Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1881-11-25
FRIDAY MORNING. NOV. 25. 1881.

FRIDAY MORNING, NOV. 25. 1881.
The effect of the recent election in Vir-
ginia in State matters is pretty well un-
derstoOd by even the least informed voter
on either side. To the popular mind it
means FIRST and chief of all an entire
change of the men who shall control the
internal affairs of the State, and, to a great
extent, of the men who shall represent her
in the councils of the nation. With re-
ference to the secondary matter. the set
Element of the debt, it means clear road
and absolute power to the party Of Read
justmeut up to point where it may col
Tide with the national courts, should it
ever reach that point. But its effect i'll
national politics is still field of specula-
ton for the curious. If we may judge
from what fell from the lips of one or two
members of the State Convention Of the
late Republican party OF Virginia, which
assembled in Staunton in 1880 70 send del
egates to Chicago, Gen. Malone has de-
cided preferences as among leaders in the
Republican party. These preferences if
we remember Alright, were stated by two.
if not more delegates, to be on the side of
Gen. Grant. Gen. Mahone's affiliations
as far as he has made any since his en-
trance into the Senate, tend to confirm
this. His kindly relations with Cameron,
Conkling. and others in the Senate and
Gorham out of it show clearly that it is
among the Stalwarts he has found his
closest friends. President Arthur. who is
also Stalwart of the strictest sect, is num-
bered among his warmest supporters. 1t
is safe therefore, to assume that his for
tunes, whether under the name Of Read
juster, Republican, Independent, Demo-
crat or what-not, will be cast with this
faction Of the Republican party.
Such an alliance it will be found will
almost certainly find him among che per-
sonal following of Gen. Grant in 1884. The
rapidlty with which that distinguished as
pirant for third term is coming to The
front is so marked as to make it impossi-
BILE that it should escape notice. Th'
names of his old friends recur with mon
tonous frequency in the official appoint
ments made by President Arthur. This il
not surprising when it is remembered that
the President s nomination for Vice Pres
ident at Chicago, was sop thrown to the
with such tenacity TO their leader; but the
character of some of the appointments is
such as to arouse apprehensions that moi
only the men but the methods Of the ola
Grant regime are to be revived. The
nomination of J. H. Watnough for Pay
master General and Chief of the Nava
Bureau of Provisions and Clothing, a pos
he held under Grant and from which b.
retired with marked discredit, is one O.
these. Of this officer IS former adminlstra
ton committee appointed by Congress
to investigate the Navy Department, re-
his supervision had illegally and improp-
erly disappeared Gen. Grants misfor
tune in Office was to surround himself wit
personal friends who were not always goo,
public servants, but 10 whom he woulc
never permit his faith to be shaken, aud
is just as likely as not that this proposed
reinstatement of the Paymaster-Genera
is done as sort of vindication of that ex-
official. 1t seems very clear that the eS-
President will constitute an Influential.
though possibly silent factor in the new
administration. In published interview
We see tlat the once sphynx-like but nov
talkative General, declared with JUNCTION
few days ago that he wishes Secretar
Blaine out of the Cabinet, because he b.
lieves she is not fit man to be there.
and then went on to give his intervene
the intelligence that he had given the Ad
ministration his views as to how and by
whom the Eastern missions ought to
filled. Altogether we may be very certai'
that looking forward into the future fror
the closing month of 1881, the arrange
ments of the present national admins r.
tion will be made with view to Gen
Grant in 1884.
Now at Chicago it was plainly demon
strated that a majority of the Republican
party was opposed to third term for GEL
Grant or for anybody else, and the assent
ling of that body was prefaced with fore
holdings that if Grant who represented th'
third term tenet was nominated it woulc
result in the defeat of the Republican pa,
ty. That feeling is as strong to-day as
was then but the mode by which it is to b
rendered of no effect is thus described by
the N. Y. Evening Post" Republican
paper that earnestly opposes Gen. Grant
and all his methods. 1t says of Genera J
Mahone's victory in Virginia: But ther
t'is still something equally significant :
sshind this. We are tod that the break
''ing up of the solid South on the Mahore
ssplan will result in making the Republ'-
''can party independen of a united North:
sin other words, it will have of the vote
ssof Southern States enough to win Presi
esdential elections even if the reformer
land malconteEts in the party should herr
t.and there revolt and deprive it of this OF
t'that of the Northern States. This rea-
sssoning seems to please especially our
.sstalwart friends. And there is method
sin it. By organizing goodly number OF
.sSouthern rotten boroughs the party ma!
Indeed to some extent emancipate itself
s'of the influence of the critical public
s'opinion which prevails in Northern com.
'smunities, a condition of things which
would call back the liveliest reminiscent
ices of the Grant regime and thus become
particularly inspiring to the 'stalwart
ssmind. OF course this would involve a