National Republican., 1875-11-06

despaired of breaking down the policy Of
the Administration by negotiation and COM
promise, have now turned their,attention to
efforts through perjury and slander to tax
ing with them into the ignom'ny and dis
grace which they see awaiting them in the
near future parties 80 near to the E kecutiye
as to try his moral courage and Spartan
frmness in the severest possible manner
II there be any truth in..the telegram alleg-
ing the Indictment of Mr.. Orville Grantand
General Babcock, it only shows to what
lengths these desperate villains are pre-
paredto go in the hope of escaping from the
hands of justice entirely or OF obtaining
mitigation of punishment through early
pardons Perhaps they dream of convict
ing innocent parties, by false swearing and
the distortion of circumstantial corrobora-
tive testimony, in the hope and belief that
the Executive clemency which might be
1nterposed to save the innocent in such
cases could not consistently be withheld
from the guilty. This is a forlorn
hope. 1t will succeed no better
than Colonel Joyce's recent attempt
to escape conviction by means of
manufactured letter skillfully inter-
polated into his letter book, which was ad-
mitted in evidence, the trick exposed and
turned into the most damning proof of his
guilt.
But men who will deliberately conspire
to steal the revenues of the people-for it is
the consumer from whom they take their
in.gotten gains the honest distiller and
the honest taxpayer of every class
must unite in making good the sums
kept back by fraud-such persons, We say,
are prepared to commit any crime which
may be necessary to screen them from the
punishment which they richly deserve.
False swearing is involved in the stealing
of the revenues And it only requires more
Of it to convict innocent men of conspiring
with them. When men deliberately form
conspiracies they are careful in selecting
the parties to it. Their first effort is to
\ include none but men of nerve, who will
stand by each other and not "peach"
unless all agree that confession is the short
est road out of the difficulty. Itisprobable
that these conspirators have members
enough in reserve, not yet implicated, to act
as corroborating witnesses for the con-
victon of any parties whom they may
deem 1t to be for their interest to accuse or
implicate. The alleged indictments, it
should be remembered, have been found
upon the testimony of a confessed felon,
one Fitzroy, who the other day withdrew
his plea of mot guilty." and substituted
therefor plea of guilty" at the same
time volunteering to go before the Grand
Jury and implicate other high officials OF
course, he did not do this without the ad.
vice and approval of his CO o-conspirators.
And they would not have consented to it
if they had not prepared the evidence by
which they hope to convict the parties
whose indictments they have thus procured.
But this is their last card. They have
staked everything now upon a single die.
They are gnawing file. Firmness, vigi-
lance and the closest scrutiny in the ex-
animation of witnesses and sitting of evi-
dence will result in the conviction and pun
ishment of the guilty and in establishing
the innocence of those falsely accused.