Delaware State journal and statesman., 1866-01-12
cool AssvRANoE.

a dispatch from Washington says that
A. o. p. Nicholson, formerly United States
Senator from Tennessee, having made appli-
cation for his compensation between the
time he left the Senate in 1861 and the period
of his expulsion, his petition has been re-
fused by the Secretary of the Senate. 1t
seems to us to be tolerably cool on the part
OF this subiugated rebel to be preferring
such claim at this time, and we NAV take
it as fair indication of the amount of brass
possessed by the class of which he is n fair
representative. lie was member of the
National Senate when the rebellion broke
out, and being leading and influential man
among the conspirators, he deserted his post
when the rest did, for the purpose of casting
ms lot with those who had determined to
destroy the Union. His colleague, Andrew
johnson, stood firmly to his duty in a most
memorable style, and clung to the Union
with tenacity which has made him Presi-
dent. Subsequently the Senate expelled the
rebel members, and now this recusant Ten
nessee Senator Nicholson, having stuck to
the fortunes of the traitors to the very last.
comes back with the subiugated States, and
demands the arrears of his pay.
If he is entitled to his claim, Jefferson
Davis and all his followers in both Houses.
who have survived the war, may draw their
bills in the same style We do not know
that Mr.. Nicholson has been pardoned, but
presume he has been; and if so, he will he
using his pardon to show that his case stands
on different basis from that of Davis and
that the pardon restores him TO all his rights
OF citizenship. But does n pardon restore
such men so far as TO enable them to com
mence operations by drawing pay from the
National Treasury for official services which
they never performed, and against which
they rebclled? 1t will be observed thnt
Nicholson claims pay afler he had yolun-
tarily left the Senate, and for period during
which he was actively engaged in assisting
the work of rebellion. If there can be
anything cooler than this we should like to
see il.
We speak of the matter only because this
case OF Nicholson represents a class of rebel
claims constantly rising up to draw money
''f +N'f'''AiAi ltNsulH, ana We
sorry to say that some of them arc reported
to have been paid. Or this class are some
claims of rebel postmasters, who turned over
to the rebel authorities all the government
innds, stamps and other property in their
hands when the war broke out, and who
now come forward to claim their back nav.
In general these parties have experienced
the same rebuff that Nicholson met from the
Secretary of the Senate, but the number of
claimants seems to be increasing, and we
iear That we are to be deluged with claims
OF every description from the rebel States.
so that we raise our voice in earnest protest
against recognizing any of them. We in
clude in this many claims from flshy Union
men atthe South, who, during the war, were
on both sides or on either side as occasion
offered and as money could be made. There
IS no safety in considering any of their
claims, and we trust that all will be thrown
overheard together, to share the fortunes of
war; hHadelphiG american.