The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-09-30
A Cas-. or Cruel R.ticsncs.

Case or Cruel Reticsncs.
When one man in great communicated
one man only-holds the answer to an ex-
citing conrndrum, and when that man per-
versely refuses to communicate it TO an anx-
ious public which has long ago cried out, "We
give it up" surely it is not libellous to call
him hard hearted. cruel, inhuman.
person who thus trifes with what philoso-
pliers regard as one Of the primal instincts
of our race, with the curiosity which
has come down to Us from our great
grandmother Eve. ought not to COM
plain if he is stigmatized as monster. 1t
grieves us to speak Of any member OF the
late administration in such language, but
justice compels us to charge that gallant
tar ex-Secretary Robson with such inhu-
manity as, the poet says, snakes countless
thousands mourn"
TO descend to particulars, which we do
with reluctance, here is the whole Ameri-
can navy, such as it is: here are able bodied
and ordinary seamen landsmen and mes
senger boys, captains OF the FORE main
and mizzen top, quartermasters and quarter
gunners, cooks, stewards and sick bay lob
Jolly boys, not to speak of the great num-
Der of officers, midshipmen, ensigns, lieu
tenants, commanders, post captains, as well
as admirals after their kind: here are
several thousand good and true men who
have spent the summer and full in futile
efforts to guess O conundrum of which Mr..
Robson alone has the answer. The whole
Navy Department, from the Secretary down
to the porter at the door, has been guessing,
and has had to give it up. The newspapers
have alphabetically guessed, but in vain.
That astute bird, the American Eagle. has
cudgelled his brains, but with no result.
And here is Mr. Robson, placidly wander
ing about New Jersey, partaking Of public
dinners, cruelty cracking jokes with his
friend Cattell, running up to Trenton to
manage the Convention-and no entreaties,
no appeals, no lingering feeling Of human
ity, no sympathy with the eager curiosity
in the public mind, prevails on him to
break his hard hearted silence.
No one, to look at the gallant tar or to
hear him rolling out succulent sea phrases,
would suspect him of being such monster
of reticence. Yet not only the whole
navy officers, seamen and marines-but
the universal Yankee nation screams Mt
him, '.What has become Of the navy pay?"
And what does Robson do? Does he open
his mouth? No, except to put in fresh
guild. Does he even point with his finger?
Not once, so far as we have heard. There
was report, unauthenticated however,
that he once said it was changing up be-
hind the door," but, considering the num-
Der of doors in the United States, such
an answer, if he gave it, must be con-
sidered as mere ''glittering generality
and entirely unsatisfactory; it may solve
some other conundrum, but it has no rela-
ton to this one, ''What has become of the
pay of the navy?" Nobody can be ex-
pected to believe that million of dollars,
more or less is changing up behind the
door" 1t is absurd. TO say so would be
an unworthy evasion and no answer at all.
When Robson appeared at Trenton we
fondly imagined that he meant to unravel
the great mystery. We did not suppose, of
course, that he had brought the navy pay
with him in his trousers pocket from Cam
den. But we did suppose that he would at
last relieve the intolerable curiosity Of the
public. We thought it not improbable that
he would prefer to contide the secret first to
the republican party in convention assem-
bled. But no, he said never word on the
subject. Of the missing navy pay, or of the
big contracts made ''between March and
10, to the amount of over two millions,
some of them fraudulent on their face"
which Secretary Thompson says he discov-
cred and rescinded-of neither of these
subjects did Robson say word. 1t is toe.
bad. But perhaps he is waiting for Con-
gress to ask him.