The National tribune., 1883-05-03
THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE: WASHINGTON c. THURSDAY MAY s. 1888

feeling that the men who brought them to
successful issue merit far more generous
return at the hands of the Government than
they have ever received. The Florida war,
it is true. took place nearly half century
ago, and it is not to be expected that the
present generation should perfectly under
stand or appreciate the conditions under
which it was fought, but it is nevertheless a
fact that it was attended with much hard
ship and marked by an excessive mortality.
Florida veteran tells how out of a company
OF sixty he was one of only five who
survived the exposure and dangers OF the
campaign. Considering the time that has
elapsed since then, and the feeble, helpless
condition in which, by reason of their ex-
IRENE age, all who participated in that war
must now be, it would be an act of but
tardy justice on the part of the Government
to provide for the support of these lettering
survivors.
As to the Mexican war, public ignorance
is less excusable 1t was not fought SO long
ago but that its hardly-won victories and
the vast acquisition of territory by the Uni
ted States, which was its immediate result,
should still be fresh in popular recollection.
That was not an impoverishing but an en-
riching war. It gave us California and
Texas Nevada and Colorado, Arizona, Utah
and New Mexico-the richest portion of our
National domain-and from the wealth thus
poured into its lap, the country could well
afford to erect monument in solid gold or
silver to the memory of the men who waged
it. And yet, all they ask is the pittance
necessary to keep the wolf from the door in
their old age.
That any considerable number of Ameri-
cans should be ignorant of the history OF
our last war may well excite surprise, and
yet it is difficult to account for the preju-
dice which is displayed against the surviv-
ors of that struggle On any other supposition.
Who would believe, for instance, that any
one who had followed the history of the
Army of the Potomac from Bull Run to Ap-
pomattox, during which time, as the histo-
rian Swinton has so forcibly put it, although
losing again and again the component parts
of its structure-thinned by death, and
wounds, and wasting disease, and filed up
again and again by the unquenched patriot
ism of the people-it never lost its indiyid-
ual being could have The heart to taunt its
survivors in regard to the disabilities which
impel them to seek the promised aid of the
Government? Certainly it is contrary to
the usage Of all other nations to belittle the
| services of its preservers, or make a jest OF
their necessities, and it would be humili-
ating to suppose that the slurs and satire OF
which our own defenders are the object pro-
coed from any other cause than thoughtless-
ness or ignorance!
If such be not the case, heaven forgive
the miserable wretches who thus betray the
meanness of their natures and their unwor-
thiness to enjoy the blessings of blood
bought freedonl They are not fit to touch
the hand of the humbless veteran in the
land, and all the ribald wit and coarse hui
NOR with which they seek to veil their NAL
ice will not avail to shield them from the
contempt of their fellow-c citizens.