Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1879-01-27
LETTER FROM WASHINGTON.
ESPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF THE MoNIToR.]
WASHINGTON. Jan, 20. 1879.

LETTER FROM WASHINGTON.
ESPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE THE MoNIToR1
WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 1879.
1t is easy for the reader of our politi-
cal history since the nominal close of
the war to trace the successive steps
taken in the States that participated in
that great crime, to reach the position
of open defiance to United States author
ity reported in this mornings kilograms
on the part of a petty State Court in
Alabama. With few exceptions the
men who precipitated that four-years
war, who led the rebel armies, who set
their respective commands the example
of laying down their arms in tokens of
submission in April, 1865, have taken
the place of political leaders to a people
that they betrayed into the overt acts of
treason and armed resistance to the au-
thority of the United States. They
have largely moulded, directed and
made public sentiment in the South what
it is to-day. The old heresy of States
rights which went down into a common
grave with the "lost cause on the col
lapse of the rebellion, has been resur-
rected little by little by the men who
had forfeited every right but who were
turned adrift to float further mischief
through mistaken magnanimity. 1t
been made rallying centre for North
ern and Southern Democracy. Both
Houses CT Congress will soon be in IN
disputed possession of the rebel leaders
of less than 20 years ago. Through the
Cancellation dodge many of the most i'm
portant Federal positions in the late
Confederacy have been filled with their
creatures, and the Upas tree of States
rights Is again in full bloom, giving
promise of another abundant harvest of
its poison fruit. And if the perils of
the present situation are not sufficiently
appreciated to solidify the loyal elements
of the country, Democratic majority
in both Houses will likely make them
apparent enough after full possession
shall have enabled them to bind their
opponents hand and foot.
The arrears of pension bill which had
previously passed the House went
through the Senate on Thursday with
but four dissenting votes, and it is be-
lieved that the President will either
sign, or at least will not veto it. The
amount of money it will take to satisfy
its provisions is variously estimated
from Is to "a million dollars. Itseems
the opinion that the provisions of the
bill have been SO loosely drawn as to
facilitate the prosecution of fraudulent
claims to successful issue. The bars
interposed by existing laws to the grant
ing of large number of claims which
it found impossible to prosecute to a
successful issue with five years from the
date of fling because evidence could
not be obtained sufficiently conclusive
that the cause of death or disability was
contracted in the service and line of
duty, is to great extent removed by
this supplementary law. We may ex-
pect to see these revived, and an ava
lance of new ones based on every con-
ceivable pretext will undoubtedly give
ample employment to the clerical forces
of the Pension Office and War depart
ment for some years to come should the
bill become law.
The tragic occurrences that have fol-
lowed the stampede of the Cheyenne
captives corralled at Camp Robinson.
seems likely to lead to a demand for
more light-an itemized bill, so to speak
that the responsibility may be fixed
where it properly belongs. As gathered
from the dispatches the whole business
as managed by the custodians of the
Indians looks like series of blunders
From these sources it appears that these
savages were being forced to detested
southern reservation hundreds of mile;
away from the homes they had occupied
for generations and away from the
graves of their ancestors-at least such
Of them as would have been left nomi
nally free after the Kansas and Nebras
ka authorities had selected such of thu
warriors as they should decide were
amendable to punishment for crimes tina
were committed during their maraudine
raid through those two States last sum