The Garland Forgery

Tliis forgery is without pnralcl in the unnals o[ political falsehood. U is transcendent in wickedness - in boldncss, - in cunning, - aw in pcrfcction of machinery. It nssailed the character and intcgrity of nn individual, It designed to exhibit him as a liypocrite of the deepest dyc. - Wc re its statements trne, that individual was politically and morally dishonest:- He was another Arnold in Libcrty's young causo, and inerited, but what lie was sure to receivc, - conieinpt and rcprobation. The forgcrs sought toaccomplish their bad purpose by means bold as their design was wiuked. Thcy fabricateda statement - a letter - an aífidavit- and certifícate of character; They forgcd six pames; a Magistrates jural: a Cltrks cerliiicate: and a County scal. They dispatched their evil progeny on itsarrand of wrong at a crisis ofpeculiai fecliity ibr its success,- on the very eve of the presidential election, sufiïciently before it to permita general . circuíation yet so close to it as to preclude e.xposure except in very few localities. Much ofwicked sagacity was exhibitcc in this piíblic imposición, lts aüïhörs graftcd their fable on political misrcpresentationspreviously madeof Mr. Birney. Polilicians and Press carried away by a passing excitement, hadviolaíed truth and fact to charge Mr. Birney with being a ''Locofoco." His every aet speech and motion, were subiecied to a miscroscopic scrutiny, and perverted. The action of Saginaw county towards righting tho sbuse of its pecuníarV trusts was dragged into the general misrepresenlation. Every whig paper teemed with charges of "Birney Locofocoism," and the fate of the presidential election seemed at last to bring on this single fact, - "Was Mr. Birney pledged to the Locofocoes" ?So vitalíy important did this facf become, that ihe Hon. Jncob M. Hovvard wrote olher things. to the Hon. RO Winlhrop, of Boston, that "Mr. B, is fully eommitted to the Locos, except as to nnnexalion perhaps. Tkere is no earthly doubt of all tkis. Use it then. - t will influenoe 20,000 votes in the North." The anxiety to estabïish tïiis moroenlous matter, induced the Whigs of Detroit o dispatch W. Driggs on a special mission to Mr. Garland, and Saginaw county, to fish for materials. Mr, Driggs dia not teil his object to Mr. G. but alledged he came to attend land saleSj conversed with him a few minutes, as Mr. G. swears. The matter ihus pumped out, was skillfuily arranged iñ affidavit form,. and published. It was endorsed as true by all the whig papers, and claimed as decisive evidence of Mr. Birney's locofocoism- fOCfMr. Garland kas since under oath declared the ■principal statements of Mr. Driggs to have been false. Upon the basis thus presented, the forgers erected theü superstructure, and to consúmate this favorite charge by damning evidence, they boldly Jaunched forth the forgerv in question, reckless of all, save that it should circuíate, and that it should not be exposed until after election, Thus we see, that first in order, carne the allegation of the "Bimey locofocoism." To it succeeded the mission of Mr. Driggs: his affidavit suslaining the t;locofoco" charge followed: and then - bold forgery capped the climax of this progressive series of untruth. These several measures were in strict harmony. The objeot to be attained by each of them was the same - to injure Mr. 3irney, and to benefit Mr. Clay. The means employed were the same charges of "Birney locoism." Tlje object and he means were one and the same in all and thro' all. Again these several measures are all "ound in one and the same hands - those of the whigs. That party bas used them all, again and ngain. It has not merely eiterated them, but pledged its veracíty 'or.their thuth. "There is no eartlúij oubt of all this," was the substantial asu ranee of every leader and Journal. And that party too has originated all hose measures, so far as their origin is cnown. True there is one of the mensures, vhose precise origin is not [known i. e. he forgery in question, but it has been traced into the very hands whence originated the others - that of the whigs of Detroit. It s now admitted that immediafely after its issue, it was in the hands of the Detroit Advertiser, and af several gentlemen of the whig party. It is next found in Cohimbus Ohio, and is there published by whig papers as true: it was brought to one journal there by a Mr. Mc Coy,, a whig; tlitit journal says that "of its authenticity it has not the süghtest doubt: Mc Coy ot last sayshe received it in a sealed parcel in Detroit, and did not know itscontents. Thus we find this forgery pass from whig hands in Detroit to whig hands in Ohio, by the agency of a whigi ándthat in Ohio it first appearspublicly, and appears not merely as tr-üe, but undër special eQuórsements. Mr. Mc Coy doe6 not teil wlo he received it from: The Advertiserrdocs "not teil who it received the document from, ñor do the whig gentlemen say; a. discreet. silence seals their lips, nnd though charged by the Detroit Liberty Commiftee with knowledge of the actual authors, and that Mr. Smart, a rftërhber of their central commitlec, wem to Pontiac fur the purpoae ofeertain enquiñes they prefer to reinain in thoir presen' - scarcely ambigCio;us, - position as an evil less than that which would result from a naked e.vposure of all the faets. Is it that the "scarcely nmbiguous" pcsilion of the present woulü be displaced by tliewell defined one of actual authorship? Public sentiment will anssver the question. The suspicion of nn affirmalive reply is most fearfully aggravated by the VCfa vowed facts „() tliat the AdVertiser Fiad the document in its possesion a't least as early as the 23d of Oetober last; that it knew it tobe a forgen'T ánd in circulation: that it never published one line about its existence, nor one word of its forgery: and that il and its friends kept the fact cnrefully secret until time revcaled theTorgery. And when it was thus revealed in Detroit on 31 st of Octobev - 05a the election still to be held)e::j[) the Adverti'sers languagc was, "As to the i;genuineness of the alledged copy of Mr. "Birney's letter to Mr. 3. B. Garland we 'know nothing and can say nolhing. It ';is certain that sotne such letter was written." Readers, what think you of this language on Nov. lst from ajournal which has since avowed, that it saw,handled and read the forgery on 23d Oct. "that from its face and contents it doubt ed its authenticity:" that it caused certain ënquiriesto be made by Mr. Driggs - and that "his report to that effect" (namely that there was no such justïre in being as alledged by the forgers "Confirmed our (their) suspicion." But on lst Nov. it knows ':noihing" of the genuineness. What think you of the unqualified - positive assurance that it was "certain that some sach letter was written ?" No such letter over vas written. There are other facts of telling signifiennce, in the Advertiser's, conduct, which we will yet commént upon. Not merely its silence on this delicate subject, but its avowals - not only its acts cfomission but those of commission present a fiold of instructive commentary, that which we shall ere long, invite our readers to ramble. Meanwhile we close this review with ti noticeof another remarkable feature in the history of the Garland RoorbacL.This forgery was distinguished not only by the ingenuity of its charge, but by lts skilful pre pa ratio ns. lts contenis and execution evinced thoughtful sk'ill. Few who did not know Mr. Birney, conld look upon it, and doubt itsauthenticity. There was an arrayo! ñames: a presentation of judicial authority: a business like precisión, that forbade skepticism. It shewed careful thoirght and talent in preparation and executiorr. But its mosï remarkable feature was the critical nicciy of the time of its appearance, and the contemporaneousness of its pubticatioti. In several states it appeared on the same d'ay: its publication was simultaneous in places, which were hundreds of miles apart. It had however a great danger to encounter, in the risk of meeting Mr. Birney, who was then in the east. Bnt even this émmenëncy, the power and skill ofits machinations surinounted. In all the towns where Mr. Birney was, this Roorback entered not while he was there. The moment he departed, it appeared, and fast as steam urged him weslward, this evil creation followed in his track. Who then was the aulhor, or who the authors ofthe.unpnralelled forgery'? Who the person or persons possessed of the local knqwledge it disclosed, vet eommanding machinery adequate to the task of a simultaneous issue over a large part of the United States? who could control theagents rcquisite for an operation thus extensive and critical? who could do alJ this and .yet shroud the whole matter in the silenceofdeath,permiüing not a whisper to transpire or to reveal aught of the origin or wondrous agency of this monarch of Roorbacks? Who, weask, who? Surely none olher than a large and grcat party - the party to !e benefited,- the party which originated the same charge which pressed it with mercilèss pertinacity - guaranteed its trutti - and directed it to bo "used" which had its Driggses to tiunt up evidence and its Mc Coys to carry inteHigence: in whose very hands the nurseling Roorback wíis actually discovered, frcsh from its cradle,and from whose sponsor hands it finally received introduction to the world, baptised as true, and commended to esteem.