The Portland daily press., 1877-09-11

tneir innocence. The money was stolen, and
'ney Were sitting by, and if they made no sign
Vi opposltion. the inference is irresistible that
they were parliceps criDqinis
out a1 any rate we are having too much or
TOO little OF this Tweed business-too mueb if
nothing is to come of it but little petty jnsinua
lions or ominous threatenings-too little If tbe
great culprit actually is disposed to reveal the
whole volume of his iniquities and is kent in
check for fear he may disclose something that
would hurt the particular friends of the parties
who are holding him in restraint. 1t is not
pleasant subject from any point of view. There
Is intense modification in the thought that the
people OF "a 'great city stood looking on with
stupid Dewilderment while a gang of thieves
were for ten years deliberately plasterinp their
houses with mortgages. Looking at the thing
from the moralist's standpoint, it is a sad com.
mentary upon the utter lack Of healthful pub
lie sentiment that out of hundreds of newspa.
pers not one could be found eitheri yirtuous
enough or prescent enough to strike blow at
this seething mass of corruption till it had been
endured eight years-and that then only one
daily, the Times, and only one weekly, Harper's
should have girded on their armor for the fight
amid the.sneers or frowns of their con tempora.
ries and the threats of the rascals they were
pursuing. 1t may be necessary to keep this
dark page in the annals of the metropolis open
little longer to subserve the ends of Justice,
but every body who has spark of local pride
Will feel sense of relief when it can be closed
forever.
MI Justice Bradley has .'unwittingly given a
momentary consequence to the nonsensica hull
laDalloo about "Fraud' by writing letter
on the subject. The Judge is evidently too sem
sitve to take a joke. This whimsical CRY orig.
mated with the incorrigibls Jester OF the New
York editorial profession whose incurable mania
Is noDpy-riding. Gle has essayed all sorts OF
experiments in this. line from velocipeSe to
an electoral commission. There is an affecta.
tion of seriousness and an extravaganza of vi.
tuperation about his humorous effort, which is
very well calculated to puzzle matter of fact
people whose sense OF the ludicrous is not es-
pecally keen. He has perpetrated this last
concsit with such pretense Of being in earnest
that it has served his purpose no doubt quite
satisfactorily He has made game of a great
many persons, mostly elderly and not
at all inclined to be appreciative of jocu-
iarity. But that he should have
succeeded in bringing down a member of
the highest tribunal in the land is crowning
triumph which will be very apt to stimulate
MIN to new endeavors to be funny. Any BODY
who has the patience to reason about the mat.
ter, however specifically, will see at glance
that the charge of fraud is neither good in law
nor In TACT; that the only allegation which
bears any relation to the circumstances is that
OF conspiracy; and that no indictment will hold
against one man that does not include the
wnole eight In other words in order to in
fuse the faintost semblance of reasonableness
into an arraignment of the Electoral commits
sion it is necessaryto begin with the PROPOSE
ton that majority Of its members, all of them
gentlemen OF unimpeached reputation for hon.
or and probity-three OF them clothed with the
ermine OF Justice in its highest estate, were will
fully false p their oaths. 1t lis hardly worth
while to waste breath in discussing such a re-
volting theory. 1t is sorry subject for pleas
antry, but one must have an exceedingly low
idea OF human nature to consider it seri-
ousiy.
Mr.. Cornell is entitled to the credit of having
applied to the new administration the first de-
cisive test of the breadth of its statesm anship.
The emergency was critical, the deliberations
over it are represented to have been solemn and
anxious. The refusal of an officer to obey an
Executive decree could not be passed over in
silence. The newspapers, who have assumed
control OF the government since the 4th of
March, did not suffer it >, be neglected. There
has been no lack of obsequiousness heretofore
to this recently installed power in state affairs.
The editors in fact have exercised their author
ity with good deal of despotc vigor. Their
demands have not only been importunate but
numerous and incessant. But when they car
ried matters with so high hand as to insist
that the President should play Gessler to Cor
nelps William Tell, a spirit of revolt against
such tyranny displayed itself at the Capital.
There was a cabinet council convened OF the
debates the public can have no record, but its
conclusions show that the policy Of compro.
mise was adopted. The state paper in which
the decision is announced is acurious specimen
OF diplomacy and aptness in the art of putting
things But the newspaper men are not easily
pacited. They feel the smart of palpable de-
feat too sharply to hear it with complacency.
One OF them, always most natural when il is
cracking the whip over refractory rulers, ad-
vlses the Presidents ministers to resign if they
cannot do better than that. Others, more dis
Greet than candid, st;fle their emotions the best
way they can, but not so esfectually as to con-
ceal the disappointme Mt the event has really
occasioned them
1t must be conceded that there has been a
back down on the one hand and victory on
the other. OF course the laurels rest on the
orow OF the conquering naval officer Ha took
exception to the mandate DISTINGUISHING him
and incurred the risk of refusing to submit to
it. He defended the rights of his order, and
was successful. But that, after all, is merely
the worldly view OF the case. The President
may be said from scrptural point of observa-
ton to have been the greater victor of the two.
sHe that is slow to anger is better than the
mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he
that taketh city," 1t required no small de-
gree of courage for the head Of the nation yir-
tually to rescind ukase which he had author
itatvely promulgated. The mixing up of ex.
traneous matters with the main question was
perhaps obnoxious to the criticism of being dia-
ingenious. There can be no legitimate con-
nection between the tenure of other officers and
that which is presumed to be dependent upon
compliance with the Objectionable command
But the surrender of individual caprice to the
popular will is in itself so commendable an act
that there will be no general disposition to pass
censorious judgment upon the incongruous con-
ditons with which. it is accompanied. The
credit must be accorded II the President of a
readiness to recognize the sources of his power
and the weight Of his responsibilities.
YARMOUTH.
Monoviua Nof;nnr