Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1862-06-27
How the Rebels Should be Treated-A Southern
Patriots Views.
Colonel Forney writes TO the Philadelphia

Colonel Forney writes to the Philadelphia
Press;
have letter before me, written by one of
the heroes who fought under our flag at Pitts
burg Landing. He says: Il am Southern man
by education. 1 cast my first vote in the State
of Tennessee. / was born and raised a Dem
ocrat of the straightest sect, and have known
personally for the last sixteen years many of
. the leading men of the South; but when see
3 tat / have seen, the tiger is aroused in my na-
sture. Every ridge is rough with graves, and
such gravesi 1t makes me shuddeF to think of
them. 1t is by no means an unirequent sight
90 see the blaeEened hands of the dead extend
ing from the soil, as if in supplication for a
decent burial. feel as if it would be delight
to turn common hangman, and spend the bal
ance of my days in choking to death the in
stigators of this Internal rebellion 1t is doubt
less crime to murder ones neighbor for gold;
to burn his house; to commit piracy upon the
high seas; but, in my estimation, the man who
commits one or all of these crimes is an angel
of light compared with the instigators of this
rebellion. And yet we are called upon to con-
slider this wer mere difference of politics, and
honorable members of Congress lift up their
hands in holy horror when you talk even of so
mild a punishment as confscation. There is
but one way to close this rebellion, and that
is to crush it out with an iron hand. The
slayeholding South, with the exception of such
loyal men as you find in Eastern Tennessee,
Western North Carolina, Missouri, Kentucky,
Maryland aud Western Virginia, is rotten with
treason Slavery breeds treason as certainly
as mia>matic swamp breeds ague. 1t is a
foul upas tree, polluting every thing that comes
within its shadow. Let us ther destroy that
tree--not at once, for it might crush us in its
fall; but, at least, let us girdle it and cut off
its tap root, and it will die by degrees. Its
leaves are already wilhering, and, as its branch
es shrivel, they will drop to the ground en-
riching the soil upon which they fall. The
black race is loyal Doodle and patient. My
policy is to exclude Slavery from all the Ter
ritories Of the Union, present and prospective;
TO free the slaves of the rebels, and give them
lands Of their former masters on lease, with pri-
vilege of purchasing in fee simple, upon the
payment Of fair valuation. We must adopt
this policy, or maintain an immense army i'll
the seeded States for the next one hundred
years" 'eH
And now hear Colonel Robert NJ. Lee, OF
your city, another Democrat. who writes, ov-
er the dead body of his gallant son, these hon
est words:
The individual who could have witnessed
what have witnessed since my arrival here, and
hesitate before the most stringent measures the
Government can adopt, to bring tospcedy judg-
ment the traitors to our Government, is unwor-
thy the name of man. Mercy to them is cruel
ty to civilization; and as for patience with the
sympathizcrs Of traitors in our communities
this is little short of treason. They should be
driven from our midst. or compelled to abandon
their reasonable practices and conversation,
and that at once"
These are better arguments than the resolu-
tions of party conventions better testimoni-
ais in favor of the right and against the wrong,
than the intrigues OF politicians, the sneers of
disafected demagogues, and the utterances of
the delicate dleitanH of the club houses.