The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1876-02-26
THE PERSUASIVE TUITION.

The most amazing revelation IN con.
pection with the Babcock trial at ST. Louis
last week related to the mysterious influence
winch Mr.. Tuition, the Philadelphia revenue
supervisor, was shown 10 have exercised over
the mind of President Grant The or.
der for transfer Of supervisors, So As 10
segt Tuition to St Louis and Mcdonald TO
Philadelphia, and 10 change all the others
about .uddeny so that the honest should
pounce on the dclinquenc!es OF the dishonest
and expose them, it seems originated with
Grant himself In his deposition he says:
"Secretary Bris,ow at that time called on
me and made general statement of his sus.
picions, when I suggested TO him the idea of
this order. On that occasion the order max
in these transfers OF supervisors was made"
But the moment the order was issued, Tut.
ton posted of to Washington and begged
Grant to have Douglas Countermand il. Then
says Tuition in his testimony;
The president SAID that he was sorry to in.
convenience me, but that il was thought that
a great deal OF fraud had been perpetrated in
st. Louis and Chicago and other points. and
| this Oyder had been tsSaed and mate ,ctM the
h0pe that Il mtght enable item 10 detcct those
fyands: that while he himself did not think
that the officers d. this point were Involved
in the frauds or had anything to do with
them, he did think, from what he heard, that
frauds were being committed, and that il
might be necessary to make some arrange.
ments or some change OF affairs so as to stop
| it; that considerable political influence had
already been brought to bear upon HIN to
| thot pr1pr and ,rpVpDf pyprItinn
but that he felt ii rdS accessory perhaps 10 car
ry Il ont, IN 0rder TO put St0p TO tie alleged
ItrdUds on Meg0Cerlmtat."
But the persuasive voice Of SIR Tuition ran
fast and strong, for while lie says his whole
| interview with the President lasted but fifteen
minutes, five minutes of his eloeuence pro.
duced the following astonishing effect:
"The president, after listening to my state.
ment in regard to this matter said that the
more he thought about this thing, and the
more information he had about it, the better
he became satisfied that this arrangement.
would not accomplish what they had expect
ed it would accomplish, anu that he would
order the revocation Of it that day"
The St. Louis Republican,, referring TO this
wonderful Tut,onian influence, remarks;
| This instability of the presidential mind in
! the hands OF the wonderful and persuasive
luton is the greatest wonder in all this Won
dertul business. II is, indeed, unintelllgible.
How the stubbornest of our presidents could
declare that the order made by himself "was
necessary to put stop 10 the alleged frauds
on the government" and fifteen minutes af.
terward, say that "the more he thought about
! this this the better he became satisfied that
| this arrangement that is, the aforesaid order
would not accomplish what they had expect
ed of it, and he would order the revocation
Of 1t that days utterly incomprehensible,
except on the theory that the president has
no will Of his own IN the presence Of the cap
tivating Philadelphia supervisor.
1t would be an omission, however, not to
remark in this connectIcR, that the prosecu-
ton in the trial Of Babcock and the ring, hint
very stronly al another solution Of the mystic
ry that surrounds the development of this
amazing Tuttonlan influence over the Presi.
dental mind. Among the President mos.
trusted and ardent personal friends anywhere
were Mcdonald, Joyce, Ford, &c, ut 81
Louis, aud Mr.. luton might also have been
duly advised Of the intimacy of Babcock
with these cherished friends OF the President
at st. Louis, and how they were contributing
large sums for electioneerng purposes, and
50 on. 1t is evident there must have been a
! little talk of this kind 10 have given the elo-
quence of Mr. Tuition its amazing persuasive
power over the mind of the proverbiably
most stubborn of our Presidents.