The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-02-20


Dear as remembered kisses after death,
And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned
On lips that are for others; deep as love-
deep as first love, and wild as all regret;
On, death in life! the days that are no more
[Tennyson.
The True Motive Of the Democratic eau
Gus.
There has been good deal said by the
provincial press about an extra session OF
Congress, provided the Republicans do not
yield to the demand Of Democratic agtators
to lave tackled on to the appropriation bills
a resolution to repeal the jurors test oath
and the law appointing supervisors to at
tend Federal elections. One OF our city con-
grows very fierce in its language
and temper on this subject, and lashcs itself
into passion about something it does not
understand. The Washington correspondent
of the New York Herald, who can not be
accused OF Partially for the Republicans.
writing under date of the 11th, gives the fol-
lowing inside view of the moving spirit in
the revolutionary movement, and also the
attitude of the more considerable and impair
tial of both parties or the subject. We
what is said to the careful consid-
Grafton of the Infatuated partisans who are
just now standing on their ears
The binding force of last nights Demo-
cratic caucus is to day plumply disowned by
a considerable majority of the Democrats of
both Houses. 1t will bind nobody, and any
attempt to base legislation on the second
caucus resolution will be resisted openly and
at once by the most respectable and influen.
tial Democrats and will fail. There will
therefore be no extra session, and the real
object of the secret promoters of the last of
the two caucus resolutions, which was I'M
to force an extra session, has al
ready broken down.
OBJECT OF THE MOVEMENT,
There is very good reason for the state
nent that this whole movement, which has
been simmering for some weeks in occa-
sional So called caucus meetings, attended
BY some fifty to ninety persons, and which
came to the boiling point last
night, is nothing more nor less than an at
tempt of the suffers brigade to assume COM
mand of the Democratic camp and rule
matters in their own interest. The new
Congress, whenever it meets, will choose
multitude Of new officers and subordinates
Of both Houses. There are here number
Of people who hope to fall into these places,
and who have more or less influence at
home, which they can bring to bear on their
representatives. Naturally they are impa-
tent for the division of the spoils to begin,
and an expectant messenger or doorkeeper
fancies that an extra session in May would
be good thing for the country, because 1t
would give him a chance of office little
earlier. Besides these anxious patriots the
lobby would also like nothing so much as an
extra session. The present Congress has
been very discouraging to the lobby. The
jobs of which it is guilty are very few in
number and very insignificant in amount.
The Jobs it has repealed, rejected, and laid
on the table, are numerous and the disap-
pointed promoters OF these undertakings
would feel much more comfortable if they
could get an early session of a new Congress
many new men.
THE FEDERAL ELECTION LAWS.
All these people believe that it is an unen-
durable outrage that the Federal election
laws should any longer cumber the statute
book. They have discovered, too, that the
country cannot get on even until next De-
cember if these laws remain. They appeal
to Northern Congressman in the name of an
injured, degraded and down-trodden South,
and they close the mouths of astonished
Southern men by the remark that 1t is surely
not for them to oppose or delay the repeal
of bad laws about which hey have long COM
planned. THUS this purely patriotic move
ment for an extra session gained Roadway,
and last night by sudden movement it ran
everybody's amazement. putting himself at
the head Of it, probably under the impress
sion that he was leading popular rally.
To-day, when Senators and Representatives
jecs, it is discovered that nobody, probably
not even poor Mr.. Thurman, understood the
machinery.
RESULTS OF INTERVIEWS,
These are summaries of actual CONVERSE
zion held by your correspondent to-day with
a number OF prominent and influential
Northern and Southern men. They repre-
sent fairly the opinion on this question of
almost all the democratic Senators and of
probably nearly a majority of democratic
Representatives, and this is sufficient COM
mentary on the nature and cause of the
ridiculous attempt in last rights caucus.
No doubt large proportion of those who
voted for and advocated the repeal, at all
hazards, Of the Election laws, last night,
did so without knowing the precise charac-
ter of the forces which moved them to this
course, for the movement was carefully en-
gineered and the pressure often seemed to
come from Representative constituents
or in his home paper. But there seems to
be no reason to doubt that the real object of
the secret promoters was not the repeal of
bad laws but to force an extra session.
SENATOR THURMAN's ATTITUDE.
The chief puzzle that remains Is, now
came Senator Thurman to lend himself to
this movement. 1t is tolerably certain that
he had not consulted with other prominent
Senators about it. His speech in the caucus
was a surprise to most of his friends. Sem
ators Bayard and Herman expressed, in OPP
position to him, the real views of almost
the whole body Of Southern as well as Nor
thern Senators, and several Southern Sena-
tors last evening, after the caucus adjourn
ed, openly washed their bands of the whole
matter, saying that they had no concern in
it, did not approve of it, and wanted that
understood. On the whole, it is plain that
Mr. Thurman, hac cnco moro him doro1