National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-03-13
no THE PUBLIC.

IN THE DISTRICT Or COLCA0fh.
FRIDAY NG:::::::::::::::MARcH 10. lss4
70 THE PUBLIC.
The business office of The REPUBLICAN fol
the present will continue at Tenth and D
streets, at which place all persons having busi
ness relations with the paper will call. Due
notice will be given of the removal of the
business department to the new REPUBLICAN
building.
RESPECT FOR PRIVATE RIGHTS
We ask the earnest attention of members
Of Congress, and also that of the press Of
the country, to the demands which have
been made by the prosecutors of the District
government for the production of the pri
vate books and papers of individuals, and
which the joint investigating committee are
now considering. We say prosecutors, u
because, by the action of the committee,
these malignants have most generously been
placed in that position, and, moreover, have
been allowed to investigate the defence Of
the District officials before they were re,
quired to make single averment This
was doubtless not intended by the commit
tee, but it is the result of their action, and
hence We see that the memorialists have
already abandoned the idea of charging in
dividual members of the District govern
ment with theft and robbery, and in lieu
thereof set up in their complaint and speci-
fications general charge of conspiracy to
do unlawful acts as a board. They then
embark upon general voyage Of discovery,
and demand that thu private books and pa
pers of three or four banking houses and a
dozen private firms and individuals shall be
brought before the committee to give the
malcontents an opportunity to find some
thing on which to found positive aver
ment Now, when we come to analyze
this charge and this demand, we find, as
every unprecedented reader will find, that,
viewed from the standpoint of public policy
alone, it is one of the most scandalous pa
pers to which three lawyers, assuming
respectable professional standing, ever put
their names. A court of justice would sup
press such paper on the simple reading Of
it. What do we find? Not single positive
averment in regard to any one of the officials
on trial. Not fact stated in regard to any
one of them, to which they, even as poor
defendants in court, can specifically and in
dividuaily respond; not direct charge
against any one of them that they have, at
any time, received cent that they We're
not entitled to; all the charges of robbery,
theft, defalcation, stealing and personal
jobbery,, with which their newspaper ad-
vocates have poisoned the country are
abandoned and in their place the commit
tee is asked to seize the books and papers
Of half dozen banks and individuals to
enable the memorialists to sustain the gen.
eral and indefinite charge; in which, mark,
no officer Of the District is specifically ar
raigned-cf conspiracy to raise the price
of real estate! The grapamen of all the
charges hurled fora year past in continuous
volley at the heads of the officers here has
been personal corruption Now who are
the first to finch from the trials Every
document and paper and record in posses
sion of these officers on which they,
must alone rely to prove their innocence of
any charges preferred-is first put at the
disposal Of the prosecution. The case of the
defence is placed in their hands, and then
they are requested to make their averments
Do they stick to their text? Look at their
infamous paper and see. What is their
chief ayerment3. That because q certain
firm dealing in real estate had transactions
to the amount of S71s, 900 within a,eertain
time, that therefore there is corrupt bar
gain sdn1ephers, in WHICH some officer or
officers are undoubtedly interested. This
is the sum ano substance of it. No single,
specific, positive e2rruptact on the part ofany
one or more officers is set forth. Nothing
but demand that private books and papers
be seized and subjected to the immoral and
dishonest inspection of the prosecutors in
order that they may reap new crop of in
ferences with which TO fill their nav of
scandal
This is the situation. Now how many |
of Congress are ready to approve |
the seizure of the books and papers Of Mr..
Riggs banking house, or of the Second Ma
tional Bank, or of any Of the private indi-
viduals named on such basis as this? If |
it is said that the books of the First Ma
before committee in Mr.. Colfax's
case, we reply that even in that very
questionable case it was not done until |
the very positive testimony of Mr.. Ames |
had founded strong suspicion, at least,
that he paid money to Mr.. Colfax. Nobody
knows this better than Mr.. Merrick, and no
one at the time expressed, in committee,
greater doubts of the propriety Of the pro-
duction of those confidential accounts.
What do we find to be the feeling Of Con-
gress generally on this subject of the invio-
liability of private record and of respect for
private rights! While this most iInpudent
demand is made at one end of the Capitol,
at the other is going on grave inquiry,
supported by the almost unanimous voice Of
the press, and pressed by the greatest com
mercial interests of the country, whether,
in the interests of good morals, constitu-
tional right and the public service, Q statute
law under which sworn officers of the law |
are authorized to seize private books and
papers. in well-suspected cases Of fraud,
shall not be repealed! Yet, what gross
hypocrisy and inconsistency do we sect
The papers and correspondents which are
loudest in their denunciation of what is thus
authorized by law as an iniquity, are most
vehement in their demand that in the
present case the private books and papers
of private individuals living and dead,
shall be seized and exposed, that they may
crafty their malice and wreak their re-
venge. We put it 10 the counsel for these
memorialists whether they can hold up
their heads and stick to . demand like this.
We put it to Mr.. Robert Christy-who,
though not very profound lawyer, some |
times. in moment Of champagne-like in
SEPARATION, is given to s,generous magnan-
imity-whether. he has stomach enough to |
adhere to such demandf We put it to |
Mr.. Shellabarger, whether the necessity for |
earning his bread by pncticing before the |
committees Of Congress Is 50 great that he |
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