New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-06-25
PFHENGE OR TRUSTf

The letter given below is from representa-
two of q class whose Judgment we may not
ALWAYS be able to accept, but whom stiil we
can never fail 10 honor with our whole hearts
grateful praise. We do not believe the writer
represents large class, and we DO know that
a vast majority of the soldiers who helped to
conauer our peace take very different view
Int he speaks for certain number, and his
complaints, like those of any soldier, are
entitled TO the most respectful treatment:
To the EdftOr Of The Tribune.
SIR: For the past eight or nine years
have been constant reader Of THE TRIBUNE, and am
rprised that you so warmly advocate the confirmation
OF A. T. Alderman as Attorney-General OF the United
States One who admits TINT he joined the Confederate
Army of accord and fought for eighteen months
with all the ability he had TO subvert the Government
is not the man for that position Is it not an insult to
m, one arm Is il not an outrage upon thousands OF
widows TO see walking the streets bearing the insignia
of office a man who did all he could TO make them
widows and their children faheressl And does II hep
his case that when the last hope OF the South ana OF
the success of the Rebellion gone, he turned traitor
TO his friends South he had before done to his cOu
tryi This may I've satisfactory to the Republican party
but MT suit the poor soldier or the widow and or
phan. POOR SoLDlh"
EeiO- Fork, June 81, 1870.
Now let us reason together
a. 1t is not true that Mr.. Alderman was an
original Rebel or that he entered the Con
federate service, save as thousands of Others
did,-when there was no escape for it. He
seems then to have been mainly engaged III
Home Guard and semi-legal duty. But we
pass that by, as really beside the question.
(2.) is it "an insult to the wounded soldier
of the Republic that one who once sought to
overturn our Government shall now be called to
help uphold it2 Must We forever deny to all
who were once our foes all part or lot in the
control of the Country we have forced them to
remain in9 Is it better to keep them outcasts,
or, when satisfied that we can trust them, to re-
adopt them into the family9 After you had
been properly punished for disobedience OF
orders, would it have been wise to require
that you should be kept in the guard-house
for the rest of your term of seryice,-sh0uid
never appear on parade, and never be per-
mitted to go into action
81 We do most earnestly hope to see the
day when both sides shall forget who were
the immediate agents of filling the land with
widows and orphans. The cause OF the terri
BILE calamity that bcfell us, the injustice, the
oppression of classes, the sectional hatred that
led to it, we would wipe out forever.
a. The way to wipe it out is to forget, not
to keep alive, old grudges, the memory OF
which can do no good. We have conquered
these Rebels. In the glory of the triumph we
are willing to drop the hard feelings of the
conflict. When you saw Lees shattered bat
talions stacking their arms at Appomattox,
you and every other true soldier in the ranks
FASTENED to share ratiOns with them. BE as
sured that was an impulse not to be distrusted.
We only ask that now, nearly six years after
the last gun was fired, you should act in the
same generous, manly spirit that then inspired
and ennObled you.
o. We do not want to live in a land where
One-half or one-third of our population is to
be vengefully kept under the ban, because it
has been conquered. We do not think such a
state of things conducive to a Nations pros
perity, greatness or safety. Do youf