New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-06-28
4 WORD TO MR. POrrERS COMMITTEE.

4 WORD TO NR. POTTERS COMMITTEE.
The Fraud Committee was appointed by the
House to inquire, firstly and chiefly, into the
reports indecently paradcd by Mr.. Potter in a
formal resolution, that the Hon. John Sher-
man, Secretary of the Treasury, and the Hon.
Edward F. Noyes, Minister to France, were
parties to a conspiracy for defrauding the
States of Louisiana and Florida of their votes.
Considering, among other things, " the
"official dignity and position of the per-
"sons named" the committee was instructed
"to inquire into the aforesaid ale
"gation as to the persons in office
" aforesaid" In effect the investigation was
ordered as an impeachment Of Messrs. Sher-
man and Noyes These gentlemen were
thrown upon their defence, and the authors
of the attack upon them in the House were
placed in the delicate position of adopting
charges of extreme gravity which they were
bound to substantiate fully and promptly, if
they would not confess themselves TO be reck
less calumniatOrs.
So far as Mr.. Sherman is concerned the ac-
cusation is refuted by the very testimony of the
prosecution. Mr. POtter's witnesses broke down,
even before they were crOss-eXamined, under the
weight of their own lies. Not only is il morally
certain that the testimony upon which the
charge rests is perjured but it is so clearly false
on its very face that the promoters Of the attack
will be held utterly inexcusable for instituting
any action upon it. If they believed it,
yvo oan only say that Unelr credul1ty
quite units them for the transaction Of
public business; if they did not believe it, or
if in the eagerness of partisan animosity they
J;d NOT atom ipOtrirn wi fhav holiavp1
it or not they are guilty of an objectionable
outrage in dragging Mr.. Sherman's name into
a resolution of inquiry. The matter cannot
rest where it Is now. The failure of AndeT-
son is fatal to the prosecution; but the
defendant has rights which public opinion
will compel the committee to respect He IL
entitled to a full and formal vindcation ;
since he has been charged with completely in
a conspiracy to defraud, he must be
allowed to shOw-as he offers to do
not only that the man who makes
the charge has no evidence of it, but that
there was no conspiracy, and there was no
fraud. And he must be allowed to present
his case with the least possible delay. Mr..
NOyes, likewise, who has come in all haste
from Paris to meet the charge against him,
must not be kept Tuning and kicking his heels
IN the corridors. He should be confronted
with his accusers and invited at once to pre-
sent his defence. Every day that he is need
lessly made to wait adds to the wrong already
done him, and to the affrOnt offered to the
French Republic by asserting that We are rep
resented in Paris by swIndler.
But Mr.. POtter's committee seems to have
other views. 1t has dropped the main sub
ject altogether and gone of, at the invitation
of General Butler, to have little fun throw
ing bricks at President Hayes and Mr.. Wayne
MacVeagh. No doubt General Butler was
placed on the committee with special refer
ence to this excursion yet we do not believe
the country is in temper to look upon
such a shameful performance with patience.
The committee undertook to anaign Messrs.
Sherman and Noyes, and the cases of those two
gentlemen have to be disposed of. We presume
Mr.. Potter would like to leave them just as
they are. But that he shall not do They
shall be prosecuted to the end, and the "per-
" sons in Office aforesaid" shall either be
proved guilty or proclaimed innocent. 1t is
the committee that Is on trial now; and the
members may as well understand that this is
no time for them to run off inquiring into alleged
bargains for the Inauguration Of Governor
Nichols. Their business is with the mythical
congniracv 10 count i'm President HAYES