The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1882-12-27
Mexican war renaons-Jesnerson
4 BILL 10 DO JUSTICE TO OLD SOLDIER
WITH THE BUGABoo oAfTTTEp.

Davis.
4 BILL 10 DO JUSTICE 10 OLD SOLDIERS
WITH THE BUGABoo OMITTED.
WAsHNGToN, Dsc. I9.-The Committee
on Pensions this morning agreed to q bill
which will be offered on tie third 7Fsnfs-
IN January, and its passage urged Gs..iag 4
suspension of the rules, to grant pensions to
the survivors of the Mexican war. Mr.. JEFF
ferson Davis, of Mississippi to be excluded.
A bill has been approved heretofore to pen
sion soldiers, but it has met with defeat
because Jefferson Davis would be q bene-
feiary. It is thought the bill can be passed
If the ex-President of the Confederacy is
denied its benefits.
Upon the foregoing the New Orleans
States give expression to a feeling Of
indignation which We fully endorse
1t may be that Mr.. Davis is utterly indif-
ferent to the contemplate luminosity so pit
fully displayed toward him by these IN
worthy representatives. But the few vet
Grams of the Mexican War who are dragging
out the narrow remnants of their lives are
old, decrepit, and many of them in great
poverty. and that these heroes, who 50 faith
fully served their country in their vigorous
prime should be thus neglected in their in
firm years, simply to spite the illustrious
head of the Southern Confederacy, is an
act of such infamy, that the most brazen
partisan should blush to be thought to couu-
tenance it.
At any rate, We are glad to know that,
even at this late day and under these IN
pleasant circumstances, those old soldiers
Of the Republic are to be cared for. In the
long years that roll between tle>-Nexican
War and the present time, these venerable
men have been nearly if not entirely for
gotten or overlooked. They who fought
our foreign enemies have been made to give
place to those who in civil strife slaughter
ed our own people, burnt our own homes
and pillaged our own country.
It is NOT, therefore, inappropriate to re-
freshen our veneration for the old heroes by
recurring to the estimation in which their
services, when their services were fresh,
were held; and it cannot but quicken the
patriotic impulses of our own hearts to re-
open once more the fountains of gratitude
which gushed so copious a stream from
those of our ancestors, to cheer and honor
those who fought the battles of the Repub-
lie
In 1917, when the Mexican volunteers
were returning from their campaigns, a
grand public reception was given them in
this city. Old and young, men, women,
and children, all races and all classes of our
population, issued forth to welcome those
Scared heroes. No demonstration was too
extravagant to manifest the common graft
tude, no words were too fervent to embody
the general love, and there was but one
tongue whose eloquence, sweet as the arch
angels song, was capable of Interpreting
the emotions of whole people. On that
occasion S, S. Prentiss was appointed to de-
liver the address of welcome Only a frag-
ment of that Grafton has been preserved to
Us. We accidentally fell upon it this
morning after we had read the dispatch at
the head of this article and we reproduce
one brief passage from it that our readers
may contrast the noble eloquenca in which
the love of former generation for our he
roes was embodied with the sterile sentences
in which alone the low and ignoble spirit
of partisanism and selectionalism can be
bodied forth. In the course of his speech,
Mr.. Prentiss said
"Welcome, citizen soldiers, soldier cit
liens. Your neighbors will regard you
with respect and affection. Your children
will feel proud whenever they hear the
names of Monterey and Buena Vista, and a
grateful nation has already inscribed your
names upon its annals. Indeed, it is a
noble sight, worthy of the genius of this
great republic, to behold, at the call of the
country, whole armies leap forth in battle
array, and then, when their services are no
longer needed, fall quietly back and CO.
mingle again with the communities from
whence they came. Thus the dark thun-
der-cloud, at natures summons, marshals
its black battalions aud lower in the hori-
zon; but at length, its lightnings spent, its
dread artillery silenced, its mission finished,
disbanding its frowning ranks, it melts
away into the blue ether, and next morn
ing you win find it glittering in the dew
drops among the flowers or assisting, with
its kindly moisture, the young and tender
plants. Gallant gentlemen, you will soon
leave US for your respective homes. Every
where fond and grateful hearts await you
You will have to ruE the gauntlet OFFEND
ship and affection. The bonfres are already
kindling upon the hills In every grove
and pleasant arbor the feast is spread
Thousands of sparkling eyes are watching
eagerly for your return. Tears will fill
them when they seek in vain among your
thinned ranks for many loved and famil-
lar face; but through those tears will shine
the smiles of joy and welcome, even as the
rays of the. morning sun gIitters through the
dew drops which the sad night hath wept.'