Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1873-03-07
THB CREDIT .uOBILTBR DE-
BArR.
PoLAND's OPENING SPEECH.

mittee OF which he Is chairman. After show
ing by the testimony that at the time of the
transactions the stock of the Credit Mobi-
lier was worth from 200 to 800 per cent, he
asked whether Ames was 80 utterly insen-
sible to the profit which he could have de-
rived from that stock, had he chosen to sell
1t, that he preferred to let members of Con-
gress have it without any profit to hip-
self. How came his charitable disposition
all at once to be so extended in favor of
members of Congress- 2 His ostensibe
business in Washington, that winter, was
his position as a member of the House, but
his actual business was the peddling of ten
shares Of stock apiece TO members of Con-
gress.
Was there any possible doubt about the
motive of Ames? He bad desired to get
this stock into the hands of members, not
merely 10 rely on the feeling of gratitude,
because he had given them something
worth two or three or four times as much
as they paid for 1t, but he relied on some
thing stronger than that. Ames had lived
long enough in the world TO know that
man sometimes forgets kindnesses, that a
mans gratitude for kindly act does not
last always. He had read enough of Script
ure TO know that "where mans treasure
is there will be his heart also" (Murmurs
of applause) Ames had avowed his whole
philosophy on that subject. He had said
that "the difficulty is that you cannot get
man to give attention to a thing unless he
has an interest to do So" He had there
fore to contrive some means or other by
which he could make the interest of these
leading men in Congress identical with his
own, so that they should be as watchful in
relation to this matter as he himself. Ames
knew that himself and his friends had
started on voyage which sooner or later
would be exposed. He knew that the ma
ton had been, by their performances, de-
frauded of millions, and he understood
that it would be a good thing, when that
time came that he should have, if possible,
some strong hackers, and he had intended
by his course of conduct 10 provide himself
with them. He had done so for the very
purpose, and with the intent to influence
their action as members of Congress on
matters to come before them. That was
an act of bribery in Ames, for which he
might have been sent to the penitentary,
even although every member had received
stock from him in entire innocence. The
law did not require the intent to be known
by the person to whom the present was
made. 1t was the insidious attempt to I'M
dertake to bind man over by gratitude,
that constituted the bribery. 1t would not
do for Ames to plead ignorance of the law.
That plea was not permitted to the most
debased and ignorant criminal. Was the
| House to liberalze that rule of law for the
benefit of millionaire, and of a ten-year
member of Congress? Was that man to
stand up in such a presence, or anybody
for him, and say that he did not know
what the law was, and did not know that
he was violating 1t? If a mans moral sense
saw no wrong in that which their prede-
cessors had declared penitentiary offence,
and which should forever dsqualify a man
from holding the meanest office, was such
a man fiji to sit here as one of the lawmak-
ers of the nation? Mr.. Poland submitted
whether, even in the most charitable view
of Mr.. Ames's conduct, that man was one
who ought to be tolerated as member of
the House.
Passing then to the case of James Brooks
of New York, Judge Poland stated the
facts in the evidence which justified the
resolution reported for the expulsion of
Brooks. He dwelt somewhat on the fact
that, at the time of the Cakes Ames con-
tract, Brooks was thoroughly familiar with
the whole subject,-first, as the agent of
Durant for placing the shares of the Credit
| MnhiIiar OF taI ist. &c
York, and, second, as government director
of the Union Pacific railroad company.
Mr.. Brooks, interrupting, corrected Mr..
Poland's statement as to his being a gov
eminent director at the time of the Cakes
| Ames contract. That contract was dated
in August, 1867, and was assigned in Oc-
tober, 1867. He (Brooks) was not nomina-
ted till October, 1867, and had not accepted
the Office till January, 1868.
Mr.. Poland protested that he would not,
for his right hand, misrepresent the small
est fact in reference to the case. All that
Mr.. Brooks had said was not in the slight
est degree in conflict with what he (Poland)
had said. The Cakes Ames contract had
been executed in August, 1867, but it had
been found that the trap was not properly
set, and, under the advice of cunning coun-
sci, new machinery had TO be devised in
order to run 1t successfully, so as to cheat
the United States government, to cheat the
State of Pennsylvania, and to cheat the
Union Pacific railroad company. The mat
ter was not completed until about the mid
die of October, and Brooks had become a
government director on the LIST of October.
There was not the slightest evidence that
Brooks ever considered himself as any
thing but full fledged government direct
or. There was no evidence that he had
performed any official act before January,
1865, but it had never been suggested that
he had not accepted the office, and that all
its duties were not incumbent upon him.
Mr.. Eldridge of Wisconsin, asked Mr..
Poland whether he meant that Brooks
should be treated differently from any 9TH
er member because he had been govern
ment director.
Judge Poland said he had no doubt that
the acts of Brooks as a government direc-
tor would furnish cause for his expulsion
as a member Of the House. Brooks must
have been perfectly familiar with the
whole scheme of fraud, from his intimate
acquaintance with Durant, and from his
official relations as government director.
1t could not be supposed that, while he
was employed by Durant to place his Cred
it Mobilier stock among New York capt.
alists, he was not well informed as to the
reason why the stock was valuable or not
valuable.
The committee held that the facts proved,
abundantly, official misconduct on the part
of Mr.. Brooks, and the committee also held