The New York herald., 1862-08-10

| ems and cements them. until, suddenly ana w III
/ out warning the invisible power which restrans
the avalanche loosens its hold. and swift death
and destruction thunder down the mountains.
! SO, for long days and months, The Union has
been amassing and concentrating its forces; so
these orders Of the War Department, if pro-
perly and rigidiy enforced, will consolidate and
unite the North; and when, in a months time,
the Union avalanche is loosed, we shall soon
hear no more of the foul rebellion which has
so long disgraced the country.
The Retaliatory Orders OF tho Rebel
Government Against General Pope and
His Omcers.
The late stringent orders from our War Of
fee, defining the execution of the Confscation
act, passed at the last session Of Congress, es-
pecially the orders and measures adopted by
General Pope and his officers since bis assump-
ton Of the command of the Army of Virginia,
have stirred up the wrath of the rebel govern
ment at Richmond to unmeasured denunciar
tions Of our mode Of warfare, and to special
decree of outlawry against General Pope and
his officers.
This decree General Orders, No. 54) and the
explanatory letter of JEFF Davis published in
yesterdays HERALD) assume the convenient
character of virtuous indignation, but
which, measured by the standard of truth and
even handed justice, only betrays the exhaust
less impudence and recklessness of the lead
ers of this rebellion. They say that, as the war
has hitherto been conducted on the part of the
United States, it has been marked by Savage
cruelty against an unoffending people," and that
we are now converting this warfare into "a
campaign of robbery and murder against un-
armed citizens and tillers of the SOIL" This is
the general charge; but it is levelled especially
at General Pope and his officers, and particu-
larly on account of the arrest by them of
number of rebel citizens, to be held as hostages
against the assassination of our soldiers by se-
cession bushwhackers.
The "ordersf in question declare that Gene
raj Pope and his officers are thus disqualified
| and not entitled to be considered as soldiers,
them, they will be held in close confinement.
and that, sin the event of the murder of any
unarmed citizen of this confederacy (Southern)
by virtue or under pretext of one of the orders
hereinbefore recited, whether with or without
trial, whether under the pretence of such
citizen being spy or hostage, or any other
pretence, it shall be the duty of the command
ing general of the forces of this confederacy to
cause Immediately to be hung, out of the COM
missioned officers General Pope and his sub
ordinates) aforesaid, number equal to the
number of our own citizens thus murdered by
the enemy"
This is the rebel decree against General Pope
and all the commissioned officers of his army;
and in regard to it we dare say that the Gene
raj and the officers concerned will be rendered
only the more vigilant in watching the move
ments of the enemy, only the more difficult to
capture in camp or on the march, and only the
more terrible in the decisive trial of battle.
But how are we to treat the brazen effrontery
of the rebel leaders in denouncing their right
full government as guilty Of Savage cruelty"
"robbery and MURDER" "infamous bar
barities," &C., when the blood of thou
sands of their innocent victims, slain
under almost every form Of savage
violence and torture, is crying to Heaven for
vengeance: The commonest complaint from
our soldie rs-from Virginia and North Carolina
standing guard over rebel property they have
been liable to be shot down by rebel bush
whackers. Many good soldiers have thus been
slain. 1t has been discovered, too that inno-
cent secession tillers of the soil by day are
soldiers by night and it was the experience of
General Pope among such innocent characters
in Missouri that drst induced him to try his
peculiar repressive measures. They were emi-
nently successful against the stealthy guerillas
and nocturnal bushmen in the West, and the
same pains and penalties appear to be working
very well among the same customers in Vir-
ginia
These guerilla operations, which have
been recognized as within the system and
'usages Of war; adopted by the rebel gov
ernment,. embrace all tie treacheries and
all the atrocities of Indian hostilities,
and the scalping of our soldiers, killed or
wounded in battle 1t was only the other day,
in Tennessee, that the Union General McCook,
while passing along the road, sick aud in
an ambulance, was slain by rebels in am
bush--absolutely murdered-and with this
intelligence, and from the same quarter, we
were informed Of the discovery of four mur.
dered Union soldiers hanging upon the same
tree. The catalogue of such rebel barbarities, |
particularly in our border slave States, would |
fill large volume These Savage cruelties"
are not only excused but organized and encou- |
ragged by the chiefs Of the rebel government at |
Richmond; and yet they prate to US Of "plighted
faith" and the ''usages Of war" In view OF
these melancholy facts, who can say that Gene |
raj Pope has not discovered the most efficient
method of dealing with those lawless instru-
ments Of this rebellion, who are Farmers by
day and soldiers by night?"