ated the congratulations Ct many
worthy people upon his assumed
superiority in purity and firmness Of
character, but the subsequent publ
cation Of the whole correspondence
unmasked him and disclosed the
true character of his action in tho
affair, in direct contrast to tho un-
suspicious and simple honesty and
plain dealing which marked that Of
the President.
This duplicity is no new feature in
the character of the late Secretary
1t has been exhibited on other occa-
sions and in relation to
OTHER SUBJECTS
of political interest. Though born
in Canada, the General early removed
to Ohio. Hewas educated at Oberlin
college, where were many negro stu
dents, and there he became the most
radical of abolitionists. But upon
the earnest opening Of the agitation
for the enfranchisement of the negro,
just after the war, he joined the out.
cry against the movement, and con.
tributod his celebrated "Oberlin let
ter in which he endeavored to prove
that the two races could not live to.
gether in harmony in the United
States. But upon being nominated
by the Republicans for Governor Of
Ohio, he again, as far as possible,
brought his views in harme ny with
the Republican policy. This contin-
ued until the treachery Of Andrew
johnson received the Endorsement of
the Philadelphia convention, when