The New York Herald Newspaper, February 6, 1873, Page 4

4 ~ORA PRO NOBIS, NEW YURK HERALD, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1873.-TRIPLE SHEET. ferences among the commercial adventurers who brought it into existence. Stock that paid a divi- dend@ of a thousand per cent is not to be had every day, and Colonel McComb had subscribed for some shares in the Crédit Mobilier jor his fiiend Fant, of Richmond, which he thought oug!t to be given him Lamentable Menial Condition of | vt oi tne “pecutiar” stock alictted to Ames ior Hoax’s Army of Martyrs. ——_-—_ — CONFESSOR POLAND'S ORDEAL. Congressional Absolutien Not To Be Obtained by Much Agony and Fasting, Colfsx and Blaine Unable to Hold the Same Doctrine. THE AEOMINABLE TRUTH Financly Dawes and Professor Brooks Beynd Sackeioth and Ashes. The Serpe: ‘om North Easton Tempted The: d They Did Yield, KELLEY STKLED TO THE CORE. ‘s “Why Should I Re} + ?”—"Vows Made-in Pain are Viogt and Void.” THE LAST FROM JURE UNCLE SAM. a Depart from Me—lenceforth I Know You or Feb. 5, 1873, It is impossible to understand they;¢qjt Mobilier Investigation or to sum up its resul’ the testimony which has been or Produced beiore Mr. Poland’s Commhkee, The Motives which underlie the conduct ofthe wit- nesses, the judges and the accused Con ismen, must be revealed beiore we can fully oe the case. The results, however, have been diteent from the expectations of everybody. It was ec Hesign of all the persons concerned either in U frauds or in the investigation to make no search- Ing inquiry and to stop short at any thorough revelation of the truth. This was tle intention of the Speaker im asking for the investigation, it was the intention of the House mm ordering it, and it Was the intention of the committee in conducting it. Judge Poland has not asked a single question likely to extract from a witness anything that the witness would not be willing to tell, or calcu- lated to make the investigation deeper or broader by opening up new sources of iniormatien. That the inquiry was as thorough as it became is owing to the stupidity and the impudence ot the accused nd the selfishness which induced them to seck to Bave themselves at the expense of Oakes Ames, The labors of the committee have brought outsome Startling revelations, but they are not remarkable im comparison with the exposures which might have been made. Indeed, I may safely say that we have been told only a small part of the truth; but these results, meagre as they are, though far Breater than they were intended to be, are becretly deplored by the republican leaders, who ‘re now makiag Mr. Blaine feel the weight pf their displeasure for having brought 80 many misfortunes upon the party. The Bpeaker is suffering to such an extent that jt 8 openly asserted that he can never be President, and a strong effort will be made to defeat him when he seeks re-election to his pre- sent position. This opposition takes shape only in vitter inuendoes and a segregation of enmities which may result ina strong cembination against bim in caucus. If the conspiracy can not be made powertul enough to defeat him it wiil not openly assert itsel!; but it has many loose elements of Strength which are slowly gathering into form. The victims of the Crédit Mobilier exposurcs look apon the Speaker as the author of their misior- tunes. He, as wellas they, was upon McComb’s ust in the beginning. They naturally supposed that he, as weil as they, was guilty of the charges brought against lim and them. Now they see that he has escaped, and that what was his safety was their destruction. He was first to deny any complicity with the frauds, and, believ- ing nim “loaded with the bonds as well as themselves, they took their cue from him In making denials as broad and comprehensive as his. In some quarters exception was taken to the Maanner and form of these denials; but they meant, Mf they meant anything, that the persons making them had no dealings with Oakes Ames in Crédit Mobiller stock. As a campaign trick the exposures were worthless, because the country relied upon me words of Mr. Colfax, Mr. Dawes and the others Bs true. It is a compliment to the American people that they were so slow to accept what might prove to be base standers, and it is in consequence of this faith in the accused, which was their momentary triumph, that their downfall became so complete. If they could bave foreseen the resuit or fathomed @ policy which couid not fail to drive them from public life Blaine’s denial would have stood by it- self, and they would not have beem compelled to resort toa hundred expedients to sustain their original faisehood, It is the original talsehood which hangs like a millstone around their necks and drags them down to the lowermost depths of degradation. WHAT THE CREDIT MOBILIER WAS AND IS, The Crédit Mobilier of America 1s a so called cor- poration born in fraud and used for fraudulent ends. The name was exceedingly well chosen; for Mt had about it an air of mystery and immensity dazzling to the common imagination, but it was enlyaname, The Fiscal Agency of Pennsylvania, Incorporated by the Legislature of that State in 1859 at the instance of General Duif Green, with a charter broad enough to permit of every conceiva. bie kind of c6mmercial enterprises—building rail- roads being only a part of its business—was seized npon and appropriated by the first conspirators. There ig astory told that the charter of this cor- poration was obtained by an outlay of $50,000 Among the members of the Pennsylvania Legisla- ture; but this is not true, the original company being only @ wild and impracticable scheme of Dut Green’s, The Fiscal Agency still exists as much as it ever existed, and Dut Green, pow an old man of elghty-two, is yet its president, It was not the Pennsyivania Legisiature which was purchased for $50,000, but some of the officers of the agency; and it was not the agency which was Sold, but oniy its shadow. The shadow was as good as the substance to Oakes and Oliver Ames, Dr. Durant and the others, and upon it they proceeded % build the solid structure ef the Crédit Mobilier, The object of this new company, founded upon Rothing and without any authority, either in law br in fact, was simply to rob the government for the benefit of @ few stockholders in the Union Pa- tific Railroad. It was a so-called corporation within an actual corporation, and was intended only as & vehicle for absorbing the capital of the road. It was @ matter of common notoriety that its contracts were mere thefts—frauds upon the government. Every Congressman who bought stock in it knew this or could have known it, Organized for a purpose 80 simple, its Work appar- pntly ended when the road was built; but it mignt yet be used for running the road, as it was formerly psed in constructing it, for there is quite as good q yeason for its future operations as Jor its past rob- beries, HOW THR M'COMB EXPOSURE WAS ACCOMPLISHED, A schome so dishopesi was certain to broed dit the purchase of Congressmen. Ames resisted this, and a suit was the consequence, The papers in the case implicated a number of prominent men, and the sory is that they were stolen from Ames! lawyer.’ The theft was engineered by W. P. Weod, the detective, and the papers were placed in the hands of Marshal Murray, the expenses being borne by several leading democrats in New York whose names have not yet been revealed, Murray secured their publication, but, part from the con- firience reposed in the word o: the accused persons, of which I have already spoken, the effect of the pub- lication was deadened, not only by the mistake of Murray mm the vehicle he chose to make them puolic, but by the fact that McComb’s list was evidently a list of persons whom Ames intended to bribe, aud whom tt was by no means certain he nad bribed, even admitting the intention, In the end it turned out that the list was only partially correct, Blaine was on it. Amesowered him some of the stock, but he determined to sleep upon tie oner, and slept tosuch purpose that he was abie to decline it.- Boutwell was also on the list, but he de- clined the offer as soon as it was made. It was thus that these two escaped, and tneir places wee taken by James F. Wilson and W, B. Allison, of Towa, It is doubtful wuether Blaine knew who had yielded to the temptation which ne escaped 50 narrowly; but he knew there was suiticient truth in the charges to make it unsa.e jor him to rest under the tmputations. THE TUB TO THE WHALE. Under all these circunystances it .was mecessary that sometping should be done to keep public opinion from becoming excited over an apparent assent to the truth oi these accusations, Though 1t was impossible for the’country at first to believe that men who had be nso honored and trusted— allof whom had still beiore them brilliant pros- pects of honor and useluiness—had been so base, the charges were so specitic and the accusa- tions so straightforward and concise that they could not be passed by in silence. If the allega- tions had been by innuendo they could have been auswered by indirection and without the interpo- sition of a whitewashing committee. It 18 in this that Speaker Blaine i6 justified betore even tho most unscrupulous of his party friends in asking for the investigation, though he is not the man to waste many regrets if his political rivals should be “aestroyed by the machinery which alone ceuld save them. If they were out of the way his own path would be clear, and if they were rescued both they and the party would owe him a debt of grat.tude. To him it was six of one and half a dozen of the other, and I think he was more disposed to rescue than to destroy them. The most murderous of rings have always preferred an abject and obedient stave to the necessity of attaining safety or suc- cess by assassination. Blaine is the Richard ll. type of statesman—a most magnificent and able Richard it must be confessed—willing yither to condone or destroy, and Colfax and the Test mignt have licked his hand and lived if they had not been imprudent enough to goad Oakes Ames to fury. The Speaker knew, as everybody else knew, that Ames was not anxious to expose anyféne beyond the narrowest limit which the ne- cessities of the situation required. The necessities of the situation were felt as much by the party as the Speaker. The Vice President of the United States wat is and that Is to be, the Secretary of the Treastry, the Speaker of the House, the Chair- man of the Committee on Ways and Means, the Chairmain of the Committee on Appropriations, one or two Senators and a number of Representa- tives were accused of bribery. Blaine knew that he could go before a committee, tell his story and have Ames corroborate it. He was not bound to inquire whether Ames could or wonld corroborate the others. He was inno- cent and they might take their chances; 80, looking out upon the sea ef his own future, he Saw that a resolution of inquiry would be safety jor himself and a tub to the whale for the rest. He scarcely tmagined that they would attempt to make Oakes Ames the scapegoat of their sins, or that he should be pursued by them after their Teputations were destroyed. Now they and their friends are cursing him as the cause of their destruction, though he did for them everything it was in his power to do, He gave them acom- mittee that would whitewash them if it was possi- ble to apply the brush. It isa rumor at the capi- tal—very annoying to Mr. Cox, but, whether true or false, believed by many leading men on both sides of the House—that Blaine dictated the ‘com- mittee, Vox only doing his bidding. A representa- tive, pecniiarly well informed on _ this whole subject, told me in so many words that the Speaker only consented that Cox should take the chair after seeing the names of the committee, The committee itself was unobjectionable td the accused, and, whether Blaine dictated it or not, it has exactly suited his purposes. It isin no sense a smelling committee. The only man upon it whois really in earnest is Merrick, of Maryland. Banks, who, as a liberal re- publican, helds the balance of political power in its organization, has absented himself from its sittings and from Washington during much of the time it has been at work. The Test are the party friends of the accused, accustomed to look upon the alleged criminals as their masters, Their investigations have been cenducted as we would have expected, the only good thing they have done being the opening of their doors when they were coerced into opening them. In itself the committee has been singulaly imert. From the beginning till now it has industriously sought to do noting. It has moved only as it was moved, butit was always true to this one purposc—to learn nothing and to do nothing—and has most unwillingly recorded the testimony of willing witnesses. Poland has been constantly surprised that where he @ipped for lime mud has covered his brush, and the good man from Vermont is bewildered at the results, So is Blaine and #0 is everybody. But the often quoted remarks about the best laid plans of mice and men explain it all. Some over-virtuous persons relied too much upon the esteem which their ostentatious virtues secttred for them. ‘They told lies about me,” says Ames, “till l could stand it no longer,” so he turned upon them like @ rat lashing his pur- suers. They would have derived all the benefit from the HERALD'’s jokes upon Hoax if Christian resignation had been among foax's many fine qualities. Hoax was at first anxious only to for- get; but when he waked np at last he played a hand as !ull of trumps as Ah Sin’s sleeve in the famous contest with Truthful James and Bill Nye. OAKES AMES, In order to understand more fully the exposures which followed Ames’ change of tactics, it is neces- sary to appreciate the real character of the man. Like the devil, he is very far from being as black as he is painted, He is a hoax, but not a hoaxer, In- ftead of being an acute financier, he is simply a stupid shovelmaker, He ought to be at the forge now, and he would be but for blind Fortune. His ignorance 1s opaque. His intellect ia feeble. His conscience is undeveloped. But he is honest as far as he understands what honesty means. He would not steala pin not merely becanse it is only a pin, but from principle. If he knew the difference between good and evil he would be a perfectly good man. He bribed Congressmen, it is true, but with «him oribing them was a duty. It is deubtful whether he recognized the moral aspects of his actions, or ever will be aple to understand that placing the stock “where it would do most goed,” as he himself said, wae bribery, With him it was a sincere purpose of inducing some of the must prominent men in Congress to take a friendly in- terest in the road, All that he did was to his mind a thing eminently proper to be done. If his moral perceptions had been better and he had known the distinction between commercial enterprise and bribery there would have been no exposure of his best friends; McComb would have had ne letters from him and there would have been no papers to be stolen from his lawyers for political purposes; his dealings with his associates would not have been upon the debit and credit principle; he would have testified against nobody, Jor he would hinrself have bribed nobody. The case of Dr. Durant illus- trates this matter in a way that will make 4 clear to every understanding. Durant had mose stock for distribution than was given to Ames. The one was charged with the buying of | democrats, the other bought republicans. Durant knew that this thing was bribery, and he worked by indirection 50 that the names of the democratic corruptionists will probably remain a mystery for- ever, Stewart, the recusant witness, was his in- strument; but Stewart was not hia only toot Durant encourages the impression that Stewart “gobbled up’? the funds that were given him, “What did he do witn the money?” I asked of @ man who professed to believe this story, and was teld that he gambied it @woy. All this may be true, but it looks very much like @ lie, Durant is too shrewd & man to be so completely overreached by Stewart. Besides, the sum which Stewart re- ceived is entirely inadequate when com, pared with the amount of money and bonds which Durant had for distribution, Ames had 343 shares of Crcdit Mobilier stock, and with it he corrupted ten of the most poweriul men in Con- gress. Durant had 380 shares 01 stock and $400,000 in money besides. Ten thousand dollars of this went toward Harlan’s re-election, In both money and stock Stewart got only $250,009, The rest of it is unquestionably in the hunds of democratic Con- gressmen and of other Congressmen besides Brooks, of New York, and Boyer, of Pennsylvania, Durant isan angel compared with Ames, for he stared Heaven in the face and sinned with his eyes open, while other men’s were closed, Ames 16 avery devil, because he did not know that he was sinning. Agenticman said to me, “Aiter.all that he has done, I would make him executor of my will, know- dng that he would not deprive my children of a single penny.” He is a man of correct business habits, and he was able to account to tie Créait Mobilier for every cent of the corruption fund in his hand. He is a queer compound of #iurewdness, rascality, honesty and simplicity, and is as gar- Tulous as anold woman. But he enly told what he knew of Colfax and Patterson when he was forced to tell it; and that he has not yet told the whole truth in regard to some of the others is evi- dent from an analysis of the Dawes case. AMES AND DAWES—HOW THR LEADER OF THE HOUSE DOES BUSINESS. Mr. Dawes made a very clear aud concise denial of his alleged Crédit Mobiller transactions soon after Speaker Blaine had set the example to these who supposed he was a partner with them in guilt. Especially was the leader of the House pre- cise in saying that he owned no stock at any time not bought and paid for with hisown money. Men who knew Dawes, or supposed they knew him, were satisfied with his letter, and said that he, at least, woud be free from the imputa- tions cast upon him. When he came to tell his story before the committee it was a plea of confession and avoidance, He had owned stock, he admitted, in the Crédit Mobilier, but only for three weeks. According to his own account, when he came to Washington in the Winter of 1866-'7, he had $1,000 to his credit in the hands of the Ser- geant-at-Arms, A thousand dollars is a sum of money 80 vast that the average Congressman is utterly at a loss how to invest it, and even the financial leader of the House—the man who alone is superior to the Secretary of the Treasury in moulding the finances of the government—was so far unequal to the occasion that he was compelled to ask his friend Washburn for advice and guidance. Washburn referred him to Ames, who generally had a large supply of Yankee notions for specuia- tive statesmen. Dawes and Washburn had talked of shares in some Iowa railroad, but Ames re- commended Crédit Mobilier stock, and Dawes ugreed to take it if the shovelmaker wonld guar- antee him ten per cent upon his investment. This Ames agreed to do, and Dawes took the stock to the fullamount of his money which was wanting investment, but he paid upon it only $800, After three weeks he became frightened, because he learned that one of his Pittsfield neighbors was going to sue the company, and gave back the stock, receiving from Ames his $800 and accrued interest. The fact that he took the interest for three weeks shows his careful and methodical business habits; but somehow or other he also got a dividend on stock he did not own, and after a very considerable period he was in Ames’ debt $260. The buying and selling and borrewing and lending between these two are mysteries as im- penetrable as were all things earthly and divine to Lord Dundreary. Dawes’ story seems woven ext of the whole cloth and not to be true in any particular. Ames contradicts it in some some of its most essential points, and yet Ames is his friend, pushing him for the United States Senate in place of Henry Wilson. The books of the Sergeant-at-Arms show no signs of his hav- ing any money in that quarter when he says he had it. The fact of the receipt of the dividend after he pretends to have yielded up the stock proves or seems to prove tnat he continued to own it and owns it still. But he found no fault with Ames, and Ames lets him alone. If he had contra- dicted the shovelmaker he would probably have met the fate of Colfax; but he was tuo prudent to do anything se reckless, and he accordingly re- tains the friendship and esteem of Oakes Ames. The whole truth may come out in the end, but I doubt if it will be told any more ciearly than it appears from the contradictions in which he has involved himself, for Ames is true to his purpose of telling a5 little as possible, unless circumstances or affronts compel him to unbosom himself. WHEREIN OAKES AMES SHOWED FIGHT. In the beginaing Oakes Ames showed little dis- position even to traverse the accusations against himself, He appeared to think he could best meet his accusers in the testimony he would produce in the McComb suit. Butevery day put him into deeper water, and he saw at last that his evidence in that case might be successfully controverted un- less he struck back. His first blew was aimed at Patterson, but previously Colfax had put him in an awkward position by virtually charging him with embezziement. It 1s asserted in many quarters that he took advice from General Butler as to the best course for him to pursue, but, if he did, he certainly failed to follow sucha policy as Butler would have been likely to suggest. Butler is too fond ef dramatic effects to have allowed him to kill a single bird till the whole tlock had lit, Ames preferred to wing them separately, and he broaght Patterson down at the first shot. He met Patterson’s denial with proofs which utterly confuted and confounded the Senator, and set off the allegations of the New Hampshire par- son that he had never owned any Crédit Mobilier stock with the receipts for the dividends. It was impossible to have aimed a harder blow, and its success was overwhelming. Patterson clung to his story, but Ames added proof upon proof, and at last showed conclusively that the Senator had been imploring bim to commit perjury. This only warmed the blood of the shovelmaker, and he next undertook the task of annihilating Colfax. Colfax, too, denied ever having owned any Crédit Mobiler stock, but admitted that he paid Ames $500 on ac- count of stock he was to reeeive, As, according to his own story, he never got the steck, ang had not been paid back the money, Ames was placed in the position ef a common swindler. Ames did not have the receipts in his case he had in Patter- son's, and so it was necessary to meet Colfax in a different way. He weat to his memorandum book and found that om a certaim @ay he had given Colfax a check on the Sergeant-at-Arms for $1,200, payable to S. ©. or bearer. Colfax denied ever having received the check, but his bank ac- count showed that on the same day he had made a deposit of $1,200 im United States notes, But he had already involved himseif in centradictions by his tales ef his poverty and his declarations that he had no private means, so that he felt his posi- tion to be weak, if not utterly untenable. He ac cordingly gave out that he will be able to prove by | three different persons that he received money enough from them to make up the amount of the deposit. Unfortunately for his reputation for veracity; he will be met even here by an ugly plece of circumstantial evidence; for at that time the banks were paying out only their own money and keeping the United States notes in their possession a8 a reserve fund. It would not have been easy for Colfax to get this peculiar kind ef money from three different persons, Under ail the circumstances the inference seems perfectly justifiable that he ob- tained it from the Sergeant-at-Arms, and that the 8. ©. check means exactly what Ames says it means. Besides. nobody kuows wit other prools © his capacious pockets, GARFIRLD, KELLEY AND BROOKS. It would seem that the others would have taken warning from the tate of two such distinguished Men as Patterson and Colfax, but some of them had already gone too far to retreat. This was especially the case with Garfield, Kelley and Brooks. Garfield and Kelley denied ever having owned sng Crédit Mobilier stock, in the same way that Patter- son and Colfax had denied its ownership, and affected to regard the dividends they had received from Ames merely as loans. The stories are the very simplicity of falsehood, and no sensible per- sons in Washington place any reliance upon thtem. It was an iinpertinence to expect people to believe such absurd tales, Garfleld's friends are laboring industr.ously to keep com- ments on bis conduct out of the press, and have succeeded in obtaining a “let up” for him, But even the people who had most regard for him a year age are ashamed that he should be chairman of the Committee on Appropriat.ons, and he feels his disgrace so acutely that it unfits him for caring for his bills, Kelley, however, shows iew or no compunctions, He is a man of sublime impudence ‘and extraordinary cheek, but these cannot save him this time. He was among those who received that “fashionable” $329, and even when he affected to pay back the money to Ames he was content tat Ames’ tearing his check in two and handing it io him again should be considered a, ‘‘settle- ment.” These are the only repubkcans who have had differences with Ames,-and. everyone of them has come out ef the contest so thoroughly injured in reputation as to be beyond recovery. James Brooks, by pursuing a like course, met with .@ like fate ; for while his case differed from the others in detail and | he was free from the hate of Oakes Ames, his guilt ‘was as certain, and General Butler was his Nemesis, Butler had long waited for an opportunity to repay Brooks’ denunciations of him as a “gold stealer” during the war, and by inserting the words “or others” after the name of Oakes Ames in Blaine’s resolution he caught his old enemy. EXAMPLES OF CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS. I passed tiie Hon. James F, Wilson in the avenue this morning, and he seemed as merry as @ mud- lark, There is ne reason why he should not be happy, for he had the impudence to tell the com. mittee in substance that he got the stock and the dividends and liked the transaetion. Bing- ham and Scofield and some others put in pleas of confession, but tried to soften the extreme hardness of their lot by the allega- Uons that they had returned their stock. Perhaps they have done se, but people are apt to judge them from a severer standard than they like to be judged by. A grave doubt lingers in the mina as to whether the return of the stock is not only a mere ruse, a8 was the case with Kelley, and that Ames is their “trustee.” It is impossible, there- fore, to acquit them entirely of evil intention. They ought to have known as men of business that stock which paid in so short a time a dividend of 1,000 per cent derived its profits from fraud, and as members of Congress they should have known that it was the government which was being de- Jrauded. Unless they knew ttiese things they were not fit for their places, and if they knew them they were equally unfit. Yet there is generally forgive- ness for those who confess their faults, while the ‘anco gude” who deny their crimes to the last are the more severely punished. A lie well stuck to is only as good as the truth when it has the appear- ance of truth, The'lies in the Crédit Mobilier cases have been recognized as lies all through the inves- tigatjon. People in Washington talk aboui this or that “lie” of Colfax or Patterson or Dawes or Kelley or Garfield as mere matters ofcourse, and as if it was agreed that it was a lie. Indeed the agree- ment is almost universal, and this is what makes the sins of these men so bitter and their fall irre- trievable. Dawes loses much by his downfall, for if he is not sent to the Senate in Wilson's place as an endorsement of his mnocence nobody will make any blunders about his guilt hereaiter. Gar- field feels his loss to be greater even, for all bis iriends are asking for a kindlier judgment on his acts on the ground that he is so-young ana so bril- liant. But Colfax loses most of all, He had the Presidency in view four years hence, but now he can never be President, and his lot is made sadder still by the fact tnat theugh he fermerly had troops of friends most of them have turned against him. And then from every tongue comes the reflection, wrong in principle but correct in fact, that if they had only “ewned up” their sins would soon have been forgotten, them, for even if they had “owned up” the confes- sion would have tortured them as it is torturing others whom we are apt to regard as forgiven already ; for it is better not te sin at all than to sin and be absolved. THE COMMITTEE'S REPORT AND PROBABLE RECOM- MENDATIONS. The report of the committee is a matter of mere conjecture. The bold and useful thing to be done would be to bring the inquiry to a ciose aad recom- mend the expulsion of every member of Congress implicated in the frauds. But tts is a course de- manding too much courage from Judge Poland and his colleagues. Ceurage is the element which is wanted in this crisis, Perhaps the most that will be done by the majority will be to report the testi- mony to the House witheut any expression of opinion whatever. Even this may be done so late im the session that action upon it will be impossi- ble. The eniy thing to prevent such a feeble course is the general sentiment against bribery and corruption awakencd by the investigation. It is unsafe fer the republican party to pass these. Offences by in silence, and to whitewash them is equally dangerous. So the character of the report has not been determined upon; but further de- velopments and a more thorough understanding of public feeling can alone make it what it ought to be. Amainority report from Mr. Merrick, of Maryland, if from nobody else, is expected by the’ democratic side of the House, but it is uncertain whether he will report aresolution of expulsion. If he does the sense of the House upon the question must be tested. In that case the resignation of the mem- bers who took Vakes Ames’ stock will be the only compromise; for the feeling in the House is very strong that something decisive must be done to appease the offended dignity and honor of the Republic and prove to erring statesmen that they cannot commit crime with impunity. THE CREDIT MOBILIER OF AMERICA- SECRET HISTORY. Cnc Ssatsigalihtns WASHINGTON City, Feb. 1, 1873, To THE Eprror or THE HeraLy:— My attention has been called to the report of the remarks of Messrs. Boyd ana Smith in the Pemn- sgivania Constitutional Conventien in reference to the Crédit Mobilier. The former said that the charter had been granted by the Legislature of Penusylvania for $50,000, after $300,000 had been offered to the Legislature of New York and $150,000 to the Legislature ef New Jersey for such a charter, ‘without success, Mr. Smith said that the charter, stock book and papers were stolen and bodily car- ried off to New York when the company known as the Crédit Mobilier was organized. Neither of these statements is correct, The truth is as fel- lows:— My father, General Duff Green, obtained the charter of the Pennsylvania Fiscal Agency from the Legislature of Pennsylvania at the session of 1858 and 18#, Not a dollar, not a cent, was paid or of- fered or promised to any member of the Legisia- ture for the charter, His purpose was to organize @ company of American, Mexican and European capitalists, including the European holders of Mexican bonds, to build the Sabine and Rio Grande Railroad in Texas, connecting with the New Or- leans and Opelousas Railroad on the Sabine, and to extend that road from the Rio Grande to the city of Mexico and the Pacific, ‘he then Governor, W. F. Packer, for some time hesitated to approve the act of incorporation—first, because of the extensive powers granted thereby, and second, because he doubted my father’s Soiliey to accomplish what he proposed by it. In the summer of 1859 «my father went to urope, with letters m President Buchanan, Sefior Mata, then Mexican Minister at Washington, and Senor Lerdo y Tejada, now President of Mexico, He soon returned with writ- fen assurances from the Kuropean holders of Mexi- can bonds, acting through a committee and other capitalists, ing that, if Governor Packer would approve the charter, they would put into the enter- prise $60,000,000 of Mexican bonds and advance all the 1unds pecessany to byild the road from the Sa- ITS This can bring no consolation to | ‘The doca- ments he brought with him irom Burope satisfied Governor Pucker of the \ea-tbility of his plans and ol the great public benetit to the United “tates and to Mexico, whereupon the Governor approved the charter on the ist November, 1859. On the 5m November, 1859, the company was duly and reguiarly organized in Philade}phia acco to law, and the. whole stock (50,000 shares) taken, The first board of directors were Dutt Green, David K. Porter, Jacob Zeigler, Samuel R, Brooks’ and Oliver W.' barnes: Duff Green, President; William Halsted, treasurer; Oliver W. Barnes, secretary. ‘The necessity for additional legislation by the State of Texas, and for some satisfactory armnge- ment with Sehor Teuteno and others, who held a Rivne fiom Mexico jor a railroad irom the 0 Grande to the Pacitie, caused some delay. In the Fall of 1800 my father went to New Orleans to meet commissioners from the Mexican goverament and to Texas on the business of the roud., An- ‘icipatmg that he t need them at New Orleans or Austin he took with him all the original books and documents, whach Mr. Smith erfoneously sup- ‘poses were afterwards “stolen and carried bodily to New York,” leaving with Oliver W. Barnes, .the Secretary 01 the company, in Philadelphia, copies. Those originals still exist, and are gate in the pos- sess.on Of their proper and@ lawtul custodians. In December, my jJather having — gatis- factorily arranged the busimess which had taken him to Louisiana and Texas, returned to Washington, on his way to Europe, to consummate the above-mentioned agreement with the parties there, On reaching Washington be found civil war imminent. Mr. Lincoln and my cousin, Ninian Edwards, had married sisters, and my latier heid to Mr. Lincoln relations of intimate personal friendship. For that reason he was selected by President Buchanan and Senator Jet Davis to bear from tiem to Mr. Lincoln an invitation to come to Washingtom at onoe, as Mr. Buchanan’s guest, with assurances that he would be received at the White House with ail the: poapene and honors due to him as President elect, and that by acting tezether they could put a stopto tne secession movement and avoid @ war, Mr. Lincola secmeu at.fyst eager to accept the invitation, hut afterwards de- clined, ‘because Senator Ben Wade, of Obio, op- posed it. ‘The HERALD of January 8, 1861, contained @ report of an interview between a reperter ol that paper and my jather-on his retuvn trom his unsuc- cessful mission to Sp eld. Two or three years belore the war my mother went to Georgia to pay me 4 short visit, and was there taken sick. Ip April, 1861, my father went to Georgia, hoping to find her sufficicatly recevered to return to Washington; but, as she could not be Fe he decided to remain witn he:, and post- t one his visit to Europe and the further prosecu- jon of his Cen enterprise until the settlement of the political dimculties. The Union Pacine Railroad Company was char- tered by act of Congress, approved 1st of July, 1862. ‘That act fixed the capital stock oi the company at $100,600,000, and limited the amount 01 sioek to be held by any one person to $200,000, thereby holding out the idea that it was to be a great national en- terprise, which could not be “gobbled up” by a few individuals, But it was also provideu that the company could be organized on a subscription of $2,000,000 and the payment of ten per cent thereol, whereby it was placed in the power of $100,100 to contrel the enterprise. ‘The idea was also heid out to the public that the management was to be entrusted to men of high character, such as Erastus es William B, Ogden and others of like standing. Those gen- tlemen, however, relying on this general under- standing, stood back on the dignity of their char- acters, waiting to ve elected By @ spontaneous action of the stockholders. But br. T, C. Durant had managed to secure the requisite proxies to elect himseli as Vice President, with a board to suit his purposes; and, to give some character to the organization, a large sum was paid to General Join A. Dix for the use of his name as President of the company, Durant’s next step was to open a negotiation through George Francis Train and Charles M. Hall tor the purchase oi the charter of the Pennsylvania Fiscal Agency from Messrs, Halsted, Brooks and Barnes. But that could not be done legally, because neither of the last- named had any authority to transfer m: lather's majority interest, and Mr. Halsted refuse: to listen to any arrangement that did not protect my father’s just rights. Failing in the attempt to purchase that charter, efforts were next made to obtain a similar one in New York and New Jersey, 1 know nothing, except from hearsay, of $300,000° having been offered for it at Alpany, dnd $150,000 at Trenton, as stated by Mr. Boyd, although I have reason to believe that in this Mr. Boyd’s statement is correct; but he 1s altogether mistaken in saying that it was afterwards obtained from the Peunsyl- vania Legislature for $50,000. That sum was paid to Oliver W. Barnes and Charles M. Hail, and not to amy member of the Pennsylvania Legislature. It was not paid as purchase money for the charter, but as a bribe to Barnes and Hall jor their aid in an attempt to “steal” the charter, as hereinafter explained. In the Spring of 1863 father was lying ill in one room oi my house in Georgia and my mother in another. About that ee the death of my cousin, Mr. Duff Green, of Faltnouth, Va., was announced and it was generally Suppo that my father w dead. Tempted by an offer of $50,000, and perhay emboldened by the idea of my father’s deat Barnes and Hall were induced, on May 29, 1863, to fabricate talse and fraudulent papers purporting to be “‘minutes of tle proceedings of the commission- ers named in the act to incorporate the Pennsylva- nia Fi | Agency,” anda “certificate” of pretended subscriptions to the capital stock of the Pennsyiva- nia Fiscal Agency. On the Ist of June, 1868, Barnes ‘‘aMrmed” be- fore James McCahen, an Aiderman of Philadephia, that these fraudulent “minutes” were “correct.” On these fabricated papers and false affirma- tion, by deceitfully cencealing the pre- vious vona fide organization of the com- pany by the commissioners in November, 1859, letters patent, dated June 1, 1863, were ouvtained from Governor A. G, Curtin, purporting to “create and erect the subscribers (i. ¢., those named ia said fabricated papers) into ox rind elitic and corporate, by the name, style and @itle of the Pennsylvania Fiscal Agency.” These dela letters patent were then turned over by Barnes and Hall to the Durant-Dix party in New York. They were ebtained by fraud prac- tised en Governor Curtin, who doubtless signed them inadvertently, in the usual course of busi- hess, and in the contidence which évery Geveraer of a State must necessarily repose in his official subordinates, whose business it 1s to prepare papers: for his signature. But they were a mere nullity, there being no Jaw authorizing their issue. They could have no effect whatever on the previously vested mat of the stockholders under the organ- ization ef 1859. + By a subsequent act of the Legislature, approved 26th of March, 1864, the name of the “Pennsylvania Fiscal Agency” was changed to the “Crédit Movilier of America,”’ My supposition is that the chief—ifnot the only—object of this change of yame was to pre- vent inquiries being made by Messrs. Halsted, Brooks, Stephen Colwell and others, who, if they should happen to hear of the operations of the Pennsylvania Fiscal Agency, weuid ask awkward questions, but would never suspect that the great Crédit Mobilier of America, which was building the Union Paeific Railroad, claimed the ‘tranchise: poke rights, liberties and privileges” ef their old ennsylvania Fiscal Agency. 1 am happy to intorm you that my father is not dead, as you stated a few days since. At the age of eighty-two his mind is as clear, his eye a8 bright and his handwriting as steady as they were forty years ago. He is now President of the lawful and genuine Crédit Lobilier of America, whose other ofticers are William Halsted, Treasurer; Benjamin E. Green, Secretary; Samuel R. Breoks, Jacob Zeigier and John Rice, Directors, with one vacancy, caused by the death of Stephen Colwell. The Durant-Ames-Alley Crédit Mobilier is a bogus concern, originating in fraud and based on fabri- cated papers, laisely 1aMrmed” to be correct, by which the charter was not stolen, as stated by Mr, Smith, but only attempted to be stolen. ENJAMIN E. GREEN, i Secretary of the Crédit Mobilier of America, MORE INDIAN TROUBLES IN CALIFORNIA, Dificultics at Yaquina Bay—Settlers Alanned. [From the Atla California, Jan. 28.) By the arrival of a schooner from Yaquina Bay, we learn that there 1s great excltement among the settlers of that region op account ef the con- dnect of the Indians, who were continuing their wild dance in hopes of bringing back to earth their dead braves, The medicine mea declare that they have received a ar iia from the Great Spirit to the effect that their friends will not return until some Of the whites have been killed. The settlers around Toledo are building a block house tert for their protection, while the people arouna Elk City are fully alarmed at the cenduct of the Indians, and a number of families have gone across the mountains into Benton county for satety, On the 12th instant the fine residence ef E. N, Sawtelle, three miles below Kik City, was burned to the ground, having been fired by the Indians, At Elk City the excitement became intense, The women and children were placed on board the steamer Oneatta for safety, and men armed with Henry rifes and revolvers were pick | eted on the outskirts of the town. They captured one Indian, who had been employed by the whites, and he said “he was sick at heart, as he had spent the whole night in @ talk with the ‘Siwashes,’ at Old Sambo’s camp.’ He declared that the Indians were very mad, and had determined upon a gen- eral outbreak, and were geing to kill all the whites and appropriate all their property, He had refused to join the Indians, and had come to the wnites for rotection. He afterwards denied his story, say- ing he had totd it for the pur of scaring the whites, The citizens, however, believe they are in reat danger, and are cellecting all the settlers. They are loud in their complaints against General Palmer, the Indian Agent at Siletz Reservation, who has gone oif to Salem, jnstead of attending to his duties at the Reservatioh, and who might do something to restrain the red devils if he was among them. MR, GREELEY'S WILL AND THE OBILDREN'S AID SOCIETY, CONILDREN's Arp SoctEry, No. 19 East FOURTH STREET, New York, Feb, 4, 1873, To tHe Eprror oF THE HERALD :— In your reporter's account of the hearing at White Plains in regard to Mr, Greeley’s will, Mr. Isaiah T, Williams was spoken of as the counsel for this Society. This is an entire mistake, as we have not been a contestant, and have bad no counsel or representative in the case, Your obedt ent servant, ©. ln BRAQE, Secretary, os | Ames may be able to produce from the recesses bine to the city of Mexico and the Pacific, THE HERALD ALMANAC. This most useful book, in the second year of its Publication, presents in its pages tor 1873 ad- ditional claims not only for a coutinuance o/ the Populmrity it attained by its first great issue of 1872, but for a more widespend and popular recog- nition of its right to the title of the almanac par excellence of the day. Such @ book was long ® desideratum ia the almanac, or what but poorly represented to be the almamas, literature o thie. great metropolis, The Herald Almanac supplit all that was so long desired, and.to the fullest ex- tent, as proved by the imimonse circulation ot ite first issue and the unprecedented demand for the present issue—already go’ng through its second edition—covers ail tie ground that can propery or beneficially be compressed within the scope of such a work, Almanacs were published by the Arabs in Spatn centuries before Columbus le't there to discover America, and but for whose discovery almanacs would be at a discount here te-day. A preity ancient *nd respectavle genealogy to trace back to, and so trom that time to this, through the in- tervening cycles of years, and in all countries, almanacs have risen, flourished and died, and stilt, Phoenix-like from their ashes, have sprung innu> merable other almanacs, all, like their ancient pro- totype, treating o1 things asironomical, chanzes ol the moon, rising and setting of the sun ani moon, eclipses, &c. ‘The Herald Almanac ts itself great Qs an eclipse, for it has completely overshadowed and obscured the two rivals who hitherto had au the busineas of “political” almanac making ex- Glusively to themselves, One of them, im a@n expiring effort, has produced an excuse that fewrs to show itscif on the news stands, and the other was forced to delay its publication till the Herald Almanac was out and its deficien- cies in election returns could be supplied from its unusually full oMciai tabies, The great almanuc eclipse of 1873 is, however, compicte, and, thouga the erst rivals may struygle against the Heraia Almanao obscuration fora time, final extinguish- ment is inevitable. It is a consolation to tuem, no doubt, that they go down together; that what was fatal to one was iatal to voth, and that the resuit was not unexpected, lor, with the appearance ef the Herald Almunac oi 1872, tueir disappearance Was only a brief question of time. ‘The s1ccess of the Herald Almanac was assured from the first, No pains, iabor or expense have been spared to make the work co .preaensive, complete and therouzhly reliable upon a'l the sub- jects treated of in its 200 pages of carefuily col- lated and se.ccted matter. It is p incipally to these selections of entirely new mat- ter, or “specialties never belore intro. duced into the counterfeit presentments of almanacs, and indeed to a great extent unobtain- able by the speculators in them, together witit a greatly improved treatment of almanue matter |. Proper, that has made the present work a necesssty to all engaged in any of the branches of business treated of under its heads of specialties, It was fiom the tund of information thus presented—in- formation novel, interesting and invaluable—vaat the HekaLp’s new depurture in publishing an almanac was observed, commented upon and at once popularly accepted. rhe Herald Almanac— or, to give it its printed title, the Herald Almanac and Financial, Commercial and Political Regis- ter—is all that its title imports or claims to be, Under the several heads of finance, commerce and politics wili be tound important tables, invaluaoie to the gold broker, the banker, the dealer in gov- ernment ‘bonds and securities, in railroad and mis- cellaneous stocks and securities, to the merchant and produce dealer, to the shipper and all engaged in the home or foreign commerce of the port of New York and iil the other ports of the United States, and to allinterested in tne staple products of trade and commerce, Under ttg head of “islection Re- turns” will be ound the Mliest, most reliable and accurate returns ever compiled after any election contest. These returns give the votes for the Presidential, Gubernatorial and Congressional can- didates, by. counties and districts, and of some of the principal cities by wards, ail compiled trom tae official documents of States and cvunties. The comparative vote for President in every State, ang in our own State and county, has been most eare- fully revised, and will be referred to in the juture as the only guide by which to cast the political horoscope in future contests. In this branch of the work—the only branch, in fact, otuer city almanacs claiming to be poiitical ever pre- sented anything new or of interest to the class of readers to wiom it was desizned—the Herald Almanac presents in such a clear and per- spicuous manner the results 0: the election in each State and county and town, showing total votes for candidates, majorities, whole votes, in- creases gnd decreases of votes in the Presidential and Guernatorial returns; the personnel of the several State governments, and the political status ol the State legislatures, as to completely cast in the shade all election returns ever presented beiore on the pages of an almanac. Its specialties, under the head of “Missing Heirs,” ‘‘Mariner’s Guide,'* “Cyclone” and ‘Hurricane Charts,” “Cautionary Weather Signals,” tadies showing the time of high water at all the principal ports of the United States; depth of water on the bars of the principal United States seaports, list of life-saving sta- tions, funnel marks and night signals oi the Atlan- tic steamship companies’ code of fog signals; changes in light houses and buoys on ail the sea- coasts of the world; its law department, its yacnt clubs and yacht lists, and fund of information on chronology and necrology, home and foreign, renders it the most valuable book oi the kind ever printed, itis sold at the nominal price of twenty- five cents, at which price itis sent iree by mall to all parts of the United States. Address Herald Almanac, New York. LITERARY CHIT-CHAT. Tne Late Lovis NaroLEoN had an ambition which was never realized, to shine in literature, His “Histoire de Jules César’ is very dry in style, Its historical value is of the smallest, and, after ruining its publishers, the work has sallen into total obscurity. At an earlier period Napoleon was equally ambitious to try his hand at journal- ism, and contrityted political articles to the presa which were entirely forgotten in twenty-four hours, WHEN CHARLES DICKENS first saw Venice he thus wrote to his (riend Forster, with characteristic en- thusiasm :— Nothing in the world that you ever heard of Venice is equal to the magnificent and stupendous reality. The wildest visions of the Arabian Nights are nothing to the plazzas of St. Mark and the first impression of the inside of the church. The gor- geous and wonderiul reality of Venice is beyond the fancy ef the wildest dreamer. Opium coulda’t build such @ place; enchantment couldn’t shadow it forth ina vision, Inever saw the thing beiore tbat I should be afraid to describe. But to tell what Venice is I feel to be an impossibility. THE Pall Mall Gazette has been criticising at great length and ina series of articles Mr. John Stuart Mill and his opinions. It says English young women have derived from his writings an enlignt- ened notion that the ‘career’ of the Madonna is too limited a one, and that modern political economy can provide them with much more lucra- tive occupation than nursing the baby. IN MISS AMELIA Epwarps’ new story, “In the Days of My Youth,” she writes the life of a student of the Quartier Latin, iu Paris. Of course Miss Ed- wards, who is an Englishwoman of character, hag no personal knowledge of whdt she writes, But she has read up carefully in Beranger, Balzac and De Musset, Still, she has largely tulfliled Horace Walpole’s words, and spent her time in making “true copies of original things that never existed.” TwENTY THOUSAND CoPiEs of a cheap edition ef Dr. Channing’s works have been sold by the Amer- ican Unitarian Association since 1870, OF THK ENGLISH PRrxTING CLUBS the “Early Englisa Text Society” is the most successful. It was organized in 1864, for the reprinting of rare early English books in prose and poetry, and has published sixty-two volumes up to 1873, It is sup- ported by subscriptions at one guinea per annum, each subscriber being entitled to receive all the issues of the year. The publications for 1865 and 1866 are already out of print, but it is proposed te reprint them if new subscribess enough are found. ‘The feature of the texts is their strict literal fidel- ity, reproducing the exact orthography of the old English originals, whether MS. or printed. Among the notable books thus far produced from the thir- teenth to the sixteenth century are Sir Davia Lyndesay’s works, “Arthur,” “Lancelot of the Laik,” “Piers the Plowman,” “Merlin,” “Levin's Vocabulary,” “The Knight de la Tour Landry,’ “Havelok the Dane,” “Queen Elizabeth's Vocabu- lary,’ “Chaucer's Boethius” and “Caxton’s Beok of Curtesye.”” “Tue Lire or Lovise LATEAU” has been trans. lated from the French of Dr. Lefbova by J. L. Shep. pard, and published by the Protectory Publishing House. It ts an interesting narrative of the stig. mata and ecstacies of this extraordinary woman, and cannot fail to be ef interest to the lovers of mysterious and miraculous manifestations, and ta the curious generally, Tur BMingent DuTon Port, Dr. Hacke Von Myn den, who made @ reputation by his translation of Dante's works, died recentiy at the Hague,