New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-12-14
PARTISAN ETHICS.

has claimed the respect of the public for
its good intentions and general tone of
morality treat with levity political de-
faulter and ascending thief. We have
also regretted 70 see the same journal sug
gest the possibility that the chief magis-
trate may be ''invo.ved in this disgrace
full business of selling fraudulent whis-
ky. 1t is not thought Just that the chief
magistrate should be deemed "guilty
upon no better ground than that he has
surrounded himself with dishonest men. y
| There is said to be no evidence $50 far
adduced directly duplicating Mr.. Bah
cock IN the whisky frauds. This is
| perfectly true. Since there has been as
yet no judicial trial it can not be said
that there is any evidence to which legal
exception may not be taken The sugges-
ton, then, that Babcock has been ''un-
| fortunately intimate with Mcdonald,
| Joyce and tie rest OF that wretched lot, !"
| is not calculated to impress the public
| favorably as to the probabilities of Bah
| cocks innocence There is further in
situation involved in this:
There are those. however who look with
| extreme distrIst upon the Presidents
| course in submitting the charges against
this official TO q military court. 1t is feared
| that professional prejudice ard pride may
bias the Judgment OF the officers appointed
| TO investigate the matter, and that their
| decision will inevitably To some extent in
| tlIence the iurg should the case be relegated
| to the civil authorities.
The President, then, who has instituted
this whole prosecution, and who, so far
from protecting men of his own party and
appointment, is believed by some to
have done so in the hope that a military
investigation, whether an alleged criminal
has been guilty Of conduct unbecoming
an officer and gentleman, could be
pleaded in bar and dismissal of criminal
charge before civil tribunal The some"
who had so bad an opinion of the Presi-
dent might have been told Just what the
courtmartial has published alongside of
the article upon which we comment, that
the civil is paramount to the military au-
thority; that the court has been demand
ed by Colonel Babcocl, before his legal in
dictment, to decide, not whether he was
technically and legally guilty of fraud,
but whether he had forfeited his right to
the confidence and respect of his military
associates. The conrtmartial publishes
alongside of the article its own exculpa-
ton from the insinuation that its de
cision will to some extent influence the
jury" 1t is really hard that when
the chief magistrate orders an investiga-
ton into the alleged misconduct of Off
Gals appointed, among a hundred thou
sand others, by the executive, his inexora-
BILE strictness should be held as evidence
of his capacity, and his order for special
and supererogatory investigation of an al
legged wrong in a member of his owc Off
cial household should be matter to show
his incompetency, his not impossible
completely in the wrong and his indirect
intention to shield the very object of his
prosecution. Such is the manner in which
a Republican, who has not fed from
civil trial and has demanded military
trial, is spoken of Such is the credit
awarded the chief magistrate for his
prompt and impartial determination to
punish any and all offenders. When,
however, we turn to the treatment of |
Tweed, the Democratic Senator, auditor |
and robber, We find very jocular view of
himself and his escape. The phrase with |
which Cicero signalized the flight of Cat |
aline, and which Senator Benton, amid so |
much ridicule, applied to Senator Foote,
when sheltered among the interposing
members, is bestowed upon this vulgar
and arrogant knave. Byron and |
Suetonius furnish examples for fraud,
forgery, bribery, and actual theft
for an "adipose" blackguard who
has grown fat on the plumber of
the taxpayers Of New York From the
testimony, as published, we see that this
Democratic statesman had a room, not a
cell, next the officers of the prison; that
his confinement was. nominal; that it
aided his party by keeping a
room which he could have quilted as
readily at one time as another; that he
rode out at tariff of 500 trip, re-
duced-by its frequency We may presume
to S25; that he kept horses and car
riages at livery, and that his friends"
sent vehicles of any sort to his order or
request; that with his stolen wealth he
procured all that he wished, even to the
purchase or charter of vessel, 'nor cared
what land it bears me to, so not again to
mine" This Democratic representative
in the Senate had eminent counsel who
have taken different view of his liabili-
lies. He seems to have been advised that
not having been convicted under pending
he can not be demanded in
We can not see why Re-
publican President should be deemed
capable of conniving at the alleged wrong
Of an unconvicted Republican, while the
robbery by Democratic Senator, aided
by a ring of Democratic officers, should
be treated as an unimportant matter. We
do not understand why the indictment of
D Republican official should raise suspi-
IT. l