Newspaper Page Text
THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE: WASHINGTON, D. C, FEBRUARY 4, 1882.
5
WHAT CONGRESS IS DOING.
But litf - .public business was transacted by
either Tout- during the past week.
SEi ATE The Sherman three per cent, fund
ing hill occupied the attention of the Senate to
the exclusion of nearly all other questions, and
the debate is not yet concluded. Mr. Sherman
proposes to refund $200,000,000 of the 3J per
cents, at 3 per cent., in a bond running at least
five years. On Friday, however, an amendment
offered by Mr. Davis, of West Virginia, was
adopted, providing that the 3 per cents, shall be
paid previous to the new 3 per cents., as also, one
by Mr. Sherman, allowing subscriptions for the
new bonds to be made at the postal money order
offices, upon the postmasters giving additional
bonds. The Senate then took up Mr. Vest's
amendment making the proposed issue of 3 per
cents, the sole basis for an increase of circulation
by any national bank now in existence, or for
the circulation of any national bank hereafter
established, and the discussion of the bill still
continues. It has already developed a wide
variance of opinion, and when a vote is reached
party lines are pretty sure to be ignored. In the
course of the debate, the fact came out that Mr.
Sherman is in favor of repealing all revenue
taxes except those upon whisky, tobacco, and
beer; but, then, Mr. Sherman is no longer Secre
tary of the Treasury.
On the 27th ulto. Mr. Morrill reported favor
ably, with amendments the bill to establish an
educational fund and apply a portion of the pro
ceeds of the public lands to public education,
and to provide for the more complete endowment
and support of colleges for the advancement of
scientific and industrial education. A measure
which, if it ever becomes a law, will go far
towards building up an enlightened public sen
timent in the South.
On the same day Mr. Ferry obtained unani
mous consent to introduce his bill granting pen
sions to certain Union soldiers of the late war
who were confined in "so-called confederate
prisons." It was read twice, by title, and referred
to the Committee on Pensions.
On Monday, Mr. Rollins reported favorably
the bill making an appropriation for the base
and pedestal of the proposed statue to Admiral
Dupont, in "Washington. Mr. Edmunds also
reported favorably, with amendment, the bill
reviving the Alabama Claims Commission for the
distribution of the unappropriated moneys of the
Geneva award.
HOUSE. The post-office and consular and
dinlomatic and aDnortionment bills have been
reported to the House, but no action taken. ;
The consular bill appropriates !?l,iyb.oaU. or a
little less than last year.
On the 26th ultimo, at the instance of Mr.
Springer, the Senate bill granting an additional
pension to the widow of President Lincoln was
taken up and passed without objection. It is as
follows :
Be it enacted, r., That the Secretary of the
Interior be, and he hereby is, directed to pay
to Mary Lincoln, whose name is now on the
roll as the widow of Abraham Lincoln, deceased,
late President of the United State, the sum of
$15,000 forthwith, as pension money, in addition
to any sum that may have accrued on her exist
ing pension, under the act of July 14, 1870 ; and
from and after the passage of this act the Secre
tary of the Interior is directed to pay to the
said Mary Lincoln, in lieu of the pension she is
now receiving under the act aforesaid, a pension
at the rate of $5,000 per annum during the re
mainder of her natural life.
In the course of his remarks Mr. Springer read
a certificate from Mrs. Lincoln's physicians con
cerning her health which will possess a melan
choly interest for our readers. They say :
"TVefind that Mrs. Lincoln is suffering from
chronic inflammation of the spinal cord, chronic
disease of the kidneys, and commencing cataract
of both eyes.
" The disorder of the spinal cord is the conse
quence of an injury received some time since,
and has resulted in considerable loss of power of
both lower extremities, so as to lessen their use
and to render walking without assistance very
unsafe, and going unaided down stairs impossible.
The nature of the spinal trouble is progressice,
and will end in paralysis of the lower extremities.
Connected with the spinal disease and one of its
evidences is the reflex paralysis of the iris of the
eye, and the reduction of the sight to one-tenth
natural standard, together with much narrowing
of the field of vision. The sight will gradually
grow worse.
"There is no probability that there will be any
permanent improvement in Mrs. Lincoln's con
dition, considering her age and the nature of her
disease. She is now quite helpless, unable to
walk with safety without the aid of an attendant,
or indeed to help herself to any extent. She
requires the continued services of a competent
nurse, and also constant medical attendance "
Mrs. Lincoln is at present residing at 39 West
Twenty-sixth street, New York.
Among the resolutions adopted by the House
was the following, the answer to which when it
is received is likely to have an important bear
ing upon future pension legislation:
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Interior
be, and is hereby, requested, if not incompatible
with the public service, to communicate to the
House of Representatives his estimate founded
on the following proposition: If all the claims
for pensions arising from the war of the rebel
lion shall be adjudicated within the seven
years' period terminating June 30, 1888, and if
at the end of that period the survivors of the
war with Mexico and their widows shall then
be pensioned at $8 per month, what appropria
tion will be required annually to pay pensions
during the next twenty-five years?
A resolution was also adopted calling for the
diplomatic correspondence with reference to the
persecution of the Jews in Russia. The House
had also under consideration a resolution re
questing the President to obtain a list of Amer
ican citizens imprisoned in England, Mr. Cox
snpporting it in a vigorous speech. The most
important bills introduced were the following:
Making it unlawful for any railroad company to
charge fare for the transportation of passengers in
excess of the following rates per mile: Under
100 miles, Al cents; over 100 and under 300
miles, 4 cents; over 300, 3? cents. And a bill
proposing a constitutional amendment making
a person holding the office of President inelligi
ble for re-election, providing that at the end of
him term of office the President shall receive a
pension of six thousand dollars per annum, and
declaring Cabinet officers inelligable for election
to the presidency for the term following that
during which they held such office. Mr. Cobb
introduced a bill declaring the grants of land to
certain railroad companies, including the North
ern Pacific and Texas Pacific, to be forfeited,
and providing for the sale of the lands and the
division of the proceeds among the States for
educational purposes.
SENATE. On Tuesday Mr. Anthony, from
the committee on Printing, reported back and
askec! to be discharged from the consideration of
the petitions for the publication of the proceedings
of Congres3in sufficient quantity to allow a copy
to be supplied to every family in the United
States. He remarked that it seemed to the
committee that the petition must have been
gotten up by some eminent paper maker, and
that the cost would exceed $70,000,000 per year.
The committee was accordingly discharged from
the subject.
Mr. Dawes, from the Committee on Indian
Affairs, reported an original bill directing pay
ment of $2,000 per capita, in cash, to the Eastern
Shawnee Indians at Pawpaw Agency, Indian
Territory, to relieve their pressing wants occa
sioned by failure of crops, the money to be taken
lroni their uninvested funds; which was passed.
Mr. Windom, from the Committee on Foreign
Relations, reported a resolution requesting the
President of the United States to transmit all
correspondence between the United States and
its diplomatic agents accredited to the republics
of Mexico and Gautemala since January 1, 1H81,
and any other information in his possession
touching the relations of the United Slates with
each and both of said countries or their relations
with each other: which was adopted.
Mr. Voorhees then made an inquiry as to what
disposition had been made of a resolution intro
duced by him in October last directing the Commit
tee on Post-Offices to investigate the reasons for
the order of the Postmaster-General excluding
from appointments in the Cincinnati post-office
all persons over thirty years of age. After dis
cussion the subject was then passed over, and
the Senate Tesumed the consideration of the
Sherman 3 uer cent. bill.
HOUSE. Mr. Harris, of Massachussetts, re
ported from the Committee ou Naval Affairs a
bill to provide a permanent construction fund for
the navy, and after some miscellaneous business
of an uninteresting nature the consideration of
the resolution reported from the Committee on
Foreign Affairs requesting the President to obtain
a list of American prisoners was resumed and,
after discussion adopted.
The House then went into Committee of the
whole, but arose without transacting any business
and shortly afterward adjourned.
The greater portion of Wednesday's session of
the Senate was taken up by the discussion of
Sherman's 3 per cent. bill.
The only new measure of importance was the
introduction of a bill to reduce letter postage to
two cents for the first half ounce of matter and
to charge two cents more for every additional
two ounces, subsequent to which the House went
into Committee of the Whole on the Post-Office
appropriation bill. The committee recommend
ed 843,529,300, being $132,500 less than the esti
mates, and $2,571,868 greater than the appropri
ation for the fiscal year of 1882.
GENERAL CARR'S CASE.
Judge Advocate General Swaim has concluded
his review of the charges made against General
Carr, colonel Sixht Cavalry, by General "Wilcox,
commanding Department Arizona, and has for
warded his report to the Secretary of War. It
is understood that the importance of the ques
tions involved demand a thorough investigation
of the charges made, and to that end the Presi
dent will direct a court of inquiry to be convened
in a few days, with instructions to make a care
ful examination of the matter.
VALUABLE DONATIONS.
Mr. W. A. Short, corresponding secretary of the
Union Veteran Corps has received from Messrs.
L. Prang & Co., the celebrated chromo publishers,
of Boston, a handsome collection of chronios,
valued at $100, for the fair of the corps this month.
Dae acknowledgment of the donation has been
suitably made.
"Mark Twain " has also sent a contribution to
the Union Veteran Corps fair in the shape of a
check for 610.
A GREAT CONTRACT AWARDED.
The contract for building a railway tunnel
I under the St. Lawrence has been awarded to L
B. Eouilliard for $3,500,000, including drainage
and lighting complete, the work to be finished
in 1885.
HOW THE JEANNETTE WAS LOST.
Lieutenant Danenhower telegraphed the fol
lowing from Irkutsk, January 31 :
" Lieutenant De Long's party has been traced
i to a definite locality on the west bank of the
) Lena. Engineer Melville and the Russians are
searching ardently. I am acting under positive
i orders and will bear investigation. Lieutenant
i Chipp's little boat has not been seen since Sep-
she is not found before the spring I will charter
the steamer Lena and search the coast between
the rivers Olonek and Kolinia. Jack Cohs has
been an invalid since October.
" The J eannette entered the ice near Herald
Island on September 6, 1879. Her forefoot was
twisted from the 1st of January. We pumped
for eighteen months. The vessel drifted to the
northwest during twenty-one months. She was
crushed and sank on June 12 in latitude 7fi 15'
north, and longitude 156 20' east. She dis
covered Jeannette, Henrietta, and Bennett
Islands. We made the retreat over ice to the
New Siberia Islands, thence in boats to the Lena
delta.
"Engineer Melville was given charge of my
boat by De Long. I was blind. Hearty and
intelligent help was rendered by the Russians.
Everything possible is being done."
THE PUBLIC DEBT.
The debt statement issued Tuesday shows the
reduction of the public debt during the month
of January to be $12,978,836.36; cash in the
inff. $68.999.670 : certificates of deposit, $11,400,-
000; refunding certificates, $559,100; legal
tenders, $346,681,016; fractional currency, $7,
069,493.67; cash balance available, $143,901,
663.29. s
GUITEAU'S BODY TO BE SOLD.
J. H. Ridgway, of Philadelphia, a manufac
turer of refrigerators and refrigerating cars, has
received a letter from George Scoville, counsel
for Guiteau, stating that the relatives of the
latter have considered favorably a proposition
made by Mr. Ridgway to place on exhibition the
body of Guiteau after his hanging. Mr. Ridg
way has already begun to make preparations for
the proposed exhibition. The- terms of the
proposition submitted by Mr.- Ridgway are that
he shall have the exclusive right to exhibit the
body of the assassin, all the expenses incurred
to be borne by him. One-half of the profits
which accrue from the enterprise are to go to
Guiteau's relatives, the other half to be retained
by the exhibitor.
The President has appointed the following
assay commissioners to test and examine the
weight and fineness of the coins reserved at the
several mints during the year 1881, viz.: Hon.
William B. Allison, United States Senate; Hon.
William S. Rosecrans, House of Representatives ;
Professor John Towler, Geneva, N. Y.. Hobart
College; Rev. Paul A. Chadbourne, Massachu
setts; Professor Charles E. Munroe, Naval
Academy ; Professor J. E. Hilgard, United States
Coast Sarvey ; Dr. "William Pepper, University
of Pennsylvania; Dr. L. Barron Russell, Boston,
Mass.; Dr. W. P. Lawyer, assayer, Mint Bureau;
Anthony J. Drexel, Philadelphia, Pa.; Thomas
Donaldson, Philadelphia, Pa.
Treasury, $Z40,UZOiOO.oy , guiu. cawuuawa uuir
standine. ,85,188,120: silver certificates outsand-
Memories of Burnside.
Continued from First page.
seivation of the Union, by peaceful means, to avoid
the conflict of arms.
To this end he was ready to make important con
cessions to allav the Southern discontent. But
when the first gun upon Fort Sumter fired alike the
Southern and the Northern heart, he promptly,
and without a moment's hesitation, offered to his
country the sword that she had taught him to use.
He was selected for the command of the First Rhode
Island regiment. In reply to a dispatch from Gov
ernor Sprague, inquiring how soon he could leave
for his command, he answered " at once;" and the
next morning he was in Providence, busily engaged
in organizing and preparing it. In an incredibly
short time the regiment was raised and equipped ;
and in two davs after the first man was enlisted, a
Imtterv of six rifled guns, with five hundred men,
was on its way to Washington: and, in two days
more, the rest of the reeiment followed. Notwith
standing this promptness, such was the vigor of the
Colonel,' seconded by his subordinate officers, and
such his valuable military experience, that the
regiment left fullv armed, equipped, and provis
ioned; and gained the highest praise by its appear
ance of discipline, efficiency, and soldierly hearing.
None of the new and hastily organized regiments
came into the service hotter prepared for then
duties. Its evening parade was a favorite resort of
Mr. Lincoln, who, accompanied by high dignitaries,
civil and military, often came to witness and to
admire its evolutions.
In the battle of Bull Run, which followed, Colonel
Burnside commanded a brigade, and as was justly
said in a memoir read before tne uoym jgiuu uj
Colonel William Goddard, who served under him.
"no share in the disasters of that conflict can he
assigned to him or to hi troops." In the autumn
of 1SG1, General Burnside, raised to the rank of
brigadier-general, took command of the "Burnside
Expedition" to the coast of North Carolina. The
conception, the plan, and the execution of that im
portant enterprise attest- the uncommon military
ability of its originator and leader. The secret of
the expedition was well kept, kept even from the
penetrating investigation of the newspapers. It
sailed in January 1(2, the objective point being
known only to the commander and the few confi
dential officers whom it was necessary to intrust with
the information. A violent storm struck the fleet
off Ilatteras and dispersed the vessels, so that more
fiiQn n wool- olnnsod before thev reached the ren
dezvous. There, thev encountered a succession of
gales, which threatened them with destruction.
The ships, crowded into a narrow space, with insuf
ficient holding ground, beaten about by the Avmds
and waves, entangling their hawsers, running foul
of each other, and filled to overflowing with dis
couraged and sea-sick men, the expedition seemed
to be predestined to failure, by force of the elements,
without the opportunity to fire a gun. In the midst
of all this disastrous confusion, the calm features
and striking figure of Burnside appeared conspicu
ous, meeting every emergency, providing against
every calamity, confident, imparting to his men his
own indomitable cheerfulness, and inspiring them
with his own unfailing hopefulness. The gallant
and able defenders of the position flattered them
selves with the easy repulse of any assault that
could be made against it, by land or by water, even
unaided by the elements, which seemed to have
conspired in their favor. They were strongly forti
fied, naturally, and by artificial works, skillfully
constructed, and of great strength.
A not over friendly pen thus describes the situa
tion :
When a generation shall arrive that has time to read
the romance of the four years we call the rebellion, none
of its episodes will stand out more picturesquely than
Burnside's audacious assault upon the rebel seaboard at
its most defensible point. New Berne Tvas the knot of a
ganglia of railway systems. An army of one hundred
thousand men could hae been concentrated on its cir
eumvallating lmid and water lines long before Burnside
felt justified in attacking. The rebels were content with
confronting the expedition with equal or but slightly
superior numbers, and though they had much in their
favor, the admirable.courage and intrepid combinations
of the Union eommanders wrested lines and defenses
from well-organized defenders that in any other war or
at any other time would have given the victors an im
perishable fame. Landing his little army below New
Berne, on the Neuse RU'er, Burnside deployed his lines
with a simple faith in the Army regulations that would
have given joy to such a. martinet as Yon Moltke or
Frederick. The rebels were admirably protected and
had not anticipated serious peril to disturb the serenity
of their confidence. Great fields of yellow furze, with a
thin growth of pines, separated their works from the
river. These works, beginning with an enormous rail
way embankment that reached the dimension of bastions
at certain points were calculated to hold an army in
check until field-guns and regular approaches should
demolish them. Burnside, though timid in peace and
diffident in war, was never cautious in battle. He be
lieved that armies nearly equal in numbers could find
no better business than fighting a situation oHt on the
first opportunity, lleekman, the dashing commander
of the Ninth New Jersey Infantry, took the lead, and
the regiment tore across the field on a run. They found
the men behind the works as full of ardor as themselves.
Tbe elan of the Jerseymen, however, had caught the
Connecticut troops and New Yorkers, and the line,
though mowed down and almost annihilated, reached
the railway, surmounted, crossed the ditch on the side,
and in a few minutes the astonished and confident rebels
were prisoners.
This was the earliest important Union success in
the East The grumblers, a class always numerous,
and noisy in proportion to their ignorance of the
purposes, or even of the destination of the expedi
tion, had been loud in their predictions of its fail
ure, in which they were strengthened by vague re
ports of disaster and shipwreck. When the news of
victory was flashed across the wires, one exultant
shout rose throughout the Nerth, and the name
of Burnside was in every mouth.
General Burnside then joined the Army of the
Potomac, where he organized the Ninth Corps,
which rendered so important services, and won for
itself and its commander so high renown. On the
14th of September, 1862, General Burnside achieved
the victory of South Mountain. At the battle of
Antietam he commanded the left wing of the army.
Returning to the Army of the Potomac, he resumed
command of his favorite Ninth Corps. Here he was
offered the command of the army. He declined it,
with unaffectsd diffidence, as he had twice before ;
but it was pressed upon him by positive orders, and
he could not longer, without insubordination, re
fuse it. The battle of Fredericksburg followed.
As magnanimous in disaster as he was modest in
success, he assumed the whole responsibility of the
defeat, and made no complaint. He simply de
manded the removal of certain officers, as the con
dition on which alone, he could efficiently and sat
isfactorily remain at the head of the army. This
condition not complied with, he resigned, and turn
ed over the command to General Hooker. When
urged to make public his grievances, he replied that
it would embarrass General Hooker, whose success
he sincerely desired, and, with his hopeful disposi
tion, believed in.
The President refused to accept General Burn
side's resignation of his commission, and appointed
him to the command of the Department of the Ohio,
where he rendered eminent and conspicuous ser
vice, clearing the country of guerillas and affording
protection to the loyal population. Attacked by
Longstreet with vastly superior forces, he retired,
after repulsing the enemy, which outnumbered him
nearly three to one, at Campbell's Station, to Knox
ville, which he occupied and fortified, and where
he successfully resisted the siege which that able
general laid to it. A terrific assault was made upon
his fortifications, and was repulsed with' equal im
petuosity, and the enemy was driven back; with
the loss of fourteen hundred mem Encouraged by
dispatches from General Grant urging .the import
ance of maintaining the position which he occupied,
General Burnside held out, by the fertility of his
resources, by his patience, persistence, and unfail
ing hopefulness, with all which qualities he had the
happy faculty of inspiring his men, till Longstreet,
warned by the approaching relief of Sherman, was
obliged to raise the siege.
Again assigned to the command of his own Ninth
Corps, General Burnside participated, actively, in
the closing operations of the war, under General
Grant. In front of Petersburg, he undertook the
mine about which.so much has been, said and writ
ten. I have not time to go into an account of this
work ; but I do not hesitate to say that, had he been
permitted to carry out the enterprise on his own
plans, and with troops of his own selection, it would
have been a success. The whole matter was inves
tigated by the Congressional Committee on the Con
duct of the War, which said in its report:
The cause of the disastrous result of the assault of the
30th of July last is mainly attributed to the fact, that
the plans and suggestions of the General Burnside
who devoted hi attention, for so long a time, to the
subject, who had carried out to so successful completion
the project of mining the enemy's works, and who had
so carefully elected and drilled his troops for the pur
pose of securing whatever advantages might be attain
able from the explosion of the mine, should have been
so entirely disregarded by a general who had evinced
no faith in the successful prosecution of that work, had
aided it by no countenance or open approval, and had
assumed the entire direction and control only when it
was completed, and the time had come for reaping any
advantage that might be derived from it.
And General Grant, in his testimony before the
Committee on the Conduct of the War, frankly said :
"General Burnside wanted to put his colored divis
ion in front, and I believe if he hud done so, it would
luire been a .success" Surely, if human testimony
avails anything, this is a sufficient vindication of
General Burnside.
At the close of the rebellion, General Burnside
resigned his commission, and retired to private life.
In 1SG0 he was elected Governor of Rhode Island:
he was twice re-elected, when he declined further
service. In 1805 he entered this body, where his
honorable and useful course is well known to us all.
On the expiration of his term of office he was re
elected. In ltfTO, during the Franco-German war, General
Burnside was in Europe. At Versailles, the head
quarters of the invading army, he made the acquaint
ance of the German Emperor, the Crown Prince,
Bismarck, and Van Moltke, on all of whom he made
a favorable impression, and especially on Bismarck.
Dr. Russell wrote to the London Times: "Bismarck
likes him. Burnside. Indeed there are few per
sons of any nation who will not be touched by the
cordial nature and uprightness of the man. by his
solid good sense and kindliness of nature, and by his
clearness of perception uumarred by affectation, sel
finhness, or any affectation of statemanship, which
is perhaps the highest diplomacy. Count Bismarck
has a penchant for Americans, of a certain high
stamp. lie says ' I like self-made men. It is the
best sort of manufacture in our race.' " In the inter
ests of peace General Burnside went under a
flag of truce twice to Paris, where he had inter
views with Jules Favre, General Trochu and other
members of the government. The visit was atten
ded with considerable personal danger, as there was
no communication permitted between the hostile
lines, and the General and his party were fired on,
at their approach, their flag of truce being misunder
stood. He went in no official capacity, but was the bearer
of certain suggestions from Count Bismaick to Mon
sieur Jules Favre, in relation to an armistice, for
the purpose of enabling the French people to elect
a Constituent Assembly, to replace the fallen Em
pire, and to enter into negotiations for peace.
Count Bismarck authorized General Burnside to
say that he would grant an absolute armistice of
forty-eight hours for holding an election, and give
every facility for a fair election as well as for the
subsequent departure of the members elected for
the city of Paris for the place where the Constituent
Assembly might meet. The government of Paris
was not, however, disposed to permit the election of
a Constituent Assembly, which might deprive it
of power, and General Burnside's mission sim
ply opened the door for future negotiations. The
General, after his second visit to Paris, obtained
from Count Bismarck permission for about one
hundred Americans to kavs Paris, many of them
without funds and in a deplorable condition.
Need I speak, in this presence, of General Burn
side's hospitality, so cordial, so elegant, yet so
simple and so unostentatious? Who that has en
joyed it, who that has seen his genial countenance
and his commanding form at the head of his table
can forget them ?
General Burnside was strongly attached to rural
pleasures and addicted to agricultural pursuits.
His little estate, of fifty-seven acres, near Bristol,
and named " Edghill Farm," after his father and
his paternal grandmother, was a model farm, and.
by the application of science to practical experience,
had been brought to a high state of cultivation : and
prouder than all of his successes in the field and in
the forum he seemingly was of his meadow that cut
three tons to the acre, and of his cornfield that
yielded sixteen hundred bushels to twelve acres.
His herd of Alderneys, of the purest blood and of
the finest character, was the admiration of the
neighborhood. He was very fond of his horses and
his cattle, which (such is the effect of steady kind
ness even upon the brute creation) knew his voice,
and always welcomed his approaching steps. His
favorite horse the gift of some unknown friend
that had borne him on many a hard-fought field,
lived to the age of nigh thirty years, and, long past
service to his owner, became by reason of age and
infirmity a burden to himself, till life was nothing
but a prolonged suffering. Yet the General was
reluctant, even at the dictate of humanity, to have
him killed. At last, he yielded, and ordered the
animal to be shot, but not till he should have de
parted for Washington. The time of that departure
never came. The day when the lifeless body of
the Senator was borne from the farm that he loved
so well, the faithful beast was shot.
Always, on the adjournment of the Senate, he
turned, with eager steps, to his chosen acres. They
are situated on a ridge of Land gently sloping to
Mount Hope Bay, an indentation of the broader
Narragansett, and navigable to the shore of the
farm, commanding a view seldom equaled by land
and water, including a portion of the island that
gives its name to the State, the beautiful rural town
of Bristol, the white roofs of Fall River, whose tall
chimneys darken the sky with the smoke of toil
and Mount Hope, the ancient seat of King Philip,
and the place where that renowned warrior was
slain. The house is of a quaint and i)eculiar con
struction, built after the General's own fancy, and
from his own designs, and in its architecture and
appointments suggesting the idea of a maritime
structure. Here, he dispensed an elegant and pro
fuse yet simple and inexpensive hospitality. The
highest personages in the land and the humblest
soldier that ever fought by his side met the same
cordial reception, the same frank and unaffected
welcome. i
General Burnside's death was very sudden. The
afternoon before he was at my house, in Providence.
He had been a little ill for a few days previous, but
with nothing that caused apprehension. He left
me gaily, promising to return the next morning.
He insisted upon walking to the railroad station,
half a mile distant, saying that the exercise would
do him good. On the following morning I received
a telephonic message that he was very ill, and re
questing me to come to him. Before a carriage
could be brought to the door a second message came,
saying that he was dead. He had been alarmingly
sick scarcely an hour. Of all those who loved him,
only his faithful and attached servants stood by
his dying bed.
General Burnside was of fine address, of a com
manding stature, a strikingly handsome man. The
frankness of his expression and the sweetness of
his smile at once won upon the observer, and pre
pared him for that favorable judgment which a
fuller acquaintance never failed to confirm. His
age was fifty-seven. I think that no man survives
him whose form and features are known to a greater
number of persons. He was the most lovable man
that I ever knew ; and I loved him, I love him still,
with a love which will find no successor to him in
my affection. Not a day passed, since I last looked
upon him, scarcely a aking hour, when he has
not been in my mind. And even if I could have
forgotten him, I should have been reminded of him
by the exxiressions of sympathy which have con
tinually met me.
"All !, Jonathan ! my brother! lorne
And friendless I must looke to be !
That harte whose woe thou oft has borne
Is sore and strickene nowe for thee!
Younge bridegroome's love on brydal morne
Oh it was lyghte to thyne for me.
Thy tymeless lotto I now must playne,
'Even on thyne own highaplaees slayne."
Friend, companion, brother ! hail and farewell !
The memory of thy virtues and thy services and
that thou did'st deem me worthy of thy friendship
and thy confidence are my chief consolation, in the
irreparable loss that I have suffered.
Next to Senator Anthony's address the moat
interesting tributes were those from the Southern
Senators. Those of Senator Hampton of South
Carolina and Vance of North Carolina were
especially graceful. Said the former:
When he sheathed his sword, which had never
teen tarnished by dishonor nor stained by cruelty,,
he promptly extended the hand which had so reso
lutlely grasped that sword in war to those who had
been his enemies. Magnanimous as he was brave,
his heart was large enough and generous enough to
recognize, when peace came to our distracted coun
try, every American citizen as his fellow-countryman,
and no act of his since the war was inspired
by sectional hate or political animosity. War, with
all its attendant, inevitable horrors, could not
change his gentle and noble nature, for he seemed
to be absolutely free from all the bitterness it
might have engendered, and his highest aim, his
constant efforts, were directed always toward the
reconciliation, the harmony, and the enduring
peace of the country. It was the recognition of
his patriotic efforts in this direction, together with
the charm of his kind and genial mauner, that won
for him the respect, the esteem, and the affection
of his colleagues from the South, and I feel assured
that I give utterance to the universal feeling pre
vailing among them when I express theprofoundest
sorrow at his death.
Senator Ransom said :
Mr. President, there is a tie between the dead
Senator and myself, springing from the sword but
better than the sword, which I should wrong him
not to mention. You know that the Senator as a
general in the Union army came in the early part
of the civil war to the shores of North Carolina,
and there, with his gallant comrades, achieved the
victories of Hatttras, Roanoke Island, and New
Berne, over the not less gallant Southern troops.
These were among the first successes of the Union
arms. Sir, 1 have seen many of the brave soldiers
who raet and were captured by General Burnside
in these engagements, and it is due to history that
I should declare here that there is not one of those
gallant men who has not borne willing testimony
to his courage, his kindness, and his magna
nimity. I ha e never seen one soldier captured
by General Burnside as a prisoner of war who did
not speak of him with friendly, if not biotherly,
affection. But this is not all. He loved the living,
he almost hallowed the dead. What an honorable,,
beautiful, heroic sentiment ! The knightly thought
of a Christian soldier. The picture of Achilles in
his tent as he wept and fasted over the dead body
of Patroclus, his friend, has touched the heart for
forty centuries, but here was Achilles paying honor
to the memory of Hector and offering his ships to
Andromache and the children of Priam.
In the House the eulogies were no less marked
by affectionate regard for the General's memory.
Mr. Chase took occasion in. the course of his
address to relate the following incident concern
ing General Burnside's appointment to "West
Point:
A few days since the learned gentleman now
writing his biography gave me the circumstances
attending Senator Burnside's appointment to West
Point. In 1S-11 Caleb B. Smith, then a Repre
sentative in Congress from Indiana, found him a
mere stripling in a tailor shop at Liberty, plying
his trade, and at the same time reading a book, on
tactics. He found that the youth had an intense
desire for military life. Mr. Smith at once recom
mended his appointment to a cadetship, and in this
was joined by the General Assembly of Indiana,
then in session. As Mr. Smith had bitterly antago
nized President Tyler's administration, his effort
was unavailing. Just here a gentleman, who had
been Mr. Smith's competitor in the congressional
race, came to the tailor boy's rescue. He had
written a series of articles in defense of the admin
istration that so pleased the President that he
awarded the patronage of the district to him, andt
at his suggestion Ambrose Everett Burnside was
given an opportunity to gratify his youthful ambi
tion. Mr. Henderson gave the following reminis
cence :
On one occasion, when broken down in health, T
felt compelled to offer him my resignation, and
called on him in person for that purpose. He said
to me : "I cannot accept your resignation, colonel ;
the country needs your services and it needs-mine,
and we must give all we have to our country- L
know the condition of your health and will S&
care of you, but cannot accept your resignation.'
A GRAND SUCCESSz
The San Francisco Call, of January 21, gives
an interesting account of a promenade hall, held
for the benefit of the California Soldiers' Home
Association Fund, in the New Oakland Ferry
Depot.
It is estimated that over 5,000 people were
present, and that the net receipts will amount
to nearly, if not quite, 3,000.
The executive committee having charge of the
affair consisted of Messrs. W. H. H. Hussey, J.
R. Capell, J. L. Bromley, L. B. Edwards, L. TV.
Allum, and Ed. B. Jerome. The general floor
manager was Harlow H. White, with John
Trounson, William R. Stone, and Chas. L. Wines,
as chief aids.
FIGHTING IN HERZEGOVINA.
It is officially announced at Vienna that three
battalions of infantry encountered a thousand
insurgents on the 27th inst. on the banks of the
Xarenta. The rebels, losing considerably, re
treated. On Monday an Austrian detachment conveying
stores and powder between Ne vesinji and Fotecha
was routed, and the convoy captured. There
has been another desperate encounter near Bilekr
with the loss of twenty men on eacji side..
Thirty-five men from a Dalmatian regiment de
serted to the rehels. The calling out of the
Dalmatian Landwehr is postponed because of.
their known disaffection.
Austria is making stupendous efforts. A con
tract was signed with the Austrian Lloyd's to
transport 30,000 men to South Dalmatian ports
and nine large steamers are continually employ e6V
There was recently a false alarm at Castelnuovo,
Dalmatia, and the Austrian Commander Jova
novics, fearing a general rising, threatened to
bombard the city from the port.
The late General Silas Casey, U. S. A., left three
sons and two daughters. The sons are Colonel
Thomas Lincoln Casey, Lieutenant-Colonel Corps
oi Engineers. U. fc. A., (who has a son of his
name in the same corps) ; Commander Silas Ca
sey, Jr., U. S. N., and Lieutenant Edward W
Casey, Twenty-second Infantry. One of the
daughters is the wile of Colonel Robert N. Scottp
major Third Artillery, who is on duty here.
Two of the old soldiers, who are inmats of the
Soldiers' Home, this city, are veterans of the
War of 1812. One is over ninety years of age..
The Treasury Department is informed that the
investigation now being made into the affairs, of
the Twelfth Light House District in California'
reveals an embezzlement of over $50,000 on the '
part of John T. Best,- one of the clerks, who is
now in custody.
The recent effort in the House to have printed
2,500 copies of the Guiteau trial, for distribution
in Congress, has created a decided sensation
among official reporters who reported the trial
for the purpose of publishing and selling it in
hook form. They are making every effort to de- .
feat the proposition before Congress. As they
appear to he fully justified, it is likely thatiheir
protest will prevail. . .
The House of Representatives has adopted a
resolution setting apart Monday, February' 27thr
for the memorial services upon the late President
Garfield.
