Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1863-07-09
Retaliation on tho Enewy.
LFrom the sayananah Repnbllcan, Jnne 2e.l

y.
4 From the Savannah Republican, June 26.l
We are glad to see that large majority
Of our contemporaries are falling into the
views expressed through the columns OF
the Republican more than a year ago MS to
what is necessary for the protection of our
people in this merciless, savage war of the
Yankees against us. ''An eye for an eye
and tooth for o TOOTH" excepting their
diabolical crimes and villainies, is our only
guarantee against continued outrage and a
perpetual war. This, adopted and fully
| carried out for brief season, if the war
does not actually close, it will at least be
conducted on civilized principles by the
! Yankees. Give the vandals their own med
icine aud they will soon be cured. We an
mex some extracts on this subject from our
Richmond exchanges.
Tbs Enquirer says;
| We know not what may be the instruc-
tious or intentions of Gen. Lee, but we do
know that the heart of this country is burn
+, ing for vengeance. We know that the
| Presidents own plantation has long since
been ravaged lIud ;plundered; the estate of
General Lee long ago confiscated The
richest regions OF Louisiana and of Tennes-
see are smoking deserts this day; but thou.
sands upon thousands of helpless creatures,
routed from their homes, and huddled
within our lines, living on charity and
| wishing they were dead We have not for
| Rotten-aud trust that Gen. Lee has not
the formal "iustructions" lately issued by
the Yankee Secretary of War, and repub-
lished in the Enquirer two weeks ago,
| from which "iustructions," lest anybody
should have forgotten them, we repeat an
| extract:
Military necessity allows of all de-
| r,N .E
the ways and channels of traffic, travel or
communication; and of wIthho Idiug of sus-
teuauce or means of life from the enemy;
of the appropriation of whatever an enc
my's country affords, necessary for the
subsistence and safety of the army" &c.
Whether this Yankee law of war be
sound or not, it is their law and their prac.
tiee Here, around the coasts OF this very
peninsula, within forty miles of Richmond,
bands of their brigands have been landing
in every creek, burning, spoiling reducing
to desolation all the labors and possessions
of man; they have passed through our
land like destroying demons, panic in their
van, and in their rear wreck, ruin and
ashes.
But private property, as we read iu the
Yankee papers, "has been hitherto respec-
ted by the rebels"-has it Indeed? Then
are those laws of war and military neces-
sity which allow ''all destruction of prop.
erty and Withholding of all sustenauce and
and means of life from the enemy" TO be
held to apply to us alone, battling as we
are for our homes and liberties, and not to
apply to the invading foe who has laid
down these very rules, and set US so fero-
cious an example in reducing them to
practice7 This statement, however, about
prospecting private property" refers, we
40 "a ,,,1
lfederates 10 Maryland only. If it be prac-
ticed in Pennsylvania or Ohio, then it will
amount to AN Invitation aud guaranty OF
impunity for every Milrov and Rosecrans
TO rob aud deVastate our country whenever
he pleases. Respect for the private prop
erty of our own people requires that we
should not respect the private property of
the enemy on this occasion. A whole
some example of wide spreading, indis-
crimiuate havoc now would be strict
measure of reprisals, q warning and les.
son, which would necessarily have fine
effect for the rest of the war.
We are not aware of the Confederate
} officers doing as the Yankees do-stealing
Ijewelry or spoons. or packing up pianos or
: rummaging ladies' trunks. This lie not the
sort of thing we mean. But there is no
objection to our setting FIRE to the four
! corners of Philadelphia or of Cincinnati
making an uniahabited desert of PennsyI-
lvania or Ohio, or both, as the French did
when they burned the PaIattuate. They
never had such need, never such provoca
ton, as we have. Petty larceny is not the
forte of the Confederate soldiers but m
act Of stern and fierce retribution, sweep
ing over guilty land like judgment Of
God, might suit them well.
For this is real war, not by any means
q Presidential campaign; we cannot afford
to handle such an enemy with gloves Of
softest kid. Kid gloves co t too much now,
owing to the blockade.
The Why says:
The terror of the enemy at the approach
of our troops is just such as guiltand COW.
} ardice should have been expected to mani.
fest at the prospect of punishment. They
r know that their inyssious of MS have beer
attended by the most shocking barbaritiec
and outrages, and they naturally expect re.
taliation proportioned to our wrongs. We
sincerely trust that they may not be disap,
pointed. They have chosen to disregard
all the humsnities of war; to substitute
the torch for the sword; to incite our oWI
slaves to the hellish work of massacre T; tC
make war upon non eombatants-upoE
women and chiIdren-the old and tha in
irm; TO openly avow the purpose OF de
stroying the means Of subsistence, and ere
ating famine and starvation; aud though
We cannot retaliate precisely in all respects
Iyet We can teach them the sharpness ant
bitterness Of q war waged In this spirit
: and make them repent in the agony o
!, their suferiDgs the eoermous wiekeduess o
which they have been guilty. II Gen..L
YankeedOm fairly OD- he-rack b
= should not stay his hand till every siney
II VTa0n Rcaaa IA nj