Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1862-11-14
TIE SHOE ouEsrIoN.

long article Of yesterday, in reply 10 CUTS q
the previous dsy, ,ners to the pcine.
In a body of soldiers which lately passed
through this lily e..to a Iu 9sher wsr' bare
foet. The ~aymrathiss Of Oar citizens "er'
greatly aroused. Measures Of relief wers
quickly suggested, and ca1iialls embraced
Meanwhile reports were circulated that nc
less than tme:.ty Thousand of Lse'5 soldiers
were il, q like state oi desSitutioa-
In this state Of things the "Whig" sa"
oroDer 10 issue the editorial which we felt j
a duty TO notice. It did not coniire its re-
marks e. The exciting cause. 1t did not con
fine itself to the officers whose assumed de-
linonencies had occasinncd the evil complain
ed of. But it made a promiscuous and mos
savage assault upon everybody in the Gov
ernr,pnt and for almost everything CONNECTED
Tith it's operations,
Ii represented the President OF the Con,
fedcrate States, bis Secretary Of War,tall the
Cabinet Officers, the Qu&rtertnsater General,
and some thousands Of shle-bodied young
clerks" az taking "good esre" not to see
the passing soldiern, md a. engaged in ''toast-
ias their w.ll-shod feet by rousing 6fes,' in
utter Indifference 50 to their wants. In addi-
t;oo to this fancy sketch, it alleged that the
administration had interpossd the aidiocy
and sloth of official routine and persistent
and ceatemptuous houting to every attempt
at cooperation with it for the public good
And it charged the Government, and It's mem
bers individually, with "~!cola-booded 'nhu-
MAINLY" as to the wants CT tho army, or OF
a suffering soldier.
This tcrTent Of cousure YES al ELECTED by
the dcsti,u1;on first above stated.
We did avt ourselves thiuk it beneath our
duty to inquire into the causes of that painful
fact before letting loose our censures. We
hav1 generally found that mon of intelligence
and character, have at least reasons for things
in which they msy, ut first view, appear to
be culpable; an we do not consider that we
understand a case, or can do justice, until their
explanations are hsxrd and considered.
In answer to oar inquiries wo were as
sured, and 30 stated publicly, that the re-
QUESTIONS upon the Q~uartermaster for shoes
had oil Deem honored. Ifthis nc q fact, it
WIS one proper to be known: because it left
no shadow Of foundation for tbs monstrous
chaige Of acold blooded inhunaui.y" which
she "Whig" had preferred. II the "Whig''
mad thought il worth its while TO make the
same inquiries, it would scarcely nave vcn-
tured upon n accession which, If true, would
Justly consi3u rhose asainat whom it is oi-
rsctsd, to tbs lowest infsmy, and make them
the scorn aud deteseation Of every good man.
In what We have published on the subject,
our purpose WAS to vindicate the trnth, and
relieve rh0se to whom the management of our
affairs is entrusted, from undcservsd oblo-
guy. IF nothing had been said, the ~justoess
of tbe sccuSltio1 would have bssn considered
az universally conceded. The effect upon tho
prblic mind we can imagine from W hat would
be the effect of such a belief upon our own.
If the President snd his Cabinet we're the de-
mons tbs "Whig" describes, there would be- no
fate too severe and no infection too sumna-
ty.
The sW mig" assumes, because of Our criti-
ciStn upon is accusations, that we claim Sim
lnsculare impeocrbii;:y'' for The aJm;aistra-
ton. Bstthis is a non ssqEiiar. 1t does not
follow that bscn1ss ne d. not, il the lacs
of facts aud reason, believe it to pos.
sass the "oold- blo:ded inhumanity' of a
ds:uon, we therefore deem it infallibls.-
4 man may be an honest man and G worthy
officer, and yut not be an angel, The "Whig''
docs NIX seem to recognise this fact, in the re-
mark we have referred to; and with far great
ar ACCURACY than thGt remark exhibits, we
Nigh: rptort that some Of the wIiters in the
"Th'g" hold it impossible for the administra-
ton eser to do any thing that is aos wrong,
if NOT indeed Infamous and diabolical.
Tho "Nhis' holds US up as disc ouragiog the
private efforts now being made in behalf of
tho army, The refutStion to this is found in
e7ery 1889 OF this paper, and our readers lre
taejudgcs. But :here is surely abundant room
for everything which our citizens can do, with
out discreditiag our country aud traiucing our
government and affecting the sensibilities Of
the people by suffering e1aggsrations to 20 un-
corrected, ia order to furnish Thorn with a
stimulus. The "sxaggsrstion and misap-
prehenslon" we referred to, had not appeared
in the "Whig," nor did we SO state. On the
contrary, the " big" Of this morning contains
q partial correction Of them. 1t was current
ly reported that there wore twenty thousand
barefooted men in Lees srmy-some accounts
said half the men were so. the "Whig" in
forms US, on the statement of a reliable officer,
that "in one corps of the army Of the Poto-
mac, there ware .tpsnty-sir hundred men
without shoes" AS our army there consists
only of t,co corps, this would make . total
dsstitution at.thnt time, Of Jfce taousand t,so
hundred. Was it wrong, then, for us to say,
that the cdrrent statements above referred to,
were rxasserstions Is it wrong to let the
people know the truth? And if telling the
ruth will chill the iberality Of the people,
thu "Ni:ig'o" statement will hsvo that effect;
for our committee have already bought more
shoes than the "Whis" represents as want
ing.
F.r curselvei, We must be pardoned If We
refuse to ask the peoples gifts upon q mis-
representation Of facts. We will deal fairly
with them. And thus dealing, we say to them,
earnestly and frankly, that there is need Of
whatever aid they can render. True, the sol
d;ors are rot suffering in anything like the
nunoera wnith have boon represented. a
gentleman Of this city who returned but day