The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1873-11-25

the ermine was stripped from his shoulders. In
the days of Barnard and Cardozo he virtually
owned the Supreme Court, and was in very
truth the executive, legislative and judicial head
OF the State as long as his party was in ma
jorty.
In the winter of 1870 there was revolt
against this humiliating despotsm, and for a
brief moment the contest between Tweed's en-
bezzed cash, and the lingering manhood of his
political associates wavered in the balance
But corruption prevailed, and another leaf was
added to the chaplet of infamy which decks
the brow of the image which holds the scales
of justice over the walls of the State House at
Albany. raa auE .ftk
The moment Tweed's charter was adopted
giving him undisputed authority over the city,
his power became supreme. Official functlonaries
of all grades Frustrated themselves before him.
Every newspaper save one, had words OF eulo-
Ky for him. That great moral organ the TIT
bune founded by Horace Greeley" pronounced
him capable" and declared that the city could
afford to pay him million of dollars
per year. Senators, Representatives in Con-
gress, Judges and Governors from sister States,
when they came, on the 4th July or 9th Janu-
airy, to mingle with their brethren of the New
York democracy, and to denounce the corrup-
ton and extravagaDce of Republican admins
tration, were graciously received by the puissant
Tweed and gratefully accepted his smile Of
easy patronage. A score or two OF persons,
Some of them deemed reputable, were not
ashamed to see their names advertised for
weeks as proponents of a statue in his honor.
In June 1871, the greatest merchant in Amer
lea. and several other gentlemen of the highest
standing consented to sit at the same board
with this crime-stained villain as associate di-
rectors in LOCAL. improvement project By
way of emphasizing their public declaration of
allegiance to him he dovetailed the worst of his
confederates with these new adherents of his
| dynasty so that the community were astonish-
ed at such juxtapositiOn of names as these:
Alexander T. Stewart, jlliam M. Tweed, VIM.
Butler Duncan, Richard B. Connolly John
Taylor Johnston, A. Oakley Hall, Levi p Nor
ton, Peter B. Sweeney, and so on through a
long list, reminding one of the way in which
cnlprits are linked together in a chain gang,
with this difference that these men wore their
shackles voluntarily. fa851-Jz&
1t is impossible to exaggerate the demoraliz-
ing effects of such pitiable acknowledgment
of the superiority of might over right, and of
wealth over honesty. These excellent gentle
men unwittingly subscribed to the doctrines
that theft did not debar its perpetrator from
companionship with them, if only its penalties
could be successfully evaded and its fruits Sc
cured. And yet every one of them employed
scores of young men in fiducary capacities, to
whom Tweed's impunity, not merely from pros
ecution, but even from utter social ostracism,
opened up avenues Of sudden enrichment by
depredatons far less liable to exposure, and
not a whit more reprehensible on ethical
grounds than those which had been practiced
for ten years by the man, now admitted to fel.
lOwshp by their employers. Is it a matter of
surprise that such examples of liberation Of
vice have brought forth bitter fruits in embez-
Elements Interpretations, defalcations by
which every now and then the country is start
led from its propriety? Does it not rather au-
CUR we'll for the integrity of human nature that
there has been such comparatively small
number of breaches of trust in all these years,
during which the young men of New York have
witnessed the growth of such fellows as Tweed
in affluence and power, by acts of the most
glaring and audacious criminality.
Upon the newspaper press more than upon
any other agency, rests the grave responsible
ty of allowing this great malefactor to continue
upon his course of venality and rapacity I'M
challenged. 1t is curious to read, in the light
of recent occurrences the soft words of pallia-
ton and in some instances the honeyed phrases
of panegyric concerning him with which sever
al of our leading journals teemed two years
and a-half ago. nl-natured persons may sug-
gest motive for this gross perversion of facts
in the enormous sums paid by the Ring
during its ascendency for advertising and may
account for the circumstance that he finds no
apologist to rush into print in his present
dreadful strait by suggesting that his patron
age is gone.
Be- that as it may, it is truth pregnant with
rnoa1rns that but 'iutiy newspaper among
whole metropolitan press contributed in
any measure to the dethronement of the Tweed
dynasty W FRk
But the hour of retribution has arrived at
last Thanks to an impartial jury and an able,
upright and fearless judge, trial, conviction and
sentence have ended the drama, so far as the
principal actor was concerned. The result
was doubtless unexpected by the public and nm
questonably the most astonished party of all
was the victim himself. 1t is fnconceivable
that he should not have taken refuge in flight
if he had anticipated hostile verdict His
hardhood in remaining to encounter the perils
of a trial, his only escape from the consequences
of which depended upon the compatibility of
the jurors, is a significant proof that he had not
lost his confidence in the potency of money to
enable him to slip through the meshes of the
law. Now the only hope that lies between
him and a cell in the penitentiary rests on the
possibility Of his getting an order for a stay of
proceedings from some one of the thirty two
Justices of the Supreme Court of the State
That some of them have been unfortunately
besought to grant one, 1 know. That all will
be. 1 am quite certain. But, apart from the
conceded fact that our judges of that high
grade are in the main men of unblemished
reputation, the risks attending such an inter-
ference are too serious to be rashly encoun-
tered. 1t would be extremely difficult to con-
vince the average mind that stay can be pro-
cured save by corrupt influences. The ex-
ceptons taken on the trial were hume rous
enough, but Judge Davis is jurist of such
admitted learning and eminence that lawyers
duu lay Iileu dllke Will Uo SLOW 10 Dcl1eVe L0aC
there are any errors in his rnings.
There is general CONSERVATION among mu-
nicipal wrong -doers, on account of the convic-
ton of Tweed. Several culprits are under in
dictment whose chances of exculpation are
greatly diminished thereby. One in particu.
lar, who was counted in as a member of as.
sembly at the last election, stands in such i'm
minent peril that doubts are EXPRESSED whether
he will venture to present himself at the
State Capital. The pendulum of reform
swings backward as well as forward but it is
plain to see that the work of publication
makes progress and there is strong incentive to
perseverance for those who are honestly striv-
ing to make perfect integrity the rule of con-
duct in public affairs. YARMOUTH.
The President on the Finances.