Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1898-02-10
The Dead Burying the Dead.

that spirit has fed from the tene-
ment Of clay, it was won't to inhabit
on earth. But when one is permitted
to deliver his own funeral GRAFTON
there is depth of melancholy about
the proceeding which passeth human
understanding. Such was the melan
choly which pervaded those Democrats
who sat under the sound OF the voice
of the Hon. VIM. Lindsay of KY, last
Friday and heard him preach his own
feneraT sermon, and present the lead
ing traits in the life and character of
the deceased. He spoke as well as one
might be expected to under such try
ing circumstances. The Legislature
of his State has just asked him to re-
sign. though of course no one expected
him to do so, and he has fully met
public expectation. In this instance
he denies the right of the Kentucky
Legislature to call for his resignation,
he says he does not owe his seat to
them, and he claims never to have
disobeyed the expressed will of the
people of Kentucy." Just who the peo-
pie Of Kentucky are we are not advis-
ed, nor the nature of the constituency
now behind him. He has certainly
disobeyed the will of large majority
of the people of Kentucky as recently
expressed through their Legislators,
though he may not have disobeyed
their will as previously expressed, that
is as expressed prior to 1894, and in no
sense has he disobeyed the will of the
Republicans of his State. When the
Democrats elected him they had no
idea that it was necessary to tell him
he would be expected to support the
Dem ocratic nominee for President, or
to stand on a platform promulgated
by Democratic National Convention.
Had this been deemed necessary it is
safe to assert that the Hon. VIM. Lind
say would not have been elected as a
Senator from Kentucky in 1894. But
the Senator has made great sacrifice.
He has suffered death, yea the death
Of the cross. He has been nailed by
CleYeland to cross of gold, and has
agonized and died the same death
which has been melted out to many
malefactors who left the party to wor-
ship the golden calf. Mr.. Lindsay, as
did Malone and as do all who find
themselves in one position, and their
party in another, accuses the party of
| strayiug, but claims that he himself
has been steadfast. This is not unique,
it has been the custom of all who have
gone before, and will be of those to
come after him. The sacrifice he made
| was the loss of his seat in the Senate,
a loss for which he is to receive no
compensation from the man or the
| combine which bamboozled him into
swapping so valuable thing as that
Senatorial seat for SO worthless thing
as gold BRICK Had Senator Lind
say followed the Democratic party in
1896 the II electoral votes, which he
seems pleased to inform us, were cast
against tbs Democratic candidate
you'd not have been so cast, the State
WHICH went Republican would not
have gone so, the Legislature which
became Republican would not have
been so, and the Republican Senator
which that Legislature elected would
not have been today occupying that
seat. Senator Lindsay was therefore
the cause, indirectly it may be, of
| these calamities, but his influence
would have changed the result. 1t
was never suspected by the people who
elected him to the Senate that such q
course could be adopted by him, or
that he could ever be q party to such
acts. Not knowing. not even suspect
ing such thing, the prascience of the
Kentucky people being no greater
than that OF Others, they were not ex-
pected to express to Senator Lindsay
any hope that he would remain Dem
ocrat, because had they done so before
his last election, Senator Lindsay
would have taken such an expression
as an insult. His period: 81 am a
Senator from Kentucky, but am also
a Senator of the United States" is
pregnant with Capitalization and dem
agogie claptrap, and shows to what
desperation the Senator has been
driven. He has received for all that
he has lost, the applause of few Re
publicans who heard him, and possibly
that of some who have read his re-
marks, but he has lost his place and
his prestige and the confidence of his
former party associates, all because he
sought to serve the modern mammon,
and listened TO the persuasion of that
political mountebank who drove his
whole cabinet with one notable e1cep
ton temporarily out of the Democrat
ic party, who in two administrations
wrecked the party which elevated
him. threw the government in debt
two hundred and fifty millions of dol
lars. closed nearly every factory in the
land, spread destitution and poverty
over the whole country, gave the mon
ey lenders and usurers the sole power
over the helpless. hapless people, who
had raised him up to be their defend
er, but who turned on them and
spurned them for his new made friends.
For following that man, and yielding
to his teachings, Senator Lindsay has
been asked to resign, and whilst he
has the undeniable right not to do SO,
good taste and a proper appreciation
of the amenities which one in his posi-
ton owes his party, would dictate his
withdrawal. But of course he can
never come to the Senate as Demo
crat again, and us he has preached his
own funeral sermon. he might as well
I