New-York tribune., 1880-04-09
THE COMING TROUBLE.

THE COMING TROUBLE
@It is not the Southern question at ALL says
The World "it is the scandalOus exposures
"made by Mr.. POtter's Committee, and the ex-
" pOsures more scandalOus still, limited at before
" that Committee, as Mr.. Cooper can teS-
"tify, which will most vex and dam
"age the Democracy i'll 1880" This Oracu-
lar remark will give the party no little uneasi
ness. A conviction seems to be slowly develop
ing among the Democratic leaders that they
have invited by their treatment of the cipher
exposures a terrible amount of vexatiOn and
damage from which there is now no escape.
They accepted the Potter investigation not
merely as acquitting Mr.. Trlden of completely
in the attempt to purchase electoral votes, but
as complete vindicatiOn OF his conduct in
every particular. They have insisted that there
is no longer the faintest suspicion attaching to
him, and that if there were no other objections
to his nomination than snch rs might have been
drawn from the PeltOn affair he ought to be the
unanimous choice of the Convention. But this
involves difficulty which the Democracy are
Just beginning to feel, though other people
perceived it long ago. The Cipher Investiga-
ton showed that somebody on the Democratic
side tried to buy the Presidency in 1876. The
Committee officially reported that it was not
Mr.. TiIden. The entire Democratic party de-
clares that it WAS not Mr.. Tilden. Who was
it, then7 At this point the Committee sus-
| pended its inquiries. At this point are found
the hints of more scandalous exposures" in
which The World appears to discern trouble. 1t
is not customary for large sums of money to
aggregate themselves spontaneously, and pass
from pocket to pocket without the aid Of any
human hand a1d since the Democracy haze
agreed, 1, to say that Colonel Pelton was not
supplied with funds by his uncle, and did not
confide his plans to his uncle and, 2, to drop
the matter Just there and refrain from inqur-
ing who was the banker of that engaging young
man. it is inevitable that the public should
search the proceedings of the Committee for
the hints which give the party journalists so
much uneasiness and should draw their own
conclusions.
A moments examination of the ascertained
facts will show that PeltOn had reasons, satis-
factory to himself, to believe that the money
would he forthcoming whenever it was wanted.
He tried to make bargains contingent on the
@result in March," and failed. Thereupon he
pledged the payment of large sums in advance /;
eighty thousand dollars in one ease, fifty thou
sand in another, ten thousand for the South Car
olina Legislature. In every instance the cash
was to be placed in the hands of the. =" inter
@cedar" before the votes were delivered. The
secret correspondence proves cOnclusively that
PeIton intended to execute his part Of the
agreement. If we suppose that he meant to de-
ceive the Returning Boards, it is inconccivable
that he should have amused himself humbug-
ging his accomplices Weed, Woolley and Mar
bic; that lie should have allowed Weed to
travel from Columbia to Baltimore to receive
the @three packs -; that he should have gone to
Baltimore himself at the busiest and most criti-
cal time and asked to have the money sent
after him. But it is incredible that Colonel
PeltOn should even have intended to trick the
Returning Boards. As payment was promised
in advance, a failure to pay at the stipulated
time would have insured the enmity of The dis
appointed cahvassers and destroyed Mr.. Til
den's last hope.
These points did not escape the notice of the
Committee, and Colonel PeltOn was pressed on
the cross examination to disclose his base of
supplies. He confessed that his promises of
money were made i'll good faith. When he told
Marble and WOOlcy that lie would pay $4,000
for the vote of Florida lie expected to keep his
word When he went to Baltimore to meet
Weed ard Hardy Solomon he had no doubt
that $50 600 would be ready for lin there the
next morning. AS matter of fact he did pay
$1,000 for vote in Oregon. This last sum
was obtained from Mr.. Tilden's bank. Where
did he intend to get the larger NmOunts2 Col
onel PetOn fumbled over the answer to this
question, named two or three persOns--prObably
at random; said something about the National
Executive Committee; and with much pre-
varication and contradiction made it quite clear
to every spectator that he did have an under
standing with somebody on this subject, and
that be was keeping back the facts. At this
stage of the inquiry Colonel Pelton tumbled to
pieces. The Democratic members of the Com
mittee showed no desire to press the search for
truth; and if they preferred to distribute the
disgrace and suspicion among all the managers
of their campaign instead of heaping it upon
two or three persons, it was not for us to
quarrel with their decision.
Whether thay RaadA = mistake or not in