The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-06-22
DORSEY TO DICKINSON.
The Ex-Senator's Denunciation of the
Star-Route Prosecution.
Claim that the Charges Against Him Were
the Result of Personal Spite on the
Part of MacVeagh and James.


-f tC' N1@N
end, give you something like a connected
history of the efforts that have been made to
destroy me.
AS a matter of truth the original object
was wholly political. 1t was a conflict be-
tween what 1 thought ought to be a wise ad-
ministration of public affairs on the one
hand and what MacYeagh and those who al
ways followed him to the rear thought would
best subserve their own ends and crafty
their own ambitions on the other.
The issue between McVeagh and myself
was joined early. WhatI had to say | said
in response to requests from the President in
January and February, 1881. The published
correspondence between General Garfield and
myself shows the reasons for the animus of
my enemies in his cabinet. When General
Garfield began to canvass the formation of
his cabinet, and | among Others was asked to
give my views, l took the ground that certain
appointments were unfit to be made, and |
expressed in unmistakable language the mis-
fortune that | thought would follow such APP
pointments, as you will remember. General
Garfield decided that he was right and / was
wrong, and nus MacVeagh came into power
hating me. General Garfield, in his amiabil-
lty and indness of neart, permitted MacVeagh
and James to read the correspondence which
had passed between us, as he afterward told me.
The intensity of MacVeagh's hatred for me
is sufficiently attested by the fact that about
his first exercise of official power waste in
augurate against me a scheme of vengeance.
l was never so annoyed, and l fancy no
man ever was, as when the charges were first
made in a New York paper in March, 1881,
accusing me of having conspired to defraud
the government.
The only interest 1 ever had in star routes
was in the nature of loans to contractors, a
part of which loans, l think, l borrowed from
you. Without asking your permission l
offered to give the government the checks |
had drawn on you, amounting to hundreds
of thousands of dollars, every one of which,
as you know, was as proper, just and honest
as the act of any man ever was. General
Brady | scarcely knew. My whole interest
in these loans to contractors had been turned
over to James w. Bosler more than a year
before. l had never received a cent of pro-
eeeds and never expected to. 1t transpired
upon a settlement with Mr.. Bosler that, after
the three years of responsibility We had had,
the profits upon all the routes l had were
scarcely sufficient to repay the loans l had
made. This was all the foundation the case
had, The rest was built up partly out of the
malice of MacVeagh and partly of his am
bition to figure as a reformer. As for James,
| did not consider him in the premises ex-
cept as the weak and servile tool of Mac
Veagh, quick in nothing except the capacity
to absorb the malice of his master, and
RNN'SA 80 ONLAAA WAY hSO VI
a charlatan or the hypocrisy of a sycophant.
MacVeagh and James had scarcely warmed
their official chairs before they began the
prosecution which has just come to so igno-
minious an end, and which has long been de-
tested by every fair and honest man in the
country. ......
Under a system. of espionage before an
known to a free people, and unparalleled in
any country, the infamy began. Nobody
knew better than MacVeagh and James that
l had never made a penny out of the Post
office Department, and that not a cent bad
ever been paid to me or anyone for me out
OF the public treasury.
But with a power that none but those who
have felt it can realize, the most miserable
creatures that could be caught in the drag
net snaked across the mouth of the vilest
sewer were seized upon to rake and scrape
the country to secure ii possible something
that might be turned into a charge against
me. 1t did not matter what the charge was;
any charge, all charges.
The spy and detective and sneak, the low
est and most wretched known to humanity,
the public treasury was rich enough to EN-
ploy. The dirtieSt streams of infamy of the
most distant Territories, as well as of this
District, were raked in search of creatures
who could be caioled by ~lattery, or who
could be flattered by the promise of Office.
or who could be bribed by the minis of
coin or promises of a great government to
testify to anything that they might be
trained to swear to.
They were put on the stand as perjurers,
and they went off the stand self-admitted
perjurers. The body-lice of humanity are
abundant, but not so abundant as the swarm
OF their conjurerS who were swift to feed on
the feast provided by MacVeagh and James
from the overflow of the Treasury.
+ Not only this, but here in Washington,
where, as you know, we live in the humblest
way, it was not possible for q friend to come
or go to or from my house without being fol-
lowed by one or more of these vermin. The
parlor windows could not be raised without
a government eavesdropper skulking along
the adjacent sidewalk to catch the friendly
words that might be heard.
Ny wife was Swallowed" to and from her
marketing and shopping; even my domestics
were spotted" and their movements noted
and reported. And yet all this was not
enough. My house was invaded and govern
ment money was offered in large sums to in
duee my servants to report what they might
hear in the domestic circle. Government
spies, sneaking in by the dark alleys and
back doors, did all they could to dishonor |
the kitchen servants, watching at the half
closed door of family confidence to catch the
word of trusted truth.
And not only this. A bargain was at
tempted by government officials to induce
one of my servants 70 steal my books and
papers from the office of which he had charge.
but my honest black boy could not be bribed
by white scoundrels who had control of the
rich wealth of the public treasury to bride
with.
And not only this. The people conducting
this prosecution were so depraved that they
naturally called in women to exercise the
powers that belong to women to obtain adj
vantages that other means had failed to bring.
Garfield knew it was a lie, Arthur knew it
was a lie, MaeVeagh knew il was a lie, Brew
ster knew it was a lie, Bliss knew it was a
meanest worm which fed from the refuse
swept from behind him knew it was a lie.
Notwithstanding the active and willing
zeal of the worst wretches that could be gath
cred from every source; notwithstanding
the invasion of the sacred privacy of homely