New-York tribune., 1878-10-14


"print to brand it as it deserved. From him,
" as representative of the highest possible
"mOral tone. these things were necessary ana
proper" When man claims this position
for himself, and suffers friends to keep per-
petualy claiming it for him, it entails upon
him one responsibility at least-that he shall
not KNOWN gly and persistently shield crime
by silence.
In respect to the Presidential election, IN
particular, Mr.. Adams appointed himself
Court Of last resort. Forty millions OF free CIT
izens, in q case of extraordinary difficulty, had
lntrusted the decision to an extraordinary tl-
bunal. Mr. Adams was not even one member
of 1t. Nobody had made him Judge nobody had
asked his opinion, unless it be the cipher-uSing
candidate of Gramercy Park. But Mr.. Adams
appointed himself Judge and Jury; thrust his
maSked opinion upon the country; assumed
to fastcn dishOnor upon majority OF Unlted
States Senators and upon Judges OF the SUI
premc Court, and took 1t upon himself 10 put
the brand of fraud upon eight distinguished
citizens who accepted positions III the Cabihet,
and upon President VINO believed himselt
and was believed by half the people OF TINS
country to have been honestly elected
Another man, saying thing so Oad-teh-
pered and so insOent at such tIhe'
would have been suspected of yeXatlOn because
he had missed the promised office OF Secretary
of State but in person of Mr.. Adamss
lofty character, we were told, the utterance
was an inevitable and proper outburst OF
holy wrath. He knew all about the election,
and was too intensely pure to witness wrong
in silence.
Very well, then. Mr.. Charles Francis
Adams, what has become of your virtue
now Has your spOtless purity seen moth
inc lately to arouse that holy wrath For
the first time in American history an
attempt to buy the Presidency has been made
an attempt thought so shameful in tine later
DAYS of the rotting Roman Empire that the
name of the one Emperor who bought his
place will go through all history blackened
with dishOI or. That attempt IL brought home
TO the very door of Mr.. 1ilden. and
he offers no defence The Intermediates
who made the shameful bargains and sent the
damning messages are still trnsted by him.
And he, and his cipher-usng, bribe-giyinG
tools, are 10 this day indorscd by the silence
of Mr. Charles Francis Adams, the self-ap-
pointed censor of morals for the American
people. Notsa word has come from his lofty
iceberg to show that he thinks less of Mr..
Tlden than he did when he SO fully indorsed
that candidate and represented him as
MARTYR to the cause of reform. Not the
least sign has appeared that the crime OF
buying electoral votes with half hundred
best United States documents awakens in
Mr.. Charles Francis Adams any Of that ire
pressible and holy wrath which was supposed
to have prompted him when he tried to brand
with dishonor a great many men every bit rs
worthy as himself.
Will Mr.. Adams claim that Mr.. Tilden had
no idea what messages were sent from his
own house to his most confidential agents by
his trusted nephewi Then it will appear that
Mr.. Adams has UNFORTUNATELY recommended
the election to the Presidency of a man who
is not only stupid beyond example, and
almost beyond belief, but SO careless
of his honor that lie does not yet make
answer to a charge of crime to which the
country has listened for week. Will hir.
Adams say that the dispatches are forgeries
or wrongly translated, in the face of the fact
that Mr.. Tilden does not dare 10 say sol Or
will he admit that he never suspected that
the candidate was capable of such deed.
In that case what becomes OF the omnisci-
cnce which alone could have excused his
insolent arraignment of the President,
tho Cabinet, the Electoral Commission
and the majority of the Senatel If Mr.. Adams
was utterly imposed upon by n man whose
public and private life he had known for
years, was he not equally deceived about the
results of an election in distant States, which
he never had investigated If he is in doubt
about the Pelton 'ciphers, has he not heard of
the Marquette Iron Mine ciphers also I If he
doubts about Florida, has bis OmniScience
been unaware of the "GObble" dispatches
from OregonY
1t is a good thing, doubtless, for a Nation
to have some lofty standard of ideal virtue
and purity provided that standard is kept IN
hands which do not drag it in the mud for
mean personal or partisan ends. But Mr..
Adams had better realize that the people
Of this country have hearty contempt
for sham purists, and a wholesome
hatred for bogus virtue They despise "a
professed Reformer who buys votes. They
scorn pretended representative of tho high
"e est morality" who can utter no word for
public morals when professed Reform is
caught trying to buy the Presidency. No man
can assume to lead the moral sentiment of
this country who lags far behind the average
sense in the detection or the average con-
science in the censure of wrong. Swift
utterance has been given to the hon
est indignation of "plain people," who
wear no broad phylacteries and do
not set up as judges of all the earth But
Mr. Charles Francis Adams shows no trace of
that feeling. He may as well get down at
once from his lofty iceberg, and forever. His
proper level appears to be that of the journal
lists and politicians who never can get faults
e A. - L.