The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-03-15
Washington Letter.
THE DEPARTING CoNeREss-rAcrT oBsERvA-
TIoNs.-sENAToRs MALONE AND RIDDLE
BERGER-JUDGE PAUL.

49,
THE DEPARTING COMMENSURATE OBsERvA-
TIoNs.-sENAToRs MALONE AND RIDDLE
BERGER-JUDGE PAUL.
DEAR VIRGINIAN = Since our last greeting
to you the Capital has donned its sober post
congressional aspect and lapsed into compar-
alive insignificance among the cities of the
globe. The unimportant few who remain
after the curtain is down on the 4th of March,
are in the restless transition state, consequent
upon the severe strain to which their faculties
of minds have been subjected in the endeavor
to follow the tortuous paths Of senatorial logic
or plumb the depths of parliamentary ratioci-
nation. Lone and deserted are the whiiom
busy corridors of the Capitol-hollow along
its arches rings the laugh of lingering mes
senger or belated secretary who remains to
gather up the shreds and patches of greatness
vanished. to pack the scattered folios, to clear
committee rooms and to obliterate generally
all traces of what was the forty seventh Con-
gress. Brief, busy, persstently energetic in
its progress, and singularly dramatic in its
closing scenes. it will be long before its mem
Ory Is effaced even from the chameleon minds
OF this unstable people, whose existence seems
to the tranquil looker-on to be built upon
shifting sands, one moment fair and smiling in
the sunshine of prosperity and independence,
but liable to be swept by the next incoming
wave and left hopeless and hapless wreck
so many homes and hopes and fortunes are
founded upon the tickle chance of political
prestige and official favor. We meant not to
mOralize upon the peculiar social structure of
Washington life, but merely to give you and
those far away some faint conception of the
collapse that follows inevitably in the wake of
the closing session What St. Peters is to
Rome-the Campanile to Milan-the tomb of
Mahomet to Mecca, so is the Session to our
fair Capital city.
In the nine months interim we manage ito
exist. The Potomac sweeps on its tranquil
way, the Monument rears its "bald, awfur'
forehead as proudly above the marshes, the
Goddess of Liberty looks down from her
serene far height, and eager imag:nations
might fancy smile of pity curved the marble
lips as she watched the swift receding thrCng.
Many alas gone forever from their cherished
haunts back to the ploughshare, the court
room, the tannery, or even possibly to manip-
ulate the ribbons while the stage coach wends
its picturesque way thro' the forest-crowned
defiles of rocky mountain gorge or canyon.
No position of American life is 80 humble that
the aspirations of her children may not reach
beyond them to the Hottest station, nor find
in the lowlest fortune any invidious bar to
shut away from their grasp the bay crown OF
civic or martial distinction
That this truth lies close to American hearts
was demonstrated in one of the clio sing scenes
OF this Session, when the unmanly sneer of
the member from New York, in reference to
Mr.. Page of California, was met by such unan-
imous and indignant rebuke as must have
overwhelmed even his pusillanimous soul with
shame, and forced from his lips q weak and
inadequate retraction, else he would have been
expelled by force from the seat he had SO dis
graced. Not solitary voice was lifted in his
defense, and those who could rightfully lay
claim to such honors as distinguished ancestry
and blood of noble strain can bestow, were
the first to cry Shame !" on the assailant.
The memberselect began to gather in force
toward the close of the session. many Of them
no doubt to gain needed insight into the
mysterious workings of the political machine
shop. There will be considerable infusion
of new blood and new brains in both wings of
the next National Assembly, and we have sui
fcient faith in the leaders of the future TO pre-
dict that they at least will not fall behind their
predecessors in true craftsmanship and battle
for the right.
Conspicuous among the new faces is that of
the Senator elect from Virginia. Mr.. Riddle
berger appears on the streets of Washington
as joyous and blthe of face and manner, and
as much sought after, as on the streets of
Woodstock or Staunton.
1t is regretted by the political school to
which he belongs that there was no oppor-
tunity possible to him this session to appear
before the august body, of which he is now a
member, with that ncisive, magnetic style
which characterizes his oratory and which
has won him such laurels already as speaker.
There was just small spice of ferceness and
hate and aristocratic interference manifested
against him in the U. S. Senate by "ChameleOaa"
Broom, republican for Grant and offices and
democrat for Hancock ond Office, ct id onane
genus, by reason Of. that diplomacy on the part
of the youthful Senator, then a member of the
Virginia Legislature, which toppled over the
Virginia her right, formerly considered an in
aliena5le one. to collect an appropriate her
own revenues. Hence Capt. Riddlebergers adj
vent in the Senate with his rare and inyincible
style of immolating those who have been
snarling at his heels. He is the youngest Sen
ator ever sent from Virginia, we understand,
and we hear also, for we have not the pleasure
Of knowing him personally, that he has the
merit of being equal to the high position he
has been elected to and the more exalted merit
of regarding the heraldry Of labor's honor as
equal to that which traces its line from Nor
man Baron and runs through "all the blood of
all the Towards" With Mahone's sturdy
common sense, which always measures to
save his people and their Virginia interests
from the wiles and tolls of partizan endeavor
to grasp and hold office, and with gallant
Harry Riddleberger's splendid defamation
Virginia will once more in national councils
come to the front and to stay. By the way
can any say what Senator Malone has done
against Virginia, and can any one galnsay that
he has secured benefits for her that Johnston
and Withers never did If the last is so, he
is indicated from all assaults, if the first can.
not be replied to, he stands beyond cavil, and
the quest ion then resolves itself into this, that
the hero of Petersburg hunts right, and where
he finds it stands to it.
One ofthe great triumvirate" will be missed
when the next Assembly meets. All honor
and good fortune attend the footsteps of Jno.
Paul in the new life he has chosen Should
he ever ask any higher dignity at the hands of
those for whom he battled nth such self-sac-
rificing devotion, they will not be tardy in
showing without stint their appreciation
what he did and what he rsked for them.
A. NV
The Constitution of Virginia prohibits
the creation of public debt. 1t is with
the bonds issued upon debts created before
thakf - ,, 10 k0 .s,,:o