The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1879-02-11
Republican Per.versions.

endeavored to give hepuDilcan version |
of the cipher examination in New York |
city, more especially that part of it con- |
corning the examination of Col. Pelton. ln
making this truly remarkable statement,
the %. has woven diaphanous fabric,
the web whereof was spun from falsehoods,
and the wool from prevarications. A more
wonderful exhibit of the power of the fer
tile imagination it has never been our lot
to witness. 1t begins by saying that Col.
PeIton was the Secretary of the Demo
cratic National Committee-that is part
of the web, aud is falsehood, otherwise
direct lie. Col. Pelton, in all his transac-
tions acted independent of the Democratic
Committee, and his elastic conscience
prompted his actions, which were Of his
own origination, he alone being responsible
for his contracts,
1t continues by saying that he admitted
that the cipher kilograms, as published,
are substantially correct-that is part of
the wool, and is prevaricatioD, otherwise
white lie.
Furthermore it states that he admitted
that Manton Marble, Smith NJ. Weed,
Wooley and others, were his confederates
or agents in negotiating the purchase.
That is another part of the web, and it
would require the naming of all the colors
in the rainbow to characterize the peculiar
shade of that lie-unless it comes under
the general category of a Repub
lican lie, Pelton distinctly stated that he
acted on his aown responsibility, without
instructions from any one person or any
committee Of persons. TIE Republican
party is 50 hemmed in, so bound up by
a community of the most dastardly viii
fiers that it has become an almost physi-
cal impossibility for one of its number to
tell the unqualified truth. The Ander-
sons, the jerks, the st. Martins, the
Bradys' the Tyners, the Outlaw Reds,
have so entanGled the party in the meshes
of the net of falsehoods, that they cannot
free themselves, but like fish are held by
the running tide in the trap to which they
sounknowiugiy and so unwittiugly we're led
The Democratic National Committee
not only had no hand in the nefarious
transactions to which Col Pelton lent his
time, and which he was solictous to see
consummated, but his plans were distinct
ly and emphatically repudiated by the
Committee when brought to their knowl-
edge, after the decision Of the returning
board, aud were most emphatically repu-
dated by the Treasurer of the Committee,
Mr. Edward Cooper, when brought to his
knowledge at the time of the Colonel's
negotiations. He has involved no one
except himself 10 this, his explanation of
the matter, and the acts of Col, Peltou
were not the acts Of the Democratic
National Committee. That there have
been many things. many criminal actions
laid at the door of the Democracy, all
will freely admit, but not even Repub,
lican subsidized press will dare accuse any
member Of the Democratic National Com
mittee, or either of the candidates On the
presidential ticket Of 1876, OF doing augh
that tends IN any way to compromise theil
honesty Of purpose, their honesty of prin
ciplo or their honesty of deed. That amouG
certain members of the Democracy Their.
was desire to fight fire with FIRE is admit
ted, but the all-devOuring fame of Repub
lican corruption swept, like the prairie fire
over all in its path, and met nowhere 8
void caused by any action Of the Demo
Gratis. The near sighted, graspiug Repub.
licans could not appreciate the fact that il
was far better 20 be defeated dishone,tlv
than gain victory by any questionable
means. Made hungry by greed of Office
rendered rapacious by the fear that the
spoiis they had fatted upon for sixteer
years were to be wrenched from thei,
grasp, they were willing to wade through
any amount Of vilIany rather than thai
the popular candidate, the chosen of the
people, should be placed in the Office that
bad been disgraced by their party-iu the
Office that is at present more than dis
graced by the foulest blot upon the es
cutcheon Of any civilized nation, the blot Of
STOLEN chief magistracy.
The Democrats have not been driven
from every position they have taken-they
have not fallen back step by step. az
claimed by the Inter Ocean, but rather
have they advanced; they have offered
every inducemeDt that might or could
lead to full Investigation of this despica-
bic business; they have passed through
the fiery furnace and emerged without a
burn or SINCE Of any kind. They have
led on the queries into the question of
election frauds; they have furnished the
men and searched the records publicly,
and every crime that has been unearthed
every upheaval of the mire and the filth
of corruption, has exposed the visage and
the handiwork of Republican official.
The Democratic party to-day is stronger,
purer' better in every way than the party
that has been Its opponent for the past
score ct years, and, though oppressed and
held down by the fanaticism of a few ex-
trcnlsis during the war, it stands forth
to-day the favorite o: the people, the
champion Of the many reforms that have
been brought about during the past few
years, the representative Of free govern
mont, the very dawn of whose power has
caused shaking among the dry bones of