Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1882-05-26

sTAUNTON. VA.
FRIDAY MORNING. MAY 2e. 1882.
GEN. MAHONE IN A QUAGMIRE.
We give elsewhere letter from Senator
Malone explaining" his vote in the Sem
ate on the exclusion of ex-Confederates
from the army. on which we commented
last week. Appended to it we publish a
comparison. instituted by contemporary,
between the Senator's statements and the
Record as found in the official journal of
the Senate. In JUST ce to Senator Malone
we must say that We do not suppose in his
letter he intenti onally made one false
statement as to the Record. If he had
been entirely frank he would have told the
whole truth som ething in this way.
II am deucedly astonishsd at the row
this thing has kicked up in Virginia, 1
am no statesman, am q politician. I
don't examine questions made, merely
vote with the. right men. The right men
are tho Republicans. When they are d.
vided vote with the stalwart wing of
them. really don't know much of what
is going on in the Senate. don't keep
the run Of it, but when drop in on the
Senate I just find out how the Repub-
licans are voting and vote along with
them. My business is mainly outside of
the Senate, arranging about the Federal
patronage in Virginia. When dropped
in that day and found the boys voting that
way voted with them. 1 had no idea
my people in Virginia would kick mp at
it. They have stood SO much from me in
that line that didn't think it made any
difference. I've always made it straight
by saying was voting against the ''Fun-
ders.'' Why won't the ''Funder" business
work this time?
''Mea,a. mnst be more careful hereaf-
ter, and in the meantime the WHO must
hammer it into the people that am after
the Funders with a sharp stick-that it is
the Funders who want TO get the places in
the army"
Mem. Must offer resolution discon-
tinuing the Congressional Record as use
less expense to the government. Ais 0, to
destroy all copies printed since January
LIST; that will get my vote admitting Chi
nese mechanics, out Of the way"
We believe such letter would have
come nearer the state of the case, than the
Senator's rather labored effort given in
another column. Senator Malone has
been given such license by many of his
party that it is not to be wondered at that
he has fallen into the delusion that any
thing he did would pass unqueston 3D.
Had he been successful in his legislative
raid last winter, we are not 80 sure that he
would have now gone to the trouble to write
this explanation of his vote on the ex-Con-
federate soldier exclusion. But the pow
er which existed in Mahone's name at the
opening of that legislature does not exist
to-day and he knows it. His many fail
ures after Iesorting to the most desperate
parliamentary and supplementary meas
ures have had a marked effect on that
power. His most desperate measure was
his worst-that of declaring his party an
Administration party. 1t was an official
declaration of his weakness and in politi-
cal parties the weak have few friends.
Gen. Malone is now beginning to see
some of the difficulties of bondage to the
stalwart wing of the Republican party,
for it 1T is that is in possession of the gov
eminent. He finds that he must go all
lengths or mono with his stalwart masters.
He must not only join them in all their flu
ture efforts to retain supremacy in the
government, but he must join them in
stigmatising the ex-Confederate soldier as
rightfully excluded from the national ar
my because he fought out his honest con-
victions twenty years ago Not that. we
think the General will be much affected at
having to Ego back on" his old comrades.
He is not man given to sentiment unless
it can be useful for the time in the SUCCESS
he is pursuing. To him prerequisite tax
paid voter at the November election, is a
higher prize than all the heroic memories
of even ''Mahone's Brigade" and it is
only the fear that he has lost many thou
Sand OF the living voters who were in the
army; that to the survivors OF Mahone'.
brigade he has offered dose so nauseous
that they will refuse to swallow It, th,.
causes him to write the explanation of his
vote.
In the meantime he puts MANY of his
;rdent admirers especially the newspapers
to utter rout. When the Democratic
press exposed the vote and demo inced
for what it was-a stigma Oh the ex-Cnn-
federate soldiers-the Coalition press i,
their first surprise swOre it was only 4
vote against ons Tebbs, ''Funder page.
in the Confederate Congress-. Driven on
of that false position they fell back Oh tn.
argument OF the sneak-it WAS better The
General should stigmatiZa exc ,nfad4rates
than 'sarouse" old war feelings. :, bugabo,
of SO many years standing that it only ex-
cites rldicule. The end of it all, we sus-
pect, will be that seeing that be has strait
ed the patience of my people, ''as he styles
them in fendal style, he will ges his Re
publican friends in the Committee to re-
port the bill again, and he will vote for it.
Then the Malone press will have to re-
east their explanations and say the Gen.
eral only voted against the bill to get time
to look into it.
The Republicans of the u S. House of
Representatives have met their match in |
the Democrats therein. The attempt is
to unseat Democrat without fair hear.
ing. The facts are that Mr.. O'Conner was |
elected to the House from South Caro-
lima. Mackey (Rep.) commenced a con-
test for his seat. Before the contest was |
decided OVonner died. At the election |