The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1862-10-12
Military Seizure and Individual
Pillage,

Pillage,
IN consequence Of some typographical
prrors in our article with the above cap
aion, on yesterday morning, and the de-
sire expressed by numbers for It's repro
auction, we republish IL to-day, with a
Jew additional observations II is al
most superhuous to say that We nfBe these
views in reference to the seizure Of the
property of rebels, without license or au-
ghority, not from the slightest syDPatby
nsit is termed, with those who are traitors
20 our country. Our ideas on the subject
Df confscating rebel property, heretofore
advanced, have even been branded as Ill
ira, and the UNION has been called radi-
cal, by certain Northern journals Of fee
BILE judgment and sluggish perceptions;
but what we said yesterday, and reiter-
ate TO- day was dictated by an earnest
wish that the name Of the loyal army
Of the United States should be .without
reproach, not only as to its valor and de-
yotion, but its justice. The grand adj
mOnitiOn of the dying Cardinal Woolsey
20 his beloved servant Cromwell, may
well be brought to our remembrance at
this timo:
let all the endsthou aims't at be thy couutrys s.,
Thy God's aud truth s."
Let us bear in mind this solemn ad
monition. five are truly just, we shall
aot fear, for true courage comes from a
consciousness of virtue, and he will best
serve his country who observes truth and
She laws of God. To our mind the
proudest title of antiquity is that which
was applied to a great Athenisn ruler;
'Aristides THE JUST" Far higher fame
does that imply than Hercules The
Strong, Cicero The Eloquent, or Socrates
The Wise. And this marshalling of
nearly one million Of men under the flag
of the Union, in
''Battlo's mag nlhcenuy stern array"
is necessary, is justiflable, only for the
reason that we intend to subdue the re-
bellious and lawless, and establish justice
1t is of the utmost importance while
we are trying to put down the rebellion
that we should not be guilty Of commit
ting lawless acts to suppress lawless-
ness and at time when civil law
throughout the South is superseded by
military law, it is the imperative duty of
our military officers to see that mill
tAry law, as established by Congress, be
observed, and that the people, whether
loyal or dislOyal do not, become the vic
fins of mere military violence, or of the
caprice Of individuals who enjoy the ac-
Cident of position There is an error on
This point quite too prevalent, we fear,
among some Federal officers, espcci-
ally among some subordinates, who
having been suddenly elevated from
an obscure lawyers or physicians
Office, or petty counting-room, to a posi-
zion in the army four or five |
times as lucrative, sometimes indulge in
an extTayagant exercise of authority
Their doctrine seems 70 be that as the |
Government has authorized them to fight |
rebel armies, they derive from this an
unbounded license TO seize everything |
belonging to rebels and appropriate it TO
their own use. Some officers claim a |
still greater latitude of power, and APP
prOpriate the property Of the loyal and |
disloyal alike, IL is natural for soldiers
TO follow the example set them by these
officers, and in some instances TO indulge !
an cOnhscations not exactly authorized |
by any act of Congress which we have
ever read. Such conduct can be produce
tive Of no good result il will be produc-
live of infinite evil. IL is itself lawless-
ness OF the most fragrant nature, and in
direct contrayention 10 the rules and or
der laid down by the very highest civil
and military authority Of the Federal
Government. 1t is in itself species Of
treason and rebellion, for al violation of
law is rebellion. For this belief we
have the sanction of the highest military
authority on the land, TO which we now
call the attention of all persons concern
ed. We quote from General Order No.
lO7, Of Major General HALLEcg, Com
mander- in Chief of the army.
SEo. 3. The laws Of the United States
and the general laws of war authorize
ia certain cases the seizure aud CONVEX