Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-06-22

great reluctance the duty put upon me by
Garfield and Arthur, and when 1t was over
the only wish 1 had was to be per-
mltted to return to my private affairs,
neglected so long. You know with what
anxiety yourself and others insisted should
resume my desk, and discharge the many
business obligations I owed to many of
the citizens of New York. I make these
preliminary remarks to recall to your
mind the condition of affairs that existed
in my Office in the fail and winter of
1880-81, and of which you were more en-
tirely cognizant of than any one else. 1
was never SO amazed, and 1 fancy no man
ever was, than when the charges were first
made in New York paper in March, 1881 9,
accusing me of having conspired to de-
fraud the government. l did not know
I had ever defrauded anybody anywhere or
in respect of anything, and 1 at first
supposed this was the gratuitous assault
of some irresponsible correspondent. The
only interest l ever had in star routes was
in the nature floans to contractors, part
of which loans I think 1 borrowed from
you. Without asking your permission, 1
! offered to give the government the checks
[ had drawn on you, amounting to hun
| dreds of thousands of dollars, every one of
which, as you know, was as proper, just
and honest as the act of any man-every
| one. Gen. Brady l scarcely knew. Ny
tors had been turned over to James W.
Bosler more than year before. 1 had
never received a cent of proceeds and
never expected to. 1t transpired upon a
settlement with Bosler that after the three
years of responsibility we had had, the
profits upon all the routes l had were
scarcely sufficient to pay 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 out
of his ambition to figure as reformer. AS
for James, did not consider him in the
premises except as the weak and servile
tool of MacVeagh, quick in nothing except
capacity to absorb the malice of his master,
and skilled in nothing except the subter-
fuges of charlatan or the hypocrisy of a
sycophant. MacVsagh and James had
scarcely warmed their official chairs before
they began the persecution which has jus st
come to so ignominous an end, and which
has long been detested by every fair and
honest man in the country under system of
espionage before unknown to free people
and unparalleled in any country the infamy
began. Nobody knew better than McVeagh
and James that I had never made penny
out of the postofice department., and that
not a cent had ever been paid to me, or to
any one for me, out of the public treasury.
But with power that none but those who
have felt it can realize, the most miser-
able creatures that could be caught in the
drag net snaked across the mouth of tn e
vilest sewer were seized upon to rake and
scrape the country 10 secure, II possible,
something that might be turned into a
charge against me. It did not matter
what the charge was, any charge, all charg-
es. The spy, and detective and sneak, the
lowest and most wretched known to
humanity the public treasury was rich
enough to employ. Twelve of the most
reputable men of the district were Oh osen
with the consent of the prosecution and
without the power of defendants to object
to try the case. 1t would appear impossi-
bic to obtain again jury of such charac
ter and intelligence as those who heard
this evidence for seven enthusiastically al
Democrats, some Protestants, many Cath
oIics and some inidels, most of them born
in this district. With such men, without a
stain upon their reputation standing in
the highest repute among their neighbors
upon the track of such men was put by
agents of the government the lowest
species of detectives and spies. Not
one of them could cross
his sidewalk without shadow of q
self-convicted thief covering his track
The dirtiest streams of infamy of the
most distant territories as we'll as of this
district were raked in search of creatures
who could be cajoled by fatterey, or who
could be fattered by the promise of Office
or who could be bribed by the minis Of
coin or promises of great government tc
testify to anything they might be trained
to swear to. Men absolutely unknown tc
me-men whose occupation was so vile
) would not write it here-were brought
here by the prosecutors to testify on the
witness stand to what the prosecution
knew to be absolutely and unquallfedly
false. They were put upon the stand a:
periurers, and they went off
the stand self-admitted per.
|. jurers. The body-lice of humanity
are abundant. but not so abundant as the
swarm of their conjurers who were swept
to feed on the feast provided by Mac
Veagh & James from the overflow of the
treasury. There was not hamlet in thi:
country where it was believed I had per
sonal friend but was visited. There wa;
not person with whom was supposed to
have had correspondence, but what wa;
approached by one or more of these Great
ures. No power was left unused, and nc
artifce left untried to obtain from suct
persons any confidential correspondence
of mine. Threats and brides held an ever
balance. The back stairs of the house
of innocence was made Shiny and greasy
with the vile footsteps Of
government detectives. Not only
this, but here in Washington