such that there ought to be an assistant appointed in this District for these star route cases, and Mr. Cook was accordingly appointed an assistant district attorney for the District of Columbia, and his commission was placed upon record, with the view that he should be in communication, of course, with the attorney for the District, but should act with special reference to these cases, he being supposed to have special knowledge of their details.

I do not know anything else that I need state in connection with these matters, until the wounding of the President. There was certainly nothing with reference to the employment of counsel by the Department of Justice.

The CHAIRMAN. Were you cognizant of the employment of Mr. Bliss? The WITNESS. That came later; much later. I employed Mr. Bliss. When I saw the President, shortly after his wounding, on the floor of the depot, I was profoundly impressed, as everybody then was, that his death was a question of a very little time. I was continuously in Washington from that moment until we took him to Elberon, where I remained with him continuously until his death. In all that time it was a matter of newspaper comment that I was the gloomy member of the Cabinet. It was my misfortune to think each week, and almost each day, that the President was rapidly nearing his grave, and I therefore regarded it as only a question of a very little time when the duties of my office would cease, technically. To a very great extent, they had been already paralyzed by the wounding of the President; and I felt that it was undesirable, and, indeed, from my standpoint of duty, it would have been grossly improper, for me to complicate these cases by any action I could avoid when I knew I was not to be responsible for their final conduct. Whatever was necessary to be done in the interest of public justice I did, but I desired to do nothing that was not necessary, because I desired that the President who, I was firmly convinced, was to succeed at a very early day to the Presidency, and my successor in the AttorneyGeneralship, should come to the cases as little embarrassed by any committals of mine as was possible. It was no longer possible for me to consult with President Garfield, and the cases had been so completely carried on with his constant knowledge and sympathy, as far as my information went, that I felt a like course was due to his successor, and that I ought to keep them in as good condition as possible for him and my successor to deal with when the time came. I lived through those months in constant expectation that the time was at hand. I undervalued the President's vitality, but I did not mistake the character of the injury. The autopsy, whatever else it did, settled that I had judged that rightly. Shortly before the President died, it was felt by the gentlemen having charge of the matter, all of them-Mr. James, Mr. Woodward, Mr. Gibson, and Mr. Cook-that something ought to be done in the way of selecting the leading counsel to represent the Government. By that time is was known that many eminent counsel had been employed by the various defendants, and it was felt that we ought no longer to postpone the selection of counsel on our side. I then stated, as I believe the Postmaster-General stated this morning in my hearing, that I proposed to ask Mr. Brewster to come into the cases, and that as Mr. James did not know Mr. Brewster, I would be very glad to associate with him any lawyer of competent position in the profession whom Mr. James might suggest. It was impossible to consult with the President, and we had to act on the best light we had. I thought then, and I think still, that it was my duty to select members of the profession, if I could find them of proper professional standing, who had

heretofore maintained cordial personal and political relations with Mr. Arthur. That is the way I should have wanted a man in my place to treat me. I knew that Mr. Brewster had for many years sustained such relations. He had been attorney-general of my State and had discharged the duties of that high post with honor to himself and to the profession. I knew him to be a man of courage, and, so far as I could judge of the qualities needed, he possessed the other qualifications which I thought extremely desirable. I therefore invited him into the cases, and he came. Mr. James suggested Mr. Bliss, and I accordingly invited Mr. Bliss on that suggestion. That was very shortly, and by shortly I mean a few days only, before the President died, and at a time when each hour I was expecting his death.

Immediately upon the accession of President Arthur, I told him of my convictions of public duty. I told him that I thought it would be unbecoming in every way for me to remain in my place and injurious to the public interests, according to my judgment, but that, of course, I was not only willing but anxious to do everything in my power to relieve him from any embarrassment, and would cheerfully stay thirty days or sixty days, if it was necessary for him to take so long a time to select my successor. Thenceforward, really I had very little to do with this matter. I went, of course, with President Garfield's body to Cleve land, and on my return President Arthur, very naturally and properly, wished that I should say to the country that my leaving the Cabinet was my own act, and accordingly the agent of the associated press was kind enough to allow me to make a statement to the country, in which I took the entire responsibility for it, and stated the reasons for it. Subsequently the President asked if I could reconsider the matter, and I told him that I could not; that I would gladly talk it over at any time, but I was profoundly convinced that my usefulness was ended, and that my remaining longer in office would be an injury to the public justice, and that I would have to act, as each man must, upon his own convictions of duty. Finally, it resulted in my leaving the office. I stated, through the associated press, and by the courtesy of its representative, my determination to withdraw, and I gave the reasons for it very explicitly and fully, and on the 14th of November I turned over the office to the Solicitor-General, who, under the act of Congress, becomes the Acting Attorney-General under such circumstances, and he retained charge of the office for some time afterwards.

Mr. STEWART. Did you have any conference with President Arthur specially, with reference to these star route prosecutions?-A. Yes. Well, I ought to say I had several conferences with him as to the general subject of the prosecution of those cases, as to my own view of the cases, and what was necessary to be done in them.

Q. What desire did the President express about that?-A. The President expressed the desire that I should remain and continue responsible for the prosecution of those cases; first, as Attorney-General, and subsequently as leading counsel for the Government. That statement, however, both in justice to him and to me, I ought to premise by giving the history of it. After my return from the funeral of President Garfield, and my announcement through the Associated Press of the position I occupied, which I read to the President, which seemed entirely satisfactory to him, and which is in the public prints of the day

The CHAIRMAN [interposing]. What is the date of that announcement?-A. I should say it was September 27, 1881. After that the President asked me to allow the matter to rest until his return from

Yorktown, where there was to be a celebration, and upon his return he stated that he had selected my successor, but had some difficulty in communicating with him; and he was kind enough to confide to me the name of the gentleman whom he had selected. At a subsequent interview he stated that, owing to some representations which had been made to him, he had changed his mind in that respect, and had decided to ask another gentleman to take the place, at least for a month or two, and said that the name of the latter gentleman would go to the Senate at the same time with the name of the new Secretary of the Treasury. It is part of the public history of that immediate time that ex-Governor Morgan, of New York, was offered the Treasuryship, and that he was in doubt whether his physicians would allow him to take the place, and they finally decided against it, and subsequently Judge Folger was selected. The President thought that on a certain day, however, he would be able to send in the names of both the new Secretary of the Treasury and my successor, and accordingly, with his authority, I fixed the day when I would close my house here and go home to Philadelphia. I did go home, and while in Philadelphia I received a message from the President's private secretary, asking me to meet the President at the depot while the limited express stopped there. As that was only a few minutes, and as I had to talk with the President upon the step of the private car in which he was traveling, lest we should be moved out of the station, it was an unsatisfactory interview; but I gathered from what he said that he would like me to reconsider the question of taking the responsibility of these star-route cases upon myself. I answered then just as I had before, but suggested that we could not talk of a matter of that consequence upon the steps of a car liable to move at a moment's warning, and that if he wished I would go to New York to see him about it; and he subsequently wrote me, asking me to come over, and I went over. I found him, then, strongly possessed with the idea that I ought, either as Attorney-General or as leading counsel for the Government, to continue my responsibility for those cases. I explained to him, at the time, how comparatively slight my relation to them had been; how, as matter of fact, it had never entered my mind that I was to prosecute them in person; that as a political officer, as well as the professional representative of the Government, I thought it was impossible for the AttorneyGeneral to undertake to try questions of that character in the criminal courts, and that there were perfectly apparent reasons, reasons to my mind of overpowering force, why it would be fatal to the cases if I assumed responsibility for them. I had previously written him the same views, and I again expressed them in conversation at this time when I went over to see him in New York. I then came back on the train with him and Judge Folger, probably on the 10th or 12th of November, and immediately thereafter resigned my office, leaving Mr. Phillips in charge of it.

Without concluding the examination the committee adjourned.

WASHINGTON, D. C., March 6, 1884.

WAYNE MACVEAGH recalled and further examined.

The WITNESS. After I left the stand yesterday I found, Mr. Chairman, that your persuasive manner of asking me to go on and make a general statement had led me into doing so without any adequate

thonght beforehand about it. When I took the witness chair I was really like Mr. Canning's knife-grinder, "I had no story to tell"; and if I went on as I did I was sure, after the great lapse of time, to do what I probably have done-state some things which were unimportant and which probably were not within the line of what you wanted to know, and possibly omit other things which you would be glad to know. My only desire is to tell the committee anything within my knowledge that they wish to know, and not to volunteer information. Not that there is anything that I would not be glad to put them in possession of, but because I really cannot tell its comparative value to them, and if you would indicate even generally what you would like to know, I will then answer, not confining myself to your questions, but answering in perfect good faith as to everything relating to it. I was only sorry upon reflection that I did not ask you to pursue that course with me yesterday.

The CHAIRMAN. Your statement was such a one as the committee desired to have you make, and was in response to the general question put to you.

Mr. STEWART. If you will allow me to suggest, Mr. Chairman, it seems to me that the scope of our inquiry under the resolution bears upon two points, and perhaps upon only two points: First, generally, whatever the late Attorney-General knows in reference to expenditures, or contracts for expenditures, in connection with the star-route prosecutions; and secondly, whatever he knows as to the good faith and fidelity of those who were employed by the Departments. It seems to me that these are the two points and the only two that are really of any special interest to us as a committee. Am I right?

The CHAIRMAN. That is the general scope of the investigation, but we are also to determine whether proper efforts have been made to secure the conviction of those who have been guilty of frauds upon the Government. It is all embraced in the general subject.

Mr. STEWART. I understand that the term of office of the late Attorney General had expired before those matters were taken up by the Department, so that that information would come more properly from some other witness.

The CHAIRMAN. The machinery was in great measure set in motion during Mr. MacVeagh's time as Attorney-General.

Mr. STEWART. Mr. MacVeagh went out of office in November, and the indictments were not found until afterwards.

Mr. VAN ALSTYNE. He investigated the facts upon which the indictments were predicated.

Mr. STEWART. He has stated what investigation he made, and he has stated also that during the remainder of his term of office after the assas sination of President Garfield, not being able to communicate with the President, there was to some extent a paralysis of action in his Department, especially in 1eference to these matters; as everybody can see would very naturally happen. So that I do not see that Mr. MacVeagh can give us any further light except as to expenditures or contracts for expenditures which were made during his ministration, or as to whether the gentlemen who were employed with him were reasonably diligent and faithful while he had charge of the office-unless he knows something about the subsequent conduct of the prosecutions.

The CHAIRMAN. I desire to ask Mr. MacVeagh to explain the conversation to which Mr. James referred yesterday as having occurred between the President and Mr. James and the then Attorney-General, Mr. MacVeagh. That conversation, as testified to by Mr. James, was to the effect that he and Mr. Woodward called upon President Garfield on one occasion and laid before him the facts which had been developed

by their investigations with reference to the persons who were to be prosecuted in connection with the star-route matter, and the nature of the prosecutions generally; that the President inquired whether the Attorney-General had been consulted, and Mr. James replied that he had not, but proposed to consult the Attorney-General at once; that on a subsequent day Mr. James and the Attorney-General called on the President in reference to these matters, whereupon, as Mr. James states, the Attorney-General, Mr. MacVeagh, proceeded to inform the Presi dent of the nature of the evidence that had come to his knowledge, and suggested to him to consider whether, in view of that evidence, he still desired that the prosecutious should be instituted. Do you remember that conversation, Mr. MacVeagh?

The WITNESS. I cannot say that I distinctly remember that conversation; but that answer would not be correct unless I added to it that I do remember substantially a conversation of that kind with the President. As practical men, we all knew these cases would present themselves to anybody's mind-they did to mine certainly-as possibly hav ing certain very grave political complications. One of the gentlemen. accused had been a United States Senator, and had been an active agent of the Republican party in the then recent canvass which had resulted in the election of the President, Another gentleman whose name was a subject of common rumor in connection with this matter I believe was then a United States Senator and a Republican Senator, and at that time, according to my recollection, the Senate was Republican by only one majority. In addition to that, there was a perfectly well marked and universally known division of opinion in the Republi can party. I cannot say that I recall the particular identical conversation to which General James refers, for I knew nothing of what he would state here until I read it last evening in print, but I certainly do remember explaining very fully to President Garfield, in the presence of the Postmaster-General, the very great gravity of the initial steps of these investigations. I explained that at first appearance the figures were so startling and the uniformity of evidence of mismanagement was so absolute wherever we touched the matter, that it seemed to ine that the President, as Chief Executive, ought to consider well, before taking any step from which retreat would be impossible, what the consequences of that step would be; that if I was joined to those cases and started upon them, there was no way to stop them short of an exhaustive examination through the judicial machinery of the country, before grand juries and petit juries, except, of course, the resource he always had, of dispensing with my services; but that also might become embarrassing, and that therefore it was of very grave consequence to everybody that the matter should be well considered before we started. I was induced perhaps, partly, to state this view more fully than I otherwise would have done, because of allusions appearing in the public prints to certain relations that had subsisted between these gentlemen and General Garfield, certain letters said to be in their possession, and to which allusion had been made, and various sich things about which I knew nothing, but which caused me to feel it iny duty, as a confidential adviser of the President, to lay this matter before him in the way I did lay it before him.

Q. Did you give him the name of the Senator whose prosecution was contemplated?-A. I cannot remember; but certainly he knew everything that I knew from time to time, and must, therefore, have known, either from the Postmaster-General or Mr. Woodward, or myself, the