Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1889-11-13

Times says
Judge Robert W. Hughes, OF the United
States District court for the esSteru district
OF Virgiris, and who yGaks a tt E !cadiof
repub icau OF this State, cid noa vote !or
General Malone for Governor al the eiec
ton Oh Tuesday The Times correspond
ent said to him thag ii was understood thai
be had expressed the opi ion Guting the
| Canvas that the democratic majority would
be very large, and asked min, if this vas q
| fact.
II never expressed such en- opinion fol
publication" was the answer, but | always
thought, and sometimes said 10 private con.
| versation, that the majority could not be
! less than twenty thousand, and wss likely
to reach thirty, forty or fay thousand"
"Wbat were the grounds ofthat opinion?
.I thought the csnvass as between my
friend John s. Wise aud Con. Fi!zhugh Lee,
in 1855, brought cut tGn iui strength OF the
two parties in e S.nte election, aud that
Gen. Lees maj jlTity OF l6. COO might be SAFE
iy taken as basi7 10 Start With. was Ger
! taiO that Gen MGbane cou not gain &C.
cessions from tbs other party, and, there
| fore, that cD the party ilaes as drawn Ia the
State election of 1885, tbs democratic party
assuming that full vote would be csst, was
consideration therefore cnly two other ques.
| tions viz How many republicans would
refuse to vote for Gen. Malone and how
much could the democratic parts, by ener.
getic canvassing, enlarge its own vote? My
conviction was that at least 10000 republi.
cans would refuse TO vote for Gen. Malone,
most of whom you'd decline to vote any
part of the republican ticket. | was sure
| that good many Of thia 10000 probably
ne-fourth of then, would vote against the
general Private iDtimatiop came to me
from many sources that decided percentage
of the negro vote would be cast for the DEM
ocrats, and much appiehension WAS express.
ed lest, when coored people once voted the
democratic ticke; in State election, they
would continue to dc so 10 ell elections, as
mad been the case in Halifax and Charlotte
counties
However this might be, l was cure that
at least 10000 republican voters, white and
black, would decline TO vote for Gen. Ma
hone, and that tWo or three thousand Of these
would vote the democratic ticket. This
detection would swell tho democratic ma
jority from 16, 600 TO between $4,000 and
10000 As 10 the probable increase of the
democratic vote, thought the obaoxious
candidacy Of Gen. Malone uid produce
an increase very considerebs-ro large,
indeed, that il: would lie dlficult 10 limit
the maximum it woun reach. Early in
September | wrote ;, i.end in Baltimore, in
answer to direc, uqaly, that Gen. Malone
would probably be eaten by SO. coo nIajori-
ty, not much less"
'sYou thiak that the disaif .cted republi
cans did not do much scratching with their
| .icket?"
No; Mahoues name on i: vas spider
in the dampliug. The voters had no dis
| position to nibbIe at the edge Of such dish.
Most ofthem rejected the whole thing"
"Is it your opinion that the negroes who
voted the democratic ticket last week will
continue to do so in future?"
II can't speak with confidence. / hope
they will. as long as the negro vote of the
south is solidly republican the so-called
| rule nature by appeals to reason or even to
| patriotism As loug as the negro vote is
solid, the great mass of the white vote will
! be solid. 1t was an ill-sdvised step of the
colored preachers to call upon their congre-
cations to vote for either ticket as colored
people. I wish the coloTed voters OF the
| south could be divided on great questions
of public policy and that we could all feel
! free to vote without reference TO race.
| do certainly hope that on questions of State
policy, at least, q large qnota OF the negro
vote will continue to be cast with entire dis
regard of race affiliations"
"Do you think Genefai Harrison's admin
istraiion gave aid and comfort to, Gen. Ma
hone?"
"Oh yes. Nearly all The appointments ii
has made in Virginia have beea dictated OF
controlled By Gen Malone. This was we'll
understood This gave the nomination tc
the general at Norfolk, and by 80 doing this
caused the republican defeat in the election
This action of the administration produced
our defeat"
do you suppose ths white republicans
who declined to vote for and those who
voted against the General mean the kick
ers) could be counted on ore's fingers?
Hardly. There were seven or eight
thousand OF them" :,
"Do you think the administration viii
continue 10 place the federal patronage liz
Virginia 81 the disposal of Gen. Malone p
In tho language of old Mr.. Ritchie. who
was my editorial prototype and predecessor
in Richmond, can only answer Nous Uer'
ronS I feel 40 personal interest in the cub
ject"
"What do you suppose will be the effect
of the republican defeat" ;.
II fear my party will not recover from II
in five or ten years. This is long time to
wait for one at my time of life, and l am
much discouraged"
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