St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1874-07-24

the whole investigation. The greatest
obloquy was east upon the committee
their motives were impugned, and il
was openly charged that the committee
was specially organized to UhiteUdsL
and bring everybody off clear. The
committee WAS caricatured and lam
pooned. in every possible way. and ne
pains were spared to discredit its action
before the country.
Pretty soon another class of papers
began to attack the committee: those
which were interested in some of the
persons charged. and into whose con
duet the committee were inquiring
These papers insisted that the commit
tee were OVERRIDING the thing entirely
beyond all pr"priety, and evincing Il
desire to elevate themselves by destroy
ing the reputation of others.
Probably no so delicate and difficult
task was ever imposed on il man under
the government as WAS placed upon
Judge Poland. The public mind was
dashed into Il perfect fury over the mat
ter; some were clam"ring for blood :
some were scouting the whole thing aS
groundlcs$. Most of the men implica-
ted were his personal friends and polit-
zeal associates. The thing WAS made
more embarrassing by the cowarllN
conduct of some of those against whom
allegations were made. They Shut1ied
and prevariratcd, and 10y their attempts
at conccalmcnt made their cases worse
.I..,.. go, u",ir ~uuIu which they could
have told. The complication of difficult
man. or ut least have driven him to
over,lO the thin" 50 as to,liavc done in
Justice To somebody. But fortunately
for the country .,for the cause of honest
investigation. for the maintenance of
sound. healthy. parliamentary law, IL
man had been placed at the head of the
committee who could say: ..Nonc Of
these Things more me-" He pursued the
even tenor of his way apparently I'M
moved 10y all the clamor that was raised.
He pursued every thread of evidence to
its termination. and. 81 far aS the public
knew. he W;lS ;IS calm as when he pre-
sided over the supreme Court of our
state.
After IN exhaustive investigation. the
committee reported. and probably Il
WAS never made. Ii contained Il pre-
else and clear lindin" of all the facts in
the ease of every man implicated. who
was then Il member of the House, and
| it also discussed the whole law of the
power of the IIonSc over III members.
! Hon. Geo. F. lloar of Massachusetts.
one of the oldest and purc>t men in the
| House. said of it. that in all the annals
of Jurisprudence Il more perfect piece ot
Judicial work could not he found. The
committee reported that two members
had been guilty of bribery and ought to
he expelled. and they reported the facts
us t" each of the others. but did not
find that they amounted to bribery
But when they had reported they en-
c"untcrcd Il tremendous opposition in
the House. Gen. Butler assumed the
lead i'll the defense of Brooks and Amcs.
He succeeded in getting IL majority of
L
port drawn up by him. which. 10y Il long
and ingenious course of reasoning. laid
down the doctrine that Congress had
no jurisdiction over IL member for any
crime he might have committed before
his election to the present House. no
matter how well il may have been con-
ccaled from his constituents. Judge
Poland had to encounter the force Of
this report and Il speech of Gen. Butler
i'll support of it. which had in it all the
ingenious Snphi>try and coarse black
gIardiSm for which that man is noted.
But he WAS found sufficient for the oc-
caSi"u his judicial training and ample
learning, his calm and diSpasSi"natc
hearing proved an "vcrmatch for the
p"licc-court sharpness and coarse wit
of the Essex statesman.
His triumph WAS very complete The
House almost unanimously sustained
the jurisdiction he claimed The House
modified the sentence from expulsion to
severe ccn>Irc, but this grew out of the
peculiar circumstances. Both were old
men and had been many years in Con
%rcSS. One was within four DAYS of the
end of his official life The other was
i'll very feeble health. Strangely enough.
III few weeks both went to their
graves, FASTENED. doubtless. bv the dis
grace that had fallen upon them. Two
"r three others. who were prominent
and honorcd men. were driven b\ force
of the investigation of this committee
int" private life diSgrnccd. and others
appear to he famed for life.
And, now, this wise man of the Far
mCr says this WAS "whitcwaSh." and he
feels diSgraccd 10y it, Terrible white
wash. We think very few men will
want amy of it applied to them.
II there is any act of Judge PoIand'S
public life that he and his friends. the
district and state. have Il right to he
proud at, it is his connection with the
Credit M"hlirr investigations He came
from it to stand as one of the ablcst