The Reilly-scripps Libel Suit
nated on Wedaasday with a verdict oi $4,500 for plaintiff. Mayor Lewis, of Detroit, made short work with the Sunday saloon opening resolution of the üounoil, - sendiug in a square-toed veto. Pinchback ia now a private oitizen, the Senate having rejected his claim to a seat on Wednesday, by a vote of 32 to 29. Good news for Louisiana. The New, Hampshire State election takes place on Tuesday next, Both parties are confident of viotory, though the Republicana fear the effects ef the Bel knap expoaure. The Democratie State Convention to appoint delégate to the Nationa! Convention, elect a State Committee etc., has been called to be held at Lansing, May 24, at 12 o'clook m. The APPOINTMENT of Richard H Dana, of Boston, to gucceed Gen Schenck at the Conrt of St. James, is a great improvement ; and the same inay be said of Judge Taft, of Cinoinnati, appointed to be Secretary of War. Judge Taft was one of the '72 "Reformers," but bolted the nomination oi üreeley. IT IS BUT just to Attorney-General Pierrepont to say that he makes a full and explicit denial of the story of the St. Louis Times, to be found on the first page of the Argus. He saya that he never saw Storrs, that he knowa of, either at Washington or elsewhere, and that no conferenos was had with Porter as to Babcock's case. The President accepts the resignation of Balknap " with regret," and then apoligizes for his haste by olaiming ignorance of the offonses charged and proved against him. Neverthelesa he makes equal haste to assign Secreta ty Robeson to the discharge of the duties of the AVar Department well, knowing tbat serious charges are pending against him, - oharges of offenses rivaling those of Balknap, and that the committee oharged with their investigation has him in close quarters. Another oi the President's blunders in the wrong direction. The Register of this oity is firing away at some imaginary Judas in the Republican camp, a man with the guilt of both political and financial 8ins upon his shoulders ; and one of the specific charges is that " he has, in private conversation with a prominent Dimocratio politician, used these words : " Well, John, the longer I associate with the d - d radicáis the less I think of them.' " In view of the recent exposures at Washington one can h&rdly have the heart to blame the Regiáter's unnamed malcontent, we might say its bete noir, for suoh an expression of disgust at his bed-fellows. In discussixo the District of Columbia 3.65 bonds, Senator Wadleigh (Rep.), of New Hampshire, took oocasion to denounce the " Ring " and especially the Board of Audit for paying the expenses of " Boss " Shepherd in defending himself. And now the " Boss " refuses to come down in aid of the New Hampshire election fund and expressively says the Republicana " may go to heil with their contribution box." Who would imagine that the good and pious Shepherd who telegraphed his congratulations to the acquitted Babcock, " For right is right, as God is good, and right the day has won," could indulge in suoh plain and vigorous Anglo-Saxon ? Gejteral Grant came to the Presidency and the White House loaded dowa with honors - and presen ts. Titles and salaries had been oreated for him by Cong-ress, and admiring " statesmeu " had endowed him with horses and lands, carriages and horses, dogs and pupB, and other truck too numerous to mention. To the titles conferred by Congress the people added that of President ; to the donors of the above enumerated plunder he gave the people's offices - making "one band wash the other" from that day to this. And if the President, with a salary of $50,000 a year and " contingent perquisites," considored it honorable to accept presenta openly, and so doing was rewarded with re-eleotion, why do the people inake so great a fuss because his Seoretary of War - a man after his own heart- with a salary of only $3,000 a year, has Sold here and there a post-traderahip in order to eke out his salary. An office to the giver of a present, or a share in the sale-price of a contraot or post. What's the differense ? Can a streara be expected to rise above its source ? By order of the President - made through the Adjutant-General and the Lieutenant-General - Erans, the posttrader at Fort Sill, has been dismissed or had his " appointment revoked." As no evidence has yet been given to the public to show that Erans was knowingly a party to the bribery of Belknap, hi9 dismission has the appearance of being part of a scheme to intimídate witnesses. Marsh was the man who bargained for the post ; Evans was the partner of Marsh, and Marsh the partner of the Belknaps. Is there any law prohibiting a man from accepting a legitímate business of another and sharing the profits with him ? If Marsh had secured the post-tradership at Fort Sill legitimately, - that is by honeat appointment and without purchase of Belknap or any go-between (man or woman), - could he not legitimately make tertns with Evans or any other man to run the business ? If so, why is Evans - after being levied upon or robhed for a series of years - disr gracefully discharged before knowledge of Belknap's guilt is traced to him ? Is it to wam other traders not to complain of the wioiga inflicted upon them? The Detroit Poft makes haste to raise the old ory of " stop thief," in order to break the foroe of the exposure of Secretary Belknap'a crimei. "You're Another " is its best holt. Hear it : " It does not become auy amnestied rebels to make the exposure of Secretary Belknap the occasion for a vindictive agsault upon the Republican party, or for a malignant partisan attack upon the Republican Administration," and much more of the same son of stuff. Now treason in odioug in all ages, and the late rebels have, no doubt, sins enough to repent of. We have no apologies to make for the unnecessary and unrighteous rebellion which they put up and promoted. But let the Pott remember that rebels and patriota ara divided by the merest line, - and that the line of succesa. Oliver Cromwell, the rebel, became the Protector of England ; John Hancook and Samuel Adama had rewards offered for their heads ; George Washington, ohief of rebels, crovrnad with suocess became the " Father of his Country." We do not conoede for the rebels of our day the same righteous oause that Hancook and Adama and Washington and their compeers hagged to their breasts ; but the world (lid, and history would have placed them on the catalogue of patri ots had they sucoeoded. But odious as treason is, and ought to be, all the na tions of the earth regard it as a political offense alone, and leave ít to be punished by the laws of the nation against at which it was aimed. Nations provide for the extradition of oommon felons, - muiderers, burglars, thiovos embezzlers, etc, - bat give shelter and home o the mere traitor. Hundreds and thousands of Germán and Irish and Prenoh " traitors " have found a welcome and a home in our midst, - and neither the Post nor any other journal has thought or dared to class them with the common herd of crimináis. These ravings of the Post are ill-timed, and will accomplish nothing in preventing further invostigatiou and exposure. And there was nothing in the remarks of Messrs. Blackburn or Robbins, the two ex-rebels on tbe committee, which have so disgusted the Pont, to warrant its diatribs.
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Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus