The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1878-12-28
The investigating Don ouixotes.

| resent the comparison here suggested.
! Cervantes had great affection for his hero,
and although he made him constantly
ridiculous he endowed him with SO many
chiyalric qualities as to preserve our
esteem while convulsing US with laughter.
| The personal qualities Of Mr.. Blaine and
Mr.. Potter equally redeem them in our
estimation when they sally out in search OF
adventures.
| The author of 'sDon Quixote" intended
| to paint character who was so absorbed In
a fanciful past that he did not understand
the present, and who was subject to the
most grotesque illusions by clothing
| homely facts in o costume borrowed from
his conceptions of the knightly adventures
which he sought to emulate. He mistook
his gaunt, bony, spawned, wall-eyed Rosi-
mantle for we'll limbed steed; mistook
windmills for giants, BARRIERS tin
basins for polished and shining he'll
NETS, a flock Of sheep for a great
army, shabby country inn for gor-
| geous palace and an uDgraceful soiled
dove whom he met there for a lady of high
birth, beauty and accomplishments. This
is kind of transformation which dis
tempered imagination is apt to prnctise
when gifted men, instead of looking at facts
as they are through their natural eyes, seek
for forms which they can robe in the gar
ments of an extinct past
Don Quixote Blaine has mounted the Ro-
sinante which he thinks will bear him to
the highest honors Of political knighthood,
and his active imagination transfers to a
few paltry facts in the South all the forms
and colors which made Southern treatment
of the negroes SO exciting when Andrew
Johnson was asserting the claims Of ''my
policy" He seems to have nj, more
idea that that period is past than the
Knight Of La Mancha had that he was not
living in the kind Of world that had been
painted In the old romances, the reading of
which had turned the poor gentlemans
head. Senator Blaine, like his knightly
prototype, does not understand his epoch !;
he, too, is fitting at windmills under the
impression that they are giants.
Mr.. Potter is not so interesting q Don
Quixote as Mr.. Blaine. Instead Of being
volunteer, like Mr.. Blaine, he was impressed
into his ridiculous course Of adventures.
He retains sanity enough to distinguish be-
tween BARRIERS tin basin and helmet, and
needs no Sancho Panza to remind him Of
realities. He may have been at first under
momentary illusion that the Sher-
its cave; that the lively Mrs. jerks
was radiant with all the colors of
ingenious ladyhood that the witness An
derson was fountain of truth: but Don
Quixote Potter must very early have got
disillusionized, and be sensible Of the folly
of setting forth in quest of adventures in the
hope of delivering the Presidency from the
band of robbers that had taken it captive.
It must be CALLING to man Of Mr.. Potters
pride to be rendered thus ridiculous, and to
be compelled to pursue his adventures after
the publication of the cipher dispatches
put his party on the defensive.
Mr.. Blaine's hallucinntion has not led him
into such tissue of difficulties. He was too
wary to take thelead of the committee whose
appointment he procured, whereas Mr. Pot
ter was plant enough to accept against his
will position which subjects him to inf
mite embarrassment and notification. The
last intelligence from his committee is that
it has decided to investigate the cipher de-
spatches; but inasmuch as that subject is
not within the scope Of the inquiry as or
dered by the House Mr.. Potter would
be justified in refusing to go into this
new search. The very spirit Of Don Quixote
must have descended upon him if he thinks
the genuineness of the cipher dispatches
can be discredited. It will be equally avk-
ward for him to attempt to whitewash
Gramercy Park or to rub in the colors. He
could refuse on solid grounds to have any
thing to do with this 'annex" to the orig
inal investigation. It is subject which is
not within the proper jurisdiction Of Con-
gress. None Of the persons inculpated
is an officer Of the federal govern
ment. II bribery was really attempted
it was crime under the laws Of Florida, to
be Investigated and punished by the au-
thorities Of that State. That the Florida
officers were not actually bribed is proved
by the result. If the attempt was made it
only affects the reputation Of the authors Of
the dispatches, unless Mr.. Tilden can be
proved to be party. 1t is not probable
that any witness can be found who will
swear that he was. and the grounds of mere
inference will remain as they are. 1t is
idle to investigate the genuineness of the
dispatches, which nobody doubts; it is
equally idle to expect to trace them by evil
dence beyond Mr.. Pelton. Wh,, then,
waste time and incur expense in an inquiry
which can contribute nothing to the infor-
nation Of the public?
Mr.. Blaine's projected investigation,
which has got stuck in the mud at the start,
is equally futile and foolish. by Mr..
Blaine's own admission it can be of no use