The Van Buren press., 1872-03-05
Boles vs Edwards-Clayton as 4 Lob.
bvist

Isp,,nshGsld G Mass.) Republicans Washington Cor.
The contested election case Of Bolcs
vs.. Edwards, Of Arkansas, has been dc.
cided since my last letter. AS not sim
gle vote was given to Edwards IN the
House, We may conclude that there Is no
doubt that Boles was entitled to the seat
Yet Gov. Clayton (now Senator) gave
the certificate to Edwards, in violation OF
precedent and law, and, as Boles charges,
to carry out an arrangement by which
Clayton was elected to the Senate al
ludo to this ease not to re argue its msr.
its, but to give me an opportunity to
condemn practice which is becoming
unbearable in connection with such cases
the practice OF trying to "lobby"
them to a desired result. The moment
that the committee on elections took the
case up, Senator Clayton began to lobby
in the House for his friend Edwards, not
that he cafO4 much for him, but that ho
might screen himself. To seat Boles he
knew was to censure him (Clayton) for
issuing a certificate to Edwards when
Boles had over two thousand majority
Of the votes cast. So he began to hold
private interviews with members. The
speaker, Mr.. Dawes, Mr. Shellabarger
and others were approached, but OF
course they resented such an insult But
Clayton did not stop there; he endeav
ored to SEQ members of the committee
privately, while they were considering
the case lie met with sharp repulse,
ut least once, TO my knowledge, but not
being man with nice sense Of honor,
nor With any sensitiyeness, he kept at his
work She newspapers wore next made
use Of, and where he could find weak or
pliablc correspondent or editor, he sent
out false statements in regard to the case
Of Edwards, and his own Investigation
in the Senate. His bummers went round
at night trying TO get the correspondents
to send off dispatches about himself
written by himself One Of them unfor.
tunately called upon Gen. Boynton Of
the Cincinnati Gazette, one evening, and
asked him to send a little dispatch
" about Mr. Clayton" The general re
piled that he had got one prepared which
"Vui" s"'s hih oVtscti anu uc WOuiu Teou
il aloud if he (the Clayton bummer)
would wait. whereupon he proceeded to
read graphic description of Clayton's
effort TO hide his real position from the
country. 1t 10 safe to say that the fellow
will not enter that Office again Now,
Mr.. Clayton may be an innocent man,
but he acts like guilty one. When q
man is in court and goes to work trying
to corrupt the jury, we understand at
once that he is guilty. II Clayton is in.
noccnt, why has he been lobbying 80
hard ? Why not wait for an honest yer
dict from the committee Of Investigation Z?
fear that Gen. Abbott, the claimant to
a seat in the Senate from North Carolina,
is in the same category. He is too busy
with the newspapers, and in pressing his
claims on Senator'S in private. An elec.
ton contest must be settled by fact and
law. A Congressman who will decide it
on other grounds 10 dishonest When.
over contestant begins to make his pri
vate appeals for votes on personal
grounds, 1t should be regarded as mean.
ing that he has a bad case, but sm sor.
~ 10 say that such 10 not the case in
either the Senate or House