THE AMERICAN SEORETARY FOR WAR.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 134, 29 May 1876, Page 4

THE AMERICAN SEORETARY FOR WAR.

\ I (M-Z. Times) '] The telegrams by the mail relate that Belknap has been, impeached, bo ihat in all probability we shall hear shortly of the exposure of one of those rascally pieoes of political corruption and dishonesty which America, big in bverything;- manages how and then to astonish the world With. Belknap was Secretary for War. In, this oa'pacity he held the power of filling various military offices on the frontier, and this power he used very profitably to' bimBelf by bestowing them upon persons Whose only qualification was /their Willingness to hand over- to 'him about half the annual salaries which, the offices' wei-e * worth j ; ' Belknap's /crime |was of tbat sordid nature which : is, the least likely to attradt sympathy. For Oyer five years, according to the American . he has been living a life ... joiP deception, selling his own honor and •the dignity of, his office for pay, and 'gathering in that pay with regularity ■and withbut apparent hesitation; And ; 'the bad and unpleasant features of the 'whole story grow blacker with the knowledge that his two wives — a dead and a living one, and themselves sisters — were the partners and ' perhaps the suggesters of h if offence. He and they :hayeped/wh|at is termed, '^society "* at. Ittfe i nationat'capital. The occasiotf has 1 its lesson, not hard to read. It is too clear that American democracy, with lits boaßted r freedom arid purity, is at jbeart rotten, and her administrative [institutions are as whited sepulobres. |Take;*hy American paper: and in it are jto be seen, in flaring; capitals, charges iof fraud .and. incompetency hu'fled •against ' public officers, with perfect iimpartiality It must.be admitted, and it jis only too patent that there ts ground for the general distrust which! pervbdes the mind of the people. These j disclosures come rather inopportune ifor President' Grant who, as the head iof the Adminißtration, is looked iipon by a large section of the community as Irespensible for the present condition of i affairs. The yTime^ declares his election to be greatly imperilled thereby. ?It points out that when he was elected ihe had/ the fairest opportunities. He l jwas a succeßsfbl getferal — a character 'that enjoys especial favor with the.. ! people -of? the i United States. . He had : brought to an end the greatest war in ' which the country has been engaged. He was the chief, of the Republican \ party, which then had an overwhelming:

majority in both Houßes of Congress. He had /a - definite wprk v to . A do r-the, pacification and . reconstruction of the/ South/and he could count on the sup- ' port of the American people till it' w%s accomplished. Bat it oannot be said that his position at the present time, when his official career ia drawing to a close, corresponds with the advantages he; possessed at the commencement. \ : ?