Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-04-26
: WHEELING. VA.sAFURDAY MORNING, APRIL 26. 1862

OS nj 4G11 SO% lSOSS
be loyal under the present condition Of
things in the rebel states. The moment
! your loyalty IS known your property is
I eontiscated or destroyed, your person as
sailed, and your life put in danger The
lnSurgent authorities act instantly and
with extreme rigor, while our own gov
ernment does literally nothing.
Uncle Sam is good, easy old soul''
| so they reason in Florida-''who al
lows you to set his laws at defiance with
the completest impunity. Until he has
big army in any disturbed district you
are in no danger from him. Even then
you have merely to make few lukewarni
professions of loyalty to win his favor.
lie Will protect you, as well us he can,
while his soldiers are present. But as
soon as their backs are turned the rebels
assume the ascendant, and plunder,
MAIN or kill all who dared to welcome
the Union forces" In other words, it is
much safer in every respect to be arebel
at the South than it is to be a Unionist.
No disabilities are attached to the one,
while the other is menaced, not only with
the usual hardships Of state Of war, hut
with thecruelest vengeance of the law.
II fs this fact, we are told by the fu ueitiVes
from Jacksonville as well as in our letters
from Kentucky, which keeps so many on
the side of rebellion. They would gladly
return to their allegiance, bat they are
afraid to do so; they are afraid their es-
tates will be seQuestrated BY the rebels,
while they know they viii have nothing
to fear from the Federal Government. 4
man may have passed the whole Of the
last year in the prosecution Of hostilittes
against the nation: he may have been the
man who shot Baker at Balls Bluff, or
Lyon at Springfield; he may have given
all his means, as we'll as his services to
the insurrection, and yet if he lays down
his arms now, aud takes the oath, he is re-
stored to the full fellowship of the repub-
lie But let him even so much as speak in
favor of the Government of his country,
and, if he escapes mob violence, he is sure
TO De visited By the agents of the law. who
seize upon what he possesses and drive him
and his family from the State. Practical
ly, bounty is paid for infdelity to the
Union and fidelity to its enemies.
What Congress should do Immediately is
to pass rigid coniscatiNn act, applicable
to all who aid the rebellion; to denouuce
special penalties against the leaders; aud
10 authorize the military power, as soon as
It enters any district, to hold, as HaIleck
did in Missouri, the property of even the
peAceable secessiOnists responsible for the
0utrSges committed on loyal PERSONS
Nothing short Of this-unless it be the
armed determination of the maIiguants-
Will restrain their Atrocious practices aud
restore tolerable tranquility. Make the
infatuated ZeAlots aware of the dread pen
alties they incur by their crimes, and they
will begin to reflect on the consequences
of their conduct
1t is heart-reudiug to hear the tales of
suffering and sorrow. hich these FlOridiau
eziles tell. Thelive of many of them for
the past year have been protracted agony.
Every day exposed to insult, every night
lying down nnder aPprehensions that their
roofs might be burned over their heads.
All trade ami intercourse was suspendad.-
The mills were burned; the plantations
rooted mp: the barns and storehouses ri
fled One year ago the commerce of the
ST. Johns river was worth FIVE millions OF
dollars annually; it is now worth nothing.
The supplies of clothing were long since
exhausted, and the supplies of food are
drawing to close. No mans life, unless
he were blatant reyOlutionist, was secure
for moment The able.bOdied were hur-
ried into the ranks, the feeble and aged
narrowly watched, aud ofted uithout the
sllghtest pretenee desPoiled or shot In
short, the stories would be increditable,
told of any civilized community, if We did
not receive them from the mouths of edu-
Gated and respectable persous-IaWyers and
merchants, who have always borne the-
highest character.
Yet, in the face of such facts, Congress
fingers over bills designed and fitted to
bring the miscreants who have perpetrated
such uutrages to coudign punishment. 1t
must be Obvions to every one that no
scheme of conciliation will ever restore
these misguided fanatics to their duty.
Nothing less than gunpowder aud the pen
Rlties OF the law will reach them. But
while We are sending army upon army into
the field, and feet upon feet to their ex-
posed cities, to administer the 6rst remedy,
n strange Inconsistency induces US to with.
hold the second remedy. We do not seru-
Pile to shoot down two or three Thousand
men at a time, in order to teach them obe-
dience to the laws and to restore prosperi-
ty aud peace, but We do hesitate about
those civil measures which would BE quite
as effective to the same end aud yet spare
great deal of blOodshed. The rebels
who meet our soldiers find them in earnest,
but have yet to be convinced of the ear
nestness of our statesmen 81