The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-06-18
A Mistake to be Avoided.

esy' as to the Post Offices at Petersburg
nd Woodstoek, may mean something and
may mean nothing. Petersburg is the
esidence of Senator Malone aud Wood
took that of Senator NiGdleberger. Be
ause of this, it is given out, whether by
uthority or not, we do not know, that the |
'olicy of prescription for opinions sake |
will be abandoned rs to these two places
Neither can We say whether there is to
re a modification of The wholesale war
are upon the Republicans of Virginia,
md that this is the first indication of a
purpose to call a halt in campaign of
late and vengeance against men who have
he courage to entertain and express their
honest beliefs as to vital public questions
State interests, III defiance of the
most despotic, malignant and proscriptiye
political combination which ever oppressed
and paralyzed Commonwealth. 1t would
seem, if the announcement to which we
have alluded, be true, that Mahoneism"
has at least something in it, or there is
some influence emanating from it. that
should command little respect. 1t may
be the courtesy due the Senators, or it may
be that better understanding of the po-
litical situation in Virginia has obtained
in high places, causing the inquiry whet TIL
er or not it is wise policy to hinge the sue
cess of the administration and especially
its popularity in Virginia, upon the false
and malicious statements of political plot
tiers and schemers for the spoils of Office.
The Republican party of Virginia has
been represented to the powers that be-"
as "Mahoneism, and that has been ex-
planned to be all that is vile and odi0us in
public and private relations. 1t is posi-
BILE that the indecent greed and coarse and
vulgar opportunities for official recogni
tion which have come up from Virginia,
have had the effect to arrest attention and
call for inquiry into the motive of this
wholesale SANDER and unmitigatcd vlllifi-
cation of Virginia Republicans. 1t is
within the range of possibility that the
President and Postmaster General have
discovered that 'Mahoneism, y as itrelates
to State affairs, means nothing more or
less than purpose to rescue this Com
monwealth from the control of political
force that can lay claim to no principle,
is incapable of framing a coherent pol
icy, and has blighted and widowed every
State interest it has touched. 1t may be,
that in glancing over the history of the
State for the past fifteen years, they have
discerned an oasis in the desert waste Of
partizan administration and that the two
years of unrestricted Republican control
has furnished the assurance that at least
one party aims to recognize the fundamen-
tai principle Of our system of government
and consider the rights and interests of
the people as paramount to the greed and
grasp of party spoilsmen. 1t restored a
free ballot; it rescued the public schools
from ruin; it devised aplan tos the State
from the disgrace of reputation wrested
the charitable institutions from decay ;
abolished the whipping-post.a and broke the
power of the most intolerant and proscrip-
tive political oligarchy thai ever fastened
itself upon the polity and yitals of free
people. We are sure if the President and
Postmaster General have had the time and
disposition to examine into the political
history of this State since 1870, and re-
lieve their minds of the false state
ments and false impressions designedly
made and circulated for partizan pur-
poses, they will have found that in all
these weary years OF struggle and toll, the
people have only been given assurance and
relief under the administration OF the Re-
pubicans. Bourbon blunders and Bourbon
incapacity had well nigh driven the peo-
pie to despair. Their mismanagement
and mal-administration were more oppres
sive and desolatlng than war. They had
no thought for the condition of the masses.
They piled up debt upon debt, squandered
resources, perverted power and restricted
sacred constitutional rights, until gov
eminent became mockery and partizan
ends the absorbing consideration.
1t was this condition of things that
compelled popular revolt and caused
brave men to break through party re-
straint, make common cause with the Re-
publicans, who had inaugurated the fight
against the despotism, and finally to over
throw the power which was crushing cut
the very vitals of the Commonwealth.
Whether the President and Postmaster
General have become familiar with the
exact facts of the political situation in
Virginia or not, we are very sure 1T would
be apre- eminenly unwise policy for them
to shoulder the blunders and misdeeds OF
the Democratic party of this State and
rest for popular approval upon anticipated
success in the November election. We
venture nothing in saying that there is not
enough power and patronage within the
control of the government todlvert the
current that has already set in against The
Democracy, or arrest the purpose OF the
people to dismiss from power party that
has been false to every trust, false to the
constitution, false to the rights OF the
masses. From every class and almost every
lOCd.1Gy tUe luLludblOuo dc given VI PoP'
ular revolt this fall unmeasured by any
previous reyulsion. The people realize
that they have been wronged-that they
have been deceived, and it is their purpose
to rebuke the wrong doer and the deceiv-
er. And this will be surely done if the
Republicans themselves make no mistake.
They cannot afford to present as their
standard bearer any one who is not fully
imbued with the spirit of liberal:sm-who
himself is not free from the crime of pro-
scription and who cannot point to re-
cord of justice and right as it relates to
those who are his political associates. So
far as we are concerned, we should make
no difference whetherhe were Republican
Bourbon or Democratic Bourbon-we
would support neither, and would antago
nize one as fiercely as we would the other.
The candidate and the principles we be-
ieve in must be in harmony, for we would
not be willing to entrust the policy we
support to a Governor whom we dis
trusted.
It would be fatal mistake for the adj
ninistration to identify itself with the
,o-called Democratic party of Virginia in
his contest. 1t is a contest involving is