Daily Republican., 1878-11-22
That Peter Cemmistee,


The elections are over, and an ava
lsncheof public opinion has crushed
the Democratic party to the earth, bu,
the Potter COMMITTEES still appears with
= brazen front, hut shorn of its power
to do harm. II ia only thought Of, even
by Democrats, with. the utmost aver
sion, and spoken Of with dsrision and
scorn. What to do with it is a qurs-
ton which terribly trouble thu Dem
ocrscy, and ifit had only been buried
with them beneath the heavy weight
Of public opinion, never again to shake
its CORY locks in the faces of its friends,
they would have been the happier but
like the ghost of Banquo 1t will not
down at their bidding. They have it
on their hands and must: make the
bsst of IT,, .l ra.s.1 as
Never bsfors did . Congressional
COMMITTEES gather into its embraces so
large and 80 varied 3 lot OF witnesses.
They were called from one end of the
country to tli1 other, and embraced
men and women Of every shade. and
color Of politics this great republic A.
fords. Nothing was left undon. to
cover the Republican party with shame.
Witnesses were called to testify, who
broke down so completely in their lying
tales that even their abettors grew
ashamed Of them. Then, too, the force
Of public opinion compelled the party
leaders to disown the intentions which
lay at the bottom of tho whole scheme
the determination to dispossess Presi
dent Hayes Of his Office. When this
declaration was forced reluctantly from
them, the bottom dropped right out Of
the ingeniously concoctsd plot. Since
then 1t has made no discoveries and
failed to acquire greater respsctability.
Its usefulness is thing OF the past.
chsckmatsd at all points, they would
gladly drop it out Of sight. The cipher
question, however stares it in the face,
and that is thu ugliest of them all.
What will they do with it The country
is anxious to know. Will they ignore
IL altogether, permit the whole thing to
sink out of existencs without making a
report, or revive it for q Will. long or
before giving 1t a final burial The
Democracy are party OF blunderers,
but in their whole former history they
never made greater mistake than when
they sprung this most damaging com
mittee upon the country.
The committee had a wide field in
which to act, but the majority which
composed it exhausted every ingenui.
ty which could possibly have been i'll
vented to avoid damaging the D-uo-
cratic party. They adopted the role OF
the comcal .arce, "How not to do it, -
and they have played it to perfection,
The recent farcical election in L0uisi-
ana, is brt fresh proof that President
Hayes fairly carried the State in 1876,
and the late election also shows what a
stupendous Democratic fraud was COM
mitted in Archer Precinct, Alauchua
County, Florida, by which the State was
claimed for Tiden. The means Us ed
In South Carolina by which it went sol
idly Democratic bushes the cry of fraud
against the Republicans, and sick-ns
even the Democratic stomach. The
committee have opened to them wide
field Of investigation if it is the truth
they are after. 1t might possibly be gal
vanized into respectability lift would
promptly meet and rigidly investigate
the cipher kilograms and the bull-doz-
ing in the South which came near cheat
ing the Republicans out of the Presi-
dency, but it spite of the lessons taught
by the October and November elections,
they are not likely to do this, though
that would be the only honest course
they could pursue.
How not to 40 it, will probably be
played out to the end of the present
Congress when the Committee halt,
lame and blind, will die by limita-
ton, detested 10y none more heartily
than by those who created it. The
November elections have been unusual
ly severe upon the Committee as if a
Just retribuIion had overtaken it. But
Ter, .he chief clown, lies stranded upon
the inhospitable shores of the State
which Re calls his own. His voice will not
be heard in the next Congress and a Re-
publican takes his place. Potter the
chairman, and until he consented 10 be
an actor in this marplet, on. of the
most respected Democratic members of
the House, has been literally repudia-
tod in the strong Democratic distrc. on
the banks of his own Hudson His
voice will net be heard in the mex
Congress and Republican takes hi
place. Stenger of Pennsylvania another
Democratic member of the Committe..
has been left at home by his constitu
Sncy, and he can now have leisure to
roam the battle fields Of Gettysburg and