The New York herald., 1865-05-19

very few men, even of those trained among our
merchants, better qualified 10 fill the position
than Mr.. King. \
The Real Nnturc OF the RebeiIion-A
DouoIe Conspiracy OF Force and
Crime.
1t was once said to Napoleon that the Rus
sian magnates, ambassadors ministers, princes,
and so on, were very fine and accomplished
gentlemen. EYES," he replied, "they are; but
scratch any one Of them and you will always
find Tartar underneath" The truth of this
phrase applies equally well to our Southern
rebels. All the men who originated and car
red on the war against the government passed
the earlier years of their lives on the South
ern plantations. There, amidst the degrading
and brutalizing influences of slavery, their real
natures were formed and developed, and there,
in the habit of despotc treatment of creatures
whose very lives depended upon their whims,
they imbibed those notions of society that they
have lately attempted to carry out and that
have made them proverbs Of cowardice and
cruelty. But as they grew older they were sent
abroad to study in colleges, and to travel.
Thus they had casual intercourse with eivili-
cation, and were subjected to humanizing
influences, and these put varnish of demeanor
over the real man. The Southerner became in
this way very elegant gentleman; his man
ners were irreproachable, and his holiday con-
versation that Of the politsst circles But you
might, at any time that you should scratch his
skin, have found underneath the STAKEHOLDER
and driver-a wild and cruel beast, compared
to whose real nature that Of the Bengal tiger is
ridiculously amiable.
Out of thin double character Of the South
ern men, no doubt, grew the double charac-
ter OF their attempt against the government
That attempt combined two distinct systems of
operations for the attainment Of it's object.
One was the use Of public force by recognized
war; the other was the employment Of every
crime that humanity has considered horrible
such as assassination, arson, robbery, piracy,
and the wholesale and deliberate starvation of
thousands of men. The use of the first means
was slight tribute that the South paid to the
prejudices of the world at large. Southerners
had q facGtious reputation for manliness,
chivalry and 80 on; and, to uphold it, they
thought they would marshal armies, fight their
battles manfully and take respectable posi-
ton before the world. We, in true, manly
spirit, met them for such struggle, and car
ried it on openly and honestly. But in that
struggle It soon became apparent that they
were no match for us. By the time that Vicks-
burg had fallen and the battle of Gettysburg
been fought, it was evident that the Southern
men could never gain their object by public
force, used in open, Legitimate war.
At that time Davis announced to the rebel
leaders that they had undertaken too much;
and from that period they began the pursuit of
the more congenial system Of murder and
arson. We had scratched away the varnish,
and the real nature came out Then occurred
the meetings Of officers Of the rebel army in
the Shenandoah valley, at which Booth was
present; and then it was that the capture or
murder of Mr.. Lincoln was talked over in
| official circles at Richmond. From that time
the rebel Congress began to hold it's secret
sessions also. The organization Of the whole
horrible system Of atrocity dates from that sum-
mer. The ft tools were sent to Canada for the
purpose; piracy began; the raids on the border
were prepared; the burning of this city and the
attempts against the President were set on foot.
At that time the rebel leaders openly declared
that war was only one of the means that they
relied upon to secure their triumph and
Sanders boasted that Southern men would COM
nit acts that would make the civilization Of
Europe shudder. 1t was then the positive
purpose of the Southern leaders to carry on o
| system of atrocities that should inaugurate a
terrorism here-start the Sons of Liberty and
Che Rights of the Golden Circle, and so paralyze
the government that the blows against the
| Southern armies must fail. In view OF the testi-
mony taken at Washington it is impossible any
longer to doubt that that was the plan. And it
is quite safe to say that history has no parallel
to this Wholesale and horrible depravity.
And now the duty Of the government is to
Judge the rebel leaders that may hereafter come
before il in the light of these revelations We
are in favor Of all leniency that is compatible
| with just and even generous administration
of the laws. We hope that the President will
extend that leniency to oil subordinates-to all
the poor dupes Of common soldiers who have
| been deceived TO their utter ruin. Lot punish
ment and confscaton stop short of those poor
wretches. But TO the rebel leaders of every
class-C congressman and oil other ofiicials-all
the heads Of this atrocious system, we hope the
government will not fail to mcte the very
severest letter Of the law that can apply TO their
| crimes.
VERACrTY OF THE LONDON PREss.-In the Lon
don Herald of the I'd and Sd inst, we find,
| among many Others Two statements which illus-