The Slandered Speaker

tWántlngíon Cor. Ohicago 'fimcUJ Hattiey, who was put te bed at the Arhgton dfunk ahd boaating, on Monday light, fled the town on yësibrday, and ö-dtiy, wiien the committeo convened, 1,6 wiis nowhere to' be fortud.. After hiee höurrf' dday', the f uriher investi;ation was póstponed untÜ Bárne;?' wíiereahtíuts can be ascertaincd. It ems tliat he waa.aceomjianied to this city by a gang of f!ew York Llug-uglies, jainbleis, tnievts, pickpockete, áíicl bgtlcs ín getierál. Fearing, however, hat süch compaiiy. woitld destroy the main scheme, the Bllss conspratorfi detailed the export-master of New York, Abrara Wakeman, the notorious defaultr er, to keep the perjurer sober until his jart had been played before the commitee. Wakenian carne with Harnoy, roomed with him ttt tilo Arlingn, and carried him off on yes terday ín defianc oí tho mándate that he shótild bë ön hand to continuo the examination td-day. Frightencd by the uttor breakdown and palpable fabrication of liis story, tbo Bepublicans have, in tne main, disavowed sympathy with the attempt to credit the story. Ín tito Httuso üiost of tllem hare taken occasion to visit the dyiilg Speaker to assure him that nothing but aversión and contempt for the conspirators are feit by decent men. Bass and Danford, howover, to justify themselves, have entered into collusion with certain of the basor order of jeumalists to color the testimony and pretend to give it credit. Th'3 New York journals, whioh have been thus betrayed by their correspondente, have promptly discredited them, avowing the f ullest faith in the deeply injured man. It is not luilikely that Bass and Danford, with one or two of these shameless newsnien, may be called upon to explain their part in this atrocious conspiracy not only against tho good name but to the peril of the life of an uttor guileless man. Bass and Danford have proved themselves unscrupulous, treacherous knaves in their committee during the winter. They are both men of less than mediocre ability, and, lackingother opportunities, they have striven by despicablo means of the present sort to reeommend themselves to their party. There is believed to be evidenoo enough of their knavish disregard of their sworn duties as membersand judges to impeach them before the House, for besides tho instigation of malignant inisrepresentations put forth at their suggestion and dictation through the press it is more than probable that proof positivo will be presently at hand to convict them of aiding and abetting this extraordinary conspiracy, if they did not originate it. Proofs of Harney's plot are coming to hand swiftly from New York, revealing his kinship and surroundings, and his boasts of a way of stopping Republiuan exposure. Letters are pouring in from New York attesting the foulness of Harney's life and his associates. He is a regular visitor at tho notorious gambling place of Harry HiU, in Murder row, Houston street, New York, where "Beddy the blacksmith," and the outlaws of New York loaferdoin assembled months ago. He declared that he could put up a job on the Demócrata that would blow them out of water. Dozens of people declare that they heard this foul scoundrel boast in New York that when his folks got ready he could stop tho exposure of Kepublicans. Ho made a point on Monday, when examined, that he didn't want to testify, because wnat he had to teil was confldential. He was afterward betrayed by Col. Elliott's examination into an admission that ho had told the story frequently, because tho Democrats were pushing the Kepublicans so hard in the investigation. One of the leading Republicans ■ of the House said to-day that if Kerr could live it through, the angry revulsión of an indignant people would niake him President. Another said the assassination of Lincohi sanctifled his character and saved him from the jealous , faiut praise of party friends and the i aspersión s of enemies, but the assassina1 tion of Kerr, the purest man in public Ufe, would not only endear him to the whole people but give his party a new . lease of life. It is quite impossible to i give an idea of the feeling aroused by 1 this murderous attempt ; a feeling that was intensifled into speechloss rage and . grief to-day when tlie Speaker, pale, i nerveless, ghostly, with the seal of death on his blanched face, tottered up ■ the steps to tho chair and compelled ' himaelf, by a tyrannous efïort of will alone, to preside over the tirst hour of the proceediugs. His health has been failing visibly for weeks. His visit South made but a temporary chango. The agony of the past few days, with such ignominy as this at1 tributed to him, has shaken the man 1 fatally. He has not slept for a week. 1 He is unable to eat. The doctors liave commanded his instant withdrawal to a i less trying clirnat", where the air might recupérate his wasted health. He re' fuses peremptorily. He asks only to finish the calumny and leavo no vestige, ■ and not till then will he obey his ad1 visers. It was proposed on Saturday by ' his friends that the examination of the ■ case be póstponed until his health im( proved. No ; he would not hoar of it 1 It was Hrged, thon, that ho could not ' entrust hiinseif to the Clycier Commit1 tee since there was but one Democrat ! left on it, Blackburn and Eobbins, tho ' two, with Clymer, forming the majority, having gone off, one to his home and the 1 other to New Orleans. "No," said Kerr, "I will take the case to any body of men, enemies or not, and show them so conclusively the unutterable falseness of this base attempt that men will 1 wonder how it could be Hstened to 1 with patience." So Kerr, it must be remembered, is in the handa of Bass and Danford, two of the lowest specimens of parüsan baseness to be found in the House. Last night and to-day the speaker's rooms at Willard's and at the House were thronge 1 with public men of both parties expressing confidei]9 and sympathy. Among other callera were Secretary Bristow and wife, Gen. Sherman, and high diguitaries of all branches of the Government. By mail and telegraph there is something liko a ton of sympathizing and reassuring messages. It has required the strongest efforts of Kerr's moderato friends to prevent some rash hot-heads from murdering the perjured scoundrel. Indeed, some among the more prudent aver that the villain should nover have been permitted to leave the committeeroom with the perjury on his lips. It was freely discussed to-day, this subject, and there was a goneral agreement that there must be one exnmple of this sort to check the rush of perjury seen here this session. Until this is doho, tbey claim, no public man is safe from reckless adventurers.