Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1864-06-01
/ aderal General Speaking TO Rebel Audi
PDcp,

Gen. SEYMOUR, who was taken prisoner by
the rebels in the battle of the Wilderness,
made a speech to a large crowd of gaping
''secesh" at Charlottesville, who had turned
out to see the Yankee prisoners as they
marched through the town.
The Richmond papers at the last accounts
were in a state of profuse indignation that
the rebel guard should have permitted such
an improperly. The Examiner calls it the
most preposterous exhibition" of the war,
and would regard it as incredible" but for
the authority of a " trustworthy gentleman
who avOuches " the fact that by some unac-
countable but most cuIpable connvance of
the officers of the guard, this creature (Gen.
SEYNoUR) was actually permitted to make a
speech to the citizens of charlottesville
And worst of all, such speech The E1-
o57aiaer says it was to the following effect;
"Gen. Lee may possibly defeat Gen. Grant
and the Union army; but what of that
trust if he defeat him he may follow up his
success by taking Washington and burning it
to the ground. And let him not stop there :;
let him capture and burn Baltimore, then
advance on Philadelphia and burn that Then,
at last, we shall have a united North, and
shall Begin to shoag you aghat aCar a"
To appreciate the wrath of the rebel lead
ers, we must consider that they are constant
ly assuring the people that if GRANT can only
be beaten back, the war will be at an end,
and the independence of the South .ecog-
nized. Yet here was Yankee prisoner who
alleged that if GRANT were whipped, Wash
ington, Baltimore and Philadelphia captured
and burned, the North would only just begin
to make war in earnest and strike with its
full power. The Examiner assures its readers
that this was a new piece of &c Yankee brag-
gadocio," but it evidently feels little I'M
comfortable over it. Two things it declares
past its comprehension one Is why the pris-
oner who talked thus was not g bucked and
gagged ;" the other why his auditors, with
that delicate regard for the right of free
speech, for which the Southern people are no.
torious, did not g boot and pelt" him. Neither
was done, however. But most lamentable of
of all, from the rebel point of view, the
speech seems to have made no slight impres-
sion on the populace. The Examiner, with an
making the following admission:
'eYet we have heard Confederate citizens,
apparently sane, absolutely compliment the
''pluck" and clash" of this miscreant's har-
angue.
'Our people, unhappily, have such dis
eased appetite for oratory, are so resolute
to have every man define his position" are
so easily duped by the show of everything
spirited and plucky lin language), that they
will even listen to the impudent rant of a
despicabIe being like this. If he cannot
fight, he can at least talk; his tongue is
sharper than his sword if he cannot advance
to the burning, and plumber of Charlottes-
vile, at the head of lis brigade, he can at
least electrify the citizens thereof by a small
TRADE of defiant phraseology!
"On the whole, this whole scene is the
acme of absurd improperly. The guard who
permitted it deserved punishment; and if
such speeches" are to become permanent
institution, we do not see the use of buck
and gag"