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The Commoner.
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VOLUME 4, NUMBER 42
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A DISPATCH under date of Baltimore, October
25, printed in the Kansas City Star, says:
"Mrs. "William P. Tonry, the only daughter of Mrs.
Mary E. Surratt, who was put to death for being
involved in the Lincoln conspiracy, died here
early today after several years' illness, resulting
from her efforts to save her mother. She was 68
years old."
COMMENTING upon this dispatch, a writer In
the Star says: "Juno 21. 1869r William P.
Tonry, employed in Washington, lost his position
under peculiar circumstances, and, it is said, with
tho approval of President Grant. He had served
in the United States army during the civil war,
and he had been detailed as assistant chemist in
the laboratory of the surgeon general's office,
which position ho had filled with entiro satisfac
tion. Tho trouble was said to ho that ho had just
married. He had married, at that, a woman
whom any loyal citizen of the United States ought
not to marry, according to the views of tho sup
posedly loyal citizen of the United States, at that
particular time. His brido was Anna E. Surratt.
Tho girl's mother had been hanged a short time
before for complicity in the assassination of Pres
ident Lincoln." t. v.-
AT CHICKAMAUGUAina898, according -to the
Star writer, when thoFifth Maryland volun
teers were encamped there, they were under com
mand of General Frederick Grant. In that regi
ment wore Reginald I. Tonry, sergeant in Com
pany C, commanded by Captain Thompson, and
Albert S. Tonry, corporal in Oampany L, com
manded by Captain Boyden. They were the sons
of tho man who had lost his position because he
had married Mrs. Surratt's daughter, and they
were grandsons of Mrs. Surratt. Many remember
Mrs. Surratt's trial and conviction after John
Wilkes Booth had killed tho president. They re
member her hanging, too, but very few remember
that her son-la-law, a loyal union soldiers, was
discharged because he married her daughter. And
very, very few know that Mrs. Surratt's two grand
sons were serving under tho Stars and Stripes in
tho volunteer army. Mrs: Tonry had just loft
school when her mother was hanged. .She was
probably about 18 years old and was an only
daughter."
IT IS estimated that nearly 52,000,000 worth of
licorice is consumed in this country every year -from
tho lands bordering on, tho Mediterranean.'
The Kansas dlty Journal says: "Most people think
that licorice is made from the wooden twigs and
branches of a tree, But in reality tho licorice
wood is the root of a ver.y pretty, dainty plant,
which has beautifully shaped leaves that are col
ored bright green- on one side and pale silver green
on the other. The licorice plant is a perennial
and in England, where they are trying to make an
industry of raising it, the experimenters plant it
in rows between cabbages and potatoes, in tho
Mediterranean and Oriental countries great plan
tations are given up to it altogether. The licorice
plant throws out immensely fleshy roots, full of
Juice When they are fresh. They spread arid "bur
row far into the earth and a good, big Oiofe has
to be dug to get them out. The licorice wood as
we see it here, represents only about half 'the
original weight and size of the root for fullv 50
per cent of the juice Is lost in drying it. There
fore the licorice .dealers are getting to-be more
Mid, more in- favor of squeezing the juice oiit of
StnS n thG Si)0t and tuen shipping this
v.
ONE of tho prerogatives of 'a United States sen
ator Is that when ho stops into an elevator
in the senate wing of the capitol, he Is carried im
mediately tojiis destination, no mattery in which
direction tho elevator may bo bound or who may
be aboard. Three rings on the bell indicate that
a senator wants to ride and the conductor loses
no time in responding to the catl. The Washing
ton Post tells the following interesting story: "One
day last week Mr. Barnes, the assistant secretary
to the president, stepped aboard a senate" elevator
from the ground flootf lna portfolio under his
arm ho carried a message ' from the president- or
the United States to tho congress. 'Senate floor,'
said Mr. Barnes, a tho conductor shut the door.
Just then thero were three rings of the bell and
the indicator showed that a senator wanted to
be lifted out of tho terrace. The elevator went
down instead of up and Mr. Barnes went along.
Tho senator in tho terrace only wanted to go to
the ground floor. As ho stopped off, however,
there was another senatorial ring from tho ter
race. This senator wanted to go to tho gallery
floor and tlio elevator went there without stopping.
As the car started down there were three rings
from tho ground floor, and again the car failed to
stop at the destination .of tho president's secretary.
Fortunately- for Mr. Barnes, this senator wanted
to get off at the senate floor, and the congress,
after long delay' received the message from' the
president."
REPUBLICAN leaders argue that tho army. Is
smaller In proportion to population than it
was In the days of Washington. A writer In the
New York World says that these leaders ignore
that most Important fact in the use and handling
of an army; the means of communication and
transportation. This writer adds: "It took Mr.
Thomson seven days to travel from New York to
Mount Vernon to notify General Washington of
his election as president. Washington, wh6se
journey was delayed four days by the public honors
showered on him, reached New York eleven days
after starting from Mount Vernon. An army could
not have traveled so fast. Thero were no rail
roads, there were no steamships in those days.
There was no telegraph by which an army could
be ordered from place to place. New York is now
less than six hours from Mount Vernon, so that
Mr. Thomson could have traveled twenty-six times
as fast as he did. The population has increased
twenty-fold, the army only slightly less, though
the Indian peril and tho English menace of Wash
ington's day have disappeared. The larger the
army, in time of peace as well as war, the greater
the immediate cost, the greater the pension list.
If the size of the army is to be dependent upon
the number of inhabitants it is fair to ask if tho
population more than doubled between the ad
ministrations of Cleveland and McKinley. The
standing army did." x
THE -"Recollections and Letters of General
Robert E. Lee." edited by his son, Robert
L. Lee, Jr., has recently been issued. Newspaper
correspondents say that in this publication will be
found final proof of the story long published and
long denied, that General Lee was offered com
mand of the United -States army at the beginning
of the civil ivar. A New York correspondent for
the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in a review of this
book, says: "In 1868 General Lee yrote to Senator
Reverdy Johnson in- regard to a debate in the
senate in which Senator Simon Cameron had made
certain statements. In this letter - General Lee
said: 'I neyer -intimated to any one that I de
sired the command of the United States army; nor
did I ever,bave a cdnyersatlon with but one gen
tleman, Mr. Francis Preston. Blair, on this subject
which was at his. invitation and as I understood'
at- the instance of President Lincoln. After lis
tening to his remarks, I declined the offer he made
me, to take command of the army that Tvas to bo
brought into the field, stating as courteously as I
could that, though opposed to secession and denre
cating war, I could tako no part in an invasion of
the southern states.' " " or
IT IS pointed out by this same reviewer that
"General Lee adds that ho went dlrectlv tn
General Scott, told him of the proposition that
had been made to him. and two days later con
cluding that he ougnt no longer retain his' com
mission, resigned from the army. Two days latZ
on invitation of the governor of Virginia, he went
to Rlchmonu, found that the convention had parsed
the secession ordinance, and he accepted the posi
tion of commander-in-chief of the state forces In
this book the author does not attemnf tn f
the field of. the historian as far as to wa &
s concerned. As the title of the work implies
it is largely composed of his father's letters S
of them--W inViinmediate'family, and he niXs
no addition of value to the military history of thn
late war. The chief Interest ox tho book ilea in
its personal phase, as Relating to the daily Mo
the, mental attitude t ad characteristics of General
THIS correspondence, most of it of the most
intimate character, according t.o the Post
correspondent, in measure reflects General Lee's
views on tho great question with which his career
.'is so closely connected. This correspondent says
"Writing With all the freedom of a husband and
father to wife and children, or to intimate friends
. letters which, ho probably never dreamed would
see print, tho man himself stands revealed.
Throughout his correspondence is a devuitly re
ligious tone. Lardly. a letter is given but which
evidences the deep faith of the man. Writing
from camp and from battlefield, he seldom failed
to acknowledge or Invoke divine help for his
cause, his family and himself. Thero is a notable
absence, of military information in those letters.
Wherever it Js brought in it is incidental and those
who anticipate lignt on the military problems of
the great struggle will be disappointed. Tho
author condenses into one chapter the period prior
to his father's resignation from the United States
army, and confines himself to General Lee's own
utterances in letters to his family and friends as
to -the , motive's which actuated him in his de
cision. Writing to his sister, Mrs. Ann Marshall,
on tho day he tendered his resignation, General
Lee said: 'Now we are in a state of war, which
will yield to nothing. The whole south is in a
state of revolution, into which Virginia, after a
long struggle, has been drawn; and though i
recognize no necessity for this state of things, and
would have forborne and pleaded to the end for
redress of grievances, real or supposed, yet in my
own person I had to meet the question whether
I should take part against my native state. With
all my devotion to the union and the feeling of
loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have
not been abie to make up my mind to raise my
hand against my relatives, my children, my home.
Thave therefore resigned my commission in tho
army, and, save in the defense of my native state,
with the sincere hope that my poor services may
never bo needed, I nope I may never be called on
to draw my sword.' On the same day he wrote in
similar strain to his brother, Captain Sydney
Smith Lee of tthe United States navy."
THERE follows in the Lee publication many
letters written by General Lee to his wife in
the spring and summer of 1861, counselling her
on family matters. The Post-Dispatch corre
spondent, continuing his review, says: "On May
25 he was transferred with his command to the
confederate states army. In a letter he said: 'I
do not know what my position will be. I should
like to retire to private life if I could be with you
and the children, but if I can be. of any service to
the state or her cause. -I must . continue.' Soon
after the first battle of Manassas General Lee was
sent into Wesjt Virginia, and In the numerous let
ters to his lamily ne interestingly describes the
country, his raw soldiers, and the difficulties he
faced. These letters were continued with great
regularity alter he was sent to South Carolina in
the winter of 1861. Many of these are deeply
religious, Writing his wife on Christmas day ho
said: 'If we can orly become sensible of our trans
gressions, so as to be tully penitent and forgiven,
that ,this heavy judgment under which we labor
may with just ce- be. removed from us and the
whole natio-, what a" gracious consummation of all
that we have endured it will be.' In the same let
ter he volqes his forebodings for his old home and
says if- it ?is destroyed he would like to purchase
Stratford (on the lowei; Potomac). 'It is a poor
place,' he adds, "but we? could make enough corn
bread' and bacon for our support, and the girls
could weave us clothe ."'
The Sioux City Journal of October 17 says ed
itorially: "It may be that Mr. Bryan's Common
er will reach Mr. Watson's letter of acceptance,
but it may not bo able to get to it until after
election.1' Readers of the Commoner do not need
to have their attention called to this in order to
convince them that the esteemed Journal is as
badly off, in Its predictions as it is in its politics,
So
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