The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1882-06-10

Boss Malone is likely to come to
grief, though backed by the power and
the patronage of the Administration.
The corrupt coalition which he organized
rested upon two main ideas: First, re-
pudiation of the honest debt of the
State, contracted before the civil war
and expended on public improvements;
and secondly, the spoils both national
and local. They attracted the support
OF the non-taxpayers and of the whole
of1ice-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 E. Massey as State Auditor. who
might be called the father of the Read
juster party, and who, notwithstanding
his delusion on that subject, 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 a
reward for his followers, he was sacri-
Heed for more pliable creature.
This beginning excited discord and
resentment in the ranks of the Read
justers, 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 in
tensely arrogant, and demanded that
his programme and no other should be
carried out to the last letter by the Leg
islature.
The entering wedge of discomfort
caused by the treatment of Massey grad
ually widened, and the disappointments
in office seeking enlarged the breach.
Open hostility began to show itself, and
recently it has taken positive form in a
manner that threatens the complete
overthrow of the coalition at the next
election, if the present malcontenty
stand firm, as they promise and propose
to do. Five of them hold the balance
OF power in the Senate, and thus far
they have prevented the passage of a
bill gerrymandering the State for Mem
bers of Congress and other schemes
which Malone had contrived to strength
en- his hand. The appliances used to
overcome their opposition are disgrace
full to all concerned, and cannot fail to
produce great impression and to cause
reaction when they are fully UNDER
stood.
In order to fortify Mahone's pledges
of Government pap for needed votes.
Jay A. Hubbell, Chairman of the Con-
gressional Republican Committee, and
the manager of the Presidential cam
paign at Washington, who assessed the
clerks in all the departments three sew
eral times for voluntary contribu-
tions'' to elect Garfield, was sent to
Richmond as Envoy Extraordinary of
the Administration. 1t is known that
he and Malone offered the best Federal
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 |
and special friends of Gen.
eral Wickham, the Republican leader
who refused to touch the foul coalition
or to support the ticket nominated by |
the packed convention. He would not |
recognize Malone on any terms. 1t is
said an overture was made to appoint |
Wickham's son a 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 kindred, who con-
troll the result, were equally unsuccess-
full.
After repeated efforts to purchase
support Hubbell and Malone returned
10 Washington satisfied that the persua-
sive appeals of patronage had failed as
decidedly as the coercive experiment to
dragon the Legislature by edicts from
seat in the Senate, or by full
limitations from his organ at Richmond.
The mask OF pretended independence
was thrown off recently when Malone
that the coalition had be-
come distinctively an Administration
party. Up to this time he had en-
,hatically denied any such alliance.
hough the bargain was well known to
lave been made before the fall election.
This attempted transfer of a part of
he Readjusters, formerly Democrats,
Who believed in scaling the State debt,
las already led to a revolt. They did
lot go into the Malone movement to be
old out, and they will abandon him for
laving betrayed them. II
All the indications now point to a
upture in the following of Malone.
which, should it take place. will leave
i'm high and dry without future in
he State, and will leave the Admins
ration burdened with the dead weight
t reputation and jobbery. Wash
sgto's Cor. N. r sam.