Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-08-22

The MOrcy letter of 1850, was one OF the
the most dsreputable political frauds in
American history. Conceived in falschood
and depravity, itself II palpable forgery,
ii was bolstcrpd up 10y the most distinct
and outrageous falSrhood. perjury and
forgery One man. O'Bricn, is serving
out "A term in States prison for periurieS
committed in the effort to sustain the ori-
ginal forgery. That act not being the
forgery of II name attached To II note of
hand but only of the body and signature
of Il political letter. was not at that time
punishable by law. or the original forger.
if not some of his aCCompliccs. would now
be breaking stone for the State of New
York As the preparation and promin-
ence of the forgery, however. made it plain
that such an act might he much more
damaging to Il man than the forgery of his
name on business paper, the offence was
very properly made Il crime by the next
legislature of New York, and if the
present canvass ends without some
similar forgery committed by Democrats,
for the defeat by fraud of Il ticket which
they cannot defeat by fair means, il will
he due to fear of the States prison, and TO
the publicity which has bcfallen the
circulators of the Morcy letter, rather than
to any improvement in the persons or
characters Of the Democratic managers.
Our readers will remember the main
facts. In October, 1850. the tariff question.
and Gen Hancock view of it as Il merely
local" issue, was setting the tide pretty
strongly against the Democratic National
ticket. The managers of the Democratic
canvass realized that the contest was 90
;,. aud hnt n n
must he done to stop the stampede of votes
from Hancock to Garfield. The anti
Chinese feeling was then at its height on
the Pacific Coast, and it occurred to some
body that if this could be turned against
Mr.. Garfield he would lose the
votes of the States beyond the Rocky
mountains. On the 10Th of October, 1850,
about two weeks before the National
election. truth, an obscure penny paper in
New York. announced that it would the
next day produce positive evidence
that James \. Garfield was IAN advocate
Of Chinese cheap labor, and the next
day il printed forged letter, signed with
Mfr Garfeld'S name and addressed
to "Icnry l.. Morey, Employers n
ion Lynn. MHss. which. contained
sentences such II, that "Inlviduals or
cOmpanic, have the right to buy labor
when they can get it cheapest" and that
the existing treaty with China should not
he ahrogated until orr great mannfac
turing and corporate interests are con
served in the matter of labor. The Dem
ocratic National committee promptly adopt
ed the letter as Il campaign document and
though Gen. Garfield Immediately de
nounced it as forgery. though it was
shown that there was no such OrganZa-
ton as the Employers Union of Lynn,
Mass. and no such man as Henry l..
Morey could be found though the letter
itself was mi sspelt, as Mr.. Garfield could
not have misspelt it though the paper on
which it was written was such as he had
never used and though the postmark on
the envelope did not contain the date of
mailing as all Washington letters did at the
time June, 1880, when it purported to have
been mailed the Democratic committee
continued to back up the palpabe fraud,
and circulated hundreds of thousands of
copies of it in the States where they
thought it would accomplish most. The
forgery probably cost Mr. Garfield some
thousands of votes; but it became Sc
plain that it was fraud and was de
uOuIlCtu H. SuCn ny 81 manly
decent Democrats and Democratic papers
that it failed to accomplish its purpose
and aroused so much Odium against it
promulgators, that the Democratic Ma
tional committee at their last meeting
November ~, 1880, after the election, isSuet
an address in regard to the fraud, il
which they declared that no member o
the committee ever saw the letter, or an,
copy or portion thereof until after its pub
lication, or was in any wise concerned
therein or gave any advice in respec
therefor" and that if the letter has beef
forged, or any fraud committed in refer
ence thereto, or any false evidence beer
given, it has been done without the knowl
edge, consent or privity of the committee
or of any member thereof That thes
statements were fiat falsehoods no fair
minded man, who reads the evidence now
given to the public, can doubt A month
later Joseph Hart, the publisher of Truth
avowed his discovery that the More
letter was forgery. The parties cor
cerned undoubtedly flattered themselve
that, the election being over, the matte
would be allowed to drop But Mr. Garfield
with many others, felt that the public in
terest required the full exposure of tn
fraud, and the pillorying of the perpetri
tors. He entrusted the task of ferretin
out the criminals to competent man, i
the person of Mr.. John |. Davenport, Unite
States commissioner and supervisor
elections of the southern district of Ney
York writing to him: II want you 10 pres
the prosecutions of the Chinese forger
case until every rascal concerned in ii
nuuiChp1 IS The subject muSt ne