The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1872-01-11
40 T1Es Pnorl.n Of IOWA.
DEs MoINEs, Iowa,
Jan. 2, A. D., 1872.

DEs MoINEs, Iowa,
Jan. 2, A. D., 1872.
On my return to my homo Ia
lows, since the adjournment Of Con-
gress on the 2lst alt., my attention
has been called to what appears to be
premejitatcd assaults on my chArAc-
tor, by . number Of newspapers,
whose editors think | ought not 70
be reelected to the United States
Senate. They are, for the most part,
q reproduction of matter published
two years SINCE, in the Cincinnati
Gdssttc, over the signature "a. v. B.
and reprinted in the New York Sun,
and . few kindred sheets, whose hos
tility / had unfortunately incurred
in the conscientious discharge of Of
ficial duties.
have not, heretofore, thought
these slanders of sufficient gravity to
merit farther personal notice, than
the first fabrications received from
me in the Senate, at the time Of its
appearance. Nearly oil the years Of
my adult manhood have been spent
in Iowa, among Iowa people, except
when absent from the State repre-
senting her interests at the National
Capital. Ihave felt thatH the daily
record of . man's life for more than :
quarter Of q century, among his fel-
low citizens, is not sufficient TO refute
such calumnies, il would be . fearful
thing for any one Of honest purposes,
to accept high official station: when
he must GROSS the track Of some
whom he cannot conscientiously
serve, and excite the jealously and
envy Of others, who may regard him
- an obstacle to their own advance
ment. If I can be destroyed by such
means, and sent with my children,
whom I have tried by both precept
and example b bring up in credit, to
. dishonored grave, 90 it may be
with any other citizon who may con-
sent to serve the public. IF this
were . moral possibility, Official sta
ton would be an intolerable curse,
and could not be accepted By any
one with . reputation worth preserv-
ing.
] had also supposed that any pos
sibi6 neo6nsity for giving farther per-
'eonal attent1ep to these SANDERS, was
obviated By thsapanerops kiaannas Of
the better portion Of ~ neW1p oGE
. large number Of the most respect
able journals in the country, inclnd-
ing the losOa State RegisteT, putting
me undor great obligations Of graft
tude for their timely and efficient ex.
posure Of these falsehoods, and the
sinister motives of tho authors, i'm.
mediately following their first ap
pearance in the Cincinnati Gazette,
and simultaneously IN the leading
Democratic papers in Iowa.
But within the last month, and
since announcing their choice for
United States Senator from Iowa, to
supercede mo on the 4th of March, A.
D., 1873, the Reg,ster and several
other Republican journals, have re-
produced and publtsned the substance
of "H. v. B's" old letters, which they
90 recently denounced, and one Of his
recent fabrications, on the subject of
Indian Pensions. They now seem to
endorse what they 90 recently proved
to be untrue. This sudden change,
on the eve of the Senstorial election,
coupled with their expression of q
strong desire to defeat the election
Of the man thus maligned, ought not
to deceive or mislead any one.
And it may not be amiss to add in
this connection that I learned before
leaving Washington City that ar.
rangements had been made with "H.
v: b." correspondent Of the Cinci-
matt Gazette, q correspondent Of the
Pella Blade, the correspondent Of the
Chicago Tribune, Boston Advertiser,
Des Moines Register, and several
others, to keep up continuous fire
on me from that quarter, until after
the Senatorial election. On my ar
rival here in Des Moines, ! am in
formed that the material has beon
prepared and il in store for similar
| fusilade from the home organs Of the
same interest which has inspired
these letter-writers at Washington
City. My friends, l am sure, will not
desire me to dance attendance ut the
beck and call of these men, for the
purpose of answering seriatim such
assailants, whose motives are not
| disguised or misunderstood.
And yet, yielding my own to the
better judgment of esteemed friends,
1 will occupy q leisure hour or two,
while visiting the State Capital, in
calling attention to several Of these
Observation-Disclosures inuendoes, as
samples of the whole, promising that
I shall not thereby put myself under
any obligation to take personal no
tice OF such tabrications in tho future
The only direct charges ever pre-
ferred against me from any quarter
were started by the Cincinnati Ga.
xette's correspondent, and related te
what he asserted was o conversion o
public property to private use q
| Washington City, while | was Sec
retary Of the Interior. Each one O
these specifications was promptly
refuted by the sworn statement Q
officers of the Department, who knew
all the facts connected with the ma,
tets referred to by this caluminatol
Being thus discounted and put I
| shame, he adopted the safer course I
avoiding specific oharges by publisl
ing garbled and distorted extract
from the official records, separate
from their proper context, which, Q
!, the supposition that they were CO
= rect and complete, might raise 81
picion in the minds Of the uninforu
cd that all WAS not right; and usual
y closed his letter with vocifero1
? call on me (like his copyists in lows
g. for an explanation. / will cite . fa
"a cases in point, which, although no
2, two years old, are re.appearing
10 original matter, in the forms of edit
rails aud anonymous letters in I
Register. and sympathizing sheets.
;" The first ono that l need mott
y, was aH. v. BIS" charge that &C
" tracted the sale Of the Cherok
Neutral Lands for less than their tt
re value to rich company, suggesti
tic by inuendo that l must have be
III induced to thus defraud the Indis
4 u - I