Year: 1876

than SIX and half million dollars must not
be estimated by the amount of property
which can be found to satisfy the judgment.


We believe that some portion of the Tweed
estate is under attachment, and that some
thing will be recovered, but it is small in
comparison with the verdict. The success
of the prosecution must be measured by
high moral and political considerations, and,
In this view, its importance cannot be exag-
gerated. 1t is no fault of Tweed's pursuers
that the greater part of his plunder has been
spirited away and secreted. Even if no
money is recovered they have rendered a
service which entities them to the gratitude
of this community and of the whole country


One solid result of this prosecution is
the demonstration it affords that the old
stain has been removed from our local
judiciary, which was stepped in corrup-
tion during the ascendancy of the Tammany
Ring 1t was leading part of the tactics OF
the Ring to protect themselves behind SER
vile Judiciary, created by their favor and act
ing as their tools. While the administration
of justice was under their control they had
nothing to fear from suits like that which
has just terminated, and if not even q dollar
should be recovered in consequence of this
verdict, it would nevertheless be worth a
hundred-fold more than the costs of the
prosecution by re-establishing public conf
dence in the machinery of justice. When
the suits against the Ring were begun the
prosecutors regarded the local judici-
ary as corrupt and rotten, and being un-
willing that the trials should be a
solemn farce they strained legal principles
to bring the suits in the name of the State.
The failure in which this method of pro-
ceeding resulted was not without its use, in
asmuch as it prevented trial and acquittal
in the local courts, and afforded time and
scope for necessary changes in the law. The
publication of the local Judiciary has been
accomplished by a variety of agencies, all
set in motion by the same vigorous and skill
full hands The impeachment of some of
the judges and the wholesome terror in
fused into others were an important branch
of the reform. The passage of law at
Albany for removing the obstacles which
defeated the first prosecutions was another
part of the same general movement. But
more valuable than all was the strong
impression made on public sentiment
by the unrelenting stubbornness of
those who had undertaken the re-
form. No matter whether much or little
money is recovered, the prosecution has
borne important fruit in the fact that SO
heavy o verdict can be obtained in our
courts and that there is ground for renewed
confidence in the administration of justice.
This is worth more than the whole amount
of the judgment, even if property could be
found to satisfy it.


Another valuable result of the prosecution
of Tweed is the example it affords of hunting
down knaves by men of the same politi-
cal party to which they belonged. Nobody
can dispute that the whole life of these per-
sistent prosecutions depended on two emf
nent democrats. The Committee of Seventy
may have been of some use in the summer
and autumn of 1871, but it slackened its
efforts and disbanded as soon as the Ring
was out of Office, and nothing further
would have resulted beyond empty
partisan recriminations if the subject
whose infexibility, perseverance and indom-
liable vigor in the face of every kind of
obstacles have carried them through four
years of toll and crowned their arduous un-
dertaking with the success which we now
witness. They have set an example which
cAo ha o1o -
republican party against thieves in the fed
eral government. But where in the republi-
can party are we to look for an O'Conor and
q Tilden? What is wanted is not men who
will join in the hue and cry while the ex-
posures are fresh and stop when the excite
ment has blown over, but men whose Roman
frmness and fierce indignation against
rascals never permit them to halt or give over:
who, if they fail before one tribunal, resort
to another who cause new laws to be passed
if the old ones prove insufficient; who
procure the impeachment and disgrace of
judges if judges stand in their way, and
never finch until they have accomplished
their purpose. We commend the example
of Mr.. O'Conor and his distinguished asso-
ciate to such able republicans as hate cor
ruption more than they love their party.
This is the description to which Mr.. O'Conor
belongs, and if Governor Tilden's views
have not been so purely disinterested, he
nevertheless deserves high praise for acting
on the principle that it can never be for the
real advantage of political party to shield
corruption and that an amputating surgeon
is often our truest friend.


The Missing Cuban.