Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1865-05-18
a Few vVeFds Aeelt : VoFa.

"A Few Words About asVEoEd.
From th6 New YorkPoE
We frequently read OF hear somerebel
and traitor spoken Of az gentleman,
ehiVslrous gentleman, q cultivated gentle
man, or Southern gentleman. This is
done sometimes by menkWho nse language
csIelessly, and do NOT notice its nice distinc=
tons; sometimes. however, it is done BY
persons who evidently give 6 peculiar
meaning TO the term, Of which We wish TO
say = few words. A gentleman Ia. accord.
ing to some, man pure, unselfsh, faith
full, sober, honest, honorable, charitable,
humane according to some Others, q gem.
tleman 10 pers0niWho has received . col p
lsgiate education, Snd enough lessons in
deportmenE from dancing. maslerto make
him ati eassin society. Some think of
Colonel NeWcome as q gentlemani others Of
Now, dispute about the definition Of 4
word 10 likely to be endless. A word has
the meaning which general custom assigns
to it. u0IeVer" means In one part Of this
country, deXterous, OF 6kilIful, in anotherS
foolishly good nAtnrsd. So the term gem
ueman seems 70 mean with some . man Of
honor end come simplysa spaEsOns Of smooth.
aud polished exterior. We do not intend
to quarrel with the latter, ottO charge them
with misusipR . word hut .Ue think IL n8e-.
full tospoint out their meaning. When Shey
speak of the rebel leaders as gentlemen,
they intend 70 Say 5nIy that these persons
have the good fortune 70 be decenlly edus
Gated aud easy mauheFedl; NO more.
There il once common phrase which
will help to point this distinctiou-it wass
custom to speak of man az "a gentleman
aud scholar This supposed that he
might be gentleman aud yet have small
knowledge Of books. So those who now
term the chief rebels gentlemen evidently
had some qualifying adjective to:denote
the real character ofthe person spoken Of,
and this ought to be added. Thus Gen.
p. T. G.. BeauEegsrd should be called "a
gentleman and q liar the Hon. Wigfall, of
Texas, is "a gentleman and murderer
the late John B.. Floyd was "a gentleman
and q thief Governor Letcher is "a gen.
tleman anda drunkard,' JEFF. iDavisi Is "a
gentleman and a bank.robber5 Pickens, of
South Carolina, who 'wSs born insensible
to fear, Knight be called g gentleman and
g tool5 Governor Wise, of Virginia, Is e
gentleman and a braggart.l
Then there ID Benjamin, Whomiihis Yale
College friends would call q gentleman and
pfckpoCket; George N Saunders, who is
gentleman and defaulter; General For
rest, q gentleman and cut~throat; John
Morgan, gentleman and horseethief!
Then there is General Lee, who is gen.
tleman and deserter, or gentleman and
a perjurer; or, remembering that auderhis
eye, and by his connivRnce. thousands of
his countrymen were tortured to death, by
starvation and exposure at Belle Isle, Gen.
Lee might appropriately be called . gem
tleman and torturer, ora gentleman and
an executioner, just as Wilkes Booth would
be called gentleman and an ASSASSIN.
General Winder was gentleman and 8
brute. General BreckiuTidge, who set fire to.
Richmond, is q gentleman aud a house.
burner; Captain Semmes is gentleman
and q pirate; and any one who has seen the.
scars on the backs of colored women in,
South Caroline will naturally think of q.
cotton planter as a gentleman and Q. Wo.
manSWhipper. y ss.fs,gaC I, I. n
If we go from particulars 10 generally
we may speak of any one of the rebel lea
ders as gentlemsnRnd a traitor, q gentle
man and perjurer, Or to put it mildly, q
gentleman aud . tfugitiVe3 from JUSTICE
Only, If We thus, iDdisCriminAtely apply q
term like this, it will soon cease tosbe oomr
plimentary; aud man of honor will pEes-
entity think itan affront to be called gen
tlemap, as in Kentucky 1T used TO be
thought slanderous to call Q man an indi-
vidual. It. is not to be denied, however,
that the people who make this use Of the
word have some authority for their pEao-
tice. ~ III. ~, b.. MO- ia -
When, Hicks, the. pirate. man who had
not slain 80 many men as Lee or Davis, who
hadsueVer massRcred q garrison in cold
blood like Forrest, and had never assisted
to starVe men to DEATH but who was never.
theless a hardened Fnffsn-When this
Hicks was hanged on Bedloe's Island, in
ohr harbor, some years ago., Marshal
Rynders,l who superintendent that ope-
ration; WAS seen by the assembly of Wit
nesses toeapprosch the gallows aud con.
verse for moment with. the culprit, who
stood there with the rope around his neck.
Then Mr.. Ryndsrs walked up to helIook-
ers-on, and said, pointing to Hicks, 4
asked the gentleman II he desired to ad!
dress the audience, but he deClined.'-
WheFeupoD after 8 momentaryl pause, the
excellent Marshal gave the sIgnal, and
Htcks was swung off, inst so, when
Wilkes Booth was surrounded In tho Gar.
rett Barn. aud saw escape impossible. he
offered to pledge his word as a gentleman
and man of honor to come out, little solg
dters would only give him q fair chancs to
murder one more Of their humber.
Now, II any one is blamed for CALLING
Davis, or Lee, or Beauregard, sor LetcheF.
or Hunter, OF Faulkner, or Brown. or
Vance, or Harris, or Slidell, or Bepianin.
gentleman, We advise him to cite the
practice OF Marshal Rynders and the AZ
sassin Booth, In justification. 81! q -.
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