National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-01-27
A FEW FACTS ABOUT SENATOR MERRI.
MON

hONt
The Senate of the United States, with all
Its traditions Of honor and purity In public
life, of devotion TO tho first principles Of
our republican form Of government and of
patriotism when those principles have
been assailed, has, we are sorry to say, in
these latter times, been defled by the
presence of Opposition members, who, de-
void of conscience, have been incapable of
comprehending the nature and force of
principle, and devoid of learning, incapa-
BILE of grasping questions of statesmanship,
and devoid of patriotism, incapable of
sounding the reasons controlling an I'M
selfish man. Such men are like kites in
the nests of eagles, and like pelicans, who
feed their young from the breasts of others.
They creep into high places in the absence
of rightful proprietors, and they are re-
morseless in appropriating to their own
use the substance of another's' toll. 1t
makes no difference to them who is i'm
poverished-it may be a near relative,
town, county, State or nation. 1t is all the
same if the robbery, the cheating and the
false swearing carry with them personal
aggrandizement.
Just previous to the holiday adjourn
ment Senator Merrimon, of North Caro-
lima, made a speech, in which, among
other passages quite as atrocious in its
offence against truth, this one occurred.
He said, referring to the Constitutional
Convention Of that State, held under the
reconstruction acts:
t'The convention that assembled under the
auspices of Congressional reconstruction IN
dertook to increase our debt millions. The
first Legislature that was elected under it, to-
gether with the convention, undertook to in
crease it over ST, O00, 900. Those bonds were
put upon the markets of the country, and of
the vast sum less than $500, 900 went into the
public works of the State. This was mainly
the haDdiwork of political adventures from the
North"
The ability to concoct tale of that de-
scription is only gained after long and
peculiar training. A man has to grow up
to be sort of Goliah or Samson in mis-
representation before he can wrest facts
from the truth of history in that style, but
when one or two incidents in the career of
the Senator are recalled, the wonder is
somewhat diminished.
For instance, toward the close of the
war General Stoneman's command was
operating in Western North Carolina.
Thousands of patriotic Union men Of that
section of the State volunteered to serve
under him. At the close of the war, Sen
ator Merrimon was superior court judge,
and he charged his grand jury against
these Union soldiers for trespass. The con-
sequence was that hundreds of vindictive
arrests were made, and men were every
where being thrown into prison. The OPP
preston at last became so great that Gen
eral Candy had to issue orders for the re-
lief of the men who had been fighting the
battles of their country. 1t was only the
interference Of the military arm that saved
these patriotic soldiers from the merciless
persecution of an unjust judge. The exact
membership of the convention to which
the Senator refers was one hundred and
twenty, divided as follows: One hundred
and five native North Carolinians and fif-
teen from other States. The total member
ship of the Legislature was one hundred
and seventy, and of this number all were
natives with the exception of sixteen.
What does he mean to say? that sixteen
poor carpet baggers" were more than a
match for all the astute natives of the
State in the Legislature? But what must
be thought of the unblushing impudeuce
Of fha SanofOr rrhnn tho aof 20 cfa fo1
that the appropriation bills to which he
refers were drawn originally in his own
handwriting, and while acting as the con-
fidential secretary of one George W. Swep-
son, who afterwards lobbied them through
the Legislature. And then, again, it was
this Senator's cunning in fraud and decep-
ton that so framed the bills that the presi-
dents of the railroads to whom the bonds
went should receive them without giving
bonds to the State in return for the faithful
execution of their trusts. And who were
these presidents and officers who received
the bonds? Senator Merrimon will recol-
lect S. D. Tate, DR.. Sloan, A. ]. Jones,
DR.. Hawkins, R. 81. Cowan, Gen. Stubs
and Swepson, and this other fact that with
the single exception of A. ]. Jones they
are all Democrats, and natives. Surely the
poor sixteen carpet baggers were very kind!
The Senator will also recollect that he
received the present Of fine house in
Raleigh from swepson, and great dia-
mond breastpin and large sum of money
from the same source, and he has not for
gotten either how he abandoned Swepson
after he had disposed OF seven millions OF
dollars worth of these bonds and had been
indicted. In fact, it is within the memory
of man that Senator Merrimon, on oath,
has admitted all these things; and yet the
Pelican Senator seeks to nourish his blasted
reputation from the innocent breasts of six
teen carpet -baggers. The whole thing was
mainly the handiwork' of himself, and
every well-informed person knows it.
Heaven pity the Democratic party if 1t de-
ponds upon such recruits as osEe up through
the cracks of the floors of the political out
hn of tho Snnth