The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-01-17

The Suggestion Chat the Ez.Confeder.
ate Soldiers be PentioDed
We TAX the following communica-
stion from the columns Of The News
and Observer:
Mr.. Editor: Coming across the defi-
milton of the word "~charlatan" in a
ate approved dictionary it is herewith
transcribed, "a quaek, a mountebank.
an assuming. empty -pretender to
knowledge or skill"
Do. you or any of your readers know
of a state notable that it especially
fits? Methinks / do, and the question
is put with a view to confederation of
an individual opinion. A recent item in
the telegraphic news columns Of the
press StrengthenS pr~econcelyed conyic-
ton. The world is there given to un-
/. derstand that one of North Cardinals
pseudo senator's n OF the two, eth
er has or is about to introduce a bill
in the august body in which he sits Qt
is not written adorns) having in scope
a general pension law to include ex-
confederate soldiers, or as the word
has heretofore been used by the gen.
.tleman's political allies and affilia-
tors, "old Rebels and Traitors"
OF all the cheap John charlatanry in
this chartatan age. us to this
for brazen impudence and downright
~effrontery and affronteryIRad enough
it was as long as he and h~is-&fndred
spirits confined their stage antics to
their ebony audiences IN the forty
acre and a mule' line of ratiocination.
That sort of pabulum may suffice for
negroes, but not for pure, unbaStard-
lied "Caucasians." Such contemplate
thimble rig tricks are utterly lost on
old o0nfQ6arofa cnl6iarC nnnctifr rfinp
the .noblest and most intelligent army
hat has ever honored our frail hui
mainly. They are too old birds to be
caught by such empty chaff as this.
It's an insult to their credulity and
common sense for any charlatan, even
We're he the aspiring head Of the fra
ternity to expect them to do so.
Whilst these immortal heroes were
daring and enduring more for cause
and country, right and honor than NOR
tai men ever did before, this toga-
wearer was presumptively imbibing
from nurses bottle treason to their
cause. their color and their country.
AT all events his later on record in
striving to put their necks and those
of their children eneat the negro's
heel warrants the inference. He, the
Self-cOnstituted champion of such as
these!! Good Lord, deliver us! Nc. Mr..
Pseudo or so~called senator, you shall
not insult us by your gratuitious as
sumption of pieayune patronage. Every
one who was and is true to his colors,
white and the gray" sets true value
on such cheap clap-trap as this, the
final dodge of 8 dying demagogue.,
They despise the bill as they do it's
Trainer. Meaningless they know it to
be, as one would be to establish a tel
egraphic line to Mars or the moon.
Were the compass of such a meas
txx within thu ~ of ~orr;I:J4x,
they are fully persuaded that you are
not the man to engineer it. They real
ize that your parliamentary influence
in shaping great fundamental meas
ures is precisely co-extensive with
your individual vote on roll call; ex-
pressed in high Dutch by the monosyl-
able nit" rendered by free transla-
ton into good old English, "pshaw,"
"pheW" Or fiddlestick."
But if you must pose as a Pater Con-
scriptus on the pension line, pardon a
suggestion. Let us old boys alone. Do
not feed us on elusive hopes of a hum
dred millions In pensions, which some
would Scorn to take. even were it at
tainable at your bounteous hands,
which NJ n believes, Inc urn atten-
ton in another NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
instead of expansion. Restrict your eff
forts, oh, most munificent patron, to
looping off a few hundred thousand
bounty jumpers, sneaks, skulkers,
bummers, roost robbers and the like
who already prey on our vitals and
constitute in the aggregate whole the
most infamous n ~stupendous band
OF legalized swindlers that ever ours
ed a country or an aggregation of
counties in the self-same epoch under
the head of a pension list; and the old
heroes who followed Lee, and the
Johnstons and Jackson and Forrest
and Hampton and Wheeler will give
you a conjoint quit claim to all that
o may recover in their behalf, as
badly as they need it. w. J. G..