The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1882-06-24

The Virginia Legislature adjourned
April 22, and Boss Malone, with all the
Republican party at his back, is defeated
In his attempts to deliver the State of
Virginia to the Administration. A more
corrupt combination than his Repudia-
tion-Republican party was never formed.
That the nature of his coalition may be
more fully understood, the following
brief resume of the situation in Virginia
from the pen of a Washington CORES
spondent should be read: The cor
rupt coalition which he organized rested
upon two main ideas: First, reputation
of the honest debt of the State, con-
tracted before the civil war and expend-
ed ON public improvements; and, sec
ondly, the spoils, both National and
local. They attracted the support of
the non-taxpayers and of the whole
office-seeking tribe, white and black.
The success of the coalition last fall
made Malone master of the situation in
Virginia, and gave him special prestige
at Washington. He dictated all the
Federal appointments, and he assumed
to distribute the offices of the State
among his personal partisans, disregard
ing the agencies by which he acquired
this power for evil One of his first acts
was to discard John Z. Massey as State
Auditor. who might be called the father
of the Readjuster party, and who, not
withstanding his delusiou on that SUBJ
ject, is esteemed as man of character
and of private worth. Malone wanted
no rival near the throne, and as Massey
refused to prostitute the Authorship by
putting its patronage in the hands of the
Boss as reward for his followers, he was
sacrificed for a more pliable creature.
This beginning excited discord and re-
sentiment in the ranks of the Readjust-
ers, but Malone supposed he could
crush out all opposition by Furnishing
those whom he chose to regard as enc
mics, and by rewarding those whom he
selected as friends. He became intense
ly arrogant. and demanded that his pro-
gramme and no other should be carried
out to the last letter by the Legislature.
The entering wedge of discomfort caused
by the treatment of Massey gradually
widened, and the disappointments in
office-seekers enlarged the breach. Open
hostility began to show itself, and re-
Gently it has taken positive form in a
manner that threatens the complete
overthrow of the coalition at the next
election. if the present malcontents
stand firm, as they promise and propose
to do. Five of them held the balance of
power in the Senate, and prevented the
passage of q bill gerTymandering the
State for members of Congress and
<,fh ax cohoypac xubs<.h Nfohopo LoI
trived to strengthen his hand. The APP
planes used to overcome their opposi-
ton are disgraceful to all concerned,
and cannot fail to produce great i'm
preston and to cause reaction when
they are fully understood. In order to
fortify Malone pledges of Government
pap for needed votes, Jay A. Hubbell,
Chairman of the Congressional Repub-
lican Committee, and the manager of
the Presidential campaign at Washing
ton, who assessed the clerks in all the de-
partments three several times for .'vol-
untary contributions to elect Garfield,
was sent to Richmond as envoy-extraor-
binary of the Administration. 1t is known
that he and Malone offered the best Fed.
eral offices in the State, and some of the
foremost out of it, for votes to break the
deadlock. Two of the five Senators are
old-time Republicans and special friends
of General Wickham, the Republican
leader who refused to touch the foul
coalition or to support the ticket nomi-
mated by the packed convention. He
would not recognize Malone on any
terms. 1t is said an overture was made
to appoint Wickham's son Judge of
the United States Court if the father
would consent to have the deadlock
broken. But this bride was spurned,
and other offers made more directly to
the Senators. or to their immediate kin
dred, who control the result, were
equally unsuccessful. After repeated
efforts to purchase support HubbeIl and
Malone returned to Washington salts
fed that the persuasive appeals of
patronage had failed as decidedly as the
coercive experiment to dragon the
Legislature by edicts from Mahone's
seat in the Senate, or by fulminations
from his organ at Richmond. The mask
of pretended independence was thrown
off recently when Malone announced
that the coalition had become distinct
lively an Administration party. Up to
this time he had emphatically denied
any such alliance, though the bargain
was well known to have been made be-
fore the fall election. This attempted
transfer of a part of the Readjusters,
formerly Democrats, who believed in
scaling the State debt, has already led
to revolt. They did not go into the
Malone movement to be sold out, and
they will abandon him for having be-
trayed them. "-Neio Haren Register.