Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-08-30
woRCE TIE B
FRIDAY. AUGUST so. 1872.
About FarnswOrfh.

Those who know John +. FarnSworth, OF llll-
nois, know very well why he went over TO the
Greeley camp so suddenly; and they know,
also that he has no character to restrain him
from doing anything interruptions by which he
hopes to profit. Up 10 the time Of his sudden
apostacy, he had spoken, publicly and privately,
for Grant and Wilson, in order TO get a renOm-
nation Tor Congress. There were difficulties in
his way. He had sunk so low in the estimation
of his constituents, that they were unwilling 10
tolerate him longer. A much better man, a
man who has character that may be trusted
was selected TO be his successor Farnsworth
Immediately came out for Greeley and Brown
hoping to be nominated by the other side 1t
is impossible to see what good this could do
him; but he sees good in it, and knows that all
his constituents understood his character as
perfectly, before his last performance, as they
understand it now
But, at present, we propose to call attention
10 one of his recent falsihcations. Less than
two weeks ago, Mr.. Farnsworth delivered
speech in st. Charles, Illinois, in which, while
assaiing the president, The played the part of
forger, as well as falsifier. Here is a passage
from that speech:
The president sent in his annual message to
congress- to which desire TO call your atten-
ton. Being on the committee of Reconstruction,
and finding passage in the message which |
will read to you, and which | did not under
stand, took it to the president, as you will see
This is the passage. Speaking of Georgia, he
says: Under these circumstances, would sub
nit to You, that is congress, whether it would
not be wise, without delay, TO enact a law au-
thOrlZing the governor of Georgia., that is Bull
lock, to swear the members originally elected
TO the legislature, requiring each member TO
take the oath prescribed by the reconstruction
act, and none TO be admitted under the third
clause of the constitution
well, as the reconstruction act had never
presented an oath TO be administered to mem
berS of the state legislature, | was at a loss to
conceive what the president meant; for you
would think it would be strange if congress pro-
vded that the peculiar oath should be given to
the members Of the Illinois legislature; it would
be stopping outside of its business. Congress
has provided this test oath for the officers of the
United States government. supposed that the
president had been imposed upon. went up to
him, and said to him; 81 find passage in your
message which l do not quite understand, and
will you be good enough to explain what you
mean by it; and read to him the passage have
just read to you. The president took his cigar
out of his mouth (laughter) after a deliberate
Whit or two, and, looking over, answered me
thus: We'll, really cannot say what that does
mean. Morton put that in" (Cheers and
laughter)
Now it can be shown that, in making this
statement, Farnsworth was guilty of deliberate
forgery and falsehood. His pretended quota
ton from the presidents message is a forgery.
No such passage as he quotes can be found in
any message of President Grant; and his story,
in which he says he went up to the president
and talked with him about it, is a falsehood
from beginning to end. We have studied this
Mr.. Farnsworth under circumstances that could
not fail to test his quality. Therefore, we are
not likely to be surprised at anything he may
say or do. The story of his visit to the presi-
dent was invented in order that he might put in
the presidents mouth these words: "Morton
put it in" What the president did say in the
message, relative to affairs in Georgia, after re-
ferring to the illegal expulsion of part of the
legislature, was this:
"Under these circumstances would submit
TO you whether il would not be WISE without
delay to enact law authorizing the governor
of Georgia to convene the members originally
elected to the legislature, requiring each mem
Der to take the oath prescribed by the recon-
struction acts, and that none be admitted who
are ineligible under the third clause of the four
teenth amendment"
nnOsl VI US iGlllGLubCI tllS circumstance
Georgia was about to be reconstructed; but a
majority of the legislature had expelled all
the colored members, and the supreme court
of the state had declared this expulsion uncon-
stitutonal. The president desired to see this
trouble removed, in order that Georgia might
be completely reconstructed. He desired to
have the governor authorized to Convene"
again the whole legislature, but Farnsworth
makes him say something else and carefully
avoids stating the case These stumping shysters
think it safe to utter falsehood about the pres
ident, because his position does not allow him
to contradict them; but, in this case, there is a
very explicit Contradiction. The Washington
Republican says:
Nov, in answer to the charge that Morton
put that in" we have this to say. Upon the
highest official authority we hereby deny that
Mr.. Morton, or any one else, inserted that pass
age And we also hereby assert upon the same
authority, that no member of the cabinet, no
senator or representative, no private secretary,
noclerk in the executive mansion, has ever seen
any portion of any of the presidents messages
until ii was ready TO be transmitted to con-
gress.