Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-03-24
The Malone Bargain RepndIated by
Respectable Republicans.

The Malone Bargain Repndiated by
Respectable Republicans.
1t is creditable to the more respectable
sort of Republicans that they do not
affect to misunderstood the conduct of
Senator Malone. Whether the admin
istration of President Garfield is to gain
or lose in the end by transaction which
for the moment at least puts it, so far as
nominations and appropriations 60, I'M
der the control Of q Senatorial ring
formed by Vice President Arthur, Sena-
tor Malone and Senator Conkling, re-
mains to be seen. But however this
may turn out, it Is 8 wholesome sign of
the times to see the subject dealt with as
it is in the following extract from the
Philadelphia American of the current
week, By Republicans who speak for
that element of their party which is
represented in the Cabinet of President
Garfield by Attorney General MacYeigh:
The Republicans have won in the
struggle for the organization of the
Senate, but we could have wished them
a more honorable victory. Mr.. Malone.
of Virginia, having cut loose from all
allegiance to the Democratic party and
gone over to the Republicans, creates a
tie in the body which the casting vote of
Vice President Arthur will decide in
favor of the Republicans. as a matter
of course, the Democrats were very sore
over this desertion, and expressed it in
language as strong as the courtesies of
the Senate allowed. At this some Re-
publican papers, a. well as some Re-
publican Senators, profess to be very in
dignant, and undertake to shield Mr..
Mahone-poor lambl-frOm these iuju-
rious aspersions. The plain truth is that
Mr.. Malone was elected to the Senate by
Democrats and as Democrat, and never
professed to be anything else until this
debate 1t is true that he needed and
received some Republican votes, but
these were given him for price which
was paid, and that bargain was closed.
His faction of the party Endorsed
the nomination of General Hancock,
and put before the people a
list of electors pledged to vote
for him. 1t is not so long since these
very newspapers and Senators would
have resented as slanderous the insinu-
alton that they had any utilization with
Mr.. Malone or he with them, and would
have used language as strong as that en-
ployed in this debate by Senator Hill
and other Southerners. 1t is true that
Mr.. Hill, with his unhappy record in the
secession business, should not have put
himself forward IN the matter; but the
plea you're another is of no force out
side boys playground. AS regards Mr..
Davis, of Illinois, that retort is not even
true. Mr.. DAVIS was elected under cir
cumstances which left him free to vote
with either party as he pleased. He has
not, like Mr.. Malone, deliberately be-
trayed political trust. 1t is humiliating
to find in such papers as the Tribune and
the Times of New York whole columns
of sophistry in defense of Mr.. Mahone's
action and in praise of the man for whom
both of these papers could hardly find
things hitter enough to say; and it is
still more so to be told that on his desk
next morning stood basket of flowers
from the White House conservatory,
sent with Mr.. Garfeld's compliments.
The Springfield Republican, the lead
ing Republican paper in New England,
says:
"If Malone lived in any Northern
State-barring Minnesota-every Repub-
lican Senator would fight him at home
and denounce him in the Senate. If
Malone lived in Massachusetts, if he
was the boss of an ignorant vote, if he
had attacked the credit of the State and
proposed the reputation of bonds, Sen
ator Hoar would fight him day in and
day out, at home and in Congress, in
caucus, convention and at the polls.
Malone is all these things in Virginia,
and the fact should have moderated
Senator Hoar's enthusiasm. Malone is
also the champion of a free and some.
what ignorant vote. He has defended
the suffrages of the black man, among
other ways by opposing poll tax. If
he breaks the solid South as Boss Kelly
split the ignorant vote of New York
city, good may come of it, but Kel Us
bargain with the Arthur Conkling ma
chine was not an alliance decent men
cared TO trumpet, and the voice of Mas
sachnsetts should have been silent over
Mahones appearance in the Republican
columns. 4 split In the South is to be
desired; but split which mafshals the
ignorant vote of Virginia under dema-
gogue in support of Reputation must, at
best, be accepted as an evil out of which
good may come, but over which there is
no call for praise and prophecy. Nor is
there in the thinly- disguised bargain in
which Malone has named his price
and got it. If, as there is unfor-
tunately some reason to believe, Federal
patronage within the State of Virginia
has figured in the transaction, President
Garfelds administration has taken step
downward which every good man will
regret. The Republican party can gain
nothing worth having by supporting a
man like Malone in his own State, where
the state issue is reputation and he is a
Repudiator. In the Senate other issues
are uppermost; but a man bad political
lY in Virginia cannot be politically praise
worthy in Washington. Mahone's vote
may yet prove to be dear at any price;
and IN any cause, transactions like those
which apparently accompany his transfer
from the Democratic to the Republican
oOIY1nnn n1uat no n0ndpmnpd 90 WrOpC -