New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-08-16
TIE MISTAKE OF MR. BFACH.

Last week cX-Lieut. Gov. Beach and cX-State
Engineer Richmond united in public card de-
nopncing rs unfounded and false in every par
tjcular the report of the Governors Investigate
ing Commission that there were gross iI1cgu-
laIitles in letting the contract for repairs on
the Port Schuyler section of the Erie Canal i'll
1869. The charge was that mo surveys,
"maps, plans. or estimates, as required ny
claw were ever made. much less submitted To
land approved by the State Engineer and
"Survcyor and by the Canal Board, before this
Contract was let" Mcssrs. Beach and Richmond
declare that this accusation is false, and they
expressly state that they do not wish to be
acquitted of completely in the fraud on the
ground of ignorance, for it was their duty to
know what was done and to see and examine
the papers submitted to the Board before
authorizing the letting. OF course after this
emphatic declaration the cX-Licutcnant-GOyer-
nor was Immediately subpcnacd to attend the
Commission He seemed to know of the exist
ence of the maps, plans, &c, which the
Commission had sought in vain, and he
was summoned to produce them. We
print this morning The report of Mr.. Bcach's
examinations He could not produce the plans
and surveys, for they never had any exist
encc. lie knew nothing on the subject, except
that lie always looked over the papers when
they were presented, and that he would not
have passed them if thcy had not been regn-
lar. Confronted with the testimony of the
Engineer who should have made the survey
that he never made any, and OF
the Auditor that 40 such documents
were on file, be at last confessed
himself mistaken. 81 think You are right in
"yolu conclusions" said he; "when j wrote
"mv letter ! knew nothing of these facts,
nothing Of he testimony you had before you
"to govern your conclusions, and / AIN not
"now swearing that there was any map, &C.,
"before Us as required by law; | simply say
chat we had before us in this case, as we
"always had, something certified to as correct
"by the State Engineer which purported TO be
ga map" The fact appears to be that false
and deIusivc tracing, not at all corresponding
TO the requirements of the law, was put in to
save appearances.
Mr.. Beach is now in an attitude which must
be excessively painful to a gentleman of his
standing We do not speak of the absurd
Iapidity with which he has been made TO swal
low his own card, but of the position which he,
an ex-Lleutenant- Governor and Chairman of
the Democratic State Committee, has assumed
toward a reform movement set on foot and
urged forward by so conspicuous leader of
his party as Gov. Tilden. This hot denuncia-
ton Of the Investigating Commission by Dem
ocrats in such standing as Mcssrs. Beach and
Richmond, unless it had been met instantly
with overwhelming proof, would have
gone far to destroy its influence and
paralyze the progress of the reform. The
CaA.i Ring must have read the joint card with
delight. But fortunately the Commission was
fortified with proof there was no resisting,
and Mr. Beach (whose integrity, we should
explain, is not in question, but only his vigil
auce), was overthrow. Mr.. Richmond has yet
to be heard FROM
The ex-Licutenant-Go Governor is too accom-
plisbed gentleman and too good Democrat
TO shirk the disagreeable duty which his i'm
petuositY has now imposed upon him; and We