The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1876-04-21

The importance of the recent painful
revelation at Washington is exaggerated by
the democratic press, for there was, at least,
a pretext of legality in the payments made
to Davenport from the Secret Service fund IN
connection with the New York elections
Instead of denying the facts denial is i'm
possible in face of the receipts given by
Davenport to Whitley the inculpated
parties will admit the expenditure of money
and attempt to justify it. What success they
will have is question which the public will
be better able to decide when it has seen the
testimony Of Davenport, who has asked to
be subpenaed. In the present state of the
difficult to understand why there should
have been any necessity for concealing any
thing honestly done. to prevent IL
legal voting in this city. Davenport,
as federal supervisor of elections, received
pay for his services, according to law, as did
also his deputies and assistants, and, as the
government was entitled to their time for
which it paid, it is difficult to imagine on
what ground they were entitled to SO large
an amount of extra compensation. When
Davenport appears before the committee he
should be made to tell in precise detail to
whom the money was paid and for what
purpose. If he is unable TO produce vouch-
ers or accounts explaining his expenditure
of every part of the sums he received the
conclusion will be irresistible that it was
illegally and dishonesty applied. 1t looks,
at present, as if the prevention Of fraudulent
voting was pretence for screening unlawful
interference with the elections. The fact
that the Attorney General was unwilling to
furnish the money without direct orders
from the President shows that Mr.. Williams
was treading on unsafe ground, for he could
have had no hesitation in discharging the
duties of his Office according to law. The
absence of any record of these transactions
in the Attorney Generals Office is another
strong circumstance which initiates against
the innocence of the expenditures. Until
Davenport furnishes bill of items the whole
affair Ito characterize 1t mildly looks ugly
and suspicious.
The most painful and notifying feature
of this mnlversation is the directness with
which it is traced to the President. Many
other scandalous threads have been followed
until they reached the persons by whom the
President was surrounded and to whom he
gave his confidence but the proofs stopped
short Of his personal knowledge. But in
this case the evidence is conclusive that he
was not merely direct accomplish but the
moving author. Unless detailed statement
of the purposes to which the money was ap-
piled can be produced, and unless those
purposes are shown to have been legal and
proper, blot will remain on the character
of the President which not even the splen-
dor of his great services can efface. But
fairness to him requires that the public
judgment be held in suspense until it is
seen whether proper vouchers exist for the
expenditure of the money, and until the
Presidents own explanations shall be heard,
if he chooses to testify before the committee.
The monstrous accumulation of scandals
of the same kind since the investigating
committees have been at work is producing
o temper of the public mind of which no
body can yet see the ultimate effect Every
body perceives whittier such exposures tend,
but nobody can foretell with any precision
when the final crash will come. During the
memorable winter and spring of 1861 the
busy preparations of the South occupied
public attention without any apparent effect
on political parties, but when the first gun
was fred on Fort Sumter the effect was cleo
tric the pent-up feelings Of the North ex-
ploded with overwhelming force and the
tide of feeling swept down all obstacles.
There is something similar in the terrific
operations of nature Descriptive writer's
tell US. that ON avalanche in the Alps is
slowly loosened by the superintendent
weight of snow, and when, at last, it is
ready to fall SO slight disturbance of the
atmosphere as is caused by the discharge of
pistol detaches the stupendous mass and
precipitates it in overwhelming ruin upon
the valleys below. Political forces often
operate in the same sudden way. His
torians trace the first French Revolution to
m accumulation Of causes which had been
in quiet operation for the preceding half
Lie Suuucn OcbuIOuomcub Oh
Louis Philippe is another case in point.
When vast mass of combustibles have long
been accommodating and drying everything
may seem secure until chance spark falls
among them and starts devouring confa-
grafton. Chicago, to all human appearance,
seemed rs secure on the afternoon preceding
the great FIRE as at any period of its history,
although two months of dry parching winds
from the prairies had converted its struc-
lures and its wooden pavements into finder /;
but the accidental upsetting of lamp in a
stable suddenly swept away the city in q
whirlwind of fame. The republican party
is becoming similar infammable mass
which any accidental spark may kindle and
consume. This recent exposure may not be
'sMrs. O'Leary's cow" but the combustibles
are dry and ready, and from some source the