Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1876-05-12
Proposed Pensions for Rebels.


Few nations have been called upon to
place upon their pension-rol so large a
number of pensioners as we have The
! rebellion caused fearful loss of life and
distress among those persons who re-
sponded to the call of the country to save
| the Union. Men who suffered the loss OF
limbs or of eyesight or of health in the
direct line of duty, and the widows and
orphans of soldiers and sailors who fell in
the service, were properly provided with
pensions. A pension, however, was not
given so much as a reward for loyalty. 1t
was granted more out of the gratitude of
the people for the devotion and sacrifice
of those who stood forth in the hour of
the Nations peril and aided in It's preser-
vation.
But the men who took part in the re-
bellion, and fought against the Union and
the cause it represented, have no such
claim. To reward such men If they suf-
fered would be discrimination in
favor of treasonous disloyalty, and place
the rebel and his dependents on the same
footing with the soldiers who fought and
saved the Union. In order, therefore, 20
guard against the commission of such
gross injustice, law was enacted which
has been reproduced in Section 4,716 in
the Revised Statutes That section reads
as follows:
No money on account of pension shall be paid
to any person, or to the widow, children or heir
of any deceased person, who in any manner vol
UNFAIRLY engaged in or aided or abetted the late
rebellion against the authority of the United
States.
Now, the Confederacy, which was the
product of the rebellion against the
authority of the United States, having
been destroyed by the Union forces in the
field, has gathered its scattered elements
in the National Congress; and the as
sembled Coniederates in the House and
Senate, appearing in the guise of repre-
sentatives of the people, seem to be
actuated by the same spirit as when the
war prevailed, and to be resolved 10 do all
they can on behalf of their comrades and
their families and against the interests of
the Union. Accordingly, wherever Re-
publican legislation protected the Federal
Treasury, or confined payments there
from to persons of known loyalty, the
Coniederates in Congress have set them
selves to reverse that legislation, and open
the way for the entrance of d.sloyalty to
seize upon the public money.
These recent efforts to extend the pen
sion-rolls by quartering rebel sympathlz-
ers and their families upon them is eX-
planned in House bill No. 1901, intro
duced by Mr., Mcfarland, to repeal the
above section of the Revised Statutes.
This bill has not attracted much attention.
but its principle is so impudently and
monstrouslY wrong that it deserves a close
examination and should be remembered
The text of the bill is as follows
Be IL enacted, etc., That section forty seven hun
dred and sixteen Of the Revised Statutes of the
United States be, and the same is, hereby re-
pealed; and the Secretary of the Interior is here
by authorized and directed to place on the pen
siOn-rolls the names Of all persons who may be
entitled TO pension under existing laws, not
withstanding they may have served in the rebel
army prior to such service, and pay to such per-
sons, their widows or children, a pension as pro-
yided by law i'll other cases, from aud after the
passage Of this act.
1t is almost always safe to assume that
when a Southern Democratic member of
the House or Senate desires to repeal a
section of the Revised Statutes he either
aims ut protecting the Democratic snutl
IN It's disloyalty, or to reward his disloyal
comrades for their treason, out of the
Treasury of the United States. This is
not condition of affairs that the people
are likely TO approve, and Representatives
especially will resolve that their votes
shall be cast to defeat forever the hope of
treason in that direction. The bill above
cited has in substance been passed by the
House majority, as report from the Com
mittee on Revolutionary Pensions, which
committee is presided over by an ex-rebel
igadier-Hunton, of Virginia. .--Repub-
Tic Hagazine.