Sacramento daily record-union., 1881-11-19


than $4,000, 0G0. There is no excuse for
this. It is not pretended that any part Of
the debt was unlawfully or dishonesty
contracted. 1t was not the result of
carpet-bag" government. 1t was in all
respects as binding an obligation as could
exist. The Malone faction, embracing
nearly all the negroes, whose ignorance is
their excuse, and great many white men
who know better, has now carried the
State on the distinct basis of this repudia-
tion programme; and it has achieved this
success mainly by the open and pronounced
assistance of the Administration. It's this
which constitutes the sinister significance
of the event. Had Malone relied upon his
own resources, and had he by adroit dem
agogism succeeded in capturing his State,
The fact would have been matter for regret,
but it would not have committed the Re-
publican party to the doctrine of repudia-
tion.
This has been done avowedly for the
purpose of breaking the "solid South, ;"
and it may have that effect. But that it
will have other and much more disastrous
consequences cannot be doubted by those
who weigh the influence of such indorse-
ments of principles as it requires to be
weighed. The Republican party has had
the high honor of conducting the country
thus far safely and creditably through very
dangerous financial straits. Only party
standing as firmly for honest finance as it
has done could have withstood the success
i've waves of Reputation sentiment which
have passed over the country at short
intervals ever since the close of the re-
bellion. The dishonest elements have dur
ing the past fifteen years been Protean in
their metamorphoses. They have as
saulted the Treasury. now in one disguise,
anon in another, always pretending a
special regard for the interests of the peo-
pie. They have tried every conceivable
trick to cireumvent the guardians of the
national credit and honor Under the pre-
tense of reforming the currency, under the
pretense of relieving the people from the
burdens Of taxation, under score of
equally spccious pleas, they have returned
to the attack, only to be beaten off igno.
miniously. But the national debt is not
yet discharged, and there still remains
enough of it to tempt the came dishonest
elements, while for the first time the Re-
publican party finds itself facing in the
same direction with the advocates of re-
pudiation.
It is idle to say that the Virginia exam
pie will go no further. The men who have
been most active there know too well to
what uses the precedent they have created
can be turned And some of them are al
ready on record as favoring national as well
as state repudiation. At the late election
man was elected Governor of Virginia who
years ago expressed himself as follows on
this subject s'As to the full and final
payment OF the present enormous na-
" tional debt, he that knows the American
"people and their utter deficiency in the
"high qualities of truth and integrity,
knows that such an expectation is an
"idiot's dream. For ourselves, we shall
"rejoice when the crash comes. 1t is a
"debt contracted in the prosecution of an
"infamous and unnecessary war" After
the passage of the Riddleberger bill, which
embodies the repudiation scheme, the At
torney. General of Virginia declared that he
was in favor of "the vigorous application
"of the principle of readjustment to the
Irrational debt" And that is what ra-
tional men must apprehend that it will
come to. The Virginia campaign was the
insertion of the thin end OF the wedge
To secure a purely partisan victory the Re-
publican leaders have thus committed the
party to doctrine which traverses its
whole record, and which threatens to frus.
trate its future endeavors to protect the
national honor.
This is indeed sacrifice Of substance
for shadow. For what use is the Republi-
can party save as it can help the country
or how can it continue to have reason for
existence if once it is committed to the side
of her worst enemies? For the moment
shallow partisans may rejoice over the
management which has enabled them to
break the ranks of the "solid South" but
the victory has been purchased at the sac
rifce of that which was better worth pos
sessing than all the South put together.
A Republican party which indorses repudi-
alton cannot expect to retain the support
of those who joined it because it was firm
against that very infamy. "The rank.and.
file who have no axes to grind will not
regard this shameful abandonment of
principle as light matter. It is no longer
possible to reproach the Democrats with
being double.faced and supple and time
serving Republicans have excelled them
at their own favorite strategy, and the Re-
publican party is dishonored by the base
demagogy. This Virginia election is the
'rift within the Lutte" and it will spread.
Henceforward there is no party in the
United States which has clear record on
Reputation, and that one fact will encour-
age the dishonest elements to renewed
audacity, and may be said almost to render
effective defense against them impossible.
Decidedly the Virginia election is bad
business.
SEAMEN's WAGES.