St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1873-02-28

10 follow the next day. The issue, can
not be certainly guessed, but the opin
ion is expressed that the report of the
committee may not he accepted i'll its
original form. We trust strict justice
NAV he done to all parties involved
Mr.. Brooks is III feeble health, but was
severely handled by some of the speak
ers. Cakes Ames receives the castiga-
tions inflicted upon him rs coolly us IL
rhinoseros would strokes from riding
whip, in the hand of a child
Mr.. Poland Opens the Prosecution.
Mr.. Poland of Vermont then opened
the case for the prosecution III Il speech
reciting the facts and .juStifying the re
port of the committee. After showing
by the testimony that, at the time of
the transactions, the stock of the Credit
Mobilier was worth from 200 to 300 per
cent, he asked whether Mr.. Ames was
80 utterly in>cnsihlc to the profit which
he could have derived from that stock
had he chosen to sell it, that he prefer
red to let members of Congress have il
without any profit to himself. How
came his charitable dispositions all at
once to be so extended III favor of mem
beers of Congress His ostenSible bust
ness i'll Washington that winter was his
position us Il member of the House. but
his actual business WAS the pcddling of
ten shares of stock apiece 10 members
of Congress.
Mr.. Poland said that there was some
balancing motive i'll the mind of Nh
Ames which induced him to let certain
men have this stock at 100 when he
could have got two or three or four
times as much. First. was there any
possible doubt about the motive of Mr.
Ames? He had designed to get this
stock into the hands of members. not
merely to rely on the feeling of graft
tude which they might have toward
him, because he had given them some
thing worth two or three OF four times
as much as they paid for it. but he re-
lied on something stronger than that
Mr.. Ames had lived long enough in the
world to know that man sometimes
foregoes kindnesses. that mans graft
tude for kindly act does not last al
ways. He had read enough of Scrip
lure W hll'lN that w mere al llldIl >
treasure is there will he his heart also"
(Murmurs of applau>e.)
Mr.. Ames had avowed his whole phil
osophy on that subject. He had said
that the difficulty Is that YOU cannot
get Il man to give attention to Il thing
unless he has an interest to do so. He
had, therefore, to contriVe some means
or other by which he could make the
interest of those leading men in Con-
gress identical with his own, 81 that
they should he as watchtul in relation
to this matter as he himself. Amc<
knew that himself and his friends had
started on Il voyage which sooner or la
ter would he exposed. He knew the
nation had been 10y their performances
defaultcd of millions. and he under
stood it would he good thing " hen
that time came that he should have. il
possible, some strong hackers. and he
had intended 10y his course OF conduct
to provide himself with them. He had
done SO for the very purpose and with
the intent To influence their action lis
members of Congress on matters (,
come before them. That WAS an act of
bribery i'll Amc>, for which he might
have been SEM to the PcmitcutiarV
even although every member hid re-
ceived stock from him in entire limo
cence. The law dId not require the in
tent to hc known to the person to whom
the present was made. 1t WAS the III
siduous attempt to undertake to hin,
Il man of honor 10y gratitude that con.
stituted bribery.
1t would not do for MIR. Ames to plea,
= Il, I
permitted tn the most dehaSed and iu
norant criminal. and WAS the House t,
hberalize that rule of law for the hene
tit of millionaire, and of il ten yea
member of Congress Was that MAJ
to stand up iii such Il presence, or any
body for him. and say that he did moi
know what the law was. and did no
know that he was violating it? If !
mans moral sense SAW no wrong in tha
which their predecessors had declared ;
penitentiary offence, and should foreve
disquality il man from holding the mean
est office, was such man fit to sit her,
as one of the law makers of the nation
Mr.. Poland submitted whether. even il
the most charitable view of Mr.. Ames'
conduct, that man was one who ough
to be tolerated as member of tn
House.
Passing then to the case of Jane
Brooks of New York. Mr. Poland state,
the facts In the evidence which justitie,
the resolution reported for the expulsion
of MI Brooks. He dwclt somewhat o.
the fact that at the time of Cakes Anne
contract Mr.. Brooks was thorough
familiar with the whole subject. first il
the agent of Durant for placing tn
shares of Credit Muhilcr stock anon
the capitalists of New York. and secuu
as Government Director of the Unio
Pacific Railroad Company.
The Cakes AmeS contract had bee
executed in August, l-G7. but it ha
been found that the trap was not proI
erly set. and under the advice of en-
nlng counsel. new machinery had to Ii
devised, III order To run it successful,
so as t" cheat the United States govern
ment. to cheat the state of Pcnusvly;
MIA. and to cheat the Union Pacific, raj
road company. The matter WAS n,
completed until the middle of Octohe
and Brooks had become a uoyerum.,
director on the lst of October. The,
was not the slightest evidence that NJ
Brooks ever considered himself us an,
thing but ii full tiedgcd goverlmcl
director. There was no evidence tn;