National Republican., 1881-10-26
Wayne NfacycauI,.

that OF man who admits that he rs the |
paragon of reiormers If there has been |
a meeting of self-trumpeters in the State |
of Pennsylvania for the past dozen years
or so ut which he has not been conspicu- |
GUS we should like to know of the occa-
sion. The President did not yesterday |
nominate a successor to this gentleman,
as it was generally expected he would do.
1t is rumored that this delay was occa
stoned by determination on the part of
the President to induce him to remain in
his Office until certain work should be
| finished.
When the late President formed his
| Cabinet it is understood that each mem
Der was requested to purge himself, in
writing, of all designs upon the success
sion. This was in accordance with n
precedent established by Mr.. Polk, the
only President who had, up to that time,
| imposed such conditions. Mr.. MacVeagh
| has been advertised extensively as having
responded in patronizirg letter, in
which he informed President Garfield
that if the latter suited him and proved
virtuous enough for his society he
might stay. But he expressed doubts
whether a truly good and respectable
Administration could exist with bad
man and machine politician in it like
James G., Blaine. He was willing to try,
just to please General Garfield, but really
he must be released instantly if Mr.
Blaine should commence any of his
political wickedness. Vital principles
were what Mr.. MacNeagh was welded to-
and vital principles he intended to stick
TO, maugre Mr. Blaine, General Garfield,
and all the world. Just the moment he
saw any deviation from vital principles
on the part of Blaine, that moment would
see him leap through high semi-circular
window in his Department like the har-
lequin in the pantomime.
President Garfield, willing to please the
small and select circle Of the "better
class" to which Mr.. MdcNeagh belonged,
Wrpointed him, with an explicit article of
agreement that he might lease house
until the lst of November only lthus runs
the tale), and sever lrimscifat the end OF
that time from all wicked works in which
he might by that time find President
Garfield engaged.
Entering upon the duties Of his office
with an earnest desire to reform what
ever might be amiss, he took into his
counsels, on the 10th day of March last,
A. NJ. Gibson, a heated Tilden Democratic
partisan, and one who had distinguished
himself in 1878 as the handspring of the
Potter Investigating Committee, and who
had figured in the city of New Orleans us
the procurer and suborner of testimony,
upon which the title of Mr.. MacVeagh's
friend, President Hayes, was, if pos
sible, to be destroyed. The record
of Gibson's depravity in purchasing
| perjury before q subcommittee of the
| Potter Committee is printed in the testi-
, mony reported by that committee to the
House of Representatives. The audac-
, ity of Gibson in buying n witness to
swear falsely for the sum of $500 before
the committee referred to, which the rec
, ord shows he did do, seems to have been
, ready passport for him to the favor of
J MacVeagh. The latter must have also
| known, from the printed record of testi-
mony taken by a committee of the House
: of Representatives, that Gibson was ex-
t plotting his peculiar talent for what he
/ could make it worth in the inquiry into
# star-route expenditures made in Congress
o two years ago.
o The public has been informed by the
= best advertised scheme in America, ex-
: cept perhaps St. Jacobs Oil, that the De.
q partment of Justice-under MacVeagh
= and his chief assistant Gibson-has un'
0 raveled vast network of wrongdoing in
y the Post Office Department. Public clamoi
S has been raised under the inspiration Of
: Gibson and the popular heart has been
: fred to demand fearful retribution upon
= the wrongdoers. The keen edge of the
c sword of justice had been made
|. still sharper upon the sole o.
9 Mr. MacVeagh's boot and the
It meeting of the grand jury was impatiently
!, awaited by him. lie and his man Gibson
o and his new man Cook were eager fol
t, the day when the cause of the Govern
@ ment could be vindicated against those
r who had wronged it, They said they
@ had clouds of testimony upon which tc
# indict and convict. The grand jury came
+ and did all its business and not a witness
C came to testify MS to the frauds in the
IS Post-Onice Department. Adjourned tC
# September 20, Another session of the
e grand jury, and still no witnesses. An
l. other adjournment, Another session o
y the grand jury now in progress. And still
e no witnesses.
IS And now Attorney-General MacVeagl
ID demands leave to retreat from the whole
c. matter. He resists all entreaties, or haC
a up TO yesterday. The country has beer
10 told by him that he had collected tn,
is evidences upon which to prosecute thos,
Ie who had, as he charged, deirauded tn,
d Government. But now we are told b,
y him that he will not remain and prose
20 cute.
d Whether he has or has not the allege,
'e evidence we know not
h Ifhe has, it belongs in the grand jury
b. If he has not, he is the monumental de
G. famer of the age. If he can make cas-
against anybody, it behooves him to dot
lie lie need not think that he can escape b.