Daily Nashville union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1862, 1862-06-17


Provost Marshall importance OF
thotr omee tn QueSltng fre"sOn
The rebellion has introduced in most
of the towns and cities of the insurgent
States, the Office Of Provost Marshal, one
hitherto unknown, or nearly so in this
country. This Office is wholly the growth
of military necessity, and involves many
of the duties of martial law. It's exist
snce implies that-cither the civil magis
trates are disloyal 10 the Government,
and will not discharge their duties faith
fully, or else that the opposition to the
civil magistrates is so formidable that
the ordinary laws are made silent and
nugatory. II results from this as a ma
tural consequence, that military and
soldierly promptness and severity is abb
solutely necessary in performing the
duties of Provost Marshal. If the officer
is 80 indulgent that his military author
ity is only nominal, he is out of place
In this case he ought either to resign and
make way for a successor more efficient
or Che unpopular Office ought to be super
coded by the regular civil officers. Eth
en- there does exist an extraordinary ne
cessity for the office of Provost Marshal,
or there does not. If there does, then
Che Provost should act as promptly, as
yigilantly and as rigidly as though he
were on the field of battle; if there does
not, the Office should be instantly vacated
aud abolished, and the civil authority
should be instituted Tn every city
wherein a vascillating, temporizing,
tender footed course has bOon pursued
by the Provost Marshal, where we'll
known and armed, and even clamorous
traitors have been suffered to go unmo-
Tested, where rebel preachers have been
suffered TO teach their poisonous heresies
insidiOusly from the pulpit, where rebel
women have been allowed to insult Union
soldiers and officers, where rebel editors
have been tolerated, where rebel women
have been allowed to visit rebel prisoners
and encourage them in their treason,
where expressions of reasonable sympa-
thies, have been suffered TO go un-
punished, aud still worse than all
these, where ridiculous efforts have been
made to court rebel favor and win traitors
TO loyalty, by showing an anxiety to
punish Union soldiers for some trivial and
perhaps supposed afrOnt to, or depreda-
tiOn upon some black hearted malignant;
the rebels have become emboldened and
laughed to scOrn the power of the Gov
eminent In all such localities the Fed
eral authority has been carefully nursing
and warming and feeding vipers in its
bosom. Leniency has utterly failed TO
tame these hyenas and I'm them with
iamb-like gentleness. Look at Baltimore
though here at last indignant loyalty
took the law ih its own hands and struck
treason and traitors dumb with terror.
Look at Norfolk, where treason has been
Pettsd and is more insolent than ever.
Look at Louisville, where, under a mis-
erably mistaken leniency, treason grew
80 bold that il laid the corpse of rebel
Major in state in front Of rebel church,
aud then bore il through the streets def
antly TO It's resting place. We witnessed
the outrage with burning cheek and a
swelling heart. Look at the Federal ca
pitol, where the same injurious lenity
was practiced, and the result was that
the city was filed with male and female
spies, who communicated intelligence Of
every movement to the enemy in Rich
mond, Leniency from a Government to
intelligent traitors, who are plotting its
overthrow, is an unutterable absurdity.
Il is like
F" Fettenng strong madnsss 10 a sik,n thread.o
We think we can see evidences in this
city that leniency and indulgence are not
the means to employ in oonquering trail
tors We hear daily Of insoIent speeches