Harper's Weekly Editorials on Carl Schurz/The Military Ring

by Harper's Weekly

THE MILITARY RING.

It was hoped by many who are unfriendly to the Administration that the New York Custom-house investigations would reveal collusion between the White House and corrupt officers of the government. When Senator Schurz declared that the general order swindle was sustained by a power higher than the Secretary of the Treasury he hinted that it was the President, because he is the only power which, in that sense, is higher than the Secretary. It was said, however, that he meant the military ring, of which, according to some statements, the President is the slave. When the testimony was taken in New York by the Senate committee it was alleged that somebody had told somebody that he had heard from somebody else that General Porter and General Babcock, the secretaries of the President, shared with Leet the plunder of the general order business; and the implication was that as the President had given Mr. Leet a letter to Mr. Grinnell, there was a general understanding among all concerned, and the impression sought to be produced upon the country undoubtedly was that the whole affair was a “mess?” to which the President of the United States was privy, if he were not an actual participant in swindling.

It is easy to understand that skillful advocates, animated by bitter hostility, picking out certain facts from the events of three years, asserting, insinuating, suppressing, and distorting at pleasure — as is the habit of advocates both in law and politics — might raise doubt and confusion in the mind of the reader, who depends upon their statement of what the evidence is rather than upon the evidence itself. The charge of a military ring is not new. The President upon entering the White House, naturally wished to keep near him in confidential positions men whom he had proved elsewhere, not only as soldiers, but as men of fidelity and capacity. He retained, therefore, as secretaries two gentlemen of his military family whom he knew well and trusted entirely. There is, however, a certain jealousy in the public mind of military influence and habit in civil administration, and the selection of the President was sometimes severely criticised. But no man who understood the circumstances could be surprised at his choice, while no one who knew him could in any way suspect it of any sinister intention.

But when the contest of patronage began, as under every Administration, dark hints were thrown out, and at last the existence of the ring was openly declared. But what does the investigation show? In substance this: that just before Mr. Grinnell was appointed Collector, and when it was probably decided that he should be appointed, the President gave to Mr. Leet, who had been in his military family, and, so far as appears, had been also an unexceptionable young man, a letter of general recommendation to Mr. Grinnell. Mr. Leet asked for the general order business, and the Collector gave him an interest in it. Complaints of the management of the business were made by merchants and others, and Mr. Stewart spoke to the President. The Secretary of the Treasury wrote to Collector Grinnell that it was desirable to change the system. Before it was changed, however, a new Collector, Mr. Murphy, was appointed. Again the Secretary suggested a change. But the Collector demurred, and the Secretary, acting upon the principle that his subordinate upon the spot should be permitted to regulate the matter, did not press his suggestion. Now comes in the insinuation that it was not pressed, or that the change was not made, because the military ring, including its two heads, Generals Porter and Babcock, in the White House, and supported by the President, were interested in the swindle.

That the Secretary of the Treasury forbore to press his suggestion because of any ring or corrupt influence is simply laughable. Of all conspicuous public men of long service in this country not one is more spotless, even by the least suspicion, and in this angry time, than Mr. Boutwell. And the moment that Generals Porter and Babcock can be heard they state, without reservation, that they have never received a single cent from the profits of the general order swindle, and that the celebrated “mess,” to sustain which great sums of money were alleged to be paid, was an ordinary “mess” at Washington, conducted with economy, to which Mr. Leet, while he was a member, contributed very much less than one hundred dollars. And this statement is unreservedly believed by every one who knows the two secretaries. In their word even the visionary link that connected the White House with the general order swindle dissolves and disappears. The President's letter, introducing his young aid to the Collector, although turned to an unfortunate purpose, was a simple act of friendship which is easy to understand; and it was a letter which a more wily and less honest man than the President would not have written. That the representations of Mr. Stewart did not produce a change in the system will not seem extraordinary to any one who knows how constantly every President is vehemently solicited by every representative of every interest. Apparently he decided to leave the matter to the Secretary of the Treasury, in whose department the customs service is included, and the Secretary did what he thought best.

We are not saying, certainly, that there was not corruption in the general order business, nor that it was wise to leave it so long untouched. But we are saying most emphatically that the attempt to connect the President or his secretaries with the scandals of that business has wholly failed. The attempt has been made with ingenious malice. Minor and obscure points have been elaborated and marshaled to do the utmost damage. But what the country is interested to know is, not whether in such transactions there may not have been doubtful circumstances and injudicious actions, but whether the President of the United States or his confidential secretaries have been engaged — for such is the real scope of the charge — in cheating and swindling. And the investigation, if it has effected nothing else, has exonerated them in every honorable mind from the least injurious suspicion.

Those who in the investigation of frauds in administration seem much more anxious to smear the President than to punish guilty agents ought to consider whether by so clear an exhibition of personal animosity they do not harm the cause of simple, honest reform. For if once the country believes that the cry of corruption is raised not so much to purify the service as to serve a partisan and personal end, that moment the purification of the service will become more difficult than ever before.

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