Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1883-11-20
Malone and Benedict Arnold.

The st. Joseph (NIo.) Gazette says that
politically dead, damned, and disgraced,
little Billy Malone has gone to join Bene
dict Arnold. And yet he was not an at
tractive renegade. He burrowed. He OPP
Grated from the centre of all sorts of little
secret rings, and all kinds of specious little
conspiracies. For a tragedy there must
always be real actor, and this man was
simply mountebank. To deny the COM
radeship of war; to kiss the hand which
had smitten his cheeks until the red blood
rushes there in protestation; to debase his
own color for the sake of gain; to suppress
the voice of human nature; to abolish the
immemorial usages of decency and social
intercourse; to overthrow all pride of birth
and caste; to sully tine very name of fealty
and devotion; to hire the vicious; to war
upon neighbors and old-time friends; to
stab the mother State and desecrate the
graves of the dead who died that she might
at least be august in her terrible bereave-
ment-to do all these things, we say, and do
them well, there should at least be q Co
lossus of political scoundrelism; and yet
this man, Billy Malone, was only a rail-
road wrecker, and quite common place
one at that.
He meant to fill this bill tie perfection,
and he did do the best he could in each par
ticular line that he knew how; but the pat
tern of the man was too shrimp and blood
less. Benedict Arnold was giant. He
had voice like war god. He loved mag
nificent women and magnificent horses
Battle TRANSPORTED him. He charged like
a knight Grant, and fought like man at
arms He was colossal in his treachery.
would have had an empire. He would
have gone to the devil, but not at a snail's
pace, counting his profits cent by cent and
higgling here over a postofice, and there
over the division of inferior spoils.
Crafty, hungry, pinched, tape-wormy,
weaselly, this creature Malone had no hor-
lion or heaven except an office. He was
cunning like the wolf. He knew how to
get food. Under certain conditions he
would have been a mendicant; in Virginia
he had it in his power TO become a species
of low and vulgar tyrant. At first he util-
lied with some skill the hate Of that ser-
vile crowd who find private benefit in public
disorders, and who prefer always the favor
OF master, SO only he is INSCRIPTIONS, to
| Oe h0
that was corrupt, yonal and ignorant iii
Virginia politics came to him because they
! scented plumber and grease to grease their
frying pans. Shoddy from head to foot, as
was Malone, another unutterable shoddy
thing, called Republicanism, took him up
thing which is one vast sham, one incar-
nate phariseeism- speculator in opinions,
an adventurer in devices, a humbug in eth
les, hypocrite in morals, charlatan in
domestic economy, an infidel in religion, a
thief in ofice-this compound, we say Of
Grantism, Beecherism, and Ingersolism,
took up Malone and helped him to do the
worst and the meanest of his devilment.
1t was the alliance of two productions
that Of assassination and that of repudia-
tion-and when the bastard was born it was
called Mahoneism. AS it grew and grew
what else could the thing do, made mon
strous by congenital scoundrelism, except
to rob, plumber, debauch, deny decency,
drag down manhood, crush the State, be-
get race conflicts, poison the civil service,
and finally die dogs death and rot in the
potter's field.
When an open and honest antagonist is
stricken in the front Of the fight and falls
by the standard, all courageous men
among his opponents respect his valor and
sori ow for his overthrow. But when the
raiding and looting Inercenary gets the ia
tai bullet in his back as he runs, his beg
carly crew all about him, the rejoicing is
such as generally gees up over a band of
thieves broken up, or lot of highway rob-
bers exterminated.
AS Malone fell, SO let him lie. That
corpse is fit for neither grave, shroud, nor
coffin