Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1881-04-06
The Senatorial Contest.

II the contest in which the senate is now
engaged were merely wrangle over few
minor Offices, there could be no condemna
ton too severe for the course pursued by
both republicans and democrats since the
commencement Of the debate over Mr.
Dawes resolution to proceed to the election
of the subordinate officers of the senate
The war of words in the senate was moi
sought or provoked by the republicans
Thrust upon them by southern Bourbons
northern senators could do no less than meet
and repel their charges. But the conflict
has far greater significance than the dispo
sition of few petty offices. The political
division of the white voters in the south
into opposing parties was one of the result:
which it was predicted would follow repub
lican success in the late presidential election
II was maintained that there was in the
south an active progressive element that
was in full sympathy with the spirit and
purposes of the republican party. but which
from inauspicious circumstances had never
crystalized into an organized political power
This element represented intense dissatis
faction with the rule of the Bourbons, under
which those political and social institutions
which had given the north peace, with
moral and material advancement unparal
lelled in the history of the world, were de-
MED in the south. This element was polit.
ically the natural ally Of the republican
party. In Virginia only it had a conspicu.
ous leador aud advocate, General Malone
In the last state election this element found
itself sufficiently strong by coalescing with
the republicans to elect General Malone to
the United States senate. The Bourbons,
feeling the thin end of the entering wedge
that would put an end to the old time So
lidity of their power, assailed Malone with
violence that jealousy and rage could
alone inspire, and led them to break the seal
of silence that was prudently placed upon
their lips year ago on the eve of presi-
Dental election. The result has been re-
opening of the entire southern question,
and an attempt to enforce in the United
States senate that minority rule which has
prevailed under Bourbon rule in the south,
and which is openly advocated by the south
ern press and justified by southern senators.
Now it happens that in the great movement
to divide the south otherwise than on the
old color line, movement in the interest of
free vote and an honest count, the oppos
fylar fOrO nat Of int xph ha Ht1Qo
ton of the election of the subordinate of
icers of the senate comes up for decision.
The Bourbon minority say the election shall
not proceed because the majority in the SEN
ate is secured by the vote of southern SEN
ator who leads revolt from the old order
of things in the south, and because the can
didate for senatorial office is another con-
spicuous readjuster of southern politics as
well as debts. If the republicans ever ex-
pect to win and retain political power in the
south, it must be done through other allies
than the colored voters alone. If the south
ern vote divides on the color line only, the
whites, by means too well known by past ex-
perience, will dominate the blacks whatever
the numerical superiority Of the latter. If
the white vote divides, as it does at the
north, on conflicting issues, state or national,
the interests of both races must be i'm
mensely advanced, and the splendid pros
perity of the north measurably reproduced
in the south. In this movement Malone
has preached the Bourbon stronghold and
the fire of the Bourbon batteries has been
concentrated upon him to dislodge him
from his advanced position. The whole
force of the republican organization should
be moved to his support, and if the fight
must be maintained to the bitter end, it
may as well come now as next December.
1t is an essential part of the old conflict, so
often renewed under changing circum-
stances, and in the end the obstructive
Bourbons will meet their inevitable doom.