The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-08-10
A REBEL VAIL.

How the Southern COnfederncy Went
Up.--A Voice from the Rio Grande.
From the Mqtd'nords Daily Rdnclero, JrLy I6.
Three short months ago it was iEleed
glorious privilege to be nm undolbted
Confederate. Not n Confederate who
had Ibeen forced into ranks, for all such
were only ConEederutes from necessity.
Not n Confederate who was basking in
the dollar and cent smiles of enrolling
officers, for all such were under the ban
of well-founded suspicion. Not n de-
tailed or contracting Confederate, for
all such were wcll-known to be max ing
money out Of the war. Not fffty-ard1,
over years old Confederates, for the
whole grny-headed tribe OF them were
indisputably nothing but pack of old
blowhards. Certainly not enlisted Com
federates, for it was well-llnOwaS Sthat
they went into the ranks to keep from
being cOnScripted. Not an cNeinbted
Confederate, for they were incontesti-
bly, exempted for no other purpose than
for whippers-in md general teasers,
without being COnfederates at all. Not
federateS, for there is do doubt they
took sick, got the consumption or broke
their legs, just to keep out ofthe ranks.
We nSsurcdly do not mean Northern
born ConfederateS, from the highest
officer to the lowest private, i'll or out
of the army; for all such labored under
the most internal band OF suspicion
which any set of men ever undertook
to pack. We could not possiblYmean
an official Confederate; for theirs was
too clear II case of robbing the country,
soldiers families and all, But an hon
est, undoubted, unsuspected Confeder-
latei to be such an one was glory enough
Tor any man three months ago. TO
have been such n Confederate Mt that
Il
tne ne'bantshment OF. every man and wo-
man in the Confederate States, and
then to have called up the Savior, and,
possibly, he would have suspected
-, But nov, how changed the scene /
Ihe glorious privilege of being and hav-
ffag toeena Confederate, free from suspi-
elon, IS denied to no one. All that any
one may claim of this recently disputed
privilege is now awarded without the
introduction of testimony. Even a
iNofthern-born man can now get sight
draft cashed for as much Confederate
patriotism as he is willing to draw for.
The stock in bank is inexhaustible; and
none are so poor as not to have untiIil-
! ing interest init, So that the long-con-
tested privilege, so glorious in itself,
has, like the rnins from heaven, fallen
upon the just and unjust, upon the rich
and the poor.
The Confederacy isdead; it was stran-
! gled in the house of its friends. It is us
dead as the principles for which it con-
tended--principle co-existing with the
American Republic. But the people Of
the once Contederacy have no groundto
complain, for they were among the-first
| to abandon them; they allowing them
to, be abandoned. They allowed every
vestige of human rights to be ignored,
under a promise of having them given
back after thewar. They allowed them
selves to be robbed of their property.
their inherent and natural rights, under
the appalling delusfon thst M would
4 strengthen their power of resistance
They tolerated the blAckest iSict that
ever disgraced N legislative record Inn
constitutional and unholy+-the ftct OF
conscription with its aristecratic ex-
empttons. An act that forced the sll0n-
est, industrial, laboring man from his
dependent family into the ranks With
out providing means of subsis once Tor
ms family, and exempted planters and
their nlggers !; doctors, not one intten6l
whom deserved a patient, and at Best
were but social incubus lantern M
ed, canting, seven-by-ninas socfotS dis
turOlng preachers, and aavet neddle-
some and dtctatOr-supporting editors.
exempted them for no other purpose
than to combine wealth, talent and In
1uence in support of the measure! and
thereby force it down the thtndtss0f the
| people and the courts of the5eountry,
That act exempted three hundred thou
sand effective white men who could
leave their families with princely for
tunes, and every way provided - fth the
comforts of life; it exempted from scr
vice of any sort, five hundred 6usand
powerful, able bodied blacks, viewfnS
them in a sacred light, and throwing
the burden of war and defence of the
sand honest laboring men whose fanri-
Lies depend upon their ton for daily
sustennnce, Cruel, inhunlan, diabOli-
cal act, and cruelty, inhumanly and
tdiabolicaIly was itin many, very inany!
instances executed.
Added to this the rnnnnln k,nIn..nAn.a :.