New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-04-28
GEN. BUTLEES COATTAILS.

The Committee of Ways and Means make a
mistake. From time to time during the
progress of the Sanborn inquiry, they have
been tantalized into spasmodic activity by
distant glimpses of a familiar figure lodging
among the crowd of spies and contractors.
Behind Sanborn they have distinctly seen
somebody handling a good deal OF money
Behind Mr. Boutwell, they have caught sight
of stout party in major-generaPs uniform
spreading out documents for the official sig
nature and putting the pen into reluctant
official fingers. Behind Mr.. Richardson they
have discovered the same lurking monitor,
showing papers along through the ruts OF
Treasury routine, and whispering to the Great
Indorser where to put his name. The Com
mittee have always rushed after this elusive
figure with terrible earnestness and clat-
ter, and have been just in time to SEQ IL
vanish round the corner. They have LAID
their hand occasionally upon flying coat
tail, and dragged tue fugitive into the light,
but they have never caught exactly the right
man. 1t was Capt. Puffer; 1t was Col. De
KAY: it was Prescott; it was Fay; it was
Simmons. If none of these persons proved
TO be the eminent statesman OF whom the
Committee were in pursuit, 1T is nevertheless
a curious circumstance that all OF them seem
to be pretty near him. Fay, Simmons, Puffer,
and the rest are strong surface indications of the
Essex Congressman-the pay-dirt, II we may
borrow the language Of the honest miner
underneath and their discovery consequently,
though it was certainly disappointing i'll one
sense. was stimulant and encouragement III
another.
On Saturday, after the investigation had
once before been closed, the Committee
got another glimpse of the form that has 50
long evaded them, and off they started again.
According to our present information they are
still chasing Gen. Buffers coat-tails through
the public departments. Along the Capitol
corridors they hear the scamperng feet just
ahead of them, and at every sharp turn few
futterng inches of evasive tail seem to beckon
them forward. They have pursued those
flying skirts through the lobbies, around the
Treasury Department, into a great number OF
back offices occupied by lawyers, revenue
| agents, gaugers, and spectators in whisky.
They will come back presently red in the
face, painting for breath, with moist shirt col
lars, and cravats all awry, and will make a
pretty hot report, scarifying Gen. Buffers
particular friends even if they do not succeed
in catching the General himself; and then
they will look about for applause.
But is all this pursuit worth whilef Is the
capture of Butler the chief end of investiga-
tions1 There is no sensible person in the
United States who msapDrehends Gen. But
| ler's character. There is no reasonable OBJ
server of public affairs who doubts that the
whole career of this noisy demagogue has
| been a succession OF Jobs, and that there is
hardly any big job of the time in which he
has not had an interest. And it is equally
well known that if he has grown prosperous
and powerful, it is because he is so true rep
resentative of the spirit and purposes that rule
our public affairs; it is because he finds
in Washington such ample opportunities,
throw fortunes into the lap of a
revenue agent, not because he has any
greater innate power than other politicians,
but because he is in favor, and more respect
able men are not. He Is not the cause of our
public Generalization; he is only one of its
symptoms. The Committee will make a great
mistake If they try to throw upon him the
odium of scandal which originates in de-
based tone of official morality. Butler and
Sanborn are equally the products of a soil fes-
tering with corruption. They are just as good
as the political mass out of which they sprang
and from which they draw their life. If we
want to purify the body polite it will not be
enough to remove them; we must go deeper.
ROCHEFORT IND BONAPARTE.