Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-07-29

anu tIduquIllCy was restored they
would send their sons TO the VIr-
ginia Military Institute to be edu-
Gated, and subsequently, they did in
delloeration what they had intended
in enthusiasm.
Martin was not at the battle of
New Market. He and six other
cadets were i'll at the time, but when
the cadets were enrolled as a part of
the army his name was among them,
and he was in the military service
of the COnfederacy until the end.
In 1869 he was admitted to the bar,
and until his election as Senator he
devoted bis whole heart, mind, and
strength to the exacting and Jealous
profession Of the law and became
one of the most successful prscti-
tloners In the South. He has two
qualities in extraordinary degree
determination and persistence. Early
IN life he resolved that he would
some day be a Senator in Congress,
and that he would never stand for
nor accept any other office, national
or State. That purpose was always
with him. 1t was never relaxed,
and there never was one moment
that he doubted that it would some
time be realized. In 1895 he sue
ceeded Gen. Epps Hinton as Senator
from Virginia.
For long time Martin bad been
the friend, counsellor, and lieutenant
OF John s Barbour, the Democratic
leader who overthrow Malone and
exercised Mahoneism. He was
consummate tactician on the field of
politics, and had he lived it is very
doubtful if Mr.. Cleveland had been
nominated at Chicago in 1892. He
was man of considerable wealth,
with taste for politics-the game
fascinated him, and be engaged in
it with infinite zest and became won
derfully skillful and marvelously
sdroit in the playing of it. Martin
was the man on whom Barbour most
relied, and victorious results ever
vindicated his confidence in the man
and the abilities of his lieutenant.
There is one faculty that makes
success in every sphere of human
endeavor-war, politics, business,
letters-everything. 1t is the faculty
of seeing-the capacity to see things
as they exist, not as we would have
them be, but rs they are. 1t wns
that that Eade Charles Dickens go
successful as a writer of fiction. Ia
his long tramps through the streets
of London, we are told, that he saw
thousand things that escaped the
vision of any companion he might
have had. 1t was out of the men
and women in actual life that he
saw that his fecund Imagination
evolved, and made grotesque Pick
wick, the Wellers. Sairey Camp,
Betsey Prigg, Sally Brass. Dick
Swiyeller, Capt. Cutie. and all the
Others. Dickens was not as good a
writer as Thackeray; but he could
beat Thackeray seeing things all to
pieces.
Senator Martin has the capacity
to see things-legal and political.
That is what made him a successful
lawyer and successful politician.
He exercised that faculty when he
beat Fitz Lee for Senator. He
looked over the ground and saw
things as they were. He made his
organization, and it was irresistible,
and his dispositions, and they were
inexorable-he got the Senatorship.
The writer Of this is not defending
the thing, nor does he say that it is
in need Of defense. 1t is only the
man who sees things who can he
successful boss, and the bosses are
like the trusts-some are good and
some are bad.
OF course there is opposition to
Martin in the Democratic party of
Virginia and at Roanoke in 1899,
that opposition was very pronounced
and very noisy. The Hon. w. A.
Jones, member Of Congress of the
first district, superior man, was the
leader of it, and had his followings
to the last man among the Demo
cratic leaders, been rs intepid and as
capable as he, it might have been
the last Of Martin. Not only is
Jones strong man, but he is honest
and has convictions. lie is not al
ways right, and when he is wrong
ne is terribly wrong, and as his faith
is intense, 80 his prejudice is strong.
On this occasion he was wrong. He
and his following clamored for
primary" rs though it were possi-
BILE for a party that confessedly can
not hold an honest convention to
conduct an honest primary. 1t was
only an ebullition of that enormous
and resistless wave of demagogy that
swept over this country a dozen
years or more ago aud is not yet en-
tirely receded-fiattery of the peo-
pie, a-tellng Of the masses that
they are honest, bat that their
agents are knayes. 1t is an
ASSAULT Ou IuC vial pIluClDle Ol
the American system-representative
government. If the people are so
weak, or so corrupt, or so ignorant
that they cannot select honest agents
to transact their political business
and reflect their will in convention,
they are unfit for self-government,
our system is afailure, it will soon
die and it ought to die. There is
nothing else for it to do. Better
monarchy than the initiative and re-
ferendum-better an army than
mob. Again it will be a cold day
when primary will not be meat for
your boss.
Jones was defeated at Roanoke,
but subsequently, his faction tri-
umphed at the "May conference"
and the "primary" is vitalized in the
party law. And thus, in the Old
DOmini0n it ia nnlifioolIu aeoo.