The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1865-10-24
AN ANGRY LETTER FROM
FOOLISH VIRGINIAN.

| Mr.. Edward A Pollard, during the
war, one of the editors of the Richmond
| Examiner, and the author of a history
OF the war, writes u letter-to the New
York Daily NeaUs, of course-in which
he endeavors, by bitter words, to stir up
ill-feelings and suspicion amongst South
ern men, and to blow up anew the fires
of sectional hostility. .....
1t is creditable to the Southern people
that since the close of the war but very
few such wrong-headed and mischievOus
persons as this Pollard have found a
public hearing amongst them; and in
every case we have noticed, as in this
case, these mischief-makers have be-
longed to the class stigmatized by the
Southern people with the nickname of
"bomb-proots'-me who kept out OF
the army during the war on various
pretences. . -
General jeff. Thompson, who fought
against US like a man during the war,
and when fighting ceased submitted
like an honorable man and became u
peaceable citizen, said, "The only per-
sons in the South who wish to do any
more fighting are those who didn't any
when they had a chance" Thus we
find George Sanders-who kept himself
during the war out of harms way in
Canada, writing but the other day: /
am one of those who adhered to the
Southern Confederacy, and don't mean
to abandon it," Thus, too, we find
Pollard, who sat comfortably in Rich
mond while the fighting was going on,
sneering at General Lee and other SOL
diers OF the Southern army for submit
ting, like right-minded men, when the
fortunes of war had gone against them.
A Richmond paper assured the north
ern people some weeks ago, that the
only people in the South whoeven think
of new quarrels, new sectional disputes,
new wars, are these "bomb-prOofs,o
who, by bribery or social or political in
| fluence, secured their own exemption
from conscription, and lived at home at
ease, far from the sound of battle. Pol.
lard unwillingly speaks to the same eff.
feet. OF course he puts it in manner
Intentionally as insulting and irritating
to the southern people as his bitterspirit
can make it: itI5
"Never has history afforded an ex-
ample of a people, who, after the ardors
and exasperatiOns of war so long, so
fierce, and so bloody, have fallen to such
depths of submission, to such attitudes
of humiliation as those now on exhi-
bited by the peopleof the South. Indeed
the promptitude of their submission and
its abject air do but little credit in his
tory to the countrymen of Lee and Jack
son. The South has shown but little
dignity in misfortune, and but few of
her sons have wrung from adversely the
| tribute which it gives to honor. In
| wars or rebellions which have been dis
astrous, il is no uncommon thing for
| men to slip out from the masses, willing
and ready to accept the penalties OF
| failure, and prompt to claim for them
selves the honors OF martyrdom. But
| il is most remarkable that the close of a
war which was once thought to exhibit
40 much devotion has found SO few per-
sons among the prominent men of the
South willing to brave misfortune or to
make any sacrifice in their own persons
to the truth and honor of clause lost in
the cast of events.
! "The absence of these usual exhibit
/ tons of martyrdom onthe close of civil
war or rebellion, is a subject of painful
remark to those who value the reputa'
ton of the South in history. The ex.
President of the Confederate States en-
dures vicarious punishment which ht
lwould have been glad to escape bu
what other leader of the so-called re
bellion' is there within the federal juris
diction-from Vice President stephens
down-who is not an applicant for par
don at Washington? There the fedora