The sun., 1873-04-05
PARD0NING A REPEATER.
THE PRESIDENT TAKING CARE OF
HIS FRTENDy

Not Responsible to Congress Tor his Par
dons-1be philadelphia Ring
Correspondence OF The sun.
WASHINGTON, April i.-To-day the Hon.
Samuel !. Randall Of Pennsylvania called upon
Attorney General Williams to ascertain tbe
names OF the persons who had signed tho petI
tion to the President praying for the pardon of
the repeater IIr VIII, who was convicted at the
fall term of the United States District Court AZ
philadelphia aud sentenced to the penitentiary
The House OF REPRESENTATIVES, 1t Will be re-
membered, passed n resolution a few days before
the adjournment directing the Attorney Gene
raj to furnish this information to the House A.
the earliest practicable moment. Under this
resolution any member of the House has the
right to demand this information by calling
upon the officer and making the request. IL has
also been the almost invariablc practice of al!
the departments, from the earliest times to ex-
hibt any papers and furnish any information
whlch might be demanued Dy repfescutatys
Of the people
RrsroSsIBLx TO NOBODY.
Soon after the pardonng Of Brown. Nr. Ran
dali had made a request Of this Kind t. the At
torney- y-General and IL was refused. lie had
thereupOn ntrud uced the resolution above mem
toned The substance Of hi. interview to-day
with the Attorney General was as follows:
Mr.. Randall, after the usual civilites of the
day had been exchanged, stated the object Of his
visit. The Attorney General politely replied that
he could not furnish the information.
Mr.. Randall asked If he had received a a COPY
Of the resolution adopted by the House direct
Ing that this information should be promptly
furnished The Attorney-General replied that
he bad not not He knew ny rumor chat such aseso;
Information on the subject whatever. lie fur
ther stated that even II the House " Repre- enta-
tives had directed this to De done, the President
was not obliged to respond The Constitution
conferred upon him the power to pardon. This
was absolute, and he was responsible To nobody
for the exercise Of this constitutional privilege.
Mr.. Randall then said, Had the resolution of
the House reached you 10 season for reply
h.x pau In
effect.
Attorney-G eneral My advice to the President
would have been to this effect ! would have
denied the right Of Congress to interfere in any
way with a,qnestiun of this kind
MIR. Randall-Then ] am 10 understand thai
you refuse me the information | ask
Attorney-General-I most respectfully do.
ISouIsITIvE PHILADELPuIAss.
Mr.. Randall-It is a matter In which my con-
the Intelligent and respectable citizens OF Phila-
delphia, without respect Of party and with an
on which this pardon was granted. Mr. George
W. Childs but snort time since told me thnt he
had spoken to the President ON the sub ect and
informed him OF the feeling which existed In
Philadelphia In regard To- II. He says that the
President replied 60 him that he was most
anxious that the petition and toe names Of those
who had signed It praying for pardon should be
made public. In order that he night DO vndi-
Gated that ne had been Imposed ul,on and led
to believe that the ease was entirely different
from what he now knew Il was.
AttOrney-Generdl-l the President desires
that publicity should be given g. these things
an he has To do is to order 1t done, and will
most certainly obev.
Mr ksndali-I shall certainly call upon him
and make tie same request have made of you,
Mr.. Atturney ey-General.
The interview throughout was, am Informed,
OF the most courteous cuaract cr. tho Attorney.
General trcaIirs hls visitor with distinguished
consideration. hut at the same time hutn zen
ilrnrn were Grm IN their positions respectively
taken N this issue
Mr itand4ll /, determined that the pul iir shall
have the information they demand ~ matter
of 80 grave importance as this is, aud ne viii
crt,inlv call on the President. lie wishes the
Responsibility to be EXed where ii be,uu =, .nd
n the President really desires t. Viudicatc hin.
self he will gave nim the opportunity TO do It,.
PCSIsnING 4 FAITHFUL orFICIR.
II is little singular Il the President l. con-
v'nced that he Wa ~ posed upon, that he ,hould
tav- been al a st.l! liter day used by the same
1 80 r,cn Il punish the District Attorney FOR no
, "theI reason 10 lbe world than ncca ,-C he ex-
csted niul'c.f 10 convict Brown when the Ring
e' him huow tnat tGey did not dcs,rc a cunv.c-
t..i.. - IAN ng &" o' ~ the behests II tho
hing ''r Aubrey cmitl. the United states Dts.
ir'Ct turney. was removed hom oiAce, and
Nc'i!chd,i. who had o-meriy been in the A.
toruey-Iencrnl's once. was appointed To- Gll the
vacancy. The Srolnd pn which Mr Smiths re-
rtvnl was ed was 'Iat he WAS not competent
90 III the position. MIR. smith, having learned
tlis obtained rom all the distinguished mem-
bels e the Oat of Ph.lad lphia. a well "a, from
tie Judges, the met uattcring letters, all u
which were ald before the President. The VEN
cradle Horace Eussey wrote a most com Ilimen-
spoke Of Mr.. smith abilities a. lie knew tuen
10 be. But all this aNdilcd thing.
lllf ll hlnbus lNuI lIdl INltS lfHll~NlNdillA hnu
Philadcli hia demanded the sacrifice ui tHs OH
Ger, whom they could neither lntimidlte nor
control, and the President obey ed their bchests.
II he WIS deceived in the one case h must have
been IN the others, and Il he has any manhood
he " II expose those who deceived him and ed
him TO pardon Brown AS well as to remove the
bistTiC' AIT lrney.
More than this, II he IL satisfied that he was
imposed upon. let HIM as far as he can undo the
wrong he has done by letnstating a faithful,
able, aud fearless officer.
The Atturney General voucEsafcd 10 inform
Mr.. Rand II toward the Cloec Of their Interview
that the petition IN Browns case signed by
the Jury and by many respectable and influential
citizens Of Philadelphia.