New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-12-14

conduct on the part of its opponents, ana so
anxious for popular uprising to vin'acate
the purity of elections, has stood before the
country with its tongue in its cheek when the
evidence of its own dishonesty was palpable
and indisputable and said with lazy wink,
"Well, what are you going to do about it'll"
The Tammany statesman now iii Ludlow
Street did not invent the phrase. The Demo-
cratic party had been saying it, in its pol
icy and acts if not in so many words for
years and when he stood in front with all
the party at his back, the spirit of the party
only spoke through him when he said, with
the sheer of man who knew his backing,
and how well he could count upon it, well,
"what are you going to do about 1t ~ 1t Is
a party with which success has always been
the governing principle. To that end all
means we've justifable, and no sacrifice too
great. The moral quality of n transaction has
never in any case influenced the party's Judg-
ment or affected its decision, or ever even
been entertained in discussion, except as
the basis for an appeal to the con-
science of an opponent supposed to be
guilty of the weakness of being governed
by such considerations. Nothing could
DC more IeDuEnuub W illb DiihNipiN' VI 49,
practice of this party than the idea that
morals have any relation with politics. OF
that in political management and political
action there can be any higher allegiance than
TO the party, any more binding obligation than
that of party success. Ii is party with
little in its past to be proud OF, and with
twenty years behind it of such laundering
and folly, such incompetence, reckless
ness, and crime, such houndering from
one degree of baseness to another, anu
such disclosures of uniimess, rapaclty' ana
greed that instead of asking to be trusted
now, il might much better lay its hand upon
its mouth and its mouth in the dust, and cry,
"Unclcan! uncean!n And there is not one OF
the eminent persons who are to-day so urgent
for investigations and so sOlicitOus for iaIr
election and honest count, who has not known
all these years that his party has Ill every IN
stance when il had the opportunity done what
it could to destroy all the hindemnces TO fraud
ulent voting and false returns; not one OF
them but has known of repeated instances OF
fraud, corruption, and violence being resorted 10
by his own party from the time OF the at
tempt TO force slavery into Kansas down to the
time of Tweed, and not one OF them that
has ever whispered a syllable OF diSapprOVal
or protest. And the picture before the cOuh-
try to-day is of this party and these men
frantically endeavoring to insite popular up
rising in behalf of tue purity of elections, not
MS an abstract question of public morals or
public Justice but because they think they
have themselves been cheated or Out-cheated
at last
One wrong does not by any means justify
another. Because the Democratic party has
been all that we have described, and has made
for itself the record we have referred to, II
by no means follows that it should not have
Justice done it, THE TRIBUNE has insisted
from the first that this is a question not OF
parties but of right and justice, and 1t does
not for moment Justify any policy OF retail
alton. But we have observed in some quar-
tiers expressions of surprise that the pubic
mind is not more excited over this question
that public meetings are not held, &c,
sc. In looking for reasons for the calm
ness with which the people are contemplating
the situation and the stolidty with which they
listen to the appeals of Democratic leaders, 1t
has seemed TO us that possibly one OF them
may be found in the wel-knOwn record OF
the Democratic party, and the suddcnness ana
with which it has assumed its
present attitude with reference to the
purity of elections. The attention of n great
many honest voters has been diverted
from the merits of the dispute by the
singularity of this spectacle. 1t is as though
staggering bully who had gone out for little
recreation in tho breaking of heads had come
staggering back with badly damaged coun-
tenance to enter complaint for assault. He
must have justice, of course; but then the
change in character seems so abrupt that the
court ought TO have a little time to pull itself
together and consider the case.