Wilmington daily commercial., 1873-02-25
WILMINGTON. DEL.
Tuesday AfteFneen, Feb. 2Us
TIE REPoRT ON CREDIT MoBILIER.


The proceedings in the House Of Representa-
tives, at Washington, will be made intensely in
tsresting- -perhaps exeiting-to day, by the dis
cussion of the Credit Mobilier report. As to the
character Of this, opinions in the House will diff
fer, Of course, as they have done, amoBg the
people, and yet II is difficult to understand how
q different report could justly or properly have
b,en made-one particular, perhaps, excepted.
There is general feeling that it should not
hive omitted TO express censure upon those
gentlemen who have tarnished their reputation
for truthfulness, by equivocaton il not by direct
falsehood, In their deniAls Of the charge against
them. This is the only offence which most, If
not all, Of those whose names are involved,
(Messrs. Ames and Brooks excepted) are proven
10 have committed, for there has never appear
Ell against any of them, one shred of evidence
that they were corruptly Influenced in their Off
cial actions by Ames' stock. The case against
them has been one of suspicion only-suspicion
aroused from the language of Ames in his let
ters to MeComb, and by the after-diacovered
character of the Credit Mobilier. itself But, as
wa have already said, no act done, or vote re-
corded, or word spoken, by any Of the gentlemen
with the exceptions noted proves them guilty
of corruption.
1t is said that If Mr. Ames is to be expelled
for bribery, some one must have been bribed,
andh he, too, must be expelled. This is an ar
gument, unjustified either by tho factsreported,
or by the report. The charge proven against
MFR. Ames is his attempt to corruptly influence
memberships evident wish, his systematic plan,
to that end. But that any one accepted his ad-
vancea as q bribe there is no positive proof.
On the contrary, the previous high character of
men like Dawes, Scofeld, Bingham, and Kelley,
is good testimony in their favor, and more than
enough to remove the shadow cast by mere
suspicion.
The Committee scriminated, with regard to
their conclusions, among the different gentlemen
involved. This seems unsatisfactory to some
Yet it would have been most astonishiD if they
had done otherwise. To oensure all, to propose
the expulsion Of ALL or to acquit all, would be in
utter disregard Of fairness and justice, in the
light of the testimony. Messrs. Ames and Brooks
have bad showing. The one certainly sought
to bribe the other, as Government director,
certainly betrayed his trust. But no other per-
son, OF those invoivad. is shown to have COM
mitted any equal offence.
1t is more easy to make sweeping accusations
than to patiently and honestly sift out the truth
1t is easy, if judges and Jury are not cool and
steady, to do great wrong to man on trial be-
fore them. In the language of Hdrper's Week
~, of q recent date, they " are bound by every
consideration of morality and humanity not to
be swift or eager in such judgment. They are
not to sacrifice the character and career Of any
man because there is a general impression Of
something, or because the party cannot afford to
Withstand the clamor. The thing that no party
and no man can afford is doing injustice or
countenAncing dishonesty"
Already, many good people have been too
swift in their conclusions. A cloud of accusa-
tions arose against these gentleme n, and because
the Committee did not find them guilty, a cry Of
disgust arises against the Committees report
This is strange JUSTICE The fact doesno seem
to be regarded that the Committee was an anti
Republican one, or that it was composed of ex-
cellent material, that its report is admitted to
be very able and exhaustive in it's character
There are, out of the five members of the Com.
mittee, only two Republicans, Messrs. Poland
and McCrary while there are two Democrats
Judge Merrick and Mr.. Niblack; and fifth
member, General Banks, who did his utmost 10
elect MIR. Greeley, and defeat General Grant Yet
these gentlemen, Of antagonistic views, and op-
posite politics entirely agree in this report This
b is fact which we cannot ignore.
When, on the other hand, the conclusions of the
Committee are assailed by General Butler and
Fernando Wood, in the interest of public purity
and virtue (i) we may we'll pause and inquire
whether, as a contemporary declares, it is not
true that 3" men whose crimes, if brought to the
light Of day,would send them to the State prison
or to an ignominious private life, lead the howl
against certain accused gentlemen, the only eNi-
dence of whose guilt is to be found for the most
part in their own indscreet and ill-advised decla-
rations"
DON'T CARE IF IT Is PROVED WRONG.