New-York tribune., 1893-12-14

It does not appear whether or not Senators
E,vo and Hoar ouailed under Senator Vests
severe arraignment yesterday Of their " New
England ancestors" or whether either OF them
fed from his scathIng satire into the Businesses
of the cloakroom. The Missouri Senator IN tue
higher flights Of his oratory, when his BOSOM
ia swelling with indignation, is somewhat
formidable person Yesterday he was In Il state
of perturbation over the treatment when ME-
Biount-the gentleman who has become famous
from having been endowed with paramount
authority by process of doubtful conSutu'ioh
ality-has received from the two New-Engiihu
Senators named He protested with great ear
nestness against the persistence win WHICH
they dragged party feeling into these great
public questions" and Z" the godly arrogance
with which the typical New Englander made n
point OF tearing to pieces the personal character
OF everybody who did not agree with him as
these Down East Senators had assailcd the char
acter and antecedents OF Mr.. Bount AS there
was obviously no politics In the action taken
by President Cleveland Immediately AFTER MS
inauguration with view 10 reverse the pohc!
and discredit the acts Of the Harrison Admin
istration, il was very wrong OF course Tor
Senators Frye and Hoar TO :" drag in party fccl-
ing" In discussing this great public question.
And as such care had been taken by the Presl-
dent and Secretary Gresham and Mr.. Blouht
himself TO avoid reflections upon the personal
character Of Minister Stevens, over whom ne
exercised paramount authority, it was mani
fcstly improper FOR the DownEast Senators
To discuss Mr.. Blounts personal conduct or eau
his motives In question This IL what gives Mr
Vests rebuke pertinence and point.
Another objection raised by the Missouri Sen
ator TO the methods pursued by Mcssrs. Frye
and Hoar was TO their treating an adversary
argument as their New England ancestors treat
ed the l. ii Of the Misunderstanding possession
Of the whole Of it In obedience to the law OF
God and dividing ii according 10 law made by
themselves" There Is trifng historical inac-
curacy in this reference TO the treatment of 'he
land Of the Indians but II Is undoubtedly true
that the Puritan Fathers drove good bargains III
real estate with the Indians. and got the land
at very much lower prices than most of It's
now assessed at. 1t has sometimes been urged
as an objection to the squarencss Of these real
estate transactions that the land was PAID Tor
in wampum, or oyster shells. or rum, or some
such commodity which has not been recognized
by civilized nations having the essential
qualities OF a legal-tendcr currency. We do not
s,lppose however, that Senator Vest Intended
to cast any slur on the Puritans on account or
this particular feature OF their dealings In real
estate with the Indians. The Indians wanted
simply what the Senator's constituents were
little while ago clamoring for-hc being their
mouthpecc on the floor Of the Senate good
4, oh.
and rum seemed to them good money" and
the Puritans gave them, no doubt, plenty of
IT," AZ to wampum, II was II timc-honored
aboriginal currency, and the Puritans, not being
II gigantic money power would not think for
moment Of demonctizing it. Had such Il thing
been proposed quite likely some Indian chief,
whose tribe had a knack at making wampum
would have defeated II even II he had To ride
In blood TO his horses bride.
The fact remains, however. that the Puriians
got their land very cheap. The Purians were
a rather smart lot of folks. We know Of only
one more profitable transaction on the CONT
nent during the last four hundred years. and
that was the one by which Mr.. Vests constitu
ents obtained for Il great many years the labor
to till their land. They got that for nothing.
1t was smart in the Puritan to get from the
red man his land at Il very low price, but the
men who got the black man himself, body and
soul and all his posterity, for nothing. were
smarter Strictly speaking, the Missouri Sen
ator can hardly be said TO have made a hit in
his allusOn to the ancestors Of the NcwEng-
land Senators. Unless indeed-and this strikes
us as quite pOssiblc-Presdent Cleveland pro-
poses to extend his Hawaiian policy Of righting
great wrongs to New England and restore their
lands to the Indians. II may be that Senator
Vest Is I'm the confidence of the Administration,
and that he put out this speech as IL fecler.
Anyhow, his rebuke to Senators Frye and Iloar
was a scorcher 1t must have made those two
DownEast Senators feel very much ashamed
OF their ancestors.