Year: 1878

The names of Sheridan, of Schofield,
of Howard, of Stanley. of Davis, and a
host of others familiar to us by deeds
of courage in the great war, are upon
its rolls. Men who commanded army
corps and armies with distinguished
credit are its regimental commanders.
In the ranks are many veterans of the
war. What has it done since the
war that it must be spoken of in
Congress as source of public peril,
a threat against our liberties? Its
service since has been that of a
national police. Wherever violence
and disorder took horse and rode down
the law and trampled upon the defense
less, there some little detachment of
our army came, and their presence al
ways brought security and peace. Hon
est men came from their hiding places,
and the hand of blood was stayed.
These effects were wrought without
bluster or bloodshed. / cannot see how
anyone, not a friend to disorder and
revolution, can desire to reduce or i'm
pair the efficiency of our army. The
attempt is supported by an almost solid
South. The army does not seem TO be
in favor with the Confederate Briga-
diers. Its presence baked for wears
the success of the Mississippi plan"
But there is one place in the South
where it is very convenient to have
some soldiers still. Texas has the Mex
ican and the Comanche for neighbors.
In section of the army bill, as it
passed the House in November last, it
was provided that the army should be
reduced to 10000 men, including In
dian scouts and hospital stewards, and
that of that number four full regiments
of cavalry-10O men to the company
should be stationed and kept in service
on the Texas frontier. Why shall Texas
alone be made secure in her full quota
of troops for her defense9 Are not the
settlers in our Western States and Ter
ritories entitled to equal consi deration
and protection.


The payment by the Democratic par
ty, when they shall obtain control of
both Houses of Congress, of very large
sums for the liquidation of Southern
war claims is a real peril, and not
campaign alarm. The constitutional
amendment quoted by Democrats as
bar to the payment of such claims has
no relation whatever to that large and
increasing class of claims which grows
out of the use and destruction by our
army of the property of individuals,
private corporations, or municipalities.
Mr.. Voorhees, imputes ignorance to
those of us who hold this view. l say
that the section he quotes, Sec of the
Fourteenth Amendment, has no more
relation to such claims as am speak
ing of than the statute of ieofail So
| nf l. IN, ,,,t h.n, l.,
follows: But neither the United States
nor any State shall assume or pay any
debt or obligation incurred in aid of in
surrection or rebellion against the
United States, or any claim for the loss
or emancipation of any slave; but all
such debts, obligations and claims shall
be held illegal and void"


If a Democratic Congress should pass
an act tn indemnify -Tnff Davis tor the
loss of his wardrobe, including his
hoopskirt and bonnet taken from him
by our soldiers, or to pay Gen. Beaure-
gard for his personal effects DESTROYED
by our bombardment of Charleston,
would Mr.. Voorhees, attempt in any re-
spectacle court to maintain that these
laws were unconstitutional by reason
of the section quoted? If he did the
court would soon locate the ignorance
he talks about, and not in the same
place he puts it. The variety of these
claims is almost infinite, their present
volume is appalling, and they grow so
rapidly that we can find nothing in ma
ture to which we can liken them.


And in this connection it would be
as well to keep in mind that the claims
already presented to Congress are an
other manifestation of over-eagerness.
1t will be well for the country if it is
warned by these to keep out of the de-
file where the ambush is laid.


The Republican party always desired
peace in the South. We have only in
sisted that this peace should be the
quiet of law, and not of the shot gun
and bludgeon. That the white winged
bird would have nested in every South
| ern grove as soon as the smoke of war
had cleared, but for the mischievous
! interference of Northern Democrats, |
have no doubt. They encouraged the
! South to resist the amendments, as
they had encouraged her to enter the
war. And in the last case, as in the
| first, they left her to bear the loss and
| shame. There are chapters of the
story written since the war that will
always shame the South--as they
shamed our civilization. And it would
| be unfair not to admit that our party
was deceived and the confidence of
their constituents shamefully abused
by some Republican officers iu the
| South.


The so called Southern policy of Mr.
Hayes was, believe, necessity, as he
found things when he entered upon his
office. We rejoice with him, and all
men, at any signs of better under
standing between the races, and of in
creasing prosperity in the South. And
we wait to see whether all this is to
have its bed in an even administration
of the law to all classes, and the un-
trammeled exercise of political rights.
If it shall be so, well; if otherwise, this
show of prosperity will be delusiye, for
that plant cannot grow in a soil that is'
salted with injustice and prescription
We want also to see whether those
Southern men who have shown lib
eral spirit will be sustained by their
constituents, or cast out as unworthy


The Administration of Mr.. Hayes has
been eXcelled by no other that has pre-
ceded it in the intelligence, integrity
and devotedness to the public interest,
of his heads of departments. His own
purity of heart and desire to discharge
his high functions for the public good
have been recognized and admired even
by political enemies


/ am also inclined, as said at our
State convention, to treat "resump-
ton" as a fact. When Congress as
sembled last fall it was an open ques-
ton upon which Republicans might
and did differ, but in the advanced
light of the present l think we can
agree. Ten months before the time fixed
by the law of 1875 for the redemption
of the greenback in coin at the Treasury,
that currency had reached practical
equality with gold. A greenGack dol