New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-04-26


sion 70 be mainly fiction Mr.. John Kelly,
who has seen the original, declares the abstract
TO be mainly truth, and there is deal OF
trouble in certain quarters IN consequence
But these are triiling examples of unim-
nortant living FalsehOOd and theft are so
inseparably connected that probably no
villainv of the latter kind, however
neitv. was ever accomplished without the
aid of at least hundred lies, and the soul OF
successful municipal thief must carry bur-
den of falsehOod mCuntain-high. Nobody mas
ever vet computed the number OF distinct ana
separate thefts committed by Tweed aad his ac-
committees. and the number of lies which accom-
nopied and aided and concealed them would
probably bankrupt any known system OF emu
meration. But the public will hardly haze
its faith in Tweed's statements shaken by con-
siderations of this kind. We all know that
systematic lying is a large part OF the
trade of politics, and that if Tweed did
more than the average politicians share OF It,
il was because he was doing at the same time
on large scale what the average politician Is
too often glad to do on any scale, large or
small.
I'm short, the public has appare nty made up
ifs mind to believe Tweed for the reason tnat'
having long ago gwen up stealing because there
was no more chance for stealing, he seems now
about to abandon lying because tue truth Is
the only thing which he can make profitable
The public proposes to believe him because
he has now every inducement to tell the truth.
II is question of liberty or imprisonment Tor
life, and he is not likely, when this alter
native is yet undecided, to hesitate about a
few details more or less, or to put himself
TO the slightest risk to save a friend or two
who have never risked their regulations To
help him. IL is a question, too, whether he VIII
not have his revenge for p long succession OF
ininres-and Tweed is human. The politi-
clans. legislators, and rising statesmen who
had taken Tweed's money saw him sent to
,iaii without a pang. "Tho old man will never
peach" they said with one accord, and then
boldly went out on the stump and called THE
cold man names, struck out Tor themselves
in the world of politics, and left " the Oh
"man" friendlcss prisoner. And he was tue
to their ideal of him. There have been few
more striking instances OF that honor among
thieves which has become proverbial only in the
proverbs than the fidelity OF THIS man to the
men who had deserted him. lie did not OTTER
to give them up until he was fairly driven into
corner worn with imprisonment, weary with con-
tests in the courts, and broken In spirit. There
is poetic justice in this part OF the story, after
all. 1t is this same rugged fidelity even to his
unfaithful friends that has gwen the world
about the only favorable impression it has OF
Tweed's character. Ii is this impression which
is at the bottom of the sympathy for him,
II in, c,,itn Of no
his punishment has, after all, been slight rs
compared with his oifense; and it is this i'm
preston which has prepared the public to be-
lieve what he says of the men who have thus
been instrumental in providing crcdulouS
audience for the story OF their own shame.
Indeed this tendency may be carried too far.
Twceds story ought not to be believed with
any greater readiness than any other story.
IL ought not to'Gc accepted unless it is sup
ported by Just such evidence as would he re-
quilcd to sustain any other series of damaging
ALLEGATIONS. lie is surely not a man III
whom the public has had reason TO place much
confidence either for fair dealing or truth!tell-
inc. Yet if he chose now to feed some of bis
ancient cIl,dgas, he would have a great Oppor-
tulity, for il seems within his power to blast
almost any Icput zion win n word. lt Is be-
cause he has spared these men as long
rs he could because his disclosures have
been wrung from him by the relent-
less pressure of the law, and because
he is using them to buy his liberty,
that the great, warm-heartcd, and perhaps
needless public filed with contempt for
his fair-ycather friends and having compass
sion on broken old man, is ready to accept
his statement as truth itself. And we do not
donbt that the public will be, rs usual, about
right.