National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-12-20
soxETHIsa NOT APPRECIATED.

lIOu hlChlu6 bAoNh
SOMETHING NOT APPRECIATED.
He was sitting by his f1reside. and as his
eve caught the announcement in the paper
that the Sergeant.si-Arms in the rebel House
of Congress had received at the hands Of
the Democracy the appointment of Door
keeper in the United States House Of Rep
resentati7es, he exclaimed 'What there
"must be some mistake about this; 1t is
Impossible. That rattle.brained reporter
"has got things mixed. The idea of such
ga transaction - And then he called his
wife in and read 1t over and looked at her
and the picture of the battle Of Gettysburg
on the wall and the rusty old sabre in the
corner, shook his head and again remarked
that it must be mistake. This is unmis-
takably the universal feeling among those
of our people who gave their services to the
country in the hour when patriotism and
pluck were valuable, but there is a
question respecting the correctness OF
the impulse. The war is over. The
rebels, overcome by the omnipotent
power Of right and the invincible force Of
Northern fidelity TO the Union, submitted,
were magnanimously pardoned, came back
into the federation of States and are now
citizens enjoying all the rights Of an unfet-
tered citizenship. The newly-appointed
Doorkeeper, Notwithstanding the fact that
ten years ago he would have gladly pulled
down the nations emblem and used 1t to
wrap I'D the wounds of those who were
patriotically bleeding to destroy the Union,
is now q reconstructed, amnesty favored
and constitutionally authorized citizen of
the United States, with the unreserved
right to enjoy any and all the offices which
his party may see fit to bestow upon him.
Besides these interesting things, he
has received the unanimous support
of the Confederate Democracy, and has
most graciously taken the qualified oath.
Moreover, and above all this, he has had
long and varied experience as Sergeant at
Arms in the rebel Senate, and that too, at
q time when that body was most actively
engaged in its herculean efforts to stuff
the country with anarchy and ruin, and by
this lively experience he can better appre.
ciate how sweet it is to serve united and
prosperous nation. The scenes Of An
Jacksonville have gone into history. The
miseries of Libby prison exist with vivid
ness only to those in whose persons are
traces of the disease contracted there
through brutal treatment and neglected
wants. Belle Isle is thing of the past
and the war is ten years old; then why
should we think of these things9 or
course, the fat cemeteries and vacant chairs
and fifty thousand orphans and an enor.
nous national debt still remain to remind us
that ten years since the whole South and q
plotting intriguing, reasonable faction
North were planning and building guillo-
tine for the head of the goddess Of united
country-but we must not let such little
matters trouble our minds. They are alto
gether too unimportsnt. And it seems
very strange that those who sacrificed
their health and limbs to preserve the
Union should take any exceptions to the
appointment to high and lucrative places
| of those who struggled four years with un-
RENTING energy against that preservation.
What if you did lose leg or an arm,
or two legs or two arms, for that
matter, in defense of your country,
when the high hand of an odious treason
attempted to lend it assunderf Is thatau
reason that you should regret to see those
who shot your limbs away and attempted
| to shatter united and prosperous country
to fragments feeding at this early hour on
the fat places in the land? What II the
nations preservers, with their wounds and
feebleness. are turned out upon the cold
charities of the world, and the nations
destroyers are appointed to fill their vscan-
cies3 Is this any cause of regret, Of provo.
cation or of piningf Are our brave vet
Grams, with their empty sleeves and wooden
legs and SCARED and mangledlbodies. who
passed through the fatigues of q hundred
weary marches, and beat the same dull
round from night to night on the dreary
picket watch, without murmur to be
moved to complaint by such Insignificant
things as these? To be sure they have
sacrificed much for their country, but did
not these reconstructed gentlemen sacrifice
much against it? Did they not sacrifice Al
much in proportion to their facilities, and
would they not have sacrificed much more
if our veterans had not checked them into
submission? And yet in the face of thest
interesting facts there are many, we may
say q majority of the people who stood by
the Union, who feel constrained to entel
a protest against this Wholesale ousting o
Union veterans and placing Of ex-Confed-
crate soldiery in their stead. They do mo-
seem to appreciate how much these mer
sacrificed against the Government; how
long it is since the Government dare trus
them with the positions; how short time
it is since they involuntarily concluded
not to annihilate the Union, and how
necessary it is to persuade them, by thes.
little courtesies, into the belief that unitet
we stand and divided we fall, and, also
that the Union should be continued at al
hazards, notwithstanding what little Per
sonal feelings they may perchance harbo
to the contrary. When these things ar
appreciated, as they no doubt will be befor
many years, this spirit Of astonishmsn
and resentment which has been so liber
ally exhibited by the loyal people Of tn
country at the restoration of the Confed
eracy under the shadow of the Nations
Capitol viii pass away, and once more this
, true brotherhood which we all so muc
desire and which the country so muc
needs win be established.
MINOR TOPICS.
Mr.. Hall in his new role as an actor la