National Republican., 1877-12-08
Democratic Honesty.

It has become custom of the Southern
Democracy Of late years to ventilate their
fnalice at the Acarpet-bag" governments in
the South, and exhaust themselves in ad-
jectives denunciatory of the extravaganza
of the aforesaid governments, and urge, for
effects sake, the Illegal and unconstitu-
tional methods by which the debts in those
States of the Sonth heretofore under Repub-
lican rule were contracted rs an excuse for
reputation. The Democracy of the South
have shouted themselves hoarse on the
hustings, and filed their journals with lu-
gubrious laments over the dire necessity
forced upon them by radical and carpet
bag governments, viz: to repudiate obliga-
tions they are only too ready to find pre-
text for. Nothing illustrates the hypocricy
of this proposition more clearly than the
present attitude Of Virginia. Since the re-
hablitation of that State to the privileges
forfeited by the war, she has never for one
day been under Republican domination in
single department of her State government,
while every dollar of her large Indebtedness,
saw VI NtCIulnK
interest, was contracted under Democratic
rule before the war, in public works that
have tended greatly to her development,
and yet without the advantitious aid of
.o-mer carpet-bag" governments she wants
to repudiate her honest obligation. Her
present Legislature, which assembled on
Wednesday, has pretty clearly demonstrated
in its organization that q determined and
perhaps successful effort will be made to
forcibly "readjust," or virtually repudiate,
by CONTINGENCY in the future to do what
has already been done for several years,
i, e., leave the interest on the debt unpro-
vided for. With scarce q handful of Repub-
licans in that body-perhaps halfa dozen all
tOld-the present body has been elected
under the various names that CHANGED to
suit the locality in which they were candi-
dates. In some counties they proclaimed
themselves Independents" in others
"Anti-Moffett Punch Men," while the more
general nom de plume of Readjustern was
used as the talsman of success. This
word "readjuster" possesses precisely the
same Significance as 'repudiation" in the
locality in which it is used that "Conserya-
tive party" does to the old hydra-headed
monster of Democracy. The same rose though
under different name. So widespread
has this dishonest mania become throughout
the State, that the former fame and
high character Of many Of the Democratic
candidates who were candid enough to
avow purpose to pay the just obligations
of the State went for naught, and they were
overwhelmingly defeated, and that, too, in
the very strongholds of the Democratic
party. As evidence of this JOHN LETCHER,
of Rockbridge, who had been Congressman
and Governor, and whose public course,
when in Congress years ago, gained for him
the name of Honest JOHN" and c. N.
BUTTON, editor Of the Lynchburg Yirginian,
whose pen has done as much to build up
the so-called Conservative party in the State
as any other one man in 1t, are both ruth
lessly thrust aside, and mere "nob0dies, -
men who could not frame bill if their
lives depended on it, have been elected in
their places, simply because they answered
to the names Of "readjusters" or "repudia-
tors" which are, in this connection, synony-
nous. We have cited these isolated cases
to illustrate what has happened in almost
every section of the State.
That the new Legislature Is In earnest in
its dishonest purposes, seems evident from
its first effort on Wednesday in the matter
of organizing the House, when an unknown
man, named ALLEN, from the county of
Shenandoah, in the old ante-bellum "Tenth
Legion of Democracy" was elected Speaker
over HANGER, Of Augusta, and THOMAS s.
BOcOcK, of Appomattox, the former of whom
had more than creditably filed the position
for several years, while the latter possesses
national reputation as n presiding officer.
The trouble did not consist in the fact that
HANGER and BocOCK were not Demo-
cratic enough, but they were too
honest to answer to the questionable title
of read juster," ms did their more flexible
and successful competitor. Ths Legislative
body of the Old Dominion is now fairly
opened, and we shall soon know exactly what
they are going to do about debt contracted
by their own party. The sequel will prove