The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1880-07-15
GEN. GARFIELD,
AND Ills FALSE ACCUSERS.
WHAT PROMINENT DEMOCRATS
SAY IN HIS FAVOR.
JUDGE THURMAN, HENRY b.
PAYNE,
GEN. GARFIELD,
AND Ills FALSE ACcUsERs.
AND THE ALBANY ARGUS.

ity Of them) are bending all their ef-
I forts to blacken Con. G.rfelds char
aetor, and make him out a "salarJ
grabJer, a sharer in the Credit Mo
bilier fraud, Sc, it is refreshing tc
meet occasionally n frank and man
ly article like the following, from the
Albany (N. " Argus, one ofthe lead
ing Democratic papers of the country
The Argus says, in replying to a
Democratic cotempOrary:
of General Garfield is the pirate
thief, burglar, assassin, incendiary
and what not, that you would fain
make him out, how did it happen
that that eminent Democrat, Samuel
J. Randall, named this monster OF
unspeakable iniquity to lead all Other
Republicans on the most important
of the Congressional committee
the Committee on Ways and Means
Speaker Randall has known Gen
eral Garfield intimately for years.
They have long been associates in
Congress. Is it your opinion that in
making up his committees the Speak
er bestowed the greatest honor that
he could award the minority upon
man of whose personal and official
probity he had any doubt2
"And how do you get around Jere
Blacks letter, acquitting General
Garfield of the Credit MObilieI
charge? Isn't the word of as illus
trious a Democrat as Black almost
as good in your eyes as the the word
Of Oakes Ames, who was kicked out
of Congress into infamy for bribery
and corruption
"And how about the exculpatOry
words inrelation to General Garfield,
spoken by that foremost Of the West
ern Democrats, Allen G. Thurman
He long ago pronounced the assault
you are now making upon the RepUb-
ican Presidential candidate as lack
ing any foundation in fact; he long
ago declared that there was nothing
in the Credit Mobilier or DeGOlyer
charges except a superior article OF
SANDER. Do you challenge Thurman,
and accept Oakes Ames as a jury
man?
Hon. II. B. Payne, of Cleveland,
one of the most prominent candi-
dates before the Democratic Con
vention at Cincinnati for President,
like Judge Black, Senator Thurman.
and others of the more honorable
and high-minded class Of Democrats,
bears testimony to the personal in
tegrity of Gen. Garfield. We clip
the following report of a recent in
terview with Mr.. Payne, published
in the New York Herald:
When I reminded Mr.. Payne that,
entirely apart from Mr.. Tilden, he
had long, and especially lately, been
considered by some of the unpreju-
diced men of the East the fttest
candidate to come before the Con.
vention at Cincinnati, he said
''Now, my dear sir, it is impOssi-
BILE for me to talk about this matter
for the newspapers, but the fact is,
I am not q candidate. at my time
of life, and situated as I am, any
one not possessed Of a younger
mans ambition can understandWhy I
would not cross the street yonder to
secure the nomination for the Presi-
deney. There is Garfield, " contin-
ued Mr.. Payne pleasantly and gener-
ously, "with him it is different. He
is q young man. The nomination
comes to him at time and under
circumstances which makes it a
great prize for him. 1t was with
great pleasure that I went down to
the Kennard House yesterday, and
congratulated him"
'EYou and the General are person
al friends, I have heard?"
Friends? Of course. For years.
Garfield does not even stay in Cleve-
land without our spending an eve
ming together, with other company,
at euchre. That table could tell Of
many a rubber"
"When who won 2" I interrupted.
ooh, that doesn't need to be told,
even if I could remember" laughed
Mr.. Payne. '.But there were no
winnings on either side except the
honOrs."
'You know General Garfield well
enough, then, to be convinced one
way or the other in regard to his
personal probity ?"
cit isn't likely" said Mr.. Payne
slowly and gravely, "that I would
continue to admit to my intercourse
any man whom I believed guilty of
deliberate dishonor. No. I have
never examined the specific charges
against Garfield, nor acquainted my
self with his defense against them.
From my knowledge Of his character,
however, I should be decidedly in
olined to believe that he was deceived
rather than guilty-that his igno-
rance of business affairs and meth
DDS was TO blame for any error.
Nothing in his outward life denotes
that he has profted by corruption.
He lives economically. The present
improvements on his house at Men
tOr-which may cost some $1,000
involve the most considerable ex-
penditures his neighbors are aware
of. No, no. With General Gar
fields political creed I am utterly at
variance. I abhor the selfish, cen
tralizing, tyrannical and plundering
tendencies of the party which nomi-
mated him. I should deem his cleo
ton the greatest of misfOrtunes now,
when the greatest of all oppOrtuni-
ties is presented for the defeat of
any Republican candidate and the re-
establishment of q sound Democratic
government at Washington. But
all this does not counsel me to an
A o.