Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-04-11

FISH.
The fish rots from the head, was an
old axiom of the schools. From Grant
down, the Republican party is rotten.
Like /, ster, ike man. his Cabinet ad-
visers are being successfully exposedto
the public seon. Attorney General
Williams has run the gauntlet of the
landaulet. Secretary Robeson'sprosti-
tuition of navy yards and the public
funds, to defeat the viii of the people
at the ballot-box, has been commented
ON. The Sanborn moieties place Secre-
tary Richardson IN an awkward atti-
tude of duplicity, if not something
worse. And now, the eminently "re-
spectacle" Secretary. of State, Hamil-
ton Fish, stands impaled on the
logic of the dead Charles Sumner. The
NeU York Tribune Of the 9th inst, pub
fishes in full the text of the suppressed
speech of Mr.. Sumner upon the re-
moval of Motley from the English Mis-
sion, prepared for delivery in March,
1871. 1t viii be remembered that early
in the month he hadbeen deposed from
the Craftsmanship Of the Foreign Re-
lations Committee, on the plea, among
Others, that his relations with the
President and the Foreign Secretary
were such as to impede the business of
the Committee. Why this speech was
suppressed at the time we do not know.
Most people viii attribute it to Mr..
Summers concern for the Republican
party, rather than to cowardice. How
ever, coming now IS d voice from
the grave, it will have more
weight than could have attached to it's
living utterance. 1t places the Pre-
mier Of America In the altitude of a
trucking tool to Grant, and calls for
answer at the hands of Mr.. Fish or
his friends, though it viii be a difficult
task. Much of it rests on the testi-
mony of Mr.. Sumner himself, which
few will gainsay; but much more of it
rests on official documents and dates
known of all men. We copy its more
salient points. After abiding to the
San Domingo job, which lay at the
bottom Of the estrangement. Mr, Sum.
ner Gays:
1t is alleged that 1 have no personal re-
latiOns with The President. Here the an.
swer is easy. L have precisely the relations
which he has chosen. On reaching Wash
6ngton in December last, [ was assured
from various quarters that the White House
was angry with me, and soon afterward the
public journals reported the President as
saying to a Senator that if he were not Pres
ldeEt, he 'would call me 10 ACCOUNT
What he meant ] never understood,
nor would ] attribute TO him more
than be meant; but that he used
the language reported / have ne doubt.
from information independent of the
newspapers. L repeat hat on this point |
have no doubt. The same newspaper re-
ported also that a member of the Presidents
household, enjoying his peculiar confidence,
taxing great part III the San Domingo
scheme, bad menaced me with personal Vi
olence. 1 could not believe the story ex-
cept on positive, unequivocal testimony.
That the menace was made on the cundi-
tion Of his not being an army officer I do
not doubt. The member of the household
when i~nterrogated by my excellent COLLEAGUE
(Mr. WILSON, positively denied the menace.
but l am assured, on authority above uues-
ton, that be has since acknowledged II,
while The President still retains him in ser
vice. and sends him TO the Chamber.
Noting the fact that Hamilton Fish
and himself were sworn in as Senator's
ON the same day in 1851, and the cor
dial friendship that had always existed
between them, he reveals that gentle.
man as a lobbyist:
Shortly after Mr.. Fish became See
Rotary Of State, he began his RESPONSIBLE
duties by appealing1o me for help. l need
not say tnat l had pleasure in responding
to his call, and that L did what / could
most sincerely and conscientiously TO aid
him. of much, from his arrival down TO
his alienation on the San Domingo bust
hess, | possess the written record. For
some time he showed a sympathy with the
scheme almost as little as NV own. But
as the President grew in earnestness the
Secretary yielded, until tardily he became
his attorney. Repeatedly he came TO nv
house, pleading for the scheme. Again and |
again he urged it; sometimes at my house
and sometimes at his own. At last, some |
time in June, 1870, the Secretary came 10 |
my house about @ o'clock i'm the evening |
and remained till after the clock |
struck midnight. He urged that
the election which made Gen.
Grant President had been carried by him |
lGranll and not by the Republican party.
so that his desires Were entitled TO especial |
attention. He renewed his pressure in va
rious forms, returning to the point again |
add again with perseyering asSiduity that |
would not be arrested, when at last, iud- |
ing me inleXlble, he changed his appeal.
saying, "Why not go 30 London3 Offer
you the English mission. Il is yours.- of
his authority from the President I know
nothing. ! speak only of what he said
My establishment was height, ned by indie
nation at this too palpable attempt to take
me from my post Of duty; but | suppressed
the feeling which rose to the lips. and re-
t1ecting that he was an old friend in nv |
own house, answered gently, 1--WE have a
Minister there who cannot be bettered.r
Thus already did the mission to London
begin to pivot on San Domingo.
Mr.. Sumner next dissects the extra
ordinary" document sent in to the
Senate by Secretary Fish, in e~xplana-
ton of the removal of Motley, which
contained many bitter covert illusions
to the Senator. His determination
after this official attack was that pub
lie business must not suffer, but per-
sonal relations naturally cease" and
he continued his Official relations as
Chairman of the Foreign Committee
with tie Secretary. He cites several