The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-01-28

tary tactics of Speaker Colfax, and how many
similar inquiries have been smothered in
Congress by aid of the votes of the tainted
membersa If Judge Poland's Committee
should adjourn without examining the &C
counts of the Sergeant-at-Arms and the men,
orandum book of Cakes Ames. they will be
accorded little credit for earnestness in the
investigation. Should they make a nom
committal or whitewashing report they will
be regarded by the people as no better than
the corruptionists whose guilt they try to
conceal.
There is no disagreement in the jury Of the
nation. The voice Of one and all pronounce
verdict Of guilty against the whole batch of
huckstering congressman. They are all in the
same category Wilson, Colfax, Ames, Patter-
son, Brooks, Allison, Kelley and the
rest. The same evidence inculpates all
alike, and the difference between the
offender who received his hundred and
fifty shares and his associate who received his
two or his ten shares is only similar to the
difference between the highwayman and the
pickpocket or between the burglar and the
sneak thief. They all denied the story
together at first, and they made their subse-
quent written confessions harmonize by pre-
concert. When MIR. Brooks rose in the House
of Representatives, and with melodramatic
effect shook in the faces Of his fellow Con-
gressmen the certificate for fifty Credit Mobi-
lier shares standing in the name of ga person
who sometimes speculates in stock in Wall
street." declaring that this was the ''fgment''
out of which McComb and the great Hoax
had ''made up the whole story" he
only acted upon the policy which Colfax,
Wilson, Patterson and the others had
previously adopted of general denial,
trusting to the friendship and self
interest of Ames to keep the facts concealed
and make the stories ft and to the closed
doors of the committee to suppress any ugly
questions that might be put to the wit
,nesses on q cross-examination. Now that
the facts are known all are convicted
of falsehood together, and the attempt of
the partisan journals to impeach Cakes Ames
on the ground of false testimony falls to the
ground. Vice President Colfax declared that
he 'never received the value of farthing''
out of Credit Mobilier, yet the check once in
possession of the Sergeant-at-Arms disproves
this statement Senator Wilson, Vice President
elect, announced that ''nether from Cakes
Ames nor from any other person did he ever
obtain the slightest interest," direct or in
direct, in Credit Mobilier, yet he is shown to
have held shares and to have only returned
hon, fbo g. -,
to be compelled to criticise man holding the
high Office of Vice President of the United
States so severely and to condemn him so I'M
equivocally; but if Ames is not mere brazen
impostor Mr.. Colfax is convicted of downright
untruth, and justice demands that an indie
pendent journal, knowing no party and no in
terest but the public good, should strip the
mask from the face of public offender, be
he Vice President or mere miserable
member of the lobby, willing to sell himself
for few dollars We repeat, that all these
persons are in the same category; their guilt
is the same, their denials the same, their de-
fence the same. In the instance of Senator
Patterson we have proof under his own hand
that he uttered false testimony and that he
applied to Ames to back up the lie by making
his evidence tally with it. The case of Senator
Patterson is the case of Wilson, Colfax and
all. How, then, can it be pretended that
Ames is false and that the men he corrupted
are truthful?
The people are sick and weary of this foul
tide of corruption, hypocrisy and falsehOod,
and Congress will do wisely not to outrage
public sentiment by condoning the offence of
its convicted members. Let all go who can be
reached republican and democratic-be ex-
PEELED from the positions they have disgraced,
and let those who are not amenable to Congress
be impeached. The term of Vice President
Colfax is about to close; that of Senator Wilson
is about to commence. Can the people be
satisfied that q Credit Mobilier OPERATOR on
however small scale, shall have the chance Of
becoming President of the United States? If
the offenders properly understood popular
sentiment they would resign their positions
and retire to private life, and the list of the
retiring officials would include Harlan, Cald-
we'll, Thayer and all who have either pur-
chased their way to power or been bought up
by the Durants and Ameses Of corrupt corpo-
rations. Our appeal to these men may be in
vain, rs was similar appeal once made to
Tweed and his Tammany associates but the
people may by and by come to the rescue of
the country and make a reckoning with their
dishonest servants. One thing is certain, no
Representative who has written &C. NJ" be-
fore his name in letters of corruption should
be any longer allowed to write IN. G."
after it,