The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-04-30
A Collusive Committee.

A Collusive Committee.
Two features of the late disgraceful exhi-
bition at Washington are severely condemned
by public opinion, as reflected, not alone in
the independent press, but in Republican
newspapers Of exceptional weight and In
fuence. The course, by turns tortuous and
insoent, which Mr.. BLAINE pursued in the
effort to balk inquiry into his official conduct
has convinced candid men that his transac-
lions during the late Presidents disability
require strict investigation. The attitude,
moreover, taken by majority Of the Com
mittee on Foreign Affairs toward Mr.. BLAINE
on the one hand, and member OF their own
body on the other, Is regarded by all OBJ
servers whose judgment commands respect
as scandalously recreant and collusive. 1t
will be easy, indeed, to show the gross unfit
ness Of this committee to prosecute the rig
orous scrutiny Of Mr.. BLAINE'S official ac-
ton, which the House Of Representatives is
now called upon to authorize by a new reso-
luton expressly directed to that object
From the outset Of their deliberations the
incompetence and reluctance Of the Commit
tee on Foreign Affairs to explore the wind
ings and doublings Of our South American
diplomacy was fagrantly and even ludicrous-
" demonstrated. No sooner was SHEPHERD
placed upon the stand than the intimation
that his papers might conceivably reveal the
name Of a member Of Congress threw the
majority OF the committee into panic, and
impelled them to take refuge In secret ses-
sion. The investigation would have ended
just there but for the interposition OF the
youngest member Of the body, who appealed
to the House, and secured such an amend
ment of the original resolution as compelled
his unwilling colleagues to order the produc-
ton OF SHEPHERDS correspondence.
While the majority OF the committee be-
trayed thus early their intention to find out
as little as possible, 1t was not until Mr..
BLAINE invited himself to take the stand
that they shamelessly ignored the duty i'm
posed on them by the House, and were guilty
of rank collision with the witnesses attempt
to foil and stihe the inquiry. They allowed
him to waste whole day in a rambling,
boastful exposition OF what he incautiously
termed his diplomatic policy-forgetting
that the question Of the right OF q
Secretary of State to shape our for
eign policy during Presidential disa-
bility Is one Of fundamental and mo-
mentous import to the American people
and they We're careful not to interrupt him,
or remind him that by strange oversight or
dishonest design, the motives and actions OF
the Secretary had not been included in the
scope of the House resolution-under which
Mr.. BLAINE could technically be required to
throw light only on the conduct of Minister
HURLBUT and Minister MORTON In their re-
spective relations to the Peruvian Company
and the Credit Industriel. But having elected
to take wider range, and to indulge in a
rantng gloritlcation OF his official course,
the witness was palpably estopped from ex-
ceptng to a cross-eXamnation which aimed
to wiunow some grains OF fact from the
mass Of chatf he had accumulated and 10
eucidate the very points ON which he had
dwelt with SO much JUNCTION. And the com.
mittee, who listened with ears thirsting and
mouths agape TO stump speech strung out
over hours should one and all have recognized
the necessity of putting some direct and obvi
GUS queries to the witness. Above ALL the!
should have been restrained. not merely by {
sense Of duty, but by common decency, from
cooperating with the witness in an effort t
: gag member of their own body whenever
the latter's questions seemed likely to prob'
/ sore.
/ W no NOulu udNo DtllSNtu IL pOSSiblc ll4ul
after Mr. BLAINE had been permitted TO de
= liver his Fourth Of July Grafton, not singh
,. member Of the committee, with the exception
. OF Mr.. BELMONT, would consent to undertake
) the function delegated to him by the House
5 and endeavor to get at the truth Not onl.
= was this the case, but the Same Chairman
= who obsequiously declared 1.-THE committe
= had no wish to check Mr.. BLAINE in answer
t ing in his own way" evinced the stronges
=, repugnance to permitting his colleague +
: frame questions In his own way. We Nee
I not point out that such behavior Is gro
tesquely contrary to the practice Of courts
: which, for obvious reasons, authorize muc
= wider range on cross-examinatiOn than the
: allow on the production OF direct test
o mony. Another exemplary investigator, Nj
i WILSON, distinguished himself, when he sa,
). Mr.. BLAINE a good deal worried about tn
: LANDREAU claim, by interposng an objel
o ton 10 this course of examination" on tn
n ground that he desired "to protect the con
= mittee." Poor, weakling, victimized con
i Inittee, which had borne for many hour
8 without a murmur the windy outpourings c
: the Secretary. but required protection froI
3 the moment that Mr.. BLAINE's motives fo
1 supporting the LASDREAU fraud SCENE