Omaha daily bee., 1886-08-14

gion, you. find devoted friend of the
old colonel E.
When the army of the Potomac were
following General Mcclellan through the
| mud of Virginia, tired and hungry, Gen
eral Van Wyck discovered provisions and
stores belonging to the confederate wing
and ordered some carts and oxen from a
| ne1ghboring plantation, loaded the sup
! plies upon the carts and was taking them
| into camp for an evening meal when
| General Andrew Porter, then provost
marshal of McClellan'S army (the same
| kind of patriot us his cousin, Fitz John
| Porter, whom congress mas Just decor
! ated with an endorsement he did not earn
| on the field heard of this outrage upon
| the vested rights of the rebels and al
! though the provisions belonged to the
rebel army Coloncl Van Wyck was or
| dered undcr arrest. The bacon, meal
and provisions were ordered back and
union soldiers went .suppcrless to bed on
| the hard soil OF Virginia When General
| Mcclellan was apprised of the facts, he
ordered General Van Wyck to be re-
leased from arrest, and his sword to be
| returned. There was great deal of his
| tory in this little episode of the war.
In 1866 the republican party insisted
that he should again be its candidate for
| congress,
AND HE WAS TRIUMPIIANTLS ELECTED.
EVEN lItll u lCN Ntlll''CIulS Vi bilt Cpll-
perhcad brand claimed that during Il
few of the last months of his congress
sonal term he had also served and been
| paid as colonel OF his regiment; but the
facts were so we'll known in the district
that the charge only increased his vote.
We were not then surprised that cop
| pcrhcad meanncSS could make Il charge
| so weak and despicablc
But to see copperhcad malice filtered
through republican newspapers in Nc
braska is certainly strange. We will
| venture to say their editors were not sol
diers in the war; that they never smclt
the battle even from affair off.
Equally contemptible is the allegation
that Van Wyck is not republican,. He
was always the same kind of republican
in the state of New York that he has
been in Nebraska and in the United
States senatc-always firm in his politi-
cal convictions and independent in his
political actions. He did what he be-
ieved to be right aud what the people
generally believed to he right. He pune
tured all shams and tolerated no frauds
in his own, party He was opposed to
| slavery and in favor of freedom to all
men, and he is still the same uncompro-
missing, enthusiastic opponent OF corpor-
ate power and in favor of all measures
for the benefit of the toiling masses.
We remember when some men began
acquiring great wealth from the profits
of army contracts and scandals were
rife, General Van Wyck raised commit
| tee of congress known rs the
| "vAN WICK COMMITTEE"
| of which he was chairman, and that it
caused the annulmcnt of many contracts
| and broke down many wcll-laid schemes
to steal millions from the public treasury.
OF course, the baked schcmers were in
dignant. So, too, when he made full
investigation and exposure of the New
| York custom house, Il few republicans
thought he would lniure his own party;
but the republIcansof the nation and of
this district believed in such republican,
ism, and he was reelected to congress
| in 1863, making four terms he was called
to represent Orange and Sullivan. This
nomination he accepted unwilingly, but
the party believed he was the only man
who could carry the district.
The year before, Tweed, at the height
of his power and wickedness, had flooded
this district with fraudulent naturaliza-
| ton papers. 1t was well known that
many Of these were to be used in that
election. This was, demonstrated by the
result, and when 4 committee from CON
gress was directed to make inquiry into
the frauds, it appeared that at that elec-
ton hundreds of naturalization papers
were imported from Penns ylvanla, known
as coffee colored (or coffee pot papers,
| because the voters
| FOUND THEM IN A COFFEE POT
| in Port Jervis, and many persons were
proven to have irregularly and Illegally
obtained naturalization papers in an en-
gine house in Newburs. Persons were
proven to have act;taaGiJJ aa.cctt;IailJ voted on such
fraudulent papers at the election-more
than enough to change the result, and it
was so declared by congress, so that the
nomination of General Van Wyck and
the congressional investigation saved the
district.
General Van Wyck on the field and in
congress always bore himself gallantly.
We have not forgotten that in the Thirty
sixth congress when for two months
speaker of the house, day after day
Fire Eaters of the south poured forth
bitter and provoking speeches. The re-
pubicans made no reply, but quietly
voted, and at last Hon. VIM. Pennington
of New Jersey was elected, Then
the republicans returned broad
side after broadside in answer
to the harranGues of the men OF
the south. And Gen. Van Wyck made a
speech acknowledged to be one of the
most effective delivered, which was after
wards published rs a campaign docu-
ment and went through eight editions.
When replying to the souths arraign-
ment of the courage OF the North, Mr..
Crawford of Georgia, angrily inter,
rupted and asked if the gentleman would
go outside the District of Columbia and
test the question OF courage with any
southern man. Mr.. Van Wyck firmly
and quietly replied that he travelled
everywhere without fear of any one,
AND HE DID.
In that speech, alluhing to the attempt to
fasten slavery on the territories, he said
"Within few weeks the legislature OF
Nebraska has by law prohibited slavery
therein, and the willing tool OF this admins
tration vetoed the bill, The people of that
territory, now numbering some forty or hfty
thousand along whose srivers villages are
springing up as il by magic; whose prafleS
are teeming with the fruits of free and
educated industry. are told that they cannot
form their domestic institutions even the
keeping back "the bitter water that caus eS
the curse"
While encamped at Washington Gen
eral Van Wyck designated one person IN
each regiment to use his frank on soldiers
letters dhe franking privilege was then in
, force), until the city postmaster ralseo
objection, claiming that no one ,coulc
sign the name except the member o.
congress himself, General Van Wyct
then obtained rooms at the Nationa
hotel. Letters from all the regiments
were brought TO his rooms. He hireC
u n 4 l.