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Strong protest against pensions for Confederates.
At the annual meeting of the Pickett-Buchanan Camp of Confederate Veterans of Norfolk, Va., held January 24th last, the following resolutions were adopted:
Your committee appointed on the 19th instant to consider the subject to which the following resolutions relate, respectfully report as follows:
Pickett-Buchanan Camp, No. 3 of the Grand Camp, Confederate Veterans, Department of Virginia, has read with pleasure the speech made by the President of the United States at the Atlanta Peace Jubilee, on the 14th of December, 1898, on which occasion the President, addressing Confederate veterans, used the following language:
‘Every soldier's grave made during our unfortunate civil war is a tribute to American valor, and while when these graves were made we differed widely about the future of this government, the differences were long ago settled by the arbitrament of arms, and the time has now come in the evolution of sentiment and feeling, under the Providence of God, when in the spirit of fraternity we should share with you in the care of the graves of the Confederate soldiers.’
This camp cordially accepts the assurances thus given by the President in the same spirit which prompted its utterance, and honors the sincere purpose which actuated him in expressing this patriotic sentiment.
But the incident at Atlanta has been used by some misguided persons to introduce into Federal politics two widely different questions: (i) The admission of Confederate veterans into National Soldiers' Homes and (2) the gift of pensions to Confederate soldiers.
It is against such mock humanity and false pretences that this camp desires to record its indignant protest.
The Confederate soldier is unwilling to be placed on the pension rolls of the United States or to become the recipient of any of its bounties.
The time can never come when we would feel honored by any such
