Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-02-10
An Entering Wedge.

The claim OF the widow OF Capt. Hugh
n. Page, of Virginia, for balance OF
S136 S5 due that officer at the time he
resigned his commission and went into
rebellion, is only one of class of South
ern claims that, with >just semblaace
of justice, contain possibilities of inin.
ite mischief. 1t has been reported upon
favorably, and in the debate upon it i'll
the House last Friday the Democratic
members, with the honorable exception
of General Bragg, of Wisconsin, mani
tested disposition to push it through
under party whip and spur There was
amount of the claim, the circumstances
OF the widowed claimant, the fact that
it WAS for services actually rendered the
Government before the Captain threw
up his commission, and the magnanim-
| ity that a great Government ought to
tshew in such cases. All of which went
on regardless of the somewhat import
ant fact that an act of Congress passed
in 1867 positively forbids the payment
of any claim whatever, (which accrued
or existed prior to the 18th of April, in
favor of any person who promoted, en-
couraged, or in any manner sustained
the late rebellion, or in favor of any
person who during such rebellion was
not known to be opposed thereto" 1t is
not denied, of course, that it is entirely
competent for Congress to order the
payment notwithstanding. But then
the question naturally arises: Why not
repeal the law?
This is simply an entering wedge. All
the appeals to individual sympathy in
this particular case must pass for
nothing, since two offers are known to
have been made by members of Con-
gress to pay the amount of the claim out
of their own pockets rather than have a
dangerous precedent established. These
offers were rejected in terms because, as
the member who had the bill in charge
(Mr. Goode, Of Virginia. distinctly said,
there was principle involved; the
claimant did not come begging aims"
but to ask for simple, naked Justice
A good deal of cheap rhetoric was pour
ed ont by Mr.. Goode, of Virginia, and
Mr.. Hooker, of Mississippi; one dwelling
upon the meanness of refusing to the
widow of an old naval officer the pay
that was justly due, the other glorifying
the leaders of the rebel armies and talk
ing as though opposition to this claim
was an attempt to "consign them to in
fanny" Mr.. Hooker in particular waxed
eloquent over General Lees memory,
and drew a fine lesson from the execu-
tion of Robert Emmet by the English
Government, in utter forgetfulnness of
the fact that so far from its furnishing
any parallel, it offers most remarkable
contrast to the merciful and magnani-
nous treatment of the leaders of the re-
bellion by our Government.
There is no need of all this zigzagging.
What these gentlemen are driving at is
plain enough. They desire not only to
wipe out all the legislation of the war
period, but to obliterate from the record
as well all distinctions between the two
parties to the war. so that both shall
stand alike, with no blame for either
Hence the sensitiveness about calling it
a rebellion, and the attempt to dignity
it, as Mr. Hill did in the Senate the 9th
er day, with the name of revolution.
These gentlemen who were courageous
enough or foolhardy enough to set a
great rebellion on foot, lack the forti-
tnde to accept with resignation the con-
sequences of their acts. Not content
with general amnesty and restoration to
all the rights and privileges they had
forfeited, nor satisfied to have their |
rebellion forgiven and forgotten, they |
insist upon being classified as patriots |
on account of their treason, and having |
their disastrous failure treated as sue |
cess. There is but one way to meet |
them, and that is with determined ad- |
herence to the cold, hard facts that
their enterprise was rebellion and they
were rebels, and that their crimes did |
work forfeitures and incur penalties.
There is no disposition anywhere to
dwell upon these things or recall them
but they must not COM
plain if, when they force it upon US, we
insist on distinguishing between loyalty
and treason, and calling things by their
right names.-TN. Y. Tribune.