Year: 1876

Mr.. BLuFonD WILSON, who was Solicitor o1


the Treasury from the very beginning of the


war on the Whisky Ring until Mr. Bn1s1ow


retired, and who was the only official il


Washington intrusted with the preliminary


and secret movements to apprehend the


frauds, is better prepared to tell the story


of the conspiracy and its prosecution than
any other man except the ex-Secretary OF


the Treasury himself. Mr.. Bn1srow de-


clined very. properly to recount to the Con-
| gressional Committee the action of the
| President and the Cabinet, because it came
under the head of privileged communications
But Mr. WILSON was under no restraint SO
far as his connection with or knowledge of


the prosecutions went. It is worthy Of


notice, however, that in Ill his narrative he


has rofrained from revealing what passed


Secretary, and has confined himself to such


events as came within his own personal and


official knowledge.


Mr. WILSON'S narrative is chiefly valuable


at the present time as showing the enormous
influence which the Ring exercised in one
way and another, and the formidable opposi-
ton the Secretary of the Treasury had to
encounter at every step he took in the work
Of smashing it. There is no doubt that it
was the most gigantic conspiracy ever organ
lied in the political history of the United
States, and that it embraced hundreds Of
men Of position and influence in various
States That some Of the persons who had
q guilty connection with it have escaped
punishment is scarcely to be questioned in
view Of the character and extent of the in
fuence brought to bear from all sides and
upon all quarters in behalf Of the Ring. The
wonder is that, in spite Of this influence and
the determined effort to defame the men who
were chiefly instrumental in breaking the
Ring, the Secretary Of the Treasury and lis
associates in the work succeeded SO well as
they did. He was fortunate in hay
ing the corporation of men like WILSON
and WAsrBunS in Washington, WEBSTER
and MATTHEWS in Chicago, and DYER and
HENDERSON in St. Louis, all of whom were as
energetic and enthusiastic as himself They
kept their temper under the most exasper-
atlng circumstances, and remained at their
several posts of duty at times when their
personal inclinations and interests suggested |
desertion.


Afr. WHsoS's narrative shows very clearly
that the President WAS fully in accord with |
the most persistent prosecution of the Ring
to the bitter end up to the time when his |
mind had been poisoned by agents Of the t
Ring as to the purpose Of the Secretary md |
Solicitor of the Treasury. The base insinua- |
ton that Grant himself was implicated was
3 natural incentive to throw all personal in
duence and official power to encourage the |
most thorough exposure and punishment of |
ii concerned We know Of no single in
stance better illustrating this than the ap-
continent Of Gen. WEBSTER Collector at Chi
;ago, whom he personally knew to be as hon.
sst and clear-headed q man as lived, and
lggressive1y hostile to every species of
raud- But from the moment that BAB-
;ooK's tracks were discovered in the con-
piracy the Ring began series Of ingenious
ievices to work upon the personal sympathy
It the President Gen. GRANT was naturally
nchned to believe BABcocK innocent, as the
after had been attached to him for years in
ne most intimate and confidential relations
Z was BABcocK's tactics to persuade the
resident that he was the victim OF mali
lous prosecution, the real purpose of which
'as to reach the White-House and break
own the President Stories we're invented
nd events distorted on all sides to maka this