Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1862-08-02
The Brutal Yankees.


1t has always been the manifest policy Of
the rebel leaders to inAame the minds Of the
citizens of the South against the Cnonists
and the Federal army, so far as possible, for
the purpose of making al Prospect Of n real
Union more remote and more iuipracticatle
than it otherwise would be. TO this end the
most absurd and ex'ravagant lies are circula-
ted respecting the Federal leaders, and the
viest abuse and misrepresentation is heaped
upon the characters Of the Federal Generals,
until even the best disposed Of the Southern
people have been led 20 believe tha. the Off
GERS and men who lead or compose the army
Of the Union are only monsters in human
shape, whose mission is TO burn, plumber and
destroy, and whose favorite war cry is
" Beauty and Booty"-an alliterativc slogan
which had its origin in the fertile brain Of
Beaurrgard.
The ftc,ilent diatribcs Of the rebel press
have been family rc-echoed by their srcesh
sympathzers in the loyal States, until even
forci gn newspapers have come to believe that
the old ISLANDERS of Trollopc, Mirya,t and
Dickens, as to the grossncss and baybarism
of our people may be partially founded on
fact. There are foreigners who doubtless be-
lievc the vicious reports concerning the hru-
taliy of Butler as practced towards the New
Orleans women, and the blood-thirsiincss of
Hunter, whom an English paper represented
as arming their slaves for a wholesale butch
erv of their masters. For the circulation of
these base libels upon American character,
the rebel and anti-war newspapers are chiefly
responsible
But though a civil war has always its pc
culiar and aggravated horrors it is gratifying
to every true American to note the fact that
on the part of the Federal army, at least,
there has been magnanimous display of the
virtues of forbearancr and humaneness which
ever must characterize noble and generous
people. The rebels themselves have been as
tonishcd at the humane and kindly treatment
which they have received at the hands of
their victorious foes. and have often returned
to their homes as paroled prisoners. with new
and justcr views Of the character of the loyal
soldiers of the Union. a rebel officer it is
time, was deeply affected when he saw in our
camps The rebel and Federal wounded receiv-
ing the same attentions from the army sur
gcon, and ill numerous instances rebels have
expressed themselves MS astonished at the
kind treatment they have received at the
hands Of their Federal captors.
When the rebel gunboat Gen. LorM went
down, with all on board, in scventy-ive feet
of water, at the memorable fight before Mem
phs, the drowning crew were rescued as far
as possible. by the Federal sharp-shootcrs,
who forgot, in their generous haste to save the
swimming wretches, that but lately those i'm
ploring hands hands had been swift to strike
and kill. What a commentary was this hu-
manizing scene upon the slanderous declnra-
tions of tho very newspapers whose Offices
were in sight of the rtfmtation of their own
falsehoods. 1t would be grateful task for the
historian to record with this fact that the
same generous aid was extended by rebels to
| the drowning crew of the Federal frigate
Cumberland, as that gallant craft went down
in the memorable Mcuimac fight before For.
tress Monroe; but honest history must record
the barbaris,n Of the boasted sons of chivalry,
which actuated them to pick of with rifle
shots the poor fellows who, on wreck and
spar, were floating between life ard death.
The world is miserable enough and full
enough of hollow-hearted treachery, misery
and inhumani,y, but let us be grateful that
this long and sad war has brought to tho light
the hidden virtues of the American people
who have shown that they can be just as well
as terrible, and bc true to the humanizing in
stncts of our common nature as well rs un
Ainching in the discharge Of inAexble duty
MarysriAe Appeal.