The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-10-08
A Field for congressional Inquiry.

/ tr0lled by the opposition. Inc HOUSE -, ~
course powerless 20 pass any law or redress
any evil, because acts of legislation require
the concurrence Of the Senate and the sigma
ture Of the President There is accordingly
no danger Of mischief from democratic ascen-
dancy in one branch of Congress, but there Is
the possibility of valuable additions to the
public knowledge; for although the House
cannot alone pass a law it can alone institute
every investigation it pleases into any de-
partment of the government and neither
the Senate, the President nor the heads OF
departments can screen any abuse which the
House Of Representatives may undertake to
expose. 1t has authority to send its SER
geant-at-arms or his assistants to any part OF
the United States and compel the attendance
Of reluctant witnesses, and it has similar
power over papers and records. Every
branch Of the federal service has been SO
long in the hands of one political
party that there is a great deal to be looked
into and explored and it is fortunate that,
as soon as the new Congress meets the oppo-
sition will have the power and, what is
more, the will to carry the torch into every
dark corner of President Grants administra-
ton Whether they find much or little to
drag into publicity the effect will be salu-
tary. If everything which has been done
will bear the light suspicious will be dis
PEELED and the country be reassured. If on
the other hand, great mass of damaging facts
should be discovered, the exposures will
come in good time, since the people will
next year have an opportunity to change
their public servants.
We fear there is too much reason for the
uneasiness and suspicion which peryade the
public mind If the facts brought out before
the Register in Bankruptcy on Wednesday
in an examination into the affairs of the
broken banking house of Henry Clews q Co.
are specimen of the things which have
gone on in secret under this administration
such investigations as will be in the
power Of the next House have been too
long postponed. The appointment of this
mushroom concern to replace the Earrings as
the financial agent of the government
provoked establishment and criticism at the
time, because it was manifestly unfit on
| its face and because no adequate public rea-
son was given for the change. 1t is now
clear from the testimony taken by Register
Ketchum, on Wednesday, that that surpris-
ing change was not made for public reasons,
but in consequence of private, interested and
probably corrupt solicitations The new
light shed on that strange transaction by the
recent testimony exhibits Mr. Boutwell, in an
unenviable light. On his retirement from
the Treasury Department his general repu-
tation was that of bad fnancier but an
| honest officer. Unless he has some good ex-
| PLANTATION to make we do not see how he is
| to retain the favorable part of this estimate
His appointment of Clews q Co. in place of
| the Barings was more than blunder unless
he can make it appear that his own judgment
was overruled by the only officer whose
authority was superior to his own. We
should be sincerely sorry to believe that this
was the case but in the light of the new
evidence we do not see any other possible
extenuation Of the conduct of the ex-Secre-
tary.
| We are not disposed to lay undue stress
on the fact that Mr. Louis Dent, of Washing
| in-law Of the President, was sharer in the
profits. II is rather the misfortune than the
| fault of a President if he has relatives by
| blood or marriage who are willing to trade on
their supposed influence. He is not respon-
sible so long as they act without his knowl-
edge or against his wishes 1t does not APP
pear from any evidence yet before the public
/ ~. I,I $40
with Mr. Louis Dents secret transactions in
bartering his influence for money If this
Mr. Dent were the Presidents only relative,
or the only one who has made his relation
ship source Of emolument, it would not be
generous to draw unfavorable differences
from one suspicious transaction. The pre-
sumption would be that the President knew
nothing Of it, and that the brother-in-law
had duped and imposed upon Mr.. Clews in
selling him fictitious influence. But Gen
eral Grant has appointed SO many of his rela-
tives to Office to which they had no claim on
the score Of fitness, and some of them have
given occasion for 50 much public scandal,
that the recent unmasking of Mr. Louis
Dent has an unpleasant look
This affair II bad enough apart from Mr.
Dents connection with it. That Clews &
| Co. were not appointed the financial agents
of the government in pursuance of the public
interest is made too manifest by the late dis
closures Mr.. Clews began his canvass in
1869, and did not get the appointment until
1871. The intervening two years were spent
in al sorts Of underhand lobbying and bar
gaining, with view to bring pressure to
bear on the administration and induce it to
| perform an act to which it was averse
There were sound reasons Of safety and
policy for its aversion to displace the Bar
ings Their house is one Of the most solid
and best known in Europe. II had been the