The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-03-05
Mr.. Morton Has the Floor.

Mr.. Morton Has the Floor.
il is now come time since the Boston Adj
r,,tistr published the contract between the
Credit Industrial and the firm of MORTON,
Bliss & Goa contract which had been
executed on Aug. 81, 1881, at Paris, where Mr..
MOTION was residing as United States Min
lister. No attempt has yet been made to
relieve Mr. MORTON from the grave imputa-
tion cast on his fitness for high diplomatic
trust by his share in hat transaction.
1t may Ne that Mr. MORTON has hitherto
concentrated his mind rather on commercial
and financial questions than on the legal and
moral obligations Of United States Minister,
ON whom Is rrpoScd the duty of upholding in
foreign countries not alone the material in
trrcsts Of our people, but the national rcpu-
tation for integrity and honor. II is, we may
inform him, u fundamental maxim of inter-
national law that the conduct OF diplomatic
representatives, and especially of thoS" hold
ing The conspicuous post of Ambassador or
Minister must be above even the suspicion of
personal motive or pccuniary gain SO anX-
us is our own Government to avert the
lightcSt Slur on the character or action of its
diplomatic and consular officers. that by
section l,7j1, Revised Statutes of the United
States, the most sweeping and prremptOry
injunctions are laid upon them. Every such
officer is prohibited from corresponding in
J gard to the public affairs Of any foreign
Government with any private person, news
paper, or other periodical, or otherwise than
with the proper officers of the United States;
from recommending any person at home or
abroad for any employment of trust or profit
,f b.. in,
which he is located and from asking or ac-
ccpting for himself or any other person
any present, emolument pecuniary favor,
Office, or title OF any kind from any
such Government" Thus We see that
Congress, solicitous OF American reputation,
has forbidden acts ostcnsibly the most trivial
and harmless, not because these might not
on investigation often be shown 10 he quite
compatible with official integrity, but because
il WAS resolved that the character and mo-
lives OF our diplomatic representatives
should not even be open to inquiry No cx-
t"nuation, no apology, can relieve diplo-
matte officer from the operation Of that
statute. A violation OF any one of its pro-
visions demonstrates his unlitncss for q dip
lOmatic trust.
Now, IL is sometimes difficult to establish
p,'fmd .fucic case of offence under the above
statute. 1t may be open to quo ,tiOn whether
II particular passage in Il letter to II newspa-
per or private person should be cOnst rlicd as
criticism on the public affairs of any for
cign Government. Nritherc can the Govern
mcnt always bring home 20 a Minister or
Consul the odium Of bride or favor bestowed
on third person. In the instance, however,
AZ mi. Al,
garding the pyimG Jdcie aspect of the ease
The charge against him is based on no mere
rumOr. 1t il not founded even On the Sug-
s'stiNe roinridrnrc of his official lrtlnrto Mr..
BLAINE Of Aug. II in which he urged Il joint
intervention of France and the United
States in the South American quarrel with
the tendency OF negotiations between his
business tirmand the Credit industrial, which,
according To Mr.. Il. r, RANDALL, had M that
time been going ON for months. Tn" charge
Of conduct unbCcDining United States Min
lister rests on evidence far more ,Hiinit" aud
positive, namely, On the text of a con-
tract and memorandum executed at Paris
on Aug. ~ brtwr"nt h" comm"rrinl agents OF
the French corporation and the firm Of MoR-
TOY, BLISS a Co. BY that contract the ox-
elusive agency for the sale Of Peruvian
EanOS and nitlat"- in the United States was
assured to the American house, and by the
mrmOlundun annexed, the duration of the
contract and tn" iruitiOn Of its valuable priv
iegrs wNr" made to hinge upon III" forciblc
inieIpOStion Of our Government on behalf OF
Peru, n stop which, we know since the pub
lration of official documents called for by
Congrr--, Mr. MORTON had already begun TO
Ia, In, IL Of i,, In. "a