New-York tribune., 1872-09-27

IL
noints expressly contradicted by his partner
Mr. Erastus Corning which is shown 10 DO
Inaccurate in important details by the very
extract from the records of tho Court
quoted to confirm it,-and which was
at any rate, tho statement urom
memory of an inirm man, seventy
wears of age, about transactions tilrty years
old) procured for the use of conspiracy 10
extort from the Governor of the State OF New
Yorl, a pardon for a convicted forger, under
the threat of publication unless he should vlo-
late his conscientious convictions and prosu-
tute his public trust to protect his private
character. We assert no word which
we are not prepared to prove. We have inc
letters of the men engaged In the conspiracy
We have in their own handwriting their
threats to Gov. Fenton of publication in case
ne dared to resist their imperious demand In
behalf of their convict friend. We have the
admission of the lawyer who carried tins am
dayit to tho Governor and told hm' WIN
many protestations of his own regret
at being engaged in the business, tnat
the friends of the lcOnvict insisted on
publisbing it unless the Governor would
grant the pardon. We have not merely the
testimony of the lawyer, but the affidavit OF
n witness to the interview, that the Governor
of New-York bore himself under this threat
"a the Governor Of New-York always should
that he then and there denounced the
affidavit as untrue n'essential Details offered 10
produce Mr.. Erastus Corning In his presence
TO point out its untruths, and declared that
neither its suppression nor its publication
hoi breadth from
discharge of his public duty, as ne
honestly understood it. with tnaC uo
LAWYER doubtless heartily glad 10
wash his hands of the matter, took DacA .no
affidavit TO his employers and told tneln 'n9
Governor of New York could neither Do DrlDeu
nor bullied. Since then it has lain IN the olS-
bopored hands that had vainly sought Dy itS
aid tn polIute the States clemency and open
penitentiary doors, until it is resurrected DO"
by more reckless conspiratOrs for more polut-
ing work ~.
II will be az powerless now as 1t was then'
The arrest, whereof it distorts the clrcuin-
stances and untruly narrates the end' was
no dread secret. Everybody in Albany anu
in Cbautauqua County knew it at the tiine'
Tho members of the Legislature from
young Fenton's home took up his case
showed the groundlessness of the arrest
and secured his examination and release.
The matter was thoroughly discussed. NO
one man, friend or foe, in Chautauqua County,
expresseda doubt abOutyo young Fentons conduct.
Scarcely eighteen then, he was elected super
visor, Immediately on becoming OF legal age,
by the friends and neighbors who knew all
the circumstances; was reelected year after
wear without intermissiOn, and made Chalr-
man of the Board until chosen to Con-
gress; was kept there for ten consecutive
years, and was then twice chosen
Governor of New-YOrk. In all the heated
contests involved in this political career, with
the facts of this arrest perfectly familiar at
the outset, to the people of his county, no
voter ever expressed the slightest distrust
of him because OF it, and no
human being brought it up against HIM,
till the friends of forger in the penitentiary
conceived the idea of extorting pardon by
threatening the Governor with revival OF
this forgotten incident of his bOyhOOd.
That threat spurned, it has slept again,
till the friends of Ring embracing many
forgers, many thieves one false swearer IN
high Office in this city, one ex-senator who
spent fortune in vainly striving to corrupt a
Leglslature,-a whole conspiracy OF corrupt
oflice-holders, trembling for their grasp on
power, and dreading the exposures that
change of Administration may bring,-re-
yiye it now in the vain hope that keeping up
a din about old ISLANDERS on their opponents
NAV divert attention from their own msdeeds,
We do no propose that it shall. We purpose
dealing with the men engaged in this business
in order. And first we arraign A. Ii. LAFLIN,
present Naval Officer of this port whose ap-
pontment Roscoe Conkling, with full knowl-
edge of the circumstances, procured, and for
whose sake President Grant removed from the
Office one of New York's oldest and most hon.
ored merchants, Moses II. Grinnell. We
charge this present Naval Officer of the
Port with being indicted for perjury
in his own county, with having the
false swearing clearly proved upon him,
and with escaping conviction and the peni-
tentiary only on the legal technicality that the
matter about which he swore falsely was not
material to the immediate issue then on trial. We
charge him with connivance with bank cashier,
whereby Latin defrauded the bank, was de-
tected, sued, caught again in false swearing,
and forced to refund. The cashier committed
suicide. The false swearer is Naval Officer of
the Port of New York. To-day we charge
these things. Tomorrow we shall prove them.
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ppLzFN PPFpONTEPV