The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-02-26

bears this out in many respects, for Ames is
left to the tender mercies of the House, while
the attorney makes the defence the vehicle of
an elaborate puff for his employers railroad.
Little have the risk of laying down the rails,
the state of the country, the natural obstacles.
the currency imitation, the price of labor
and the scalp-seeking Indians to do
with bribing members of Congress
The case. indeed, will be tried by another
standard than these, much against the percep-
tons of right or wrong which como to Ames
or the attorney. That he can even find time
to descant on tho probable extinction of
polygamy through the building of the road
for which the company contracted with the
Credit Mobilier, for which in turn Ames
assigned shares to members Of Congress- that
enormous profits might be securely kept as
we'll rs made is pitiable. It is statement all
through in which we can see no good to
anything but the bepuffed Union Pacific Rail-
road.
We have said that if this defence did not
help Amss it proved logically what the duty of
the House is to those who took the shares.
The man or his alter ego, the attorney, feels
that for him security there is none. AS he
slips and tumbles into the gulf at his feet he
raises a cry of anguish which should 60 to the
heart of justice. He is cast out himself, and he
calls inexorably upon the HOUSE to deal
with all others of his like as they have dealt
with him. If there is one right, one vindica-
ton which Amos can call prescriptive, it is
the punishment of those who have sinned
against national honor with him. 1t will be
understood from the following that he cries
for himself. Read it in the light Of his con-
domination, and it becomes the most powerful
cry for justice all round that could be formu-
lated. He says:- - @t.-'e -. r.
For the first time in the history Of any tribunal
this body has before it alleged offender without
an offence. Any person accused In the Courts OF
the country, under like circumstances might well,
when called upon to plead to the indictments, In.
sst that 1t failed to charge crime. am charged
certain members Of Congress-, while 1t, at the same
time, declares said members to have been uncon.
corrupt is inferred, where the effect OF corruptng
could not by possibility be produced, where no
values his reputation win assert that an indict-
ment for bribery could stand for all instant in
common }aw Court without sRIeoiHcaly alleging
else measure, matter or thing was the subject of
bribery. There can be no attempt to bride without
the hope and purpose of corruptly Influencing some
person persons in respect 10 some particular act
Until, therefore, 1t is alleged and shown not oaly
who rendered bribe, but who accepted or refused
It, and what was the specific subject-matter or the
bribery, any conviction which may follow the al
legged offence must rest upon the shifting and I'M
stable foundation of individual caprice, and not
upon the solid rock of Justice administered under
the restraints OF the law. f.H
The answer to his call for evidence Of the
legislation he sought to carry by bribery we
have placed further back. The answer to his
call for the Congressman he has bribed must
be made. 1t is pertinent question to ask and
one imperative to answer. Brooks, who will
merit his fate, did not receive the stock
from Ames. 1t will not do to point to
him. The men implicated must be named
and must be punished, or Ames will have
convicted the House Of as great crime as
that of which they have convicted him. In
all this business, from the time the revelations
began Ames has furnished continual surprises
by houndering into positions that, while ex-
hibiting himself in still more pitiable plight
than before, always showed his quondam
friends dragged down beside him. This
time he is in the most impressive Of
all, for he has put the House on
the defensive. He asks impassionedly for
pitiless justice to others as well as himself
Will the House shrink from the challenge
which the shovel-maker throws down? Dawes,
Kelley, Garfield, Scofeld, Bingham, are the
men for whom he shrieks to Justice Is party
above honor? Will the House shield the
corrupt receivers and stamp its heel on the
corrupt giver alone?