Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 August 1882 — SECOR ROBESON. [ARTICLE]

SECOR ROBESON.

The Unenviable Position of «1»® Republican l eader in Congress. TFrorn the New York Bun.] Secor Robeson has recently passed through such an experience as is without a parallel since the foundation of the Government, and to which the poorest wretch, with a remaining spark of manhood in his nature, would not have tamely submitted. He has been twice branded by Mr. Whitthorne and by Mr. Hewitt, in the House of Representatives, as “a thief, a liar and a perjurer,” and without challenge. As an individual in this matter, Robeson personally is of no more account than any other successful thief, though de titute of many of the qualities by which Tweed held his friends to the last hour of his disgraceful career. There is not a particle of generosity or of common liberality in the corrupt jobber who converted the Navy Department into a broker’s shop for contracts, for promotions, and for all official favors upon which blackmail might be levied. Avaricious, meanly selfish, gluttonous, and pretentious on stolen money he has grabbed all he could lay his hands on, and invested the stealings to serve the base passions which he has pampered at the public expense. His wealth and his pomp have been used to gain recognition among the weak, the silly and the credulous, when they are m fact the witnesses of an infamy which should have shut him out from decent society. This foul character is tolerated because he is the accepted leader of the Republican party in the House, bolding some of its foremost trusts, and en joyiug some of its best distinctions, in spite of the fact that the respeotable press of that side, for their own relief, denounce Robeson, and deolare he must be cast off. And it is well known that the most reputable Republicans in Congress are weary of this unsavory burden' and, regard'Robeson’s connection as a politioak* calamity. But these protestations have no real value. They are worthless in presence of the astounding fact that, dishonored, shunned and despised, as Rob 'son is, he still is allowed to command the Republican column, and the. party follows his lead. He brought in the Navy bill, after retaining it for five months beyond the usual time, and in this bill he affirmed as proper and necessary to be executed to the last letter the venal contracts for the monitors, which his successor had officially pronounced illegal and disgraceful. He would not allow the work to be done at the navy yards. Ho would not permit opqn and fair competition. No, the jobs must be completed by the Roach-Robeson ring on the basis of addition. division and silence. These monitors, pronounced to be worthless by the highost professional authority, even with all the improvements that may be put upon them, have already cost more than $18,250,000. It is estimated that at least $6,750,000 wtll be needed to complete them, and in the hands of the ring, with William E. Chandler in the seat of power, $8,000,000 will hardly foot the bills. These condemned ships will average five millions each, if finished on' the present estimates, or more than twice the cost of England’s latest and best ironclads. What did the strait-laced Republicans do after Mr. Whitthorne and Mr. Hewitt and Mr. Atkins and others had exposed the jobs which even the falsified reports of the Navy Department could not conceal ? Did they condemn or even rebuke Secor Robeson for his bill, with the most barefaced jobbery written all over it ? No! They fell into line, with Mr. Harries of Massachusetts acting as whip for the occasion and Mr. Hiscock making the rally, and voted solid for the infamous bill. This is the record. It cannot be erased. The stream does not rise higher than its source. Secor Robeson is the chosen leader of the Republican party. He w«b made so with a lull knowledge of his career in the navy and with the results of two investigations spread over recent history. He is a tit representative of that party which has shouldered him, and which must take the responsibility pf the load. THRICE BRANDED. During a discussion in the House of Representatives, Secor Robeson referred with a sneer to the deafness of W. E. Robinson, Representative of the Second district of New York. Mr. Robinson was absent from the House at the time. The next morning Mr. Robinson rose to a personal explanation, and said: “I acknowledge, Mr. Speaker, that Providonce has seen fit to afflict me, not exactly with deafness, but with hardness of hearing. I know of only one gentlemen more to be pitied than I, and that is a certain gentleman who has had fastened on his head the charges of liar, thief and perjurer, and waa the only member who did not bear them.” This terrible- retort, which stamped infamy on the forehead of the man against whom it was directed, and which was repeated for the ’.third time within a few weeks, produced no visible effect on Secor Robeson. •. „ What must be the moral and the political condition of a party tliat.accepts and honors aa a leader a man who before the civilized world and ,in presence of his associates has been publicly denounced three times as a common, felon by respectable and Responsible members of the House ? There was a time in J;he life of the Republican party wlfen great "’and humane principles inspired its action. If a foul reproach like this had been fastened on a Republican "he would have been tried by drumhead courtmartial without delay and whipped out of camp at the tail of a cart. Not so now. This man, publicly denounced a “thief, liar and perjurei,” is tolerated by the party because it is known that he owns the Speaker, and treats him as a personal chattel ; because he is part of the machine ; because he disposes of patronage; because he boasts of being a loyal and radical Republican ; and because he is rich with ill-gotten gains.