The Portland daily press., 1865-05-23
Tuesday Morning, May 2s, 1865.
"A -lA1 OK fAiA
A Few Words about a Word.

we frequently read or hear some rebel and
traitor spoken of as gentleman-an accom-
plshed gentleman, q chivalrous gentleman,
cnitlyated gentleman, or q southern gentle
man. This is done sometimes by men who
use language carlessly, and do not notice its
nice distinctions; sometimes, however, it is
done by persons WIN evidently give partic-
} ular meaning to the term OF which we wish
to say a lew words.
A gentleman is, according to some, a man
pure, charitable, humane; according to some
others, gentleman il q person who has re
ceived acollegiate education, and enough les
sons in department from dancing master to
make him at ease in society. Some think OF
Col. Neweome as gentleman, Others OF Maj
Pendennis. ~
Now a dispute about the definition of
word is likely to be endless. A word has the
meaning which general custom afsigns to it,
"Clever" means in one part of this country
dextrous, or skillful, in another, foolishly
good-natured. SO the term gentleman seems
to mean with some man of honor, and with
some simply person of smooth and polished
exterior. We do not intend to quarrel with
the latter, or to charge them with misuslng
word; but we think it useful to point out
their meaning When they speak Of the reb
ell leaders as gentlemen, they intend to say on
ly that these persons have the good fortune to
De decently educated and easy hammered; no
more. sn4a1 qee1 afa
~ There is once common phrase which will
help us to point this distinction-it was o Gus
tom to speak of a man as "a gentleman and
scholar" This supposed that he might be a.
gentleman. dyet have small knowledge OF
books.I So those who now term the chief reb-
els gentlemen evidently need somequalifying
adjective to denote the real character OF the
person spoken of, and this ought to be added
Thus, General P. T. G. Beauregard should be
called gentleman and q liar;', the Hon.
Wigfall, OF Texas, is q gentleman and swim
dler," or gentleman and murderer ~ the
3 late John b. Floyd was "a gentleman and
thief;" Governor Letcher is 10 a gentleman
and drunkard;" !" JEFF Davis is "a gentleman
and bank robbie !" Pckens of South Caro-
lima, who Twas born insensible to fear,n might
be called "a gentleman and fool" Governor
Wise. Of Virginia, is "a gentleman and brag
gart"d Faa is q ai5 altsss4is tssh
Then there is Benjamin, whom his Yale
g college friends would call a gentleman, pick. 1
pocket; George N. Sanders, who is a gentle
man and defaulter; General Forrest, gen.
teman and cut throat; John Morgan, gen
teman and horse thief. Then there is Gen
eral Lee, who is gentleman and a deserter,
or gentleman and peTiurer; or, remember
ing that under his eye and by his connivance
thousands of his countrymen were tortured 4
to death by starvation aud exposure at Belle ]
Isle, General Lee might appropriately be call
ed q gentleman and tOrturer, or gentle
man and an executioner-just as Wilkes
Booth would be called gentleman and an ss-
sassin. General Winder was gentleman afd
brute. General breckenridge, who set fire
to Richmond, Is gentleman and house
burner. Captain Semmes is a gentleman and !
pirate; and any one who has seen the scars
on the backs OF colored women in South Car
Oina will naturally think of a cotton planter
as gentleman and a woman-whipper.
If we 60 from particulars to generals, we
may speak of any one Of. the rebel leaders as
gentleman and traitor, q gentleman and
fpeTjurer, or, to put it mildly,a gentleman and
a fugitive from justice. Only, If we thus in.
discriminatory apply term like this, it will
O soon cease to be thought complimentary; and
man Of honor will presently think it an af-
front be called gentleman, rs in Kentucky
it used to be thought slanderous to call man
an individual. 1t is not to be denied, howev-
er, that the people who make this use of the
word have some authority for their practise.
When Hicks, the pirate, man who had not
slain SO many men as Lee or Davis, who had
never murdered garrison in cold blood like
Forest, aud had never assisted to starve men
TO death, but who was nevertheless q. harden
ed ruffian-When this Hicks was hanged on
RedIoe's Island in our harbor, some years ago,
Marshal Rynders, who superintended that op-
erat on was seen by the assembly Of witness
es to approach the gallows and converse for
moment with the culprit who stood there with
the rope around his neck. Then Mr.. Rynders
{, walked up TO the lockers on and said, pointing
towards Hicks, "I asked the gentleman II he
desired to address the audience, but he de-
clined." Whereupon, after a momentary
pause, the excellent marshal gave the signal,
and Hicks was swung of. Just, SO when
Wilkes Booth was surrounded iu the CARAT
barn. and saw escape impossible, he offered to
pledge his word as gentleman and man OF
honor to come out, II the soldiers would only
give him fair chance to murder one or more
OF their number. sassss dsss Is gig
Now if any one is blamed for calling Davis,
or Lee. or Beauregard, or Letcher, or Hunter,
or Faulkner, or Brown, or Vance, or Harris,
or Slidell, or Benjamin gentleman, we ad-
wise him to cite the practise of Marshal Ryn
ders and the assassin Booth, in justification.
I'M Posf M