Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1882-09-15
etter from George C. Round to Mr.. Arthur.

celiency, Chester a. .drthur, President Of the
United Sates--SIR l desire to give YOU
briefly the reasons that will in nv iude-
ment compel the liberal readuster party of
Virginia ultimately to throw overheard
their assumed leader, William Malone, as
unworthy henceforth of their confidence.
and as unworthy the further support of
your Administration. ! make this a public
letter because it concerns matters that in
terest every citizen of the United States,
and especially the friends of your Admins
! tration. which has given so cordial a sup
| port to the plans of General Malone. under
the belief, doubt not, that it would result
i'll good to the party and to the whole
country.
Here Mr.. Round makes Il statement
of his own personal and political record
The great party evil is that Of ''bossism"
more or less incident to all party organiza-
tions, but which in our party has assumed
the aggravated form called "Mahoneism."
This evil is now threatening the very life of
the party. as | am free to say that there is
no evil from which the party can possibly
save us that is rs great an evil as sNIahonc-
ism has grown to be. From the time Ma
hone was elected Chairman of the Read
juster State Committee he has been shaping
his policy to build ups personal party: to
crush every oneofthe original read urtels and
every one Of the old republican leaders, be
cause they were usually men who did their
own thinking. He has sought to put in
their places men ofno fixed principles men
who, like himself, care neither for democracy
or republicanism. funderism OF readjuster-
ism, except rs q means Of furnishing them
;. power or plumber.
In the election OF judges, from the Court
of Appeals down to our County Courts; in
the nomination Of members of Congress and
the Legislature: in the election and ap-
pointment Of State and county officers, the
question has been, not whether they were
honest and capable-not whether they were
popular with the people-not even whether
they were strict party men-but whether
they have "scen the boss He has the
State filled with sub bosses and spies,
selected solely with reference to personal
subseryiency TO Malone. | conceive to
Gen. Malone great shrewdness and cunning.
4 limited appreciation of the principles of
the party. remarkable talent for Organi-
zation, and Il boldness and energy in his
schemes Of duplicity without parallel 4:
but leader OF less cunning and more
principle, less shrewdness and more truth
fulness, with less organizing capacity for
sfish ends and more for the public veal,
would have had party in Virginia today
in substantial agreement with the inteli-
gence, and wealth, and virtue Of the North
and West, that would have needed no vast
increase OF revenue officials, no assistance
from the Administration. to keep them in
line. In every section Of the State are men
of the highest intelligence, and character,
3 and influence who have for a time essaved
to join in the liberal movement. but have
been driven back by Mahone's intolerable
selfshness and greed. To say nothing of
the original readjusters that have left our
party during the past year, such men as
barbour and Field, Of Culpeper; Allen and
Motlet, ofRockingham; Brooke, of Fauuuicr
Thomas, ot talrtax,and hosts Of others, have
sympathlzed and acted with the readjuster
movement at certain stages Of its progress,
| cannot say how far the gentlemen specially
named might or might not have gone. but
DO Know that there existed in ali classes,
, OF society strong tendency toward the
liberal and progressive ideas OF the read
justers
| propose olay before you. Mr.. President
u few facts i'll Mahone's political record oc-
curing under my observation in the FIRST
Congressional District during the past ten
weeks. Add to these facts many others
known to you, and judge whether William
, Malone, the boss of Virginia" is suffi-
GENTLY reliable man the republican party
: to trust, if by any chance (which may Heay
Ell AVERT he should hold the balance of
power between democracy and republican
I. ism IN the next Presidential fight; Judge
= whether he is not at this moment aspiring
to be the boss of the United States" and
whether 1t IS safe for Il single moment to in
trust 10 him the vast machinery of the
United States Government for any reason
whatever. Remember that ND TO 1877 he
never protested to be a readiuster: that up
to that time he had been the bitterest of the
, Bourbons; aud that he was the leader Of the
poiltical party that proposed and carried
. out the gross outrages upon freedom of opin-
:, ion and freedom of suffrage enacted at his
home in Petersburg, Va
Now for the facts,
MT Round then goes on to state that on
June 10 the State Committees of the rpnub.
!; ilcan and conservative wings Of the read
luster party met in joint session at Rich
! mond. and III the presence of those commit
tees Gen. Malone pledged himself not to in
terlere IN the matter of nominations for
! Congress; that he (Round) became 4 candi-
date Tor the Congressional nomination in the
! First District: that al u coalition mass meet
: ing ut BrentSrilc Aug. one of 4Iahone's
stlo-Dosses, one Duff Green interrupted
The proceedings by making infiammatorv
'Pee.neS against honhu declaring that he
would defeat Round if nominated. and as
| sertlng that he Greenl had been with Nh,
E hone the night previous and Malone had
then said, by God Round shall not be no.
minated, and If he is nominated won't sup
port him Notwithstanding which threats
the meeting unanimously instructed its de-
legates to vote for Round that on Aug. q
Malone telegraphed to his agents in Fred.
erlckSburg that he had removed Col Tohu
W. Wolff from his clerkShip in the Interior
Department, and on Aug - wrote to Col.
; VOLT that the first reason for his removal
was that he was engaged in an effort to in
iiuence the appointment of delegates in be-
half of certain candidate for Congress
Round) from the First District. Mr.. Round
then proceeds as follows ::
And thus we sec that Senator Malone. in
these days Of "ciril-service reform" with
MS . per cent assessment circular in his
pocket, in this ninth decade of the nine