, 1876-07-30

| spies on the PreS1dent'S track when the latte
visited St. Louis. 1t WIS also reported t,
the President that an effort was being mad
to lndjct OEvuLE GRANT, his brother, ant
Col. FRED GRANT, his son. Mr. HEsDEn
SONS speech Was misconstrued as mean
to bis removal, because he was especially
dangerous to BABcocK. BADcocK wormee
out Of the President the evidence which
the Government had against him BY
the reiterntions of his innocence, anG
his expressed willingness to explain al
suspicious circumstances. He induced
| the appointment Of q military Court
Of Inquiry, and had man appointed Judge
Advocate who had been engaged in settling
up BAncocK's Black Friday gambling losses.
The purpose Of this was to get all the ovi-
dence from the st. Louis attorneys, and when
this failed their refusal was cited as another
instance of their hostility to the President.
Meanwhile the Ring were working upon
the President in another direction. They
were persuading LOGAN and FARwE11, that
Bn1sTow and WILSON were trying to catch
them, and directing their indictment without
any evidence, and making offers Of immunity
TO those who would furnish evidence to con-
vict them. Thus 11essrs. LOGAN and FAR
WELL were convinced thGt the Secretary and
Solicitor of the Treasury, for personal con-
siderations, were endeavoring to break them
down. It is not strange that their influence
with the President, directly or indirectly,
should be exerted to convince him that
BR1sTow and WILSON were trying to con-
vict innocent men, and this naturally
confirmed the suspicious that had been
instilled into him by DABcocz. This &c
counts for his sudden interference in the
policy Of the Secretary to secure the evidence
Of co-conspirators, the only why wheraby
such conspiracy could be laid bare, and
his direction to the Attorney General to in
struct the various District-Attorneys not to
act upon the testimony of informers nor
show any favor to those who confessed their
guilt. The real purpose of those who in
duced the President to take this ground
was to break down the prosecutions,
hough he was ignorant Of it; this
is sufficiently proved by the. pronpt
publication Of the letter through the
instrumentality of BAncocK's attorney. It
wasintended to serve as q notice to ali guilty
persons that they would gain nothing by
furnishing Information to the Government,
but would only assist in bringing punish
ment upon their own heads.
Thus it is plain, from Mr.. WrLsox's account
of the prosecution, as was suspected at the
time, that the President was made the dupe
Of men who had abused his confidence, and
that he was persuaded to do things to pro-
tect innocent men, as he was led to believe,
which materially interfered with the plan of
reaching all the men who had been
guiltily connected with the Ring, and Of
bringing all Of them to punishment. Why,
it appears that the President did not lose
faith in BAncocK until it was demonstrated
that tho fellow had been the means of bring.
ing the Administration into suspicion by
joining in JAZZ GoU1D's most dlsreputable |
Wall street speculations. There is nothing |
in AIR. WILSON'S true version Of tho Whisky !
Ring prosecutions which reflects upon the |
Presidents honesty of purpose, but it is
evident that he was deceived and betrayed |
into acts and Instructions which rendered the
Of the whisky-thieves even more |
than it would have been nat
,rally, and which may have permitted some
guilty men to escape in spite of :'ss miunc-
ion to the contrary