New-York tribune., 1876-01-19
SENATOR FROM ALABAMA.

When Senator Spencer requested the Com
mittee on Privileges and Elections to investi-
gate the circumstances of his reelection in
1872, he probably had at least general idea
of what the Legislature of Alabama was keep
ing hot for him. Unless he wished to fore
stall their report by assuming the confident
bearing of slandered saint, we cannot ac-
count for his demand for an inquiry. The
statements now made public by the Joint
Committee of the General Assembly are not
only most serious in their character but
the worst of them is apparently sus-
ccptibe Of proof or disproof without
much trouble. In brief, it is alleged
that Spencer purchased his election with funds
distracted from the Mobile Post-Oflice, and
that when the Postmaster was arrested for
embezzlement Mr.. Spencer induced Attorney
General Williams to enter mol. pros. and
caused tho District-AttOrney of Mobile to he
dismissed from Office. These accusations are
specific enough, we should think, and it ought
to be easy to put them to the test Possibly
Attorney General PIerrepont will conclude that
they concern his department of the administra-
ton quite as much the Senate Committee
Oh Privileges and Elections.
But whether Mr. Spencer carried his political
practices in this case to the length Of bribery
and embezzlement or not, there has been
general understanding for several years of the
system of which he is the full favored fruit.
What he has been doing in Alabama is just
what Casey, Kellogg, Billings, and Packard
have been doing in Louisiana, what Amcs
does in Mississippi, what half a score OF other
typical carpet baggers have done since recon
struction in other unfortunate States, and
what Grantism has upheld by patronage, by
troops and by enforcement laws. Eleven OF
the high toned legislators who elected Spencer
TO the Senate were rewarded from Wash
ington with Federal appointments. Con
eressmen who voted to extend the Oppor-
tunities of Grantism by means of new
Force bill, and whom their constituents de-
cllned to reGlect, were appointed by wholesale
to consulships and other comfortable places.
And the system still goes on. The President
of Kellogg's lawless Returning Board has
lately been paid off by berth in the New-Or-
leans Custom house, and the author of Du-
relrs most scandalous orders has been nomi-
mated as Durelrs successor.
There is a strong feeling in the Republican
party that these scandals must be stopped
without another months delay. They have
brought the party so near destruction that it
only escaped by the bunders of its opponents /;
and tho best men of the old organization
which elected Lincoln, fought through
the war, and freed the slave, are
satisfied that Republicanism is not worth pre-
serving any longer if it only breeds corruption
and upholds fraud and violence. This seems
to be good time for reform, and there is
perhaps no "practical politician" in Wash
ington who offers more tempting opportunity
to the true reformer than the Hon. Mr..
Spencer. Nothing that a Republican Senate
could do would give quicker impulse Of
prosperity to the party than sending this gen
tleman back to the private life he is fitted
1--WE hOpe) to adorn.