New-York tribune., 1878-11-23


part in any of the negotiations undertaken
or any other transactions of the ciphering
statesmen. He seems to have done nothing
except perhaps occasionally wave Ills hahu
and look impressive. He must have wondered
what, after all, he was sent down there 1or'
Perhaps he thought it was because of Mr..
Tilden's belief in the salutary and restraining
| effect upon the Returning Board OF the mere
presence of Boston man in Tallahassee. III
did not occur to him that the coparceners
might be using HIM as a stalking-horse that
he was the emmently respectable iigurehead
| of n party of fellows who were there to
buy Floridas electoral vote. Or course
NOT. Why should it'll There were Mr.
! Marble, whose sesquipedalian discourse
had almost a Boston flavor, and Mr.. WOolley
of Ohio, one of the most ardent purifiers OF
politics now living, and Mr.. COyle, whose zeal
for reform everybody knows, all standing by
TO see that there was an honest count. ana
apparently for no other purpose Mr.. Salt0n-
! stall not being nervOusly active man HIM
! self probably saw nothing strange III their
appatcnt inactivity. He may have since dis
covered grounds at least for the suspicion that,
while he was acting as the respectable figure
4 II
to all sorts of deyIltry i'll secret.
In making this selection for fgurehead,
they paid compliment to Mr.. SaltonstalPs
integrity at the expense of his intelligence
| They wanted a very dull and very reSpecta
! BILE person. They seem to have succeeded.
| Mr. Saltonstall Immediately his arrival
perhaps befOre-iDtrcnchcd himself in two po-
| sitions: the first that the coparceners, Marble,
WoOley, COylc, and the rest, were entirely
| above suspicion of cOuntenancing the least
shadow of fraud, or even imprOpriety and
| the second, that Governor NOyes and the
| Republicans associated with Inn were there
for the sole and simple purpose of falsily-
ing the vote of Florida and defraudlng the
people of the United States of their honest
choice of President These opinions once
| formed were of course never altered. Mr.
Leyerett SaltOnstall is never guilty OF the
! weakness of changing what he Is pleased to
| call ms mind. No amount of evidence, nor
! the tacit confessions OF the COparcenorS, could
make him believe that they attempted to bnbe
| the Returning Board; nor any proof suffice
! to convince him that visiting Republicans did
not carry ont their infamous purpose OF
the preparation of every conceivable vii
his inner consciousness and never been
moved from IT, it was not strange that,
when asked for his opinion of The TRIBUNE
cipher disclosures some time ago, he should
express absolute disbelief in their existence, at
the same time that he asserted positively as
of his own knowledge that Governor N0yes
was constantly sending and receiving cipher
dispatches, and it was notorious that through
his Vaccinations and his brlbcS III the form
of promises of reward the vote OF FLORIDA was
occurred for President Hayes 10y fraud. Cover
nor Moves, upon this took pains to deny
the passage of one single telegram as
charged, and 10 refute in detail the other
loose assertions of Mr. SaltOnstal. Perhaps
be thought 10 change the opinion OF Mr.
Leverett Saltonstall. Vain cndeavor. Mr.
Leverett Satonstal is one of those Old Line
| Wing Democrats who, when they took their
| Democracy shat their eyes and opened their
mouths, and took it straight. They will not
now hermit themselves to believe that Dem
ocrat can pcrpctratc fraud, or a Republican
do anything cisc.
Mr.. Leverett Saltons:all accordingly calls at
teption to the fact that Mr.. Noyes's specific
denial of his specific charge does not deny
might have seen them. If he would only do
this and "procure the publication OF all
dispatches in cipher to ana from his friends
" in Florida while he was apparently i'll COM
"mand therc,n Mr. Saltonstal thinks, " his IN
" dignant denial would seem 10 be less bit of
" special pleading" To which Mr.. Noycs
might well answer IL there any other I'M
practicable thing Mr.. Leverctt SaltOnstall re-
" Guires as a condition precedent to cOntesSing
"that he has made lying and scandal
" GUS charge r. Mr. Saltonstall will in
| sist, of course, notwithstanding anybody's
denial or any amount Of proof to the contrary,
that Mr.. Noyes and the Republicans who were
| associated with him were guilty of bribery, and
that they did actually buy the vote of Florida.
| In the letter just published he makes an argu-
ment to that purpose, the drift OF which Is
that if the Returning Board refused the price
offered them for Tilden by the cOparccners, it
must have been because the Republicans
offered them greater inducements so it
must be that they were bnbed. And
he is so indignant at the fraud that
he says he would prefer being forgot
ten rather than he immortalzcd rs the
&" first President who occupied that distln-
guished office under the peculiar title by
which the present incumbent holds it," AS
to that, tastes may differ. But if Mr. Leverctt
Saltonstal is immOrtalized at all. his immOr
tality bids fair at present to hinge upon the
fact that he was connected with an effort
to put man into that distinguished
Office under the peculiar title derived
from a purchase not merely suspected, but
proved beyond possibility of cOntradic-
ton. Mr. Saltonstall is, no doubt or means
to be, honest There is manifestly no guile