The Portland daily press., 1876-07-18
Our New York Letter.
Postmaster General JEWELS Suspension
The Differences i'm the Cabinet-Abuse
of the President-False Interviews.
NEW Y0pu -Tnl

The Differences i'm the Cabinet-Abuse
of the President-False Inferviews.
New YORK, July 16, 1876.
Nothing the President has ever done has oc-
casioned his best and most disinterested friends
so much surprise and pain as the sudden super
session of the Postmaster General. They were
entirely unprepare1 for it, and unable to ac-
count for it. Quite independently of Gov Jew
els acknowledged fitness for the office, his
| high personal character and his unfailing good
temper, there were relations of friendship be-
tween the Executive and himself that it must
| have taken violent storm to disturb and sever.
| The intimacy between them was of long stand
ing and extremely cordial. Years before his
| appointment to the Russian mission the ex-
Governor and his family were welcome guests
at the White House, and Gen. and Mrs Grant
| reciprocated the visits by accepting the hospi-
tallties OF Mr.. Jewell at his elegant home in
Hartford. On his return from St. Petersburg
to take his seat in the Cabinet In the summer
| Of 1874, Mr.. Jewell detoured to Southampton to
spend Sunday with the Presidents newly
married daughter and son.in-law that he might
bring messages from them to their parents
Everybody knows with what superb tenacty
Gen. Grant adheres to his friendships. That
quality Of his nature is one of the few which
is not misrepresented. 1t fellows, therefore, As
matter of course that no ordinary misunder-
standing could have wrought dscord between
the two men.
If the President were at'all inclined to give
ear to the everlasting gossip which is current
at the Capital and everywhere else, it would
not be so difficult to divine the cause of the ap-
parent revulsion of feeling which has led to
his inficting manifest indgnity upon gen
tleman towards whom he has hitherto shown
nothing but confidence and good will.
The appetite for slander has ESQ grown by
what it feeds on" that has long ceased to spare
station or sex. Malignity has exhausted itself
in fruitless efforts to cast doubt upon the pur-
| ty of motive and integrity of the Chief Magis-
trate of the nation. Sometimes it has taken
the form of direct allegation, but more general
ly of sneaking innuendo. 1t has alternated
"From the loud roar of foaming calumny
To the small whisper Of the paltry few,
And subtler venom Of the reptile crew,
The Janus glance of whose significant eve,
Learning to lie with silence, would seem true.
And without utterance, save the shrug or sigh,
Deal round to happy fools its speechless obloquy.
The most offensive creatures who have been
engaged in this defamatory crusade are the fell
lows who pretend that they are pursuing their
base calling with reluctance; the shoulder
shruggers who hope they are not as.bad as they
| appear; canting snivellers who scatter broad
cast the most palpabe falsehoods and use them
| as texts for pretentious diatribes in favor OF
reform" The favorite method of these adopts
| In libel has been for some time past to insinu-
ate that the President was not in earnest in
pressing the prosecutions of defrauders of the
revenue-that his famous order to ''let no gull
ty man escape" was insineere, and that he was
on the whole rather sympathetic with than
hostile to the distllers and their accompices in
office who conspired to evade the tax on whis-
ky.
Now so monstrous an imputation as this was
calculated to try the patience of the most i'm
perturbable being living. To endure it COM
placently would imply insenslbility to the grav-
ity of the accusation. The President has
shown remarkable compcsure in bearing out
rageous assaults, but even his rare equanim;ty
| is not proof against an attempted impeach-
ment of his official probity. The atrocity of
| the attack appears in stronger light when we
consider that this administration has wonder
| fully improved the internal revenue service
that the treasury receipts from the impost on
whiskey have steadily augmented ever since
Grants first inauguration-that they are now
| four-fold what they were under his two prede-
cessors notwithstanding the rata per gallon has
been reduced from two dollars to ninety cents
and was part of the time only fifty cents-and
that although more frauds have been detected
and punished during his incumbency than ever
before, the reason of it has been not that more
or anywhere near so many were perpstrated,
but that far greater vigilance has been exer.
| cised in bringing them to light.
Whom Mr.. Bristow took charge of the
Treasury Department in June, 1874, to his
credit be it said, he infused still greater energy
| into the prosecution Of this class Of revenue
| defaulters. He hal from the beginning the
hearty CO operation of his chief. In fact he
| coald have made no headway without it But
by and by some restless politicians conceived
the idea of turning this performance of duty
to account, and the Secretary was put in train
| ing as candidate for the Presidency. HIS
| indiscreet supporters, not content with making
capital out of his official activity, were foolish
| enough to suggest that so far from being melted
and encouraged in his work by the President,
batfunctonary looked with Indifference or dis
| favor upon the whole business. This ridiculous
and impudent assumption irretrievably dam
| aged Mr.. Brstow's canvass, and occasoned
serious irritation among the friends of the Ex-
| ecutive, who knew how thoroughly he had
| aided to promote the public welfare il that re-
| gard.
For one have never believed that the Sec-
retary was in any degree responsible for these
wanton reflections upon his superors in office.
think he is too truthful and honorable gen.
tlemau to countenance anything so disreputa.
BILE. But he had band OF superservicsable
followers who were under no such restraints of
self-respect or veracity, and they INDUCED in
this disgraceful sort of talk to such an extent
as to produce irreparable mischief. One of the
noisiest of these was the detective, Yaryan.
who has recently been pitched out of office
amid grand chorus of lachrymose expostula-
tions from his brother "reformers. There
were others, who had far greater capacity
for doing harm, because they were more subtle
| and dexterous in their methods of disparage.
| ment.
But while Mr.. Brstow ought not to 10
blamed for the utterances of his fussy satel
| lites the fact that their tenure of Office de-
pended upon his dictum, and that they were so
free with their evil speaking that it seemed in
credible that nothing of it should have reached
his ears made the situation unpleasant for him.
1t was perfectly natural that the President
should feel indignant, when attaches of the
Treasury Department we're aspersing him in
the lobbies of the capitol and the bar rooms of
Washington. Consequently the retirement of
Mr.. Brstow was not at all to be wondered at.
He was the victim of his confidence in subordi-
mates who while pretending or perhaps actual
ly endeavoring to advance his political for
tunes. were making shipwreck of them by