Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1864-11-16
PROM THE SOUTH.
Apprehsnd.d Intention OF JsnDavIs
to Make Himself a military Despot.
Prom the Richmond Enquirer Nov. 10.

to Make Himself a Military DeSpot'
Prom the Richmond Enquirer Nov. 10.
The press of the Confederate States
would have felt securer in its future free
dom had the House Of Representatives on
Yesterday seen proper to have adopted the
resolution of Mr.. Foote, of Tennessee,
against the Recommendation of the Presi-
! dent TO substitute details for exemptions.
But the large vote given for the reference to
ltheMilitary committee cannot but be sccep'
ted by the press as leaving its future con-
dition uncertain. The members who voted
for the assurance of the continued liberty
of the press will only have to regret that
more of the members were not willing to
| quiet the anxiety of the country upon this
| important subject. 1t is not only among
the conductors of the press that this recon-
mendstion has created great anxiety, but
many of the people believe it to be the in
itial step to dictatorial powers. They can
not see how the cause of the country will
| be improved by changing exemptions for
details; but they readily understand how
every semblance of liberty must depart
from the press when conducted by gov
eminent details. The construction put
upon the recommendation of the President
was denounced yesterday in Congress as
that of a "nsdmen." al am not mad, most
uOU4G CGStuSI Out AOASA S0O "SAAS
of soberness aud truth" We would have
been most grateful if the honorable member
who thus denounced our construction had
supplied the press with sounder views as
to what the President meant. This paper
has never exhibited any spirit of factions
opposition to the President, aud We received
his recommendation with the deepest re-
greet but we have been unable to discover
any other effect for this recommendation
than the dependence of the press for con-
tinued existence upon the pleasure of the
President, should the Congress substitute
details for exemptions. We are writing
only of the effect, not of the motives of the
President; these are known only to himself
and his God. But if he is seeking dicts-
torial powers, what more certain way of
accomplishing his ends than the Unlimited
control of the press, which the power of de-
failing the editors would give him2 If
the dictator scheme has friends, what bet
ter waY of advancing it than the reference
of Mr.. Foote'S resolution to the Military
Committee, there to slumber until the plot
has been fully arranged, and is ready to be
sprung upon the country.
Girardin tells his readers that scheme
of making Patrick Henry dictator wks
talked of in the Virginia Assembly in lT76.
Archibald Cary meeting with Colonel
| Syme, the half brother of Henry, in the
lobby of the House, accosted him :-"Sir,
am told that your brother wishes to be
dictator. Tell him, from me, that the day
of his appointment shall be the day of his
death for he shall find my dagger in his
heart before the sunset of that day" And
the scheme was abandoned, for all knew
that "Old Iron" would have made good his
threat. There are descendants of "OId
Iron" living in Virginia yet.
DAV1s's BOLD ATTEMPT TO NUZzLE TIE
PREss-HE oUTDoEs LINCOLN.
From the Richmond Wing, Nov. 10. FL
The proposition of President Davis, in
his late message, to place editors and
printers of newspapers under the thumb OF
the EIecutive-so that that department
may have the absolute and entire control
of the whole press of the country-meets
with no favor out of doors, whatever may
be the disposition of Congress. 1t is no
novelty, having been tried once or twice
before by his Excellency, and been reject
ed, almost without consideration, by the
Congress of the Confederate States, 1t is
the boldest attempt to muzzle the press, or
to make it speak only such language as
the supreme head may like to hear, that
has been made on this continent. Even in
the Yankee Congress no such thing has
ever been attempted. In the Yankee ma.
ton whenever any editor says anything
which the Dictator or his satraps consider
Objectionable, he is taken at once into
: custody, his types are distributed or dis.
persed, his presses broken or handed over
to some loyalist and he himself left to
mediate, in a bastile, upon the grandeur
! Of the great republic and The tender mer-
cies of the best government under the sun,
But he is not insulted with the reproach OF
haEi0O aNtad AGAINST Ia
fore, justly clapped into prison in pursu.
ance of law. he is told, and he knows it
without being told, that he is there for
having taken the name of Abraham Lin
coin in vain-for having criticised his
measures or ridiculed his person; for hay-
ing attempted to bring the ruling power
into contempt, or having said what might
expose 1t to execration. He knows that
there Is no cause for his arrest and he is
not told that there is any. In fact, his
prosecutors do not hesitate to point to
their epauletts as their warrant, and To
. their swords as their Justification, Press
and law, they are given to understand, are
alike silent in war times.
The case ia very different here. We
have President who is remarkable for
! : the conscientious scruples with which he
! executes the law, especially when our en-.
l emies are to be affected by it. Net for all
? the world would he do anything for which
4 he had not law to show. When he wishes
Il to do anything arbitrary, he considers il
; better to get law for it 1t was in con-
temptation at one time, we heard, to sun
press the EsaHiHsr newspaper, and this
I Journal, for certain differences of opinion
with the Executive, expressed in terms not
. Snmcientiy conrtly for the ear of majesty.
: But 1t was not done, there was no lsw f3r
: the deed. Lincoln would have s,,al AS
. fereutly. he would have cIapped the al
itors into prison aud knocked the TYNE into
l "pt without waiting for any law. oar
3 more considerate rulers think il hest m
I, have law BY means of which he can ef1
feet the same thing. Give him a hool- =,