New-York tribune., 1881-10-28
BOURBON AND READJUSTER.
PROGRESS OF THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGN.

TANORING A BOURBON DLE EAI
fFRoM A STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNEl
RICHMOND, Va, Oct. 22-lt may seem absurd Tor
journalist to attempt an analysis of the eompli-
Gated politics of virginia after spending only five
DAYS ia the Statc-three in the patriotic huilabalo
Of the Yorktown Centennial, one in travel ana one
| here in Richmond. amid the excitement attending
the reception of the French and German officers.
! The campaign now in progress is, however so
peculiar in its character and promises 10 exercise
SO inportant an influence upon the future political
action of the entire South, that the pressure OF
! other work has not altogether prevented me from
seeking information from people from dl4tereht sec
tons Of the State and from forming on the OASIS Oh
their statements and their conflicting claims an
opinion as TO the actual condition Of thin@. ms
opinion is strengthened by n conversation
with an experienced Philadelphia correspondent,
| who has spent n month in the canvass, and who,
though warm partisan Of the Malone movement
knows his trade well enough TO collect facts VIII
| ont reference 10 his precOuccived views. lie has
visited nearly all the counties OF the state ana gaV
| cred large budget Of significant iniormauoh' al
| showing that very spirited and close contest
j. in prorrcss in which each side believes it is going
| 10 win. Virginia has not witnessed snch cOhIest
| since the old DAYS when the Wing and Democratic
parties fought for supremacy II Is not as III the
| campaigns of tho Democrats and RcpnblicanS
| following reconstruction, struggle between Tue
forces Of wealth, society, education and political
training on one side, and the negroes aid lew
socially-outlawed white mcp on the other. Senator
Mahope's leutenauts are the equals in ability and
standing of the Bourbon chiefs; they represent as
| good families and are just as puuctilious on queS-
| tions of "honor" and as ready to resort to the
barbarous code ofthe duel to vndcate their courage"
| The only thing thatoa he said In favor OF the
Bourbons is that as they are more numerous th"ll
| the Malone people. their "honor" and "chivalry
is greater in quantity though no better In quality
There are probably about five men OF honor VINO
glory in their ancestry and take their whiShry
straight standing mp for Daniels, to one Tor Caih-
eron. but then Cameron gathers in pretty much the
whole mass of the colored voters, who till the ields
of the State are expert with the hoe instead of the
pistol, and have no ancestry to speak OF ana no
money to spend for whiskey.
There are enough of the white Rcadiusters of cdu-
cation and talent for stump-spcaking to make a
dashirr campaign in every county of the state, ana
ennuph more 10 form local organizations. guard me
nols and protect the negroes III their night 10 a1ui
vote and fair COUNT In some counties too par
ticularly III the long wedge called the South
west Mahoues white followers actually pre-
ponderate over the B0urbons. In the
| rich agricultural counties Of the valley :
the two elements are in about equal force In the
Piedmont section and the Iidewater region INC
general rule is that the white Bourbons largely out
number the white Rcadjusters. Not to attempt 10
draw the line between social classes too accurately
Mahones forces may be said 10 embrace, first a ie"
active. talented lberal-minded politicians IN every
| county: second large proportion of the small
farmers in the mountain districts; and, third, the
negroes almost in a body; while the Bourhons COM
prise all that is left Of the Democratic party after
the Readjuster detection aud few blacks here ana
there who have yielded TO some p nuliar pressure
The arithmetic of the situation decidedly iayors tho
| Anti-Bourbons. Last year Mahone's friends threw
| 81 900 votes for his electoral ticket The Kepubh-
| cans gave $1,000 for theirs. Now, 3l,ooo' pus
* o01. makes 1lG. 900. whereas the Bourbons only
mustered 10000 The campaign Mahone Is making
nroc, eds on the assumption that the 81 600 Real
iusters Of last year are all faithful still, and that
| the $4,000 Rcpublicans can be transferred to the
Jvuchbnrr ticket with the loss Of perhaps 10000
and that thi, loss will be more than made up by new
converts from the Bourbons. On the other hand The
Bourbons claim that they Will get az least third OF
the negro vote and deny that Malone has captured
any of their own vote of last year.
with such a difference IN the calculations Of the
two sides one must turn for light L. the logic Of tie
situation / am bound to say that this Is decidedly
OF the side of the Malone party The Liberal move
ment shows the plainest signs OF beng a growing
movement. IL more aggressive i4iIi 'N'If IL -
better organized; it has strong energetic lead
ers: it has spread to counties where IT had no hold
wear ago. To the careful observer Of politics a
new movement is like the tide Oh the scashore-one
can soon tell whether It is rising or
recedinp Anti -Bourbonism in Virginia Is plainly
on the rise. Everything points TO this conclIs
nothing points the other way As a growing move
meDt it must eventually make larger mroad on the
Democratic vote than it did year ago The Re
pubcans who are now counted upon asits allies are
chiefly negroes They have many strong reasons Tor
voting for party which favOrs free schools ana a
tair ballot and at AL for supporting the
party which has done its best to makeof them arace
of serfs with only nominal and valueless right to
vote. Why should they not come to the aid OF the
Anti-Bourbons9 They have no ticket Of their own.
Their State Convention divided-the majority in
dorsing the Malone ticket and the minority decid-
ing 10 nut up 10 ticket against it, All the impulses
of sef-interest and previous political action combine
to throw the Republican vote soidly in support OF
the Malone ticket and nothing holds 1t back except
the disappointment of half dozen leaders
and such campaign influences as the BourOons
NAV bring 10 bear upon the negroes separately to
d.tatch a portion of them from the general move
ment Of their race think it safe in an estimate OF
the result this year to assign the MahOhc ucke'
at least 40 600 white votes. 1t would not be safe
however to make definite figures as to the DISPOSE
ton of the old Republican vote The surface lndl-
cations 90 TO show that all of it except few strag
plers will be thrown for Cameron and Lewis There
are Republican clubs, with something OF the Old
Union League system of organization, in nearly all
the counties east of the mountains. The colored
preachers, who are everywhere active politicians,
appear to be enthusiastic for the new movement
and nowhere can tuere be found any lndI-
cations of the capture Of more than few isolated
votes by the Bourbons. Still, long as the Bourbon
leaders count so confidently upon getting heavy
negro vote and base their hopes of winning on this
estimate il is prudent not to conclude hastily that
| nnl,n ill ,ntn fnr Mnhnnns ficLnf