The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-05-05
have intrusted its details to the Solicitor. This

have intrusted its details to the Solicitor. This
latter official is not subordinate OF the head
of the Treasury Department He belongs to
the ATTORNEY General staff. His duties however
lie within the domain of finance. He is the
recognized and constituted interpreter OF all
statutes relating to the government revenues
1t was the most natural thing in the world,
that the Sanborn matter should have been turn
ed over to him. Probably to most laymen, who
view the subject with unprejudiced minds, 1t
will appear equally reasonable that his cOnclu-
sions in the premises should have been taken
for granted The worst that can be said of the
Secretaries, is that they were lacking in sharp
ness If they had been little distrustful of
Banfeld; if they had doubted the infalliblti
of his legal acumen, they might have saved
themselves the torrent of obloquy which has
been pouring so necessarily on their devoted
heads since last December
Now lhave an idea-perhaps l am wrong
about it but the more ponder it, the more self
evident it appears-that if Mr. Boutwell,, and
Mr.. Richardson had been less ENORMOUSLY
honest themselves, they would have been more
likely to suspect the motives, and to scrutinize
the conduct of their legal adviser. Every body
knows, with what implicit faith men are apt
to receive the counsels of their lawyers. And
it happens to be fact, established, beyond
peradventure that Mr. Boutwell, has during all
the time that he was minister of finance, be-
lieved in and sworn by Banfield. Other men,
aye, men high in authority, have had misgiv-
ings about his immaculateness and have express
ed them freely to the Elk Secretary, but they
have failed utterly to make the slightest i'm
preston upon him. Banfeld has always had
the ear and the voice of Mr.. Boutwell,. Even
now when the Solicitor evinces disposition to
| shield himself from censure by putting the
| Treasury Department in the foreground, the
| Ex-Secretary cannot find it in his heart to be
| hard upon his former counsellor. He cannot
be expected to look upon the Sanborn business,
as the public do. There are two sides of the
| question, and he has seen both of them. On
| the one hand, he was reproached for not
adopting strenuous measures to compel de-
| linquent tax payers to pay their dues
to the government. Repeated representations
were made to him that this or that individual
or corporation had evaded the revenue laws.
| He was urged to do Justice to the honest con-
tributor to the support of the government, by
compelling the dishonest wthholder of taxes
to do his share of the common duty, and when
finally this matter was brought to the atten'
ton of Congress and Law was passed author
izing and nstructing him to institute system
of hunting out the evaders of taxation, he
could not have exercised his discretion of re.
tusing to put that law into execution without
subjecting himself to the charge of neglecting
1 l. xnv,I fnn
plenishing the national exchequer.
On the other hand ne has been assaiied fol
| doing the very thing which was pressed upon
him with so much urgency. The worst of the
matter is, that the chief opprobrium is visited
upon his successor. whose only offense consists
in having acquiesced in the policy initiated by
the incumbent of the office to which he was
promoted. If ldr. Richardson were less SEN
sitive man, his own consciousness of perfect in
tegrity would cause the shafts of his perse
cutors to fall harmless at his feet But his
good name-acquired by blameless life and
never furnished by a breath of suspicious
more precious to him than wealth or honors
And so it is that he willis under this storm OIL
unreasoning censure, and is compelled to seel
| in rest and travel the strength to recruit his
nervous system.
1t is high time that a capricious public SEN
timent should take nobler and a manlier
turn, and that justice should be rendered to ar
upright, faithful, diligent servant of the Re-
public, who has been cruelty wronged by aim
less sarcasms, and unthinking clamor. The
''sober second thought" of the people-that
supreme court of last resort-to which all
ad-captanduna judgments must levert-will ac-
cord generous need of praise to the cabinet
minister whose integrity and patriotism are not
disputed or impeached, even by the men who
seek to make HIM a martyr to the prevailing
appetite for scandal which a prurient public
sentiment has engendered. YARMOUTH.