St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-05-30
A SCRAP OF MAHoNE HISTORY.

In an interview with the Washington
correspondent of the Chicago Tribune Mr..
GEORGE C. GoRHAM explains how the al
lance between MALONE and the Republi-
cans In Virginia was effected. Mr.. LEVI
P. MORTON, late minister to France, was
one Of the active agents in bringing about
the alliance. Mr.. MORTON was regarded
as an expert in matters of finance, and was
relied upon to adjust the Virginia debt
question to basis that would be satisfac-
tory to Northern Republicans. After Sc
curing the services of Mr.. MORTON it oc-
CURED to Mr.. GoRHAM to be necessary to
have the support of the GARFIELD admin
istration, which was soon to come into
power. As to how it was done we will let
Mr. GoRHAM tell the story:
1.-THE statement as to the position of MA,
HONE and the readjusters was submitted at q
fuller conference, which was held at WORM
LEY's, at which were present MALONE, Don
CAMERON, w. B. ALLISON, L. P. MORTON,
FRANK BURR, possibly some others, and my
self. MALONE made his statement substan-
TALLY as it had been made to MORTON. 1t
was approved. Several of these gentlemen
agreed to go to Mentor. They could not go
for various reasons and authorized me to go
there to speak for them. A statement of that
proceedings of the conference at WoRMLEY's
was reduced to writing. / went to Mentor
and read it to GARFIELD. He said that that
was an honest document, and he would rec
ognize MALONE as he would any other Re-
publican. That, in substance, is what did
toward making an alliance between MALONE
and the Republican party. That is the way
it was brought about, and I submit if it was
not done in very reckless manner. The
gentlemen whom 1 nave named know whether
they were present at that conference, and
they know whether they approved the state
ment that was read, whether they empow-
cred me to go to Mentor, and what resulted
from this proceeding. That Mr.. MALONE
was not fully recognized by Gen. GARFIELD,
that there were elements in Gen. GARFIELD's
cabinet antagonistic to MALONE, and to his
entire policy, is a fact which is part of the
history of the time, and into the causes of
which do not now need to CO."
While Mr.. GoRHAM does not say so, it is
also part of the history of the time that the
''antagonistic element" in the GARFIELD
cabinet was none other than the secretary
of state, Mr.. JAMES G. BLAINE. CoNK-
LING had arrayed himself ON MAHONE's
side and this of itself was enough to put
Mr.. BLAINE against MALONE. But
BLAINE chose to base it upon higher ground.
He took the position that the Republican
party could not afford to ally itself with
MAHONE's debt-repudiators, as such an al
lance would stink in the nostrils of honest
Republicans in the Northern states. And
what possibly helped to confirm Mr.. BLAINE
in this position was that about that time he
was dabbling in Virginia stocks and invest
ing money in Virginia railroads and iron
furnaces. MAHoNE's readjusting policy
was very injurious to MAHoNE's financial in
terests, and the result was that bitter feel
ing between GARFIELD's premier and the
Virginia bushwhacker was engendered. If
GARFIELD had lived year after entering
upon the presidency, the MALONE faction
would have been crushed out by the GAR
FIELD administration, as it was afterwards
defeated by an alliance between the Demo-
Gratis and the BLAINE Republicans in Vir-
ginia under the leadership of WICKHAM.
So bitter was the feeling On the
part of MALONE against BLAINE,
because of his defeat, that it
is well-known fact that deal was made
between MALONE and BEN BUTLER that
if the latter could capture the Democratic
nomination for the presidency then MA
HONE was to wheel his columns into line
and carry Virginia against BLAINE. After
CLEvELAND's nomination and the canvass
was well under way Mr.. BLAINE's friends
had trouble bringing MALONE and his read
justers to the support of the Republican
ticket. The appearance of the first volume
of Mr.. BLAINE's book containing his
novel proposition for paying the
Virginia debt by allowing the fed
eral government to assume it proved
effective in conciliating the repudi-
ators. This incident in connection with
profuse promises of patronage to MALONE
patched up a truce between the factions, but
it didn't give the state to BLAINE by good
deal, as his managers had fondly hoped it
would 1t would have been fortunate for Mr..
BLAINE's reputation if he had held on to
his original views regarding MALONE and
his reputation faction.