New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-11-04
! Al REpERAT. ooarPLAINr.


A REDERAL coatPLAINr.
a5S
The Cincinnati Times, one Of the howling war
organs Of the North, .is very much Disguised at
fhe way the campaign has been conducted, and
vents its ideas In a column of most impassioned
complaint. The article, though written in an ex-
ceedngly highfalutin and teploftioal style, leads
MS to believe that there is some lightning amid the
cloud Of words and forces the conclusion that sew
eral screws must be loose somewhere about the
war machinery OF the great Yankee nation.
Tho burden Of Its song is the swindling and
cheating that have been practiced by the contract
ors. II says the Greeks Of the Lower Empire y
| were nowhere in comparison with them for thiev-
ing and stealing; and that g the Federal army is
the especial victim of host of swindlers such as
the earth was unaequainted with for nearly six
thousand years. z
This is quite likely. We have long had an idea
OF the same sort ourselves. As soon as the North
ern party got majority in the cid Congress, steal
ing and pillaging commenced, and the result was
the annual expenditures ran up, in . few years,
from forty millions of dollars to very nearly hun
tdred. Probably one third of the amount was ap-
piled to legitimate uses, the remainder being peck
eted by contractors, agents and the hungry swarm
of thieves who were perpetually prowling about
Washington for the purpose Of inserting their
shouts into the public crib.
If this sort of thing was carried on in open day
| Light in Washington, it is very unreasonable to
suppose there will be less of it in all the obscure
places IN the North where Government contracts
have to be made and executed The, opportunity
is a splendid one for the gTandest operations in
that line of business. and itwould be contrary to
Yankee nature to let it pass unimpro wed. The
eagles have scented the prey, and it, as is NATURAL
/ they hold high carnival over it, we, don't think
i the Cincinnati Times ought to bother its readers
/ with quefulous expressions of its disgust. We
would recommend to old Abe that this special
complaint may be easily silenced, and thai a sop
to the Cincinnati Cerberus will almost certainly
stop his barking. Instances are not wanting,
since the war commenced, of closing the mouth Of
complaint with Federal bonbons and this, indeed,
may be- the motive that prompts the Times COM
plant This fellow perhaps growls only because
he has been put off with scraps and dry bones,
while others have been RECALLED on roast beef and
plum pudding. rs y4g{sl4 '5ssssss 800
rs AS this witness testif1es concerning things of
which he is presumed to be well informed, we can
have no hesitation in accepting his evidence.
Here, then, IS what he says Of the immaculate
patriots who are feeding the soldiers of the
Northern army 80 ~ y.
| Immense quantities of clothes have been fur
nished, land these have not reached the suffering
soldiers. Will not the government order an imme-
date Investigation of the conduct of affairs 1t is
burning shame upon civilization that men who
are known to be corrupt from the crowns of their
heads 70 the s0les of their feet are retained in
oceretained in the face Of protests loud enough
70 secure response from the Wondering careasses
{ of the tomb. sS 49, ss5 y .g@
Our soldiers are sick, freezing, starving, dying
[ m lrginla, while paymasters are boarding the
money which belongs to them, to their wives and
To their orphan Children and while certain quar-
ternlasters4 men whose lives are unbroken records
of Eenalify who obtained their situations be-
cause they were corrupt enough to buy them-men
who know enough about certain members of The
cabinet to cause their ejectment from Office if they
would only turn States evidence while such
men are dashing along through rownsand cities, at
| The expense Of the Federal Government, drawn by
Federal horses, and followed, at every step, by
negroes, covered with more buttons than ever 4
adorned the most elegantly attred marshal of the
first Napoleon. a d ,ss$ss Ill 5sss i
& Onr sick are everywhere, our half naked are
cur hungry are everywhere, our
freezing are everywhere, our dead are everywhere
whilst some Of our public dsbursing( q officers are
drawing interest on the public money, and some of
the clerkssof these dsbarsng fs} officers offer
ing to purchase the claims OF the poor soldiers in
the field Tell it not in Virginia publish it not in
the streets OF Richmond lest the Secessionists
hear it, lest the daughters Of Alabama hear it and
rsjoice-that we have peeuniary agents in Western
Virginia, who purchase Virginia bank money,
(which Is ait considera BILE of discount) and pay
III to the men who have left their wives and daugh
tiers, and sweethearts, and mothers, sand fathers,
and sisters and brothers, and comfortable, beaut
homes in Ohio, for the purpose of defending the
II star banner, Y and exposing their bodies
aat the rate of sl3 per month, TO bursting bombs
and showcase OF powder, lead and iron
Truly this is melancholy condition of affairs.
The Northern people tell us that no sordid feeling
iactuafes them in making this war upon us. They
fight 50 they say, for the "nag, for the 'eountry,
for s for our glorious Union.'' And yet, strange
to say, all Of this fine sentiment Is rudely broken
in upon by Federal confessions of their officials be-
ing corrupt from the crowns of their heads to the
soles of their feet, g men whose lives are un.
broken records Of venaiity ? g men who know
enough about certain members Of the cabinetsto
cause their eieetment from office, if they would
turn State Is evidence " III
The Times concludes its statement of the case
by declaring that the North IS not at all afraid of
foreign nations, but what's tobe especially guard
ed against is corruption at home" ~ We have
offered, says the indignant editor, .pre miums
for rascality laurels for cowardce, and crowns
for imbeolty.p This is a hard case indeed, see
ing that those qualities fourish8so luxurantly in
that region, even without premiums and rewards.
But If that paper, or any other paper, expects to
stop the stealing that is going on by complaining
about it, it is labor lost The Yankees main idea
Of governments that ID Isl great benevolent so
eiety, an eleemosynary institution, to dispense
faYors to the people; and, II it is not sufficiently
liberal of its own accord, it is all right to proceed
against 1t by indirection. The idea that it is less
Of a crime to cheat q government than an indi- |
yiaual prevails extensively among them, and this,