In due time the weakness of their machinations could no longer be concealed, and in the winter of 1878 they were obliged to confess that they never had any testimony on which to go to trial in support of their caluminous allegations; but to keep the charge alive in the servile prints of the administration, they filed a "bill of discovery" to extort from Tilden himself proof of their infamous charges. It was in consequence of this aggravating persecution that Mr. Tilden invited Mr. O'Conor to assist in his defence, which led to the following correspondence. The history of this vexatious and vicious prosecution will be found in ample detail from its initiation, in 1876, to the government's ignominious retreat, in 1882, in the _Biography of Tilden_, p. 225. O'CONOR TO TILDEN "_March 20, 1879._ "DEAR SIR,--As I never accept retainers,[23] you will pardon me for returning the enclosed. "Yours truly, CH. O'CONOR." "_Hon. Samuel J. Tilden._ [23] This I afterwards learned from Mr. O'Conor's own lips was his invariable practice. He never asked pay for his professional services until he had earned it. MEMORANDUM OF CASE FOR O'CONOR'S OPINION "_March, 1879._ "A copy of the draft of the Bill of Discovery intended to be filed in the United States Circuit Court is submitted. It is for discovery merely, and is in aid of a common-law action pending in the district court. The complaint in that action is also submitted. "Some of the questions on which Mr. O'Conor's opinion is desired in the first instance are the following: "First.--If to the Bill of Discovery a plea, or an answer in the nature of a plea, should be made denying the right of action of the United States in the suit in the district court, and, consequently, its claim to a discovery on the ground that the quasi judicial determination of the assessor as to the amount of the tax, and the satisfaction of the judgment rendered by him are conclusive against the United States, and if the Circuit Court should overrule that point and grant the discovery, would that decision of the Circuit Court be a final judgment on which an appeal would lie to the Supreme Court? "Second.--Would that appeal probably be effectual to obtain the rulings of the Supreme Court on the main question of the controversy? "First.--If to the Bill of Discovery a plea, or an answer the defendant's income was in excess of the amount found by the assessor to be his income, calls on the defendant to state on oath every item of income during ten years, and every item of deductions therefrom and many items of receipts which are not income. There is no proposition between the foundation and the superstructure. "What are the rules applicable to such a case? "The interrogatories are not even limited to taxable income, but would involve accretions of value which are not taxable.