National Republican., 1876-03-02

| bOiiCus vi ulcCt1 dhA OlOOLs
| Will the United States stand indiderently
by and watch patriot race gradually annihi-
lated, while struggling for the first principles
| OF freedom and the possession of inalienable
rightsl This, of course, is a question which
| the future alone can answer. Yet 1t is one to
| which the mass of the American people are
now ready to respond. Our people, always
| filed with sympathy for the oppressed, are
| with the patriots now and when the time
comes they will assert their sovereign author
| ity to act as it may seem to them best.
Exrebel General Pillow has written let
ter to the New York Tribune, in which he de-
| scribes his many troubles, and incloses his
| petition to Congress to remunerate him for
the loss of his mules and ether property dur
ing the war. He says: GAN my long and
eventful life have stood up with q stout heart
and manfully combatted the trials, and tried
to meet The duties and responsibilities of life.
ClieteSt among these have held the duties and
| responsibilities of the patriotic soldier. How
/ have met them the country onows. / trust I
will be pardoned for saying 1 so loved the
National Government-to whose service had
devoted the prime of my life-that 1 would l
honored with its confidence and with its COM
mission. Standing, as l now do, between its
aggressive acts and displeasure, and the neglect
and iTgrdtitMde of the people 1 subsequently
took up arms to defend, 1 am without hope
for the future. To be homeless, with family
Without shelter, with qa,nt poverty staring me
in the face, at my advanced age, presents a
prospect SO gloomy that my heart giyes uay,
and the conviction is forced upon me that 1
have lived too long" Suffering humanity
anywhere cannot fail to touch q sympathetic
chord in every generous heart. We pity poor
old Pillow. But 1t is not the first time we
have had occasion to pity this old man. Dur
ing the Mexican war, when he built the ditch
on the wrong side of the earthworks, our
fathers pitied him. When he folded his tent
like an Arab and silently stole out of Fort
Donaldson during the late war we felt deeply
for the old gentleman. We always thought it
so cruel in General Grant to rouse the weary
old patriot from the arms of Morpheus, and
force him TO swim the river in his habit de Soir.
We pitied him more than ever when he sat in
his headquarters on the Cumberland and
gnashed his teeth and swore because he could
not reach Washington with his legions in gray
and burn our magnificent public buildings and
hang our leading statesmen. Again we re-
mark that we have often pitied the sorrows of
this poor old man, but we must confess that
we never have felt bad enough to urge the
Government to pay him for his two hundred
and thirty-fve mules. We are very sorry
that he thinks he has lived too long. 1t is
disagreeable to be that way. A man might
better have the jumping tooth-ache or a crick
in his back. But even this sad condition of
the old patriot does not move us with any
great force to urge the payment for these
donkeys. We never will have anything to do
with mules in arrearage.
Mr.. Springer recently introduced a bill into
the House, the aim of which is to prohibit
Americans from holding slaves, either directly
or indirectly, on the Island of Cuba. We must
respectfully call attention of the philanthro-
pist, Mr.. William Welsh, to the provisions of
this bill. 1t is matter which ought to at
tract his personal attention, and we hope for
the sake of suffering humanity, found In the
person of certain slaves, that he will not
simply give it q passing notice, but that he
will drink deep Of its meaning, and benefit by
the warning it gives to all Americans now
engaged In this abominable traffic in human
flesh and blood. William loves the poor Indian.
He is apparently willing to lay down his pre-
cious life to save these wretched barbarians
one unnecessary pang or sorrow. We doubt
whether there is another man in this country
who has talked so affectionately about our
red brothers as William has been doing for
many months past. His whole soul seems to
+o h;e
hears of one with q hole 10 his blanket or
piece of tainted beef in his wigwam bislndig-
nation is truly awful. lie curses the Indian
Bureau from its head to its foot, and writes
open letters demanding immediate investiga-
tion into the terrible wrong. But, William.
ah William, while you are thus horrifed at
the supposed wrongs of the red man, you have
q wonderful faculty of forgetting that you
hold in your possession the grinding shacbles
which are enthralling and making most pitt
fully wretched portion Of humanity that is
quite as worthy of sympathy and protection
as they. While you are pouring forth your
mournful strains respecting the injuries in
iicted upon our red brothers, your slave mas
tiers in Cuba are swapping the cruel lash over
the backs OF your mortgaged serfs on the
innuendos upon the Indian service, your mort
gagged slaves are piling mountain high their
imprecations upon you and all other men
that are burdening them with the CALLING
chains of a most infamous serfdom. While
YOU are notoriously blaming the Indian Bureau
for buying bad brute flesh for the dusky boys
of the plains, you are engaged yourself in
buying apd selling the flesh of your fellow
men. While you are pouring the tales of the
woe and sufferings Of the Indian into the ears
of Congress, do you not realize that your
slaves are pouring forth heartrending appeals
to the Maker and Giver of all good that He
may deliver them out of the hands of their
hard task-master, William Welsh, the philau-
thropist and Christian gentleman? Well,
that is truly the case, William. 1t is as true
as there is justice in heaven and wickedness
on earth. So you had better look to the pro-
visions of Mr.. Springer's bill and search care
fully your own heart 1t will result in your
good, William. Never mind the loss of a
little money. You are rich, aud then re-
member the principle at stake. Don't take
advantage of the bill and sell your slaves
when they are high in the market, but strike
their shackles to the earth, and, fguratively
speaking, take them by the hand and say,
ssWelcome, man and brother, into the atmos-
phere of freedom. Rejoice and give thanks,
not so much to William Welsh as to your
Creator" -.-..- -- '-'
Pure Gsorgia Democracy.
N ~ Fab .l1