Year: 1876


Both BabcOck and Grant on


Trial at the Same Time.


New York Tribune.


The Private Secretary of the
President, his most trusted and
confidential associate, is on trial for
conspiracy to rob the Government.
The spectacle is one to make Amer
leans blush. Not presuming that he
is guilty; presuming, as charity and
justice require, that he is innocent,
Am .ricans must nevertheless feel
shame when they consider that their
public service has been in such
condition that a Grand Jury, com
posed in part of political associates,
has found an indictment against an
officer so trusted and so near the
Executive head. Is it possible,
men ask, that such an official could
have been indicted, if his relations
with convicted criminals had not
been in the highest degree discred-
liable? Can the President himself
be fit for his high station, the world
must ask, if he has to this day re-
tained as his most confidential as
sociate a man whose relations with
convicted criminals have been such
as to compel his indictment Of fell
ony?


If the statements of Gen. Babcock
and his counsel are to be trusted, his
defense will be that he was exceed
ingly intimate with certain of the
conspirators, that he did trust them
implicitly, that he did communicate
with them by letter and telegraph,
but that he did this from no dis
honorable motive, knew nothing OF
their conspiracy, and had no part in
/ it. It is stated that he will show
that these persons were the most
active and trusted friends of the
President in their section; that they
had been very successful in gaining
strength there for him and his par
ty; ttat they were therefore regard
ed as the very men Of all others to
be most implicitly trusted, and that
Gen. Babcock supposed that it was
best for the President and for the
party to follow unhesitatingly the
advice given by the managing Re
publicans. This is a very ingenious
defense. It may not be the only
one possible, but it is obviously
stronger, and more likely to pro
duce the belief that, IN spite of ugly
facts, Gen. Babeock was not guilty
of conspiracy to defraud the Gov
eminent, than any other yet sug


gested. But does not everybody
see that this defense would clea
Gen. Babcock at the expense oe th'
President and the party?


:. What does it mean? It means


first, that the public service wa
conducted, not for the public inter
est, but for the interest of Gen
F Grant and the party. That is no


an indictable ohense. But it is tn


very essence of the gravest charge


ever made by political opponent



against the Republican party an
the President. 1t means, next, tina


in order to serve the President AM


the party, men were permitted t


WELD great nfluence-within eel
2 tain limits, almost absolute infU
) ence-who were not generally re
s garded at the outset as trustworth


and honorable, and who have sine
t been convicted and sentenced to th
q penitentiary. 1t will not be forgo
Z, ten that very strong protests wer
f sent to the President when McDor
T aid was appointed. It is now {
+ appear that in spite Of these an
+ many subsequent complaints thi
: man was sustained TO the end in a
most absolute power, solely becaus
d he was faithful and useful to th
). President personally and to IL
= party. Has political hostility eve
: made a graver charge? 1t mean
a moreover, that this absolute trui
d of persons known to be suspected
e, trust based solely upon their pc
: sonaI and partisan iidelity-ende
e ia the most infamous corruption,
IS such maladministsation NATURAL
n does. 1t means, in brief that Il


Government has been robbed


more than a million yearly in S
e. Lonis alone, because power VI
n trusted, not to those most likely


use it for the public good, but


these who would use it for tho be


eh. of the party and the Presider


It would be we'll for Gen Babco'
e 20 escape on this or any other d
n tense. But whether the Preside


~ fh. fler4sh hIfsan Marty can efal