National Republican., 1876-08-16
Bluford Wilson.

We all know men ike Mr. bluIOTu wilson.
They abound in every community-men who
creep into condolences which they betray; into
positions which they prostitute to their own
selfish purposes. Like newly coined pewter
sixpence, they have q glitter of genuineness
until rubbed, when they dull and bend and
disclose their baseness. They are usually men
who occupy confidential positions. They are
clerks, they are secretaries, they are agents,
they are cabinet ministers; they are always
getting near greatness and always betrayins
it. They could not be true if they would.
They swim and simmer in hypocrisy. They
seem TO be made to show US the falsity, insin-
cerity and ingratitude of the human heart, and
it is only as examples to warn and scourges to
humiliate and humble us, that we recognize
their usefulness. Without them we might
unduly magnify and exalt humanity. With
them We are ready to confess the littleness
ard meanness of the race, and admit that we
are indeed depraved and despicable.
The first thing that man of this character
does upon receiving confidential position is
to assure his employer or chief of his entire
and unselfish devotion. The next thing is to
begin scheming against him. For what reason
no ore can tell, but it is inborn in the hypo-
crite, and he cannot help it. 1t delights him
to learn facts or invent stories painful to the
person he serves. He is charmed when he can
mOrtify his patron by revelation of infdelity
on the part of some one whom the latter trusts.
And he does it all with such evident signs of
friendly sorrow and such assurances OF his
zeal and his friendship that the wretch's efforts
appear considerate and manly, when they are
in fact cowardly and detestable. Soon these
efforts turn toward the patron himself. Sc
cretly and in the deepest confidence he hints to
chosen companions his suspicious. Slyly and
surreptitiously he sets afoat ISLANDERS and we'll
guarded lies, which eat into the reputation of
the man he calls his friend. Thinking, at
last, that he has ferreted out secrets that give
him power over his employer he ventures to
speak quite boldly of his desires and bis aims,
though always with the humble smile of
Heep and the sanctimonious whine of Joseph
Surface.
Mr.. Wilson's testimony before the House
committee on Friday last is a marvel in its
way. There are plenty of men who are ready
TO act tie part that Mr.. Wilson has performed,
but there are few who are ready to confess it,
and probably not another man in the universe
who would dream that the role was an honora-
bic one and one to boast about. But Wilson
does this. He relates the minutest incidents of
his own shame, and even quotes his own pri-
Vate letters to prove that he was a hypocrite as
well as traitor. There is no law against this
moral selfl ollUtion, but We say, in all serious
ness, that il Is pity the statutes for the pro-
lection of society do not forbid such exposures
OF mental indccency. Asked plainly the ques-
tiOn whether the President did not give his
honest and earnest aid to the prosecution of
the whisky thieves, and this man is compelled
TO answer in the affirmative; and yet the whole
drift and tenor of his narrative is to give the
impression that sucn was not the case. 1t was
his (Wilson's) business, We learn, to "catch"
the President. 1t was his (Wilson's) bus:-
ness to set spies on the track of the man
who had made him Solicitor his
(Wilson's) business to frame quick suspicious
OF the President from the fact that the latter
refused, in his large and generous confidence,
to believe old and trusted servants to be thieves
and public plunderers. 1t was his (Wilson's)
business to torture everything that the Presi-
dent said or did into evidence of sympathy with
the ''ring;" to intimate as much to the charac-
terless correspondents of characterless news
papers that swarmed about him; to give them
to understatd that though the Executive might
be, and probably was, faithless ind untrust-
worthy, 81 (Wilson) am standing here and
will overthrow the powers of darkness and
save the people," It was the disposition and
treachery of an 1ago linked to the boasting
and cowardice of a Wellington De Boots.
Think of a man indicting two letters like the
following, the first to be shown to the Presi-
dent, the last ''private and confidential"
NJ DEAR GENERAL (Bristow): use my right
dercunce to you and the President the Infamous
liars and busy bodies who persistently and wick
edly misIepresent me to his Excellency. The
charge that my room is the rendezvous of un-
friendly correspondents is without any just found
alton whatever. General Grant has no better
friend than yours, truly,
BLUroRD WILSON
DEAR GENARAL: His Excellency has
conveyed at once to BabcOck every item of posi-
Bile evidence which he had received from me.
The point of all this is that the President
to do? B. W.
Now, what was this crime on the part of the
President? An old companion-in- arms, a
member of his military family, one whom he
had long trusted, was accused of being con-
spirator and thief. The President could not
credit it. "What evidence have you!' he
asked of Wilson. The latter responded that
one Everest would swear that he saw Joyce
inclose $500 in letter addressed to Babcock
and mail it. The President probably con-
fronted Babcock with this statement, which
the latter most solemnly averred was false,
and at once sought the Solicitor to deny 1t to
him. That it was false the trial proved, and
yet at this late date Mr.. Wilson publishes his
letter to give the impression that Gen. Grant
was trying to screen a guilty man. But wit
ness another instance in the following, which
Wilson sent to the President
MY DEAR Mr.. PRESIDENT: My attention has
been called to article in the Inter Ocean which
is said to place me in the attitude OF having u
borned perjury and being a deliberate consptra-
tor against your own good name and that of your
relatives. Before making up your mind
l trust you will permit me to be heard. have
done no act while have been in public life which
you will not indorse when you understand the
circumstances.
With great respect, your friend,
BLUFORD WILSON.
At this very time Wilson had spies upon the
President, and they had followed and watched
his every movement while in st. Louis. On
the 18th of December this model of duplicity
sent, according to his own testimony, the fol-
lowing letter to Dyer, the st. Louis attorney:
And now a word Of caution. You have made n
mistake in trusting c. 5. Bell. He has been pre-
tending to know that you have been endeavOring
TO implicate the President and 1t is possible that
he may return TO St. Louis. If he does, put your
best man on at once, and you will SOC see where
ne trains. If he calls upon yOu don. let on that
you suspect, but don't trust him. and have him
watched. Mind what say. l know what am
writing about, and you must burn this on your
honor.
tells US in his own words, and without a blush.
He says.
learned from the President, from @. S. Bell
and from the Attorney General that 1t was in
contemplation 10 employ Bell to 20 to st. Louis
and to rePort-not to Dyer, but directly TO the
Attorney General-and that the reason for his
retention was that the President understood that
Dyer and Henderson intended to implicate him
in the frauds If possible. Therefore wrote to
Dyer as above.
There We hare it Hearing that a scheme
was on foot to connect the President, through
forged testimony, with the whisky frauds, Bell
was sent to st. Louis to report the facts to
the Attorney General. Upon this Mr.. Bluford
Wilson sounds the alarm and warns the sup
posed conspirators to be on their guard and
avoid any overt act, as they are watched. |
Could falsity and treachery go farther than
this!
But we weary of this recital. We confess
Hr1 do