Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-09-19
The Beast, once More.

The LendOn Saturday ReUie,5 has scatbing
criticism on Buffers apology for his brutal order
respecting the women of New Orleans We
give as a specimen of the article, the following
extract:
This is General Buffers commentary on his
own order; and ne has also illustrated it by his
practice. At the funeral of Federal officer,
one Lieutenant de Kay, it appears that South
ern lady Of remarkable spirit and ingenious
freedom of tongue, msde herself conspicuous by
sitting IN her balcony and displaying Southern
colo.s and otherwise misconducting herself Not
ths5 she stood alone, for the whole of New Or
leans sympathsei with hor, and the scene in the
church where the funeral service was celebrated
was so violent that, in a transport Of rage
wholly uubecoming to o savOTy professor as
General Butler, that religious commander de-
clGred that if he had been there he would have
bcmbarded the church. The Bomba Of the
North vented his holy Indignation not on the
church but on the lady. Mrs. Phillips was at
once s1rested, and another general order, quite
equal to his infamous proclamation, was at once
issued. Mrs. Phillips, on being subjected to the
gentle commanders Interrogation, with South
eru vivacity replied, l was in good spirits that
day" Flesh and blood At least General But
lers flesh and blood, could not stand this sharp
artillery Of wUmans tongue. Il is therefore
ordered that she be not regarded and treated as
a common woman. but as an uncommon, bad
and dangerous woman" and therefore he sends
her into solitary confinement Buffers wit Is
wOlthy of his usmesake who wrote HRdijraS !;
and he might have been contented with the sly
Joke of styling Mrs Phillips an uncommon
specimen Of q common woman. The retort
woul have b5el snple vengeance for the lady's
pCTtness. In the tongue duel the General had
the best Of it. There was hardly a necessity for
cenchiDg hs pleasantly by transporting the de-
f=ated Joker 10 iel0n's prison as well. Poor
Mrs. Phillips finds It to be sad mistake to
handy sharp sayings with the commander Of an
army Of occupation, just as somebody else dis
covered that it was OF no use to argue with the
master of ten legions.
Bat the value Of General Butler's second
general order is the light it throws not only on
mis- first general order, but on his own exDlana-
ton Of its meaning. Mrs. Phillips is not to be
/ treated as a common woman, but is TO be order
/ ed TO prison. The inference is plain, that the
/ New Orleans ladies and common women are not
. to be treated as Mrs. Phillips is treated. She is
imprisoned, because she is not to be regarded as
common woman. How then, are common
women to be treatedl As MrA Phillips WAS nat
treated. But according to bis own account of
his own meaning, this Imprisonment was exactly
what he says he threatened all the ladies' with
Either then, General Buffers Joke loses all
its point, and he has treated Mrs. Phillips as
common woman, or in his infamous proclams-
ton" be did not intend that sense to be given to
il which lie has recently invented in his letter of
| explanation TO his Boston friend. One way or
lie other, General Butler has tumbled into an
obvious inconsistency. He must either abandon
his Joke or MS explanation. BY his treatment
to Mrs. Phillips he has proved that his prOcls-
nation was intended in that sense which every
reasonable being has attached to it. He has
tod e h.
General Butler likes scripture aud knows his
Bible, we make him present of the language
as we'll as the sense Of the text.
OF course, al this is poor work. 1t is lament
ably easy to unmask a sanctm0niOus ruthan
ike this Butler; and-ior iusensibly one slips
into too much scriptura sllusion, which is al
most defled by applying it, exee"' in retOTt, to
/ 50 great master in inspired language-we ieal
a certain kind Of ceremonial dehlement, and
seem to be unclean ill the evening while touch
/ ing such as General Butler. But a serious
/ question remains. Is the South to be held by
an army Of pro -consuls like this Here is New
| Orleans, the second city of the American CONT
nent, a city, as General Butler says, seven
miles long by two to four wide, Of 10000 in
babitants, al hostile, bitter, defiant, explosive
/ standing literally on a magazine, a spark only
needed for destruction"
! 1t can only be held by threats Of bombarding
churches, and by actually lmpnsonlng women
Every woman is a Jael in it. But New Osleans
/ does not stand alone. Every city and town aud
village in the South is alive with the like of Mrs
/ Phillips; and when the legiOns of the North
/ have triumphed, and when the unknown sons
and daughters Of those whom the Buffers, aud
/ the like of Butler, have consigned to infamy
and Ship Island, can lisp curses, they will be
showeFed with even more than Mrs Phillips
good spirits on the conqueTors and op-
| pressors. Is this the tenure by which the Union
/ is to be preserved