Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1881-03-25
FRIDAY MORNING. MAR. 25. 1881.

FRIDAY MORNING. MAR. 25. 1881.
Gen. Malone has gone over to join the
corporal's guard of distinguished Confeder-
ate officers headed by Longstreet and
Moseby who have fallen in at the rear Of
the Republican army. In his case he car
ries more into the enemy's camp than did
his predecessors; he carries vote in the
u. S. Senate and a vote Of exceptional i'm
portance in view Of the time and manner
Of it's arrival. How, in state that is
Democratic by over forty thousand major
ity, he obtained the right to that vote Is
a matter of discussion. Its destination has
been fully settled by Its being cast on all
occasions with the party against which the
great majority of the people of Virginia
have unvaryingly cast their votes; its
origin alone is now subject of investiga-
ton. 1t is hardly debateable matter to
assert that at the time of the election of
the last legislature, at the time of his own
election and up to the time of the Presi-
Dental election, General Malone was held
up to the Democrats of Virginia as a
Democrat. His party friends denied with
vehemence, and in most cases we believe
with sincerity. that he would ever, as time
has shown he has promptly done, go over
to the Republicans. That he was pledged
by his friends not to do what he has done
is not mere matter Of assertion. but is a
matter of record. When his name was
before the legislature for the exalted posi-.
tion of u. s. Senator much interest was
felt to know what party he would act with
after he got it. 1t was an interest in
creased to anxiety because of not only ru.
mored but real coalition between him and
Republicans on local issues. Direct ef-
forts were made on the floor of the legis-
lature the day of the election to get some
light on this subject and the inquiry was
plainly put as to which of the two great
political parties he would affiliate with if
he reached Washington. On looking back
to the proceedings of that day the most
definite answer that we can find OBJ
tanned from his friends was that of Mr..
Dickinson who rose in his seat and insist
ed that 'sGen. Mahone's principles were
suelg knoaoa, and he would never disgrace
Virginia, nor a1aisrepresent her principles %
That was the definite pledge by gentle
man who, it is to be supposed had author
ity for his statement. Now whatever
doubt there may have existed about the
political principles Of Gen. Malone there
was none about those of Virginia. The
state was Democratic by an immense ma
jority. That legislature, on national poll
tics was Democratic by an overwhelming
majority. There was not Democratic
Fundsr or Readjuster there who, had ht
in the canvass announced that he intended
to vote to send a man to the United States
Senate who would rise on the floor of that
body denounce the National Democratic
party, join the Republican senators and
vote with them-had, we say, announced
that to the constituents Of his county.
that would ever have seen the inside OF
those walls as member! No one will de-
ny this; nor will they assert that had Gen
Malone appeared in the legislature befors
the roll call and announced that on reaching
Washington he intended to cast his VOTE
with the Republican party, his overwhelm
ing defeat would not have Instantly follow,
ed. On the contrary it was insisted that his
principles were well KNOWN that is to
say that he was well known at that time
to be Democrat.
Gen. Malone is utterly without excuse
On political grounds for his desertion OF
the National Democratic party. He de
liberately misrepresented the political
opinions of Virginia when he voted with
the Republicans and gave them the con-
troll of the Senate, for no man knows bet
ter than he what those opinions are. He
knows that last fall one hundred and
Gwenty-eight thousand of her voters cast
their ballots for the candidate of the No.
tional Democratic party and only eighty
four Thousand cast them for the candidate
of the party with which Gen. Malone
votes in the Senate. Nor did he have to
wait until last November to know thei1
political opinions. Long before that he
was ostensibly and ostentatiously the
supporter of the National Democratic can.
dldates. He even claimed that his eIecto-
raj ticket and that alone could be relied
on to save the state for Hancock. On the
10th of September, 1880, when wiser men
than he knew his weakness and that his
electoral ticket represented mere politi-
cal shell with nothing in it, he wrote as
chairman of an Executive Committee to
Hon. Absolom Koiner, Chairman of the
Democratic State Executive Committee,
that his (Mahone's) Committee had no
''fear that the electoral vote of Virginia is
Judgment. beyond peradventure, secured
to Hancock and English 1t was after
the election that followed; after the state
was carried for Hancock without his aid;
after the I'd of November had indeiibly
written on his memory what the ''princi-
ples'' of Virginia were; after he was with
out any Democratic following to which
could be gwen the name of party, that
he determined to abandon those principles
and 90 over to the Republicans with what
he had already secured. His avowal of
his position in the Senate was fortunate in
its being timed SO early. 1t has done
away with that silly retort so long used in
his behalf of ''as good Democrat to-day
as you are"
The effect of Gen. Mahone's change on
national politics will be but trausitory.-
His inheritance lust now consists in his
being the only recruit from the Democratic
side who votes with the Republicans, the
vote being OF value because of the parties
being otherwise evenly divided. The Re-
pubiieans themselves will put an end to
bis Importance, which already promises to