was again derelict of its duty. When the gang organized to rob the bank had finished its nefarious work, and its doors were closed in bankruptcy, one would have supposed that the most important question to be decided was the quickest and most economical method of winding up its affairs, to the end of saving as much as possible to the poor, deluded depositors. A Republican Congress did exactly the opposite of this.

Instead of authorizing the President to appoint a receiver, a man of well-known integrity and business capacity, it authorized him to appoint a board of three commissioners, each at a salary of three thousand dollars a year, to be paid out of the funds of the bank. This was virtually giving the commissioners a long lease of the funds.

Grant, in making these appointments, charmingly illustrated what is known as Grantism. Creswell, who resigned his position in Grant’s cabinet to escape impeachment, and with whose official and political record the country is already familiar, was his first choice. Money is Mr. Creswell’s fetish, no one has ever accused him of doing a charitable act, and as for political convictions, he has about as much use for them as a savage has for a time-piece. When a Senator, a true friend of the race, remonstrated against this appointment and predicted the result, Grant said Creswell was a lawyer, and as such could make himself useful in managing the legal affairs. We shall see what kind of legal service this lawyer has rendered.

Grant’s next choice was an aged black man, with a very benevolent face, named Purvis. Of law, banking, finance, poor Purvis knew just nothing. His knowledge of medicine even was slender, and he resided in Philadelphia. These qualifications, however, were satisfactory to Grant, who said the Board would not be complete without “one nigger,” whose presence was necessary to inspire confidence in the plundered depositors. He doubtless meant the poor devils, the washers and scrubbers, the very poor and the very ignorant, who had been plundered by his cronies.

Grant’s third choice was R. H. T. Leipold.[1] His qualifications were that he was a Hessian by birth, had lived in Wisconsin, was a favorite of Senator Howe of that State, and had been a clerk in that great American penal colony, the Treasury Department. I want the reader to make a note of this Senator Howe part of the business, as I shall have something to say on it hereafter, when a son-in-law of that Senator figures somewhat numerically.

To men of Purvis’ and Leipold’s type, this salary of three thousand dollars a year was a god-send of no mean dimensions. But placing them in charge of the bank’s money was a very dangerous power to intrust such men with. Grant, I am told, used to allude to these commissioners as representing Europe, Africa, and America. That it was a charming blending of colors must be confessed. The sombre clouding, however, hung around America, represented by the man Creswell.

Let us turn now and see how these commissioners have discharged this