The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1878-11-07
Harper's Ca the Cipher DIS
nalCHSA.

The revelation vi the cipher dis
patches will have a very great effect
upon public opinion, aud the more
pronounced because such denials a.
hsye been made do rot deny the au-
theu;icity OF the kilograms. IL Is UNI
questionable that a large part of the
support which was given to Mr.. Ii.den
III 1876 was due TO 4 conviction that
he would in some name purify poll
ties. 4 feeling that toe Republican
! pats bad b,ra to long IN power,
snd that there had been a kind Of
carnival Of corruption under the
Grant Administration, had long been
carefully fostered and exaggerated by
party opposition and by personal die
appointment, and Tie hard times DIS
posed every body who was pinched to
throw the b!ams upon the party III
power. 1t Was this situation which
Mr. Tildcn saw and determined 10
turn TO his advantage. With this
view be began his "rctorpsN in New
York rs Governor, believing that the
tine was ripe. The event showed
| that be was not mistaken. lie was
INSTANTLY accepted as the especial rep
resentative of the reform which was
vaguely desired, and his PARTY, with
which be was not personally popular,
believing that with the kind Of pres
tige he had acquired success WAS prob
able, made him its candidate for the
Presidency.
1t was an advantage 70 Mr.. Tilden
that he had been little known out Of
! his own State before he became Gov
ernor. But it is indisputablc that
within bis State, and among those
| who had known him as II politician, it
WAS bard to regard him aI especially
or essentially a political reformer.
lie was no longer a young man, and
| he had been aiways interested in pol
,ics and public affairs. Bnt he was
| chiefly known &c chairman Of the
| Democratic Stsrc Committee during
! the ueriod OF Jvecd's esceudency in
| his party, bad ever openly and strong
y opposed him. rhat TACT certainly
! did not argue corruption or collision,
! nor was either even charged; but il
was plainly Incompatible with d sin
cere spirit Of political reform. II
would be hard to point to any thing
in Pr Tilden's political career before
he became Governor which distin-
! guished him from other clever Demo
cratic politicians, and the evident pO-
itical purpose of hiG conduct rs Gov
| ernor detracted from the disinterest-
| ednces # his reform movements. The
manner in which be Vas commended
out Of tho State during the canvass of
1876, as the very apostle OF political
reform. was remarkable TO all New
Workers, while the fact that reform
was to be accomplished by the famil-
ar Democratic party made the spec
t4cle not more hol eful. The argu-
ment that the Republican party was
corrupt, and that therefore there was
0 Alternative but the Democratic
party, however logical, was not assur-
Ing to any body who believed tbatthe
Democratic party needed only the
chance to show itself very much more
corrupt than the Republican. But 1t
| is ~un0eniAble that there was a large
independent vote which was given 70
Mr.. Tildeu under tho conviction that
somehow brother be was a Heaven
sent messenger of political reform.
This conviction was but strength
'eled by the events that followed the
election. There were many voters
Who, not knowing thai Democratic
ordor of the day was to claim every
thing" believed that what they
thought the organized corruption
known as The Republican party was
about to fulfil all iniquity 10y tam
pering with the vote. Such rampant
virtue was seldom seen as was then
displayed by those who had supported
Mr.. Tilden, and who assumed that
every thing upon his side and among
his supporters was tair and smooth
and honest, and every thing upon the
Republican side was foul and corrupt
and disgraceful. This sort Of thing
s exceedingly ludicrous ill the late
Marble manifesto. Yet it now APP
years, and appears in the very face Of
The Potter Investigation, which has
vainly sought to duplicate Mr.. Sher-
man and Mr.. Noyes and TO stain the
President, that during all this time
the confidential agents Of MIR. Tilden,
his personal friends and trusted asso.
iates. were busily trying to buy him
The Presidency il Oregon ard Soutb
Carolina and florida, two Of which
states ii va not pretended that h.
had carried; nor is il aiiegcd that the
exposure OF the "Gohb!e' Oregon bus
iuess more than q year ago interrupt |
d in the least the relations between
Mr.. Tildcn and the "ncgotiators,
nor that they have been disturbed by
he later revelations. All the asser-
ions and all the belief that the r..
,ublicans were quite as great rascal.
Is the Democrats, if only the pr0a,
could be found. avail. MMah
. . {: i. n; !, ' I