Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 May 1879 — Page 6

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THE CIPHER DISPATCHES.

Jn the Summer of 1878 Tun Nkw-Yokk Tkbuve found itself >io possession of a musd of telegraphic dispatches which had passed between certain leaders of the Democratic party in New-York City and their confidential agent* in various contested States, at the time of the canvass of the electoral ▼ote in 187(1. The whole number of these dispatches was not far from 400. About half of them were in plain English ; these, although they were sometimes useful in determining the meaning of messages of another kind, related generally to transactions of little importance. The rest were in cipher, and a slight examination was sufficient to gbow that they covered political secrots of tho first consequence. We first began dealing seriously with these dispatches during the Summer of 1878. Tho fact that the publication of the famous “ Gobble ” message had soon brought forward a person familiar with the cipher in which it was sent, led to the belief that a similar result might be reached again. Specimens of the various ciphers were accordingly published, from time to time, accompanied with comments intended to attract to them wide attention. Our hope, however, was completely disappointed. No one seemed to know the key. Absolutely no help came from any quarter. All manner of suggestions were received, aud many were tried, but none proved In tlie end to be of the slightest practical value, saves single one communicated by Secretary Evarts. That gentleman suggestdtl that possibly a thorough student of pure mathematics might be able to divine a law on whjch the ciphers were constructed. Copies of a few of the dispatches were thereupon sent to a mathematical professor m a distant city who had kindly offered to attempt a translation, on the condition that his name should under ud circumstances be made public ; and although (having comparatively little material to work with) he aid not succeed in discovering the system upon which the ciphers were constructed, and never sent a single translation until after the same thing had been translated in the office, his work had, nevertheless, considerable value, as corroborating tno results attained by. others before they had reached the point where their work proved 1 committed a large number of the dispatches to Mr. John R. G. Hassard, chief of I he Tbibc.ne stall', aud a serious and determined effort for their translation was fairly begnu. (shortly afterward. Colonel William M. Grosvenor, also of ’1 he Tbibunb staff, who liud become greatly interested in tho specimen dispatches thrown out, asked for a chance at the same work, and a considerable number of the dispatches were confided to him. These gotWismcn at first worked independently of each other, and without communication, for a time both groofed blindly, if not hopelessly, in what seemed tt® impenetrable darkness of the ciphers. About the same date each began to get glimmerings of the system on which the double cipher was constructed. When, after weeks of labor, they first compared notes, Mr. Uaesaid had found two transposition keys and was just finishing a third, whde Colonel Grosvenor had found three others, ihe Bvstem beiug thus discovered, the rest were found much more rapidly. Tho last was discovered by both gentlemen on the same evening, the one working at Litchfield, Conn., the other at Englewood. N. J. Each hastened to transmit the key to me, aud the two letters came upon my table tho next day within an hour of each other. A dictionary cipher bafflea research much longer Its character was easily determined in the office, but the dictionary on which it was constructed could uot be found. One circumstance, however, at last demonstrated that tho dictionary in question must be one of the editions of Webster, for one or two words occurred iu some of the dispatches sent in this cipher which were not found in any of the modern English dictionaries, excepting Webster’s. Mr. Isaac N. Ford, of The Tbibune Staff, had meantime laboriously gone through forty or fifty dictionaries of all sorts and sizes, omitting, unluckily, the very one which had at first been suspected. for the reason that it happened to be the only one not on the shelves of the downtown bookBtore where these searches were made. Just as the hnut was narrowed down to this particular dictionary flie mathematical professor telegraphed that this dictionary was the basis of the key. and in twenty-four hours the ciphers it contained were uulocksut After the main work had been done, a number of dispatches among local politicians at the South, apparently of minor importance, sent in ciphers of a different character from auy previously translated, were attacked by Mr. Hassard. Among these were the double uumbor and the double letter ciphers. I had intrusted in all about 400 dispatches to Mr. Hassard and Colonel Grosvenor. When they had fiuished their labors only ilireo of that whole collection remained untranslated. These are in ciphers of which there aro no other examples, and they have uot yet been mastered. Valuable aid was rendered by many of the younger gentlemen iu the office, anil as the hunt became keener, almost the entire Staff took part in it The credit of translation, however, belongs absolutely to Mr. Hassard and Colonel Grosvenor. They received ho assistance from auy outside quarter, excepting from the mathematical professor before mentioned, and received from him uo translation whatever, and no important clew, until after

they had discovered it themselves. Tribune Office, Junuary 14,1879.

SECRET DISTORT OF THE ELECTORAL CANVASS IN 1876.

The history of the electoral crisis in November and December, 1876, as disclosed by tho cipher dispatches of the Democratic leaders and' their secret agents, covers a period of about twenty-eight days, from the Bth of November, when it first became apparent. that the Presidency depended upon the count of the vote in two or three doubtful States, until the 6th of December, when the electoral ballots ■were duly cast for Hayed and Wheeler. By deciphering these telegrams The Tribune has discovered that agents were at once sent out from No. 15 Gramercv Park, the residence of Mr. Samuel J. Tilden, to South Carolina, Florida and' Louisiana, and that others, at the West, received telegraphic orders to proceed immediately to Oregon, in order to “capture” one or all of those States for the Democratic candidate. They all resorted to bribery, communicating to Mr. Tilden's nephew, Colonel W. T. Peltou, the particulars of the bargains they concluded, and receiving iroui him a distinct and formal approval. 1. In Florida the secret agents were Manton Marblej C. W. Woolley, and John F, Coyle... Marble transmitted to Gramercv Park, first a proposition for the purchase of the Florida Returning Board at the price of #*400,000. T hat was rejected as extravagant, and the figure was reduced to #30,000, at which price Colonel Peltou signified his willingness to close the transaction. It fell through in couBeipience of a delay in the receipt of the message of acceptance. 2. fu South Carolina the purchasing agent was fimth 1L Weed. He telegraphed to Colonel Pel-

ton, on the very day of his arrival at Columbia, a proposal to buy the Canvassing Board fors*o,ooo l to which Pelton appears to have readily assented. This figure was too low, and the negotiation, after lasting six days, was closed fit the price of fiNO,000. It was arranged that Weed should meet, a messenger at Baltimore, who was to carry the money in three packages; and he particularly requested that Colonel Pelton should act as this messenger himself. Weed accordingly arrived in Baltimore from Columbia on the 20th of November, and Pelton arrived there at the same time from NewYork j but again ia little delay upset the scheme. Subsequently a plot was formed to bny four members of the South Carolina Legislature, for •#©*- ©OO, and having thus obtained control of the State Government, to put the Hayes electors in jail, and lock them up in separate cells until the day for casting the electoral votes had passed. The result of this villany would have been to deprive South Carolina of any vote, and to throw the choice of a President into tne House of Representatives, which would have elected Tilden. The plan failed because tho four memberd could not he bought. 8. In Oregon the Democratic Governor withheld a certificate from one of the Hayes electors on the ground of ineligibility, aud, instead of allowing the other electors to fill the vacancy, gave the certificate to a Tilden elector named Cronin, who had clearly been defeated. The secret agent in Oregon was ono J. N. H. Patrick, He telegraphed to Colonel Pelton that it was necessary to “ purchase a Republican elector to recognize and act with ” Cronin, and the price was ©S.O©O. This proposal likewise Was accepted, and tne money was sent to Oregon, where it arrived only on the Oth of December, just too late to be of any use.

THE CASE OF MR. TILDEN.

A scene of intense dramatic interest was witnessed at the Fifth Avenue Hotel on Saturday. In a low, dark room, excessively hot and densely packed, f.he whole world sat at the reporters’ tables, or crowded close with note-book in hand, to catch the faint whispers that fell from a worn and haggard old man. With the look of a corpse except in moments of excitement, with slow, far-away voice and slow, painful movements, drooping left eyelid, parchment-like cheeks, and auivering "hand, Mr. Tilden repeated his statement, evidently'prepared with great-care, in a voice much of the time hardly audible four feet away. His manner showed intense aud increasing nervous excitement, by great effort restrained ; the body rose and fell in the seat incessantly, as if he were trying ingrain to rise, and the seemingly half useless left arm shook like a leaf. Then tho excitement burst restraint, the face flushed almost purple, the lip quivered, the right arm repeatedly smote the table with great force and passion, and the voice rang through the room .with painful intensity, like the shriek of a drowning man. After every such effort, the sentence died away, as if the voico were stopped by closing waters. The effect was almost that of a death-bed declaration. Had the matter thereof equalled in force the solemnity of manner, this declaration would have had a great effect. Not, indeed, that the people would have been more ready to lift to the Presidency a man so broken, and so manifestly living only in bitter and torturing memories. But the matter was by no moans equal to the manner in impressiveness, nor could any unprejudiced hearer avoid contrasting the declarations of Mr. Tilden with his own admitted conduct toward men whose deeds fill a dark page in the history of the country. Mr. Tilden’s testimony was doubtless as strong as, after four months of preparation aud consultation, it was possible to make it. That it was not exceedingly strong was due to the inherent and insuperable difficulties of his position. It was not possible for him to state that, iu respect to Weed, Marble, Woolley, Coyle or Pelton, either in watching their doings, knowing their character as he did, or in reprobating their acts when they became known to him, his conduct was consistent with the spotless virtue and unwavering purpose which he professed. It was not possible for bim wholly to conceal that low moral tone which half excused Pelton for trying to buy votes, because he was swift to believe without evidence that others had done or attempted the same thing. His only intense feeling was uot wrath because of crimes committed, but wrath because of 1 088 sustained. Pelton was tolerated and kept when he was known to have dono wrong. Years afterward he was disowned with indignation only when the public had found him out. Air. Tilden’s declaration of his ignorance of corrupt negotiations seems as broad, full aud emphatic as it could be. If there were mental reservations, as it now appears there were in his published card of October last, of such character that an exact statement of truth had the public effect of a statement that was false, they do not yet appear. He claims to have bagno knowledge that Pelton was - communicating An cipher with the Democratic agents at the South ; no knowledge that Weed had gone to South Carolina, until he returned; no knowledge that Woolley had gone to Florida, or Patrick to Oregon; no knowledge of any corrupt proposal as to South Carolina, until it was arrested by Mayor Cooper’s refusal to provide mouey for it, and no knowledge even then or afterward of the true nature of the negotiations in that State or the others. These assertions, if fully believed, acquit Mr. Tilden of one charge only to convict him of auother quite as fatal to his position as a Presidential candidate. For they are to he compared with certain facts now fully established: m „ , I. Mr. Tilden-knew W. T. Pelton thoroughly. Democratic newspapers, by way of preparing the scapegoat for the wilderness, aro accumulating pfifoof that Pelton’s conduct, especially in regard to mouey matters, had been such that no confidence could be placed in his integrity, and these doings were, best known to Governor Tilden, who had suffered by them. Yet at a most critical aud delicate time, w*hen “ the air was full of rumors of corrup- “ tion,” as Air. Tilden himself testifies, he did suffer Pelton to conduct tho confidential communication between New-York and tfio Democratic agents at the South. He knew that corrupt proposals must reach such a man. A word from him to Air. Hewitt, Mr. Cooper, or Mr. Pelton himself, would have stopped such'communication, and caused all proper agents of the party at the South to be warned to communicate only with-Air. Hewitt. If he had ever said, “ Pelton is indiscreet, and may make scandal,” or “ Pelton is corrupt, and may bpy or promise to “ buy,’’ there would have been, an end. Mr. Tilden admits, aud the world knows, that he did not speak that word. Why uot 1 11. Air. 'Tilden kuew Weed, Woolley, Coyle and Marble. He had seen under the veneering, and kuew Alarble for the Joseph Surface of the age. He had been the chairman of the Democratic State Committee in 1808, and necessarily kuew of Air. Woolley’s partin the impeachment of Johnson. He had been Governor, and necessarily knew the proclivities of the most skilled lobbyist at Albany. It was bis duty to know whether such meu represented the Democratic National Committee, at the veryi points where corruption was most probable. ill. It Is absolutely impossible that Samuel J. Tilden was ignorant of all thfe>eipher telegrams which came from the South, unless he made au effort to be ignorant. It was his habit and his very nature to give extraordinary attention to the detals of political contests. If it is true that he did not get constant reports from the men sent South, it cau only be because be suddenly made an extraordinary effort to suppress natural anxiety and impatience, and to put behind bun tho habits of a

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lifetime, in order not to know who was telegraphing, and to whom, and what about. T hat Colonel Pelton had been in charge of correspondeuce.not Decause he was trusted by thcconuuittee, but because he was thought to represent Mr. Tilden. ” r necessity known to Air. Tilden from the angry attacks of Democratic papers upon the Bureau of Nincompoops.” If Mr. Tilden did not find out what his nephew was doing, it waa because he was determined not to kuow. _ „ , „ IV. Confronted with the fact that Colonel Pelton had asked aid in crime from Air. Cooper, it was not possible for Mr. Tilden to let the b ar 8 ; j} 1 P r J?“ ®? without making it his own, in the eyes of Messrs. Cooper and Hewitt. But when Pelton was recalled, whvdid Mr. Tilden atk no queetiontt He swears "it was not necessary!” Yet Pelton remained as before in charge of telegraphic correspondence ot the Committee. Mr. Tilden, even then, did not stop that, nor try to stop it, nor make the slightest effort to know what had been done, or would be done during tho weeks that still remained. All idis scandal proves tho falsity of the answer, it was " not necessary ”to ask. Had he asked at that time, November 21, and stopped the telegraphing, or caused Mr. Hewitt to see tho telegrams, the i end job in South Carolina, and all the jobs in r lorida, Oregon and Louisiana, would have beep prevented. He did not ask nor utter a word to prevent them. Why? ~ , V. At that time, about November 21, it became known to Air. Tilden what Smith Weed had been doing. He now swears that he “ took Weed to task “ for taking part in such transactions,” after Weed a return. But after that the second job in South Carolina was arranged by Weed himself, by telegram from New-York. AfteT that, and as late as December 4, the extraordinary legal dispatch was sent, to South Carolina—" Important judgment on quo war- “ rauto be obtained Thursday. If order to de- “ liver paper appurtenance to office be disobeyed, “ immediately commit for contempt, or if the rignt- “ ful electors attempt tho exercise of authority Dy “ meeting, attach for contempt, Prepare before- “ hand and enforce immediately would be appro“priate. Would he humane to imprison them sCp- “ aratoly during Wednesday. All probably de- “ pends on your State. Leave nothing undone. Verily, ’-t-the voice is Jacob’s voioe, but the bauds “ are the hands of Esau.” , , . . , VI. Air. Tilden claims that it was safe to let Pelton alone because he could get no money. Hut tins is palpably untrue. Pelton did get money to send to Oregon, and’from a bank in which Air. liluen was especially well known. There were hundreds of unscrupulous Democrats who have given larger sums than Pelton needed, for much smaller victories. If there were no others, there was John Alorrissey and the Democratic gamblers who bad at stake over *1,200,000. Did Mr. Tilden reason, “ Pelton will no longer dare to go to Cooper, or to “ come to. me: therefore other luoney.not by candi- “ date or committee, will be found, aud 1 snail know “ nothing about it” 1 Did he reflect, “Then I can “prove that 1 denounced and stopped.the at- “ tempt” t If that was not his reasoning, why did lie never inquire, interfere and stop Pelton s charge of correspondence through his apparent representation of Air. Tihlen himself. , • . , , VII. After the act for which Mr. Tilden took Weed “to tusk,’’ lie retained that person as his manager of-forces iu a Democratic convention. After Marble had said that votes were for sale in Florida, Air. Tilden took caro to ask no more, hut continued on intimate terms with him. After 1 elton's journey to Baltimore to meet Weed, and for more than a year after the full public exposure of the Oregon business, Pelton remained in Air. lilden’s house. This treatment of men known to be guilty will, by the public, be held conclusive proof that Air. Tilden’s profession of absolute and unswerving hostility to bribery is not true. He was hostile to any bribery that could bo traced to him, aud particularly hostile to any bribery that was found out, and destroyed hi 3 own prospects. No other form of moral indignation has been shown in his conduot. But he virtually placed W. T. Pelton in a position where he was sure to have opportunity to buy votes, knowing well that he was ai man who would buy votes if ho could, and that lie could find the mouey; in that- position he held Pelton by carefully retraining from auy word of natural caution or protest; and ho took extraordinary pains for weeks not to find out anything about the use Pelton was making of his peculiar poweis. This is Air. Tilden’s record, upon his own testimony. What rise will appear, when the dispatches seuttoG. W, Smith shall have been traced to the person who actually received aud opened them, we shall probably see. The Louisiana matter has uot yet been brought to light.

1 A CRY FOR MORE FREEDOM. From The Few-York Tribune. In the doubtful dusk of the morning gray, With hammer mid drill and jimmy and crank, Some high-toned men they plundered a bank, And the precious spoil they carried away. What desolation the owner found 1 And he said, “A lesson it teaches me; I’ll set a file ol soldiers around ; These high-toned coves liev ben too free— It seems to me They hey ben too free!” And he stationed soldiers, solemn and still, And his vaults be piled with the gold again; "Then Came On ttptoe the high-toned men With hammer and crow and jimmy and drill; “ Wo are crushed iu the tyrant’s fangs!” they cried. As they met the troopers; “ we’re slaves, may he! The spectacle cruelly wounds our pride; If they went off we should feel more free— Withdraw ’em and we Should feel more free!” The high-toned men they lingered there, t With jimmy and drill and hammer and crow, And they kept a-walkiug to and fro, With a persecuted and saddened air, And a mule-team waited beside the walL “ You troopers go off aud let us be !” They said. “We ain’t doin’ nothin’ at all, But if you ’uns went we should feel more free. We all agree -- We should feel more free.” And the high-toned men uttered dismal croaks. And flourished their jimmy and hammer and saw, And shouted, “ You’d ought, to obey the law Which says that you shan’t be a watebin’ folks H Then the owner said, “1 remember you! You were here afore and you went for me; ’F ye bed full swing what wouldn’t ye 4u ? Fact is, I guess you hey ben tu free— FreUaps,” says he, “A lcetle tu fr, e !” ‘

Now that the retreat has been begun it is a good time to recall some of the gifted and valorous Blackburn’s remarns concerning the weakness of yielding. In liis famous “wiping out” speech he declared that the Democratic side of the Chamber would “ never yield or surrender unless this Congress shall have died by virtuo of its limitation. A principle cannot be compromised. It may be surrendered, but that cau only be done by its advocates giving proofs to the world that they are cravens aud cowards. We cannot yield and we will not yield. Wo are planted on our convictions. There we will stand. Ho who dallies is a dastard, and he who doubts is damned.” Whether Blackburn has “dajhed” or “doubted” is not revealed, but there is no doubt that the whole party is •• damned,”

THE VALOROUS BLACKBURN.

“ TURN BACK THE HANDS !”

The party in power in the Legislative Department of the Government has served its notice upon the country. It may- as well l>o accepted at once, In the Senate Mr. Sanlsbnry, for his party, arrogantly aasnmea the responsibility of power, ana with a resonant crook of the whip that brings back the old days bids the Republicans in that body be not only patient, but sileut and submissive, while he and his political associates work |thoir own sweet will. Confederate generals direct the counsels of the organization that controls the Senate, apportion among themselves the committees and among their constituents the patronage, dictate the course of legislation, and shape the policy of tho party. At tho other end of the Capitol Mr. Stephens, late Vice-l’resident of the Confederacy, Air. Reagan, late Postmaster-General of the Confederacy, Mr. Chalmers, late a BrigadierGeneral of the Confederate Army, with others more or less prouiineDtly connected with that disastrous political venture, have given out that the people having called the Democratic party back to power to relieve the county from the evil consequences of eighteen years of Radical misrule, it is the duty of tne present Congress to enter immediately upon the task. In both'" Senate and Hottee there is uncommon anxiety oa . the part of the gentlemen newly invested with power to enter at once upon its exercise. Instead of shrinking from its responsibilities, they are eager to assume them. And we must give them credit at least for apparent sincerity. They certain ly do act as though they fully believed in themselves, and believe that they had actually been sent for in a crisis. In their expressions, their tone, their manner, their whole, behavior, they indicate as plainly as possible their belief that their reappearance m Congress is the result, not of their own, but of the country’s confession of error and repentance. They have come back, they say, in so mUny words, to correct the mistakes and sweep away thejegislation of the past eighteen years. They have confidence in themselves, to say the least. And who, pray, are the gentlemen stepping so confidently to tho tront, and bidding everybody else standback while they take the Government in hand f Their unsparing condemnation of existing laws and their startling proposals of radical changes invite us to a scrutiny of their record, and an inquiry as to their fitness for the revolutionary proceedings they hayein contemplation. What is the record of these men who assume responsibility with such jaunty self-confidence f It is not far to seek. In 1852 they were intrusted with almost unquestioned power in all departments of the Government and nearly all the States. There was scarcely an opposition. Wliat was their statesmanship T In three years they had set on foot an agitation which cost them their majority in the House and created sectional division in parties; and this continued without their gaining anything they set out for, until the Government passed completely out of their hands in 1800, aud then they entered upon a conspiracy to break up - aud destroy it. What fitness does the record of those eight years show? They tried for fotN; years a Government of their own. Does that re- * cord show such a large capacity for statesmanship that we should send out for them to come back and take the old Union iu charge? Here are finaueial questions to be solved by legislation. Wbat certificate of fitness for this work do they bring ? Only this: that they left the Government in 1861 iu such straightened circumstances and impaired credit that its bonds were at a discount, and it could scarocly borrow money in tho markets of the world; and that in their own experience of a confederacy they succeeded only in making a currency which was so worthless as to be a Bource of mirth among themselves. And they have come back to a Government wnoso credit has been raised by the legislation of these eighteen years to a par with that of the wealthiest nations in the world ; to a Government wnioh tho same legislation has put in a position to redeem its obligations in the money of the world. This is the legislation they feel called upon to sweep away, and this the certificate of tjieir fitness for financial administration. Here are serious questions of the relations between capital and labor: what special fitness have they shown for legislation upou this subject? Only this: that eighteen years ago they struck out for themselves in a new Government whose corner-stone was the system of slave labor. There is to-day no such system m existence, and their acquaintance with that of free labor aud its relations with capital dates only from the fall of their abortive Confederacy. Here is the system of internal revenue which seems to have aroused the interest of the late Confederate Vice-President, Mr. SteDhena. who says it should he thoroughly overhauled aud changed: wliat constitutes their fitness for this work! Only this: that their rebellion made the system necessary, and that, its collection in the Southern States is attended with more trouble and expense than anywhere else because resistance to tho law is more general there. There are laws to he passed and appropriations to be made for the postal service : what constitutes the qualifications of those gentlemon for this duty ? Nothing that wo know of, except, that they come from a section which has never paid for its own postal facilities, but has always exhausted the surplus derived from the profits of the service in the Northern States, and required additional appropriations from the Treasury to furnish it 6 mail accommodations. Did Air. Reagan, tho ex-Postmastcr-Generai of the Confederacy, show special fitness for legislating upon this subject when he recommended the payment of a mail contractor who was shown by the records of his own department to been paid oneo already ? Mr. Stephens expresses a purpose to repeal the law taxing State Bangs, so that the several States may charter banks of issue, as of old No one who is old enough to remember the convenience and tho beauties of the State hank efirrency we enjoyed before the war will after this question Air. Stephens’ wisdom as a legislator upbn that subject. States which repudiate their bonds might perhaps charter banks whose notes wvuld circulate with those of the National banks or with greenbacks. It does notnow seem probable though. But tho great thing which all Democrats uniteun saying that the party was brought back to povfer for is to repeal the infamous election laws. And what is their special fitness for tins sort of legislation ? Well, only this: that amoDg the first offences for which this party was repudiated by the people twenty years ago was its outrageous frandh upon the ballot-box iu Kansas, in tho attempt of these gentlemen who have come back to govern us to steal that State ; that, from that time on, they have notoriously defrauded the ballot-box whenever and wherever their needs required, and opportunity offered, notably so in this city and that they have regained their ascendancy in the National Legislature by means of the most unblushing frauds at the polls in the Southern States that Were ever known even in that. party’s history. That qualifies them to he the protectors of the ballot find to legislate wisely for the freedom of elections. These are the men and this the party who have come back to take charge of the Govern men Laud sweep away the legislation of “eighteen years of Radical misrule.” They make no bones of saying so. They are not slow to auuounce their minion nor are they modcßt in picking up the incidental official spoils. As for us, we make no complaint; disposition to say a word to revive, the animosities of the war. But the calmuess With '’which these people come forward to make our Jaws upon all these varied questions, aud the aßStufince with Which they assuiuo that they have beeu called' iu to overturn existing things aud build anew, must naturally challenge inquiry as to their qualifications for so large a task, and the preparatory school in which they were fitted for it*