The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1880-02-14

, fcnlutiIcu, leaving not ono widow as
n beneficiary under the bill.
or the two PENNSYLVANIA regiments,
mustered in with 2,50a officers and
men, but l8l survive.
OF the Second Mississippi, 1885
officers and men, A survive.
or the Palmetto Regiment, LOTT
officers and men, only 81 are now liv-
ing. ~
1t has been the settled policy of our
government for more than one hun
drcd years to grant pensions to its
aged veterans. This policy was pro-
claimed in the act of Congress of NAV,
1878, which promised half pay for
seven years to all commissioned Off
GERS who should serve to the close of
the revolutionary war. This was ex-
tended by the act of 1880 to half-pav
for life. by the act of 1913, passed
thirty-tivc years after the close of the
war for Independence, Congress grant
cd pensions to officers and enlisted
men alike.
The acts may Is, 1928, and Juno
Z, 1882, were still more liberal to the
old soldiers of our revolutionary war.
When the soldiers the Indian wars
named volunteered, upon the call of
the government, to defend our early
settlements against the incursions OF
pitilcss stvagcs, and when the now
shattered veterans of Mexico were
sustaining against terrible odds the
honor and glory Of their country on
foreign fields, they might well have
expected that their country, which they
served SO well in their early manhood,
would assist them in their needy old
age.
Especially should this bill receive
the cordial support of all patriotic
members of both political parties in
Congress, rs a slight recognition of the
the vast material benefits conferred
upon our whole country by the skill
and yalor of our veterans OF the Mexi-
can war. Those soldiers fought ten
gene a battles and nearly one hun
urcd severe cngagcmc us, and achicv-
cu al unbrokcn series ofbrilliant vic
t)rics without the loss OF single rcyi-
mental standard, CT owning their splen-
did achievements by marching tri-
umphantly, with less than 1000 men.
into the capital of foreign nation,
and there debating the terms peace Of
in awaited city Of $50, 900 inhabitants.
Bv that conquest the boundaries of
Texas were established, and that great
State, with it's 260, 900 square miles Of
territory, forever assured to the Union.
BY their arms we secured Califo ni",
Ncvaua, Utah. New Mexico, Arizona,
Colorado, and Wyoming, an area Of
937 ,S75 square miles, and greater than
that embraced within the twcnty-nine
States which then constituted the Fed
cral Union.
According to the reports of the Bu-
rcau Of Statistics, not less than eleven
hundred millions Of dollars in gold
and silver have been taken from tho
mines in Territories thus acquired,
which still continue to yield their ap-
parcntly incXhaustibic stores Of the
precious metals that duriug the past
thirty years have given renewed i'm
pulse to every department Of Amcri-
can industry. No army Of such in
tcriOr numerical strength ever secured
such vast territory and such imperial
wealth for tho country that il served.
The objcc i III has been urged that
snilic:c 1t time has not elapsed since
the veterans ofthc Mexican war rcn-
dcrcd service in the field to warrant
Congress III granting them pensions.
IhiS objection might have some force
if whole generation had not passed
since those services were rendered.
md if these veterans could still con-
tinue to grow old, and thus live sufli-
cicntly long to meet the requirements Of
This economical system, which would
only accord pensions to those who
shall cvincc that they arc fully quail
tied as pensioners by dying soon after
pensions have been granted to them.
we arc satisfied that the general
r. If Of in 4
sanction such national system of
po$f-mo'tem gratitude, which, while
1T has the virtue of economy, yet cX-
commend it to the approval of Con-
yrcss.
We think that no valid objection
can now be urged against the rcpeal
Of section .l7ltb of the Revised Statutes,
by the act of March 8, 1878, that
section is no longer applicable to the
veterans OF the war of 1872, who were
thereby granted pensions, and former
pensioners Of that class restored to the
pnnslon-lolis from which they had
been stricken, or payment Of their
pensions refused on account Of disloy-
atty in the war ofthc rebellion. There
appears to be no sound reason, either
in justice or public policy, why dis
qualification from which pensioners of
the war Of 1912 have been relieved
should be imposed upon pensioners of
later wars, who arc at least equally
mcritorious.
In his message of December, 1873,
President Grant, who achieved his first
military distinction in the war with
Mexico, recommended to Congress; q
full and unconditional pardon and
amnesty for all oilenscs growing out
Of the rebellion.
That illustrious patriot and Senator,
MIR. Charles Sumner, in Il resolution
offered in the United States Senate on
the 22d December, 1872, used the fol-
lowing languages:
"The national Unity and goodwill
among fcllow-citizcns can be assured
only through an oblivion of past diff.
fcrcnces, and it is contrary to the usage
OF civilized nations to porpetuate civil
war;" -.