The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1885-05-10

Sntered AZ the Post Omee 1t washington, ID. o., rs
Seooud-oisss Matter.
Editorial and Publication Offices, No. 400
Tenth Street Northwest.
7. n. BURRITT Editor and Proprietor
i. u. kALBfUS...........,.... Publisher
wAsHsNGToN:::;::: :;::::;::;::::::::::MAY 10, 1885.
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We must crave the indulgence of our
readers for the quality of the paper used for
the past few weeks. We generally have
finer paper and better press work than our
neighbcrs, but have been struggling with
an inferior quality of paper, which, after this
week, our readers will see no more.
This Democratic Administration improves
with age. The suspension last W eek OF sew
eral postmasters for offensive partisanship
shows that If 1, is slow It is sure. But the
continued disability Of First Assistant POST
master General Hay is serious misfortune,
as 1t doubtless had much to do with the dis.
aster in Illinois, which has probably lost a
United States Senator to the Democracy at a
time when Senatorial votes are Of the utmost
Importance. 1t is impossible to forecast the
trouble and inconvenience which may be
caused by this unlucky event, which must
by no means be entirely charged to Mr.. Nor
rison or his friends, though they can hardly
be held altogether blameless. We fear the
failure to change the CROSS roads postmasters
was the chief cause Of the surprising apathy
among the Democratic rank and file-which
gave to Mr.. Logan's candidate for the State
Senate majority of several hundreds in a
district that last November gave the Cleve-
land electors plurality of about $500.
The Democratic strengthening Of the
District Judiciary, foreshadowed in the ap-
pointment of Judge Merrick, though very
important in view of the recent legislation
cutting off large class of appeals to the
Supreme Court of the United States, will be
Of limited avail unless accompanied by a
comprehensive law reform in the District.
The number of District decisions reversed
by the Supreme Court of the United States
since 1868 is no doubt not to be attributed
to the incapacity Of the local court or to its
assemblage Of judges from all parts of the
country, so much as to the bewilderment
caused by the maze Of conflicting statutes,
and the superposition Of several systems of
law, leaving it open for different tribunals
even after very close study to take entirely
different views. The revision Of the law
ought not to be committed to doctrinaires, or
to persons interested in changing it this way
or that, but to those combining earnestness
with discretion. It would seem that such
could be found, who would at least provide
some better reliance for courts, lawyers, and
business men in their daily transactions
than /" Thompson's Digest" and the present
"Rsvised Statutes relating to the District OF
" Columbia
The Sixteenth Annual Reunion of the So
ciety of the Army of the Potomac, which
took place in Baltimore Wednesday and
Thursday, was in every way one Of the most
successful since its organization in 1869.
The attendance Of veterans was large, many
new members Joined the society, and the
exercises revived memories of what most OF
those who took part will always look back
upon as the noblest episodes of their lives.
A noteworthy incident was the reception
during the meeting in the Opera House Of
Robert E. Lee Camp Of Confederate Veterans
from Richmond. Though half dozen
fanatics showed their mean natures by OBJ
jecting, the heartiness and enthusiasm with
which several hundred of the old Army of
the Potomac extended the hand Of fellow
ship to their brave antagonists of the Army
of Northern Virginia left nothing to be de.
sired, and was sufficient rebuke to the
ignoble cavillers. This determination of the
blue and gray is far and away the most
gratifying of the after-growths of our great
conflict, and is in delightful contrast to the
hatreds and dissensions which history shows
us have so often lasted for generations after
a civil war. Grounded in the mutual respect
felt for each other by brave men, it shows
that the result Of our tremendous four years
of war was not to conquer another Poland OF
Ireland, but that we have really gained by
It a reunited country.
II one of the results of liberty and the
habit of self-government is that even the
arbitrament of the sword, when that last re-
sort has to be invoked, is submitted to with
better grace and does not prevent the actual
combatants, victorious and defeated together,
from living in concord and amity, and work.
ing psacefully together for the common well
fare Of common country, who shall say that
elf.government has not in that fact gained
its grandest vindicationf The sense of COM
radeship which we find among the surviving
veterans OF our Civil War, North and South,
the fraternal feeling which unites the hearts
Of those who wore the blue to those who
wore the gray, is an honor to human nature
and credit to our free institutions.
The Canadians have always taken pride
IN their superior management OF the Indian
question and its success as compared with
the tragic and uns satisfactory methods Of the
United States. Even making allowance for
the smaller number Of their Indians, and
the severity Of 3 climate which made it
easier TO punish and restrain hostile raids,
there was much TO be said in favor Of the
Canadian plan and its results. 1t is there.
fore surprising to find them now engaged in
3 fully-developed Indian war, with far less
force to meet it in proportion than even the
slender Regular Army of this Republic. 1t
is true that the trouble began with the half
breeds, turbulent class, who have ont
grown the childish methods proper with the
wild Indians, without, on the other hand,
fully coming under the restraints of civilized
life. But Colonel Otter's dash last week was
against tribe Of unmixed Indians, who had
been committing atrocities in the old-fssh-
ioned style familiar on our frontier, and who
managed to bottle him up along with the gar
rison he had come to relieve. Reports from the
Dominion government, as to why their pa
ternal rule over the redskins, and the sway
OF the wonderful mounted police" who