The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1862-01-10
NEW SERIES-NO. 423
Surrender of Mason and slidell.

The Washington correspondent of the
New York Eoeasing Post, writes as follows
about the feeling in Washington. The al.
lusion to Senator HALE's position, was
brought out by an Incorporate speech Of
that gentleman's in the Senate against the
surrender of the rebel commissioners.
FEELING OF THE NAVY AND ARMY.
In the city yesterday violent conflict of
opinion ragged when the news became public.
The naval officers, / am told, generally cons
demned the surrender, their esprit de corps
doubtless leading them to regard it as in
some measure stigma upon Commodore
Wilkes--a conclusion to which they have
probably arrived without stopping to read
Mr.. Stewards dispatch. A careful perusal
of that document, by showing that the
Government does not censure Wilkes may
change this very natural feeling in the navy.
The army officers on the other hand, so far
as have heard, generally approve this pa
cifc settlement, chiefly on the ground
that all our energies and resources are re.
quired I'd subdue the rebellion, and war
with England on point OF honor, and that
a point on which the general sentiment Of
other governments is against us, would be
the heighth Of folly and impolicy. at is q
nasty business" said one of these gentles
men yesterday, but it is what Mrs. Par !.
tington calls military necessary and
must be submitted to accordingly" Gen
eral Mcclellan and his staff are reported to
be strongly in favor of the course pursued
by the Administration.
MR. HALE's POsrT1oN.-s
Among members of Congress the SETTLE
ment, though generally received as wise and
prudent, is not without strong opponents.
Senator Hale's speech foreshadowed the
course which portion of the Republicans
will take 10 the matter. Mr.. Hale, however,
is not CD good terms with the Administra.
tion, and, like some other Republican sena-
tor las not yet reached realizing sense Of
the s4:f that his party is now in power,
and that the tactics an opposition sare
not those of an administration. He has
been 90 long in the habit Of @pitching in" to
the government that he finds it hard to re.
frain from that amusement. Besides, New
Hampshire is on the eve of election, and
political considerations of local character
have urged the Senator to speak, when on
broader considerations he would have kept
silent. He is now absent from the city,
having gone home to look after the Repub~
ican State Convention.
WHAT THE WEST SAYS.
The warmest denunciations of the sur.
render are made by western men, some of
whom profess to regard the transaction as
the fruit of sel6shness and cowardice in the
East and on the seaboard. They have
humbled and disgraced the country and
shown the white feather to England" said
an Illinois member yesterday, " for the sake
of few miserable schooners which they
fear may be captured it we 60 to war"
This imputation on the patriotism of the
East comes with an ill>grace from men who
clamor about the hardship of an income
tax and declare that their people will never
submit to be taxed twenty cents extra on
pound of tea. This western zeal for war
with England would sensibly diminish un.
der the effects of an actual experience, not
only of the dangers, but of the burdens of
such war. As it is, Illinois, though ready
enough to contribute men to the army, will
find her share of the expenses of the war
with the shareholders sufficient to show her
taxpaying patriotism to the utmost. Al.
ready the financial question is becoming the
main embarrassment of the government,
and yet we are only at the beginning of the
struggle.