Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-03-08
Why He and Ames were Arraign-
ed on the C. NJ. Charges,
and Who were His
Aecusers.
General Banks, Cheyalier din
dustrie, and two Viee-Presi-
dents More Guilty
than Himself.
A Striking Photograph of the
Credit MObilier Committee
of Investigation, Ad-
mirably Drawn.

WASHINGTON, March Honorable
james Brooks has prepared the follow
ing address to his constituents: "Ene-
mics have taken advantage of my
physical prostratiOn to offer up Oakes
Ames and myself as sacrifices to public
clamor, in which two Vice-Presi-
dents of the United States, and several
members of the United States senate,
and eight other members of the house
were more involved than myself The
sacrifice of a Democrat was deemed in
dispensable to offset, if not to protect
them, and hence, early in December, the
committee was organized, seemingly on
purpose to bring in my name with
theirs, so as to make me responsible for
one hundred and fifty shares of stock in
the credit mobiiier owned by c. H. Neil
son. Certificates Of this stock were no.
toriOusly in full possession of Nelson as
long ago as December u, 1857. 1See ev-
idence, page 81. But of these certifi-
Gates the committee in January, 1878,
chose 10 make me owner, upon pretence
that he, being my son-in-law, was only
the apparent owner. The committee
was thus organized, say, for there were
put upon it such men as General Banks,
q
in ch0tedlLI d'espdgne because of his
known hostility to Ames, who, when
asked, refused to subscribe with certain
rich BostOnians to free his Waltham
house from a heavy mortgage; and
Merrick, of Maryland, an ex-rebel Judge
of this district at the opening of the civ
il war, whose court congress had to ex-
tirpate to get rid of him, and who there
fore, sore and sour, Gow more than ever
hates the whole human race because of
defeat of his aspirations to reelection to
congress; with Niblack, very, very
small man in plastic fingers; of such
sly, sleek and crafty chairman as Po-
land, of Vermont, whose antecedents in
railroads at home are worse than any
thing urged against the credit mobilier.
This committee after sitting two and
half months purposely neglected the eX-
plOration of many rich mines of tesh-
mony, but fiercely fell upon me. In
eleven different sittings, when my
physical prOstTation was such that
the newspapers were daily reporting
me dying, and at last, after refusing me
a hearing, which / earnestly demanded
a fact which they suppressed in their
first report of five hundred and twenty
gress could find time to read so late In
the session, when it was made-and
coupled me as a Democrat and Amos as
a Republican, for expulsion, while they
let off thirteen other Republicans,
who all but one have handled
credit mobilier stock when not share
had ever come into my hands. The house
and the country, from the start, secuted
such an absurd report the moment they
could get at it by refusing to vote on
expulsion at all. They did not censure
Mr.. Ames or myself, but only con-
demned an act as old as 1867,
in order thus to carry off, as
on q lightning-rod, the electricity that
had been generated by the batteries of
the press upon congress and the eoun-
try; but even in this the house did me
injustice, because / was not in congress
when il was alleged my interest began
in the credit mObilier, or il, as alleged,
/ had any interest, it was fully disposed
of before l went into the directory.
Some Democratic members of congress
assented to this injustice in the belief
that they could then condemn such
leading Republicans as Dawes, Garfield,
Bingham, Kelly, Schofield and Hooper,
but in this they were justly fooled, be-
cause the great intelligence, high char
acter and well known antecedents
of these men are such as to make ridicu-
lous the charge that Oakes Ames
had bribed them, or that they were his
dupes, as the Poland committee reasons,
and did not know what they were about.n
Mr.. Brooks then says he shall appeal TO
his constituents in person, if God re-
stores him to health and continues. 10
myself nor Mr.. Nelson were guilty of
perjury, as the Poland committee
charges, and that both of US told the truth
when testifying; that had no hand in
the credit mobilier dividends, alotments
or profits in any form" He concludes
byreferring to his official career for the
past twenty-five years.