Weekly Trinity journal., 1864-10-08
Tae Atlanta Exodus.

General Sherman has notified the citizens of
Atlanta, through their Mayor, that he has need
of the whole city, and that consequently they
must leave. They are allowed to take with
them all their movable effects. They may go
North or South, as they choose, and conveyance
is furnished them part of the way. The Com
mandng General states that the order is mill
tary necessity, that he had taken possession of
the place for military purposes, ana the same
purpo: :es required its complete occupation by his
forces, to the exclusion of all civil presence
There is nothing in the order, or in the manner
in which it is to be carried ont, to prove it the
result of any harsh or nhuman policy adopted
towards the rebels. Sherman has never shown
him self to be n cruel General and he has achieved
too prou II fame to stain it by an act of inftmy
Nevertheless. General Hood takes occasion to
denonnce the act as barbarous, and the Rich
mond Sentinel echoes the same cry in exhaustive
epthets of denunciation Such being the case,
we feel called upon to consider this act of the
victorious Federal officer, and we wish to review
it in two lghts-one. in itself considered /; the
other in the light which the rebels own acts
throw upon il.
Where a state of var is allowed, many terri
bic evils are inevitable. Life is held rs u cheap
commodity, and property is estimated of no
value, compared with the end for which the
war is conducted. In old times conquered towns
cities, provinces were considered as belonging
to the conqueror, and were often surrendered to
the indiscriminate last AMI pillage of the SOL
derv. We cl,im to have outlved those periods,
ana to have reached an era of civilization where
the sentiment of the world will not permit such
practices. And as the war has been con1acte |
by the North and to n certain extent bv the
South, do not think we are amen sble to the
charge of departing from the spirit of the age in
this respect. But in the most perfect state Of
society, when war is carrie on. the exigencies
of the occasion Will often demand that which
the most unfceling and INSCRIPTIONS conmanl ler
would avoid if he could. The war. of course
is carried on for p,rticular end. Everything
therefore, must give way to the end, except what
may be branded as unnecessary and purposeless
cruelty. This is self-evident. 1t is one of the
evils of an evil condition of society If man
shoots his neighbor they hang him. If he kills
his enemy the battle feld they applaud him.
The deed is the same in either case. Circum-
stances interpret the event. When Napoleon put
to death the Turkish garrison at Jaff,, the terri
BILE deed was justified only by the circumstances
in which war had placed him. and the event can
only be Judged from that standpoint.
To come directly to the question before rs ;
our armies are engaged in crushing a rebellion
to the nation for this we are paying ter
rible price; life and property freely offered ;
blood is literally poured out like water the
thing goes on for years more blood is shed,
more money wasted-and now a victorious army
occupies city in the heart of the enemy's coun-
try, whence the enemy has fed, leaving behind
them their women, children, and aged. To
ry out the policy of the war, orders given
that these helpless ones shall be removed trans
portation is allowed them they may carry with
them their movable goods-houses and land,
perforce, remain behind. The home, the hearth
stone must be left. They are not forfeited they
are not confscated. They may be re-possesscl
when peace returns. Where is the cruelty ?
Where the inhumanity? The serried r,nks of
the opposing hosts may strive all day-and for
days-n murderons contest, and the ground
may be red with blood and piled with the slain
and all this is glory but when the victor gently
removes the innocent and helpless from before
the course Of the war chariot which has not yet
completed its victorious career this at once
become inhuman?
But now, in the second place, what is inhu-
man Let the glare of Quantrells torch, and
the shrieks that murdered the quiet OF the Law
renee dawn make reply; and let Fort Pillow
send back the echo. Who these sensitive
and conscientious people who denounce this act
of Shermans? Have they SO soon forgotten the
flames of Chambersburg, and the helpless in
habitants driven from their blackencd and smok-
ing ruins Do they forget the horrors of Belle
Isle Are they unmindful of the step they mi
tiated, of placing their prisoners under the enc
my's guns? Would they hesitate to dis6gure
Of fire, and leave the Capitol an unsightly ruin,
if they could get the chance? From the begin
ming, this fictitious indignation has been their
policy. When Butler would not permit rebel
women, who sought protection in their crinoline
to fout their insolence in the face of bis patriotic
troops; when F,rragat orlers the removal of the
women AMI children from city he might be
compelled to bomb irl when tie same thing is
don. at Charleston and now when Sherm,n
albeit with m ,iled IN !, yet with tender consid-
erateness, superintends himself the came kinl OF
removal, striightway the rebels tnrn backs upon
wsgncr and Belle Isle, upon L,wrence, Pillow
and hamoersburg. ana throw them selves into
iiiotic convulsious7 over Federal barbarties. Let
them rave, and let their European sympathizers
make response. 1t viii not DO, Tie generation
shall know the truth. History shall record it.
Posterity shlH proaolnce the iaai juls s.neat.-
Reese Rirer Reptite.