The New York herald., 1872-10-03

| Reckless Slandercrss
If the politicians and the partisan press are
to be believed our public men are all rogues
and our republican government the most cor
rupt and corrupting on the face of the earth.
The youngest voter ia the country cannot fail
to remember the time when principles were
still argued from the stump, and when the
newspapers grayely discussed protection and
free trade and public policy. The honesty of
men in official station was seldom questioned.
stump speech was not budget of ISLANDERS
nor the newspaper vehicle Of calumny That
oil this has changed is painfully apparent
from the daily utterances of political orators
and partisan journals. The Presidential can
vass is canvass of vituperation. General
Grant is accused of all manner of offences
from present taking to nepotism-gravely
accused, even by Mr.. Sumner in his place in
the Senate. Senator Wilson, together with
the Vice President of the United States, the
Speaker Of the House Of Representatives and
half score of the most reputable men in Con-
gress, is arraigned by the partisan press, and
even by Mr.. Greeley in some Of his public
utterahces, as guilty of receiving bribes in
tho stock Of the famous Credit Mobilier Of
the Union Pacific Railroad. A denial from
them only provokes fresh charges, and as in
the case of Mr.. Blaine, even graver accusa-
tions. Can it be possible that any Of these
imputations are we'll founded2 Is it probable
that any corporation-even corporation as
reckless as that formerly known as the Pacific
Railroad, Eastern Division, was alleged to
be-would give the enormous sum Of
81, 1886, 900 to any man as a bribe2 Are
these things gigantic and wicked ISLANDERS or
are they solemn and melancholy truths?
Whether true or false they betoken degrada-
ton painful to contemplate, and they are
almost equally disgraceful in either case.
But the imputations do not stop with the
President, the Vice President and the Con-
gressmen said to be implicated in this Credit
Mobiler transaction. Senator Trumbull is
charged with receiving an improper fee in
some case where he was of counsel for the
government. This is answered by similar
charge against Senator Conkling. Ex-senator
Doolittle is accused of writing letter to him
self asking himself to share with fellow
named Connatty in the profits of an improper
speculation. In Pennsylvania nearly every
candidate on either ticket is accused Of some
malfeasance in Office. Mr.. Buckalew is as
sailed on the one hand and General Hartranft
on the other. Against the latter the
accusations have been peculiarly viru-
lent and the imputations singularly
grave. The last Of them is that
he caused o convict in the Penitentiary to be
pardonod that the convicted felon might tes-
tify in his behalf. Governor Curtin pours his
testimony upon the Aood-tide of elimination
and recrimination, and AYERS that if
Hartranft is elected Governor of the
State the Legislature at Harrisburg will
out-Tammany Tammany in the next three
years. New York is not free from the food of
scandal which mandates the land The prom
inent supporters of both Greeley and Grant
are oil villains if the partisan press is to be
believed. Senator Fenton is 'shown up in
his true colors" by one ''organ." In reply
Mr.. Latin, the Naval Officer, is attacked by
another. General Dix and Mr.. Herman, both
excellent men, as we always believed, are made
the victims of improbable stories. Chauncey
|
main an ''original secessionist." Nobody
escapes or can expect to escape the tongue of
the common slanderers. Everybody who
aspires to anything is at once waylaid by these
assassins of regulations. Fresh stabs are
inflicted as well as old wounds made bare. No
name is too sacred and no reputation too dear
to be attacked, and the work which was begun
early in the campaign only grows in intensity
and virulence as the canvass progresses. 1t is
possible that the war upon character and repu-
tation may even become more reckless and
bitter than it has been, and yet it has no par
alel in party strife for reckless and bitter vitu-
peration.
If we take the two leading partisan papers
of the country for single day we find in
them more accusations or calumnies than
would furnish work for criminal court for q
year. On Tuesday Mr.. Greeley's "organ put
down Collector Arthur as '.Mr. Murphy's con-
federate" in some alleged cap swindles years
ago; charged that President Grant, his Sec
retary of the Treasury and other high officials
were parties to the Black Friday swindle of
1862" referred to Cameron, Hartranft and
Mackey as ''names fragrant of corruption;"
characterized Mr.. Blaine as "a Congressional
procurer." and accused Senator Wilson of
bribery. General Grants organ, by way Of
reply, charged "Mr. Greeley's man. with
'blackmailing" and while condemning SLAM
der went into the business to an almost equal
extent on it's own account. These things dis
grace us in the eyes Of the world, and
yet the world knows not the men who origi-
nate these stories or dig them up out of for
gotten records for public perusal.
The worst feature in all this is the one to
which we have already adverted-namely, that
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