The Portland daily press., 1877-12-18
Concerning the Throwing Of Mud.


Among the many discreditable actions of
the last Congress, none more thoroughly de-
serve the reprobation of all honest men than
the unhandsome partisan investigations with
which the Democrats wasted the public time
and money and patience. At the very time
when Congressman ought to have been at
tending to the interests of the country and
doing what little in them lay to rescue the
people from the hard times which were then
upon them; at the very moment when all
their energies ought to have been bent to the
planning and executing of wise measures to
build up the public credit and give scope to
individual enterprise, the Democratic majori.
ty were inviting from all over the land, at the
national expense, every scoundrel who had
tale of defamation against anybody, to come
to Washington and tell it, to be scattered
broadcast over the country. What the char
acter Of the witnesses was nobody knew or
seemed to care. The demand for slander was
great, and the supply, as always happens in
such cases, was equal to the demand. Up to
the very date of the election the public mind
by the aid of Democratic and 'independent"
newspapers was so dragged that no truth as
to the wickedness and gross malice of these
witnesses and investigators could get the
slightest hearing. But the moment the elec-
tion was over, the moment defamation cess-
ed to be of any party value all these investi-
cations came to an inglorious end. While
the election was going on, the Naval Commit
tee of the House kept doing out from their
secret hoard of testimony, dreadful intima-
tions of the wickedness of Secretary Robeson,
subcommittee with pomp and circumstance,
and at the public expense, issued forth to
every point of the compass and summoned
witnesses and held conclaves. When the
Presidential votes were in, and the political
campaign over, the committee after decent
interval to break the fall, announced that
really they couldn't tell whether the Secretary
ought to be impeached or not. The points were
so very fine that nothing short of the lofty
legal talent of the Judiciary Committee was
equal to the occasion, and thereupon they
recommended that the testimony be turned
over to them. And so in the fitness of time
the Judiciary Committee bent their DOW
erful minds upon Robson and reported
that, although Robson might have been
rather wicked, he could not be impeached.
And 80 after spending hundreds of thousands
of dollars the farce came to an end. But it
served its purpose. Nobody but Belknap
and Pendleton had been exposed or had been
guilty; but the public mind had been filed
with vague fear that corruption was in
possession of the land and partisan purposes
were t.acheved-a Democratic Presi-
dent came very near being elected by slander
of the other side. And thus the matter
rested until the beginningl of this Congress.
Then the Democrats, RENE mbering how they
had bedaubed the country with their last
years mud volcano and having another con-
test on hand, bethought themselves Of their
old weapon, and Mr.. Glover Of Missouri tried
day after day to introduce the same old
drag net resolution of last session. Any one
who examines the Record will see that he
never dared to introduce it in any way that
would give opportunity for discussion. At
last, seizing chance in the confusion of a
pending adjournment, he slipped it in and
had it referred to the Committee on Ways
and Means, the spotless character of the
chairman of which, Fernando Wood by
name, was ample guaranty of the fate of the
resolution. There it slumbered until the last
day but one before the adjournment, when
Mr.. Wood pulled it from Its hiding place and
attempted to force it upon the House.
Of course nobody would or could
object to any honest investigation of
the present administration or its prede-
cessor, but an honest investigation,
by such Democratic House as we
have, is of course out of the question. Let any
man think for an instant of Fernando Wood,
ex-Mayor of New York, investigating the in.
tegrity of John Sherman, or ofSam Cox, fresh
from the practices of Tammany and illustra-
tions of Launcelot Gobbo, invading the de-
partment Of state and interrogating Evarts
As for Hester Cymer, his dreadful misfor-
tune in stumbling over Pendeton while he
was hunting Belknap. has so shattered his
ucEN6S Ludb lue L6drIul COUulLl0Q ne was IN
about Belknap is said to have become
chronic.
If any distinct and responsible accusations
had been made, and it had been proposed to
ask any set Of men in whom the country had
confidence to examine any charges, we should
have been sorry to see Congress vote down
the proposition; but the country at this time
would have little patience with the repetition
of the spectacle Of 1S76-a whole session of
Congress wasted in the vain attempt to
blacken men simply because they belonged to
the opposite party. What Congress needs to
do now is.not to send for persons and papers
and waste the time of its committees in manu-
featuring cheap political capital, but to bestir
itself to save the public credit, to restrain the
rapacious ex-confederate In his raids upon the
pnblic treasury and to see that the finances
of the country take honest shape, and that
the whole business of nation is not pros
trated for the benefit of silver mine owners
already wealthy beyond computation.