The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1882-02-25
WHERE ARE THE MISSING PAPERS


WAsHI NGTON, Feb. 12.-It is given
out from the Department Of State that
q part of the correspondence relating tC
the so-called Peruvian Company is
missing from the files. The disappear
ance of these letters, which nc said to
have contained some important revela.
tions, naturally eXcites surprise.
If Mr.. Blaine were \ man easily en-.
barrassed, he would be placed in an
awkward position in regard to these
papers. He has done what no former
Secretary ever ventured to- do-hc has
carried off into private life copies of all
the official dispatches in this Chilian
and Peruvian business. More than this,
he has openly exhibited to several per-
sons what he claims. to be the original
lrafts,T wi tn the emendations, of the
instructions to Mr.. Trescott. He has
exhibited them in order to excite hos
tility against the President, and to cre-
ate the impression that Gen. Arthur has
changed front in regard to the "policy''
which has been cOntriYed to entrap
him.
Mr.. Blaine came into possession OF
those drafts as Secretary Of State. They
belong to the public archives, and form
part of the current history OF Il dip
lomatic negotiation. AS an individual
or private citizen, Mr.. Blaine had no
more right to appropriate them to his
personal use than he would have to take
away the original Declaration of Intlc-
pcndence, leaving an engraved copy in
its place. Who knows what changes
after they We're submitted to the Presi-
dent?
Putting aside the nis,lemeanor in
volved in this act Of purloining public
papers, suspicion is necessarily excited
that the man who contesses guilt in that
respect, and even glories in the trick,
is also responsible for the stolen cores
pondence, the possession of which he
does not acknowledge. The belief is
general here, and strong, that Mr..
Blaine is fully informed how those let
ters disappeared, and through whose
they got out of the
department. And if they were not
destroyed, he knows where they now
are.
Unfortunately for the ex-Secretary,
his antecedents do not inspire conf
dencein any explanation he may at
tempt to make of this transaction. The
Mulligan incident, though not alto
gether fresh, is deeply engraven ON the
public memory. Mr.. Iulligan was
called to Washington as a witness to
establish serious charges against Mr..
Baine, and he held Mr.. Blainc's own
letters to prove these charges. On the
night of Mulligan's arrival at Washing
ton, he was invited, with other wit
nesses, to visit Mr.. Blaine's house. lie
declined to go there. The next morn
ing Mr.. Blaine went to his hotel, and :,
as Mr.. MuI1igan testified under oath,
he there besought him on his knees
to save him from disgrace and his
family from ruin. After second
conference between Mr.. Blaine and
the Witnesses" at which every ef-
fort and appeal were made to pre-
vent the impending disclosures, Mr..
Blaine visited Mr.. Nulligan in his
room. lie there begged for the privi-
leee of reading the eliminating letters,
in the hope of being able to explain
away their guilty admissions, aud
pleilging his word to restore them forth
with. Mr.. Mulligan, in n moment OF
confiding weakness, and perhaps of
sympathy for the broken man, handed
him the package, and Mr.. Blaine in.
stantly made Off with them, and the
correspondence was burned. That audn-
cious act prevented a catastrophe ut the
time, which would have finished the
political career of Mr.. Blaine.
If there were any real mystery about
the papers now missing, the Mulligan
episode would afford sufficient cxpla-