The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1873-02-26

1t never had be- that it was ever To III h oIu IL
net t;s m corntru h W yelled criminal mur
derer even, who had CONF " lI n.s Sflme from
the public and who had bee. ss1 Ia q ia nHer
of the House, was to come her ',ssam S . Gu
to sit beside such Christian gentl. 9" irs
here from Massachusetts. (Laught, '~s,eS, u
that the House had no power to expel I;sa
man. but that members mnst take
to their bosoms as an associate. To say thu;
that was law was mockery. He believed no
such absurdity ard no such ingenuity on the
part of the gentleman from Massachusetts,
(Butler) or anybody else, could ever make the
Intelligent people of the country believe 1T:
1t peeded the man who was the inventor OF
the Credit Mobilier machine to have devised
such doctrine: daughter and applause
Mr. Poland then proceeded to discuss the re-
port made by Mr. Butler of Mass, yesterday,
and denied that there was any precedent III
parliamentary law for the assumption i'll that
report On the contrary, with the little
search he was able to make since evening he
nad found in English parliamentary history
TWO cases subsequent to that af Wilkes. One
was the case of Ward, charged with forgery,
and the other was that of Atkins, charged with
House of Commons, the offences having been
committed before the election. There had
never been question raised in the English
Parliament as to its power to expel unworthy
members, no matter when their offences were
committed
Mr. Eldridge of Wis,--Does the gentleman
claim that Congess has the same power as the
British Parliament?
Mr. Poland-Certainly l do
Speaker-Ihe gentleman from Massacllu-
sets, who is affected by this resolution (Ames),
desires to address the House and sends to the
Clerks desk his remarks to be read. They will
be read by the clerk.
Mr. Mcpherson then proceeded with great
evolutionary power to read an argument pre-
pared by or for Mr.. Ames, who occupied one of
the front seats.
Mr. Ames' remarks concludes as follows:-
These then are my Offences-that have rsked
reputation, fortune, everything in an enterprise
of incalculable benefit to the government from
which the capital of the world shrank-that L
have sought to strengthen the work thus rashly
undertaken by invoking the charitable judg-
ment of the people upon its abstracts and en-
barrassments-that have had friends, some of
them in official life with whom have been
willing to share advantageous opportunities of
investment-that L have kept to the truth
through good and evil report, denying nothing,
concealing nothing, reserving nothing. Who
will say alone am. to be offered up sacri-
flee to appease public clamor or eXpiate the
sins of others? Not until such an offering is
made, will believe it possible; but if this body
shall so order it that it can be purified by the
choice of single victim, l shall accept its man
date, appealing with unfattering confidence to
the impartial verdict of history for that vindi
cation which it is proposed to deny me here
The peroration was splendidly read so that
even the sensibiities of Mr.. Ames himself
could not be restrained sufficiently to keen the
tears from suffusing his eyes, and it was receiv-
ed with half suppressed murmurs of approba-
| ton all over the House.
Mi. Farnsworth of Illinois, rose and proceed
| ed to argue in favor of the accused and against
the conclusions of the Select Committee What
lie asked was the statemeet of the committee
against Cakes AmeS. First that he had brib-
ed his friends; second, that they did not know
they were tribed; third, that they were not
affected by the bribery; ard fourth, that neith-
er Ames or the persons bribed knew what they
were to do or abstain from doing, and vet this
committee had concluded its report by charging
that Ames was guilty of bribery because he
made these sales of stocks. He (Farnsworth)
could not so understand the law of bribery In
the first place. one man could not commit brib-
cry any more than one man could commit con-
spiracy, or any more than one person could COM
NIT matnmony. Naughter.) 1t required two
parties. Again, there could be bribery unless
the person bribed was to do or abstain from do
ing something. Besides, a man did not bride
his friends man never went to his friend
already committed to his side of the case and
in favor of his interest to bride him. Brides
were offered to men to convert them. They
were offered to those who were disinelined, to
prevail upon them to do what the bride desired
them to do.
Passing to the case of Mr.. Brooks, Mr. Farms
worth called attention to the fact that the mat
| ter charged against him took place at time
when he (Brooks) was not member of Con
gress and when he was under no greater obi
| CATION of duty in regard to the matter than
were Messrs. Durant, Dillon or any one of those
| gentlemen who were engaged in the enterprise
1t was then that Mr.. Brooks first made the ne
| gotiation of Credit Mobilier stock The subse-
! quent transfer of this stock by Brooks to his
son-in-law, Mr. Nelson, was only proof of
his extreme deicacy in not wishing to be con-
nccted personally with the matter while he was
| government director. Besides, it was the
| most natural thing in the world for man TO
look after the interest of his own kith and kind
The people had been told so very often within
| the past year in respect to persons higher in
| office than Brooks.
If this transfer to Nelson had been an at
tempt on the part of Brooks to cover up bad
transactions, he never would have selected his
Son-in-law. No man, he was going to saw, with
the sense necessary to be a member of Congress
that was notputting it very high laugh ter)
but with sense enough to be a country Justice
OF the Peace-that was better, Qaughter)-w
ever have resorted to so fiimsy a dodge as to
select his son-in law in order to cover up a bad
transaction To his mind, on the face of tilt was
not badge of fraud but badge of fair deal
ing, and it would be SO regarded by every sensi-
BILE Judicial tribunal in the land. He did not
ter in all its length and breadth. He thought
that the purchase of Credit Mobilier stock bv
members OF Congress was a very imprudent
thing, but he did not propose himself to cast
stone at those who did it. He did not think it
was precisely the right thing to continue that
sort of machine, that might have been iniqui-
tous, and if so, the House should go back and
punish the men who made the continuance. Let
the men who eontrved the iniquity be taken up
and expelled, if there were such in the House.
instead of expelling one man because he bought
it, After passing eulogies on the characters of
Messrs. Ames and Brooks, he remarked that it
had been said that ISLANDER loves shining
mark" 1t was so in this case. Men who had
been chairmen Of committees in the House,
who had been regarded as leaders of the House.
and whom he had always believed and still be-
lieves to-day to be among the best men of che
House, had been singled out in this case. He
had had many bout with some of these men;
bad had many sharp encounter with them in
debate but the sharp words on either iside had
been forgotten and forgiven. He was not, as
he was about to leave the hall, going to throw
stones at those men. 1t was most deplorable
that such men should be singled out for these
shafts
He remarked to the House that some men
compound the sins they are inclined to by
damnlng those they have no mind to- and SO
the vicious people, men not half so good as
those they condemn, would compound for sins
ten times worse and would justly in their con-
science the sins they commit If they could but
drag down to their own level a bright and shin
ing mark. This question after all resolved itself
into single question, whether the stock of the
Credit Mobilier was contraband property? Was
it in and Of itself ubiquitous so to corrupt the
man who held it? The committee did not any
where pretend to the Affirmative of that propo-
stion On the contrary, Ames was zone of the
largest holders of the Credit Moblier stock, land
yet it was not proposed to punish him because
of that fact The House was permitted to take
it for granted that that property property did
not corrupt or faint the holder, and they were |
then driven to examine the conclusion of the |
committee to wit, whether there was bribery |
On that question he would say no more.
After few further remarks the hammer |
fell, and Mr. Merrck, one of the Democratic |
members of the select committee, took the |
floor He expressed regret at finding himself |
in the painful position of defending the report |
of the committee, particularly that part of it in
which the committee was supposed to have |
whitewashed other members who had received |
Credit Mobilier stock. He who so read that re-
port totally misunderstood its scope and pur-
pose. The committee had not in the language |
referred to attempted to exculpate those gentle
men. On the contrary, the committee had |
pointed out as lesson for them the course of |
Senator Bayard of Delaware, in refusing to |
touch that stock. 1t has been the object of the |
committee so far as it could do within the |
limits of power to strike blow and cast CEN
sure on all them. If these members knew it |
there was no evidence of the fact before the
committee, if they had been aware of the enor-
nous dividends that were to grow out of the
contract they made with Ames the committee |
could not have acquitted them, but there was
no evidence they did know it.
NJ bad hot flaxr Lo,