Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1869-04-08
THE RUTLAND HERALD
TUESDAY, APRIL Q, 1859.


The New York Evening Post and
Gen. T.. A. Merritt.
The New York Evening Post, which hal
reputation for candor and fairness, j
guilty of gross and wanton assault upoz
Gen. E. A. Merritt recently appointet
Naval Officer at New York It says, "w,
have no charges to bring against Mr.
Merritt, nor is it necessary that any should
be brought in order to justify the Senat'
in refusing to confirm his nomination,
and then intimates, by inuendo and other
wise, that he is neither honest or capable
As these articles maligning Gen. Mer
rift have had wide circulation among the
people of Vermont, in the New York and
Boston papers, we feel it matter of JUS
tce to General Merritt to make allusion
to the subject in our columns, as that
gentleman is a native of Vermont, who
has risen to honorable position by his own
unaided efforts, and has claim upon us
to present to the people of his native State
some facts relative to his history, and de-
fend him. so far as we may be able, from
the unjust attacks that have sought to
underate him in public opinion. We do
this Of our own free will and accord, with
out any suggestion from Gen. Merritt or
his friends, and we have never met the
gentleman but once, and that some years
since.
Gen. Merritt, who has just been APP
pointed and confirmed as Naval Officer of
the Port of New York, is evidently not
the individual whom the Evening Post
discusses. The Naval Officer was born in
Sudbury, Rutland county, Vermont, and
removed to st. Lawrence county, NY, at
an early age, settling in the town of Pier
pont. He represented his town on the
Board OF Supervisors for three years, and
then served as clerk of the Board. In 1859
and 90 he represented the Second District
OF St. Lawrence in the State Assembly.
On the breaking out of the war he
went into the service, not as a dashing
Cavalry officer" but with the Goth N.
Y. Infantry. He was promoted to Bri-
gade Quarternaster, was at Antietam,
Gettysburg, Charlottesville, Lookout
Mountain, Atlanta and accompanied
Sherman to the Sea. Since the close of
tho war he has served on Governor Fem
tons staff In all these varied changes
and important positions he has maintained
reputation for honesty, integrity and
capacity as favorable as any public man
in the State and free from the breath of
suspicion,
The Evening Post cannot have forgot |
ten that under the first administration of .
Mr. Lincoln, that gentleman received
an appointment under the government, in
Brooklyn, who was then connected with
that paper, who was no doubt honest and
capable, and had the unequivocal endorse
ment OF the Post, yet rivals who were dis
appointed, raised so vehement and loud
cry against the appointee, that the gen.
tlemar demanded an investigation, and
strenuous efforts were made to have it APP
pear that the new office holder had been
guilty of transactions wholly unbecom-
ing patriotic officer, and upright citizen,
but he was honorably acquitted. The
Post, at that time, regarded the prosecu-
ton as instigated by defeated rivals
The animus of the Posts article has an
appearance which indicates that somebody
a - been hit, and hence the futtering in
certain circles, also an effort is made to
eonfound Qnarterma sterG Merritt
with dashing cavalry officer of the same
name. and shows that there is an assumed
Ignorance OF an acquaintance with the
new naval officer at New York Writers ,
for the press cannot have been ignorant
of who who, ~ Gen. Merritt had
been too long and prominently connected 7
with public affairs in the Empire State to t
throw any one into confusion or doubt as
to who the new appointee was The milk =
in the cocoa nut is probably that Presi- c
dent Grant has made an appointment
of one of the three important Reve-
nue. officers at New York from the coun- 1
try, and for this he undoubtedly had valid
and good reasons that were sufficient for
his action, and if an appointment was to >
be made outside of the city of New York,
no section can be more justly entitled to
the position than st. Lawrence county, T.
which always gives large republican y
and in the hour OF need has
come to the rescue, and that too under the u u
intelligent and ptrsevering guidance of q
the gentleman who has now been reward :.
ID by this appointment pl
Some may ask what has Vermont to do n,
with this matter Vermont never stands W
oily by with folded arms when her sons m
It home or abroad, are unjustly alta cked, i In
without coming to their defence, as did Sc
ler sons in the hour of the country's peril,
or their honor, character and position are DO
he pride of every citizen of the State,
nd wherever they may be scattered tn ey
will always find responsive sentiment Of
mid the mountains where first they saw tn
he light And while the writer of this arti- an
lie holds the pen editorial, he feels bound on
o defend the just deeds and honorable lie
anne of every son of Vermont, whether 81
lie has gone forth to fight the battle of Ell
life abroad, or still resides within her -
orders
THE SuEz CANAL-Another stage an
oward the completion Of the Suez Canal 9 %,