New-York tribune., 1879-01-31
ASSUMING TDO UECH.

We uin,rit to the Potter Committee, now
engaged n looking for something ii d0csu't
want to find, that ii Is possible to carry itN
as,nmDtlons bcyond reason. 1t is all very well
Tor Democratic stump speakers and newspaper
editors VINO ale somewhat IN the relation
Of paid advocates TO the party, ana
INDULGE consequently in tie exercise OF
protes ,ionM privileges, to assume IN all
debates that Democratic leaders can DO
no wrong and Republican leaders can do moth
ing else; but the Potter Committee needs to
be reminded that such an assumption can
hardly be mad, the basis cf action OF Con-
crcssional committee pursuing a formal in
vestisation. 1t was not surprising that these
confident attorney, should turn and charge
fraud upon the Kepdbiican Returning Boards
in three Southern states, by whose action thg
naululcnt and Illegal methods Of Demo
Gratis were defeated. As umug that Demo
cratic dishonesty was impossible, their con-
clusion that the Republicans had rcSortei TO
fraud to defeat them was perfectly logical.
And there were many Democrats, no doubt,
who actually did convince themselves that
their party had been cheated, when the
fact was they had only been defeated
| in their own attempts to cheat. 1t we
grant their assumption that there were no at
! tennis on Their part to dcfraud voters oi
thclr rights by intimidation and violence, and
! the Subtlcr methods 50 much IN vogue, then
we must say, of course, that the action OF
the Boards which was taken 10 defeat
! these alleged criminal proceedings was
| itself criminal But the Democrats were
never willing to 90 back so far as
! first causes: they were always strenuous
| to begin with the proceedings OF the Return
| inc Boards, assuming tEat Democrats never
could have gwen any occasion tor such
! action, or furnished any pIctcXt for throwing
ont returns on nc cunt of intimidation and
| fraud Ii was violent assumption, but it
made a very handy place to began inyesti-
| eating.
The discovery Of the cipher dispatches and
their translation by TIE TRIBUNE did excite
! a little ncasincss among the tlmld, but the
attorneys of the party in newspapers and III
| Congress were only mOmentaIily disturbed
| Their answer was ready presently. In the
first place, the ciphers incIimnated no
one of any consequence and the very fact
that the Democratic cipheIs had been brought
to light aad translated, while no similar
"reminiscences OF the Republican campaign
were u!SCDNttibt, Nd0 piool pOHIti'C vi
the greater guilt of Republican leaders,
who had secured some how all the copies
of their own dispatches and put them out Of
the way. II was assumed i'll the most nat
ural way that the Republicans had done
worse things than were ever limited
at in the famous Oregon, louisiana
South Carolina and Florida cryptosrams,
| but that they had been cunning enough
TO conceal or destroy the evidence Of it. This
was fine specimen Of the you're another
style of argument, with no basis whatever
for il except naked assumption and unSup-
pOrtel assertion. But perhaps the coolest and
most confident assumption of all was that
which followed The TRIBCNL's exposure OF
the details of the conspiracy to purchase the
Presidency by the coparccncrs OF Nj. Tlden.
| This was so thorough All exposure and The
| Identification of the cOnspiratOrs was 80
/ satisfactory and complete, that no one Of the
persons implicated has ever so much as peeped
denial or attempted all explanation. But
| how did the paTty'S attorneys IN the press and
| in Congress take it ? 1t stunned them only for
/ IA moment. Then they came up smiling with
| this lucid and logical comment: "Thcse
| negotiations prove beyond question that
the Returning Boards were for sale.
MIR. Tden's agents failed TO secure
"tnem, therefore they must have been
"bought by the Republicans. 1t is con-
sequcntly true, as we have all along charged,
that the Hayes Administration was installed
by bribery and fraud"
! Now these assumptions, as We were just say
ing. are all very well so long as they are con-
fined to the newspaper editors and orators OF the
party who add the license Of irrespOnsibiity TO
the professional privileges of paid advocates
| They arc expected to wrigge and squrm and
! talk at random, and make loose assertions
whenever they are cOrnered. But We submit
! that the Potter Committee is not, or certainly
ought not to be, acting in this investigation as
| hired attorney, or exercising the functions of
| a paid partisan advocate. Yet its acts will
| hardly bear any other construction. With
parcel OF telegraphic correspondence
before it, pointing definitely to bribery and
frand clearly iucriminatug men high in