The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1882-08-20
THE FzAW IN THEIR AR1foR.

THE FLAW IN THEIR ARMOR.
A fatal blindness under which the wicked
and corrupt always labor is that Of not being
able TO comprehend that other men may be
swaycd 10y motives Of honesty and right.
Consequently, however smart, - they are
always falling into the strangest blunders
and weaknesses, and often do more to con-
vict themselves than others could possibly
do for them. They also seem to suffer under
the deepest bewilderment why any one
should take the trouble to seek out and
punish their villainy, or why public indig-
nation should run so high against them, All
these phenomena, familiar in other cases,
have been repeated in that of the Star Route
conspirators. It does not necessarily require
acumen, as is commonly supposed for
official controlling the expenditure of funds
to turn thief Bulldog courage, which
chances or il blind to consequences, defes
opposition or growls it down, seizes and holds
peculator, for the time being, as more re-
fined rascality which knows how to cover up
It's tracks. In fact, there seems an instinct
of rapacity in some characters which makes
a place of trust seem place OF profit for
themselves Just as naturally as a wolf in
sheep.fold indulges in mutton.
So the Star Route conspirators seem to
have left public opinion, and the chance of
their brother officials being honest, altogether
out of calculation. To their minds, as to
a.. :.
is to be feared, politics, ofllce-holding, jour.
| nalism, and every other human interest re.
duces itself to a question of " how much can
| "you make2' The only motive they can
| imagine for any course of action is desire
| to net q little more money, and one who vol
unfairly refrains from this pursuit to inter
fero with his neighbors in their comfortable
looting, breaks the rules of the game, must
he either weak fanatic, or have some still
| deeper design in view than can be detected
| ON the surface. Hence for time Mr.. Brady
and his confederates seem to have thought
they were perfectly secure, and with rare
| impudence actually bullied Congress into ap-
propriating additional funds that might be
available for robbery. When they realized
at last that Mr.. James and Attorney Gen
eral MacVeagh were in earnest about calling
them to account, how loud was their scorn,
not unmingled with implied appeals to that
"honor among thieves" which they seem
| TO think should be the watchword of the Re-
publican party. Then they were driven TO
find or invent some motive for this Ito them)
extraordinary energy on the part of fell
| low officials who might be all the time
feathering their own nests, if they chose ;
and the mistakes they made, owing to the
blindness spoken of above, have been be-
traying them into false tactics ever since
They have not yet recovered from their
shock of surprise at finding that a new
Administration, new Attorney General,
and the whole reputable press of the country
are, to use an emphatic phrase, down on
"them,' and the speeches of their counsel
during the past week, as we'll as the pre-
vious failure to bring forward testimony in
defense, have shown this discontinue.
If the Tweeds, Bradys, and their ilk
could be brought to believe in such thing
as disinterested public virtue, they would
either become much more dangerous, because
more wary, or give up their nefarious prac-
tices altogether. As it is, their confidence
that all men are like themselves leads them
intosuch cynical frankness as to provoke the
storm of honest wrath which sweeps them
down. Honesty they perhaps know of, but
only as " sentiment - to be needed 10y fools
forgetting that sentiment is the strongest
power on earth, and that rogues are likely
TO stand as little chance before an honest
judge and jury, despite maze of legal
technicalities, as before an honest investiga-
tion and au honest public opinion.