New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-07-23
eENERA1 gRERIpAN.s oRpEe.


comment We had hoped that the distin-
guished officer who issued it would, on a
mature consideration Of the facts, see the i'm
policy of having uttered it, and would before
now have corrected his Judgment of the COM
munity whose sentiments and views have been
We think, enormously Swallowed in the publ
cation of such an order. But as he has not
chosen to rehace what we are compelled to
think his impoihe action, we feel compelled
as chronielers Of current events, to notice his
order as part Of the history of the times :;
and as advocates of constitutional law to dep
reoate the assumption by any official of powers
which have never been conferred. The first
paragraph of the order is in these words:
Notification is hereby given, for the information
of all concerned, that no monument intended to
commemorate the late rebellion will be permitted
to be erected within the limits of the military
division of the Gulf.
We are not aware Of the existence of any
purpose to erect any monument to commence
rate the event denounced in the above ex-
tract It is undoubtedly the wish, and it may
the design of many, to erect marble slabs or
! stones, or it may be only head-boards of
wood, over the graves Of fallen friends or COM
rades, who participated in the civil war. We
think the wish is natural, and was implanted
in the soul Of every man who is worthy Of the
name. 1t is a sentiment which has been en-
couraged by every form Of religion that has
existed under the sun. All christian nations
revere the memory Of their dead. The won
drous monuments of Egypt attest the rever-
enee shown to the memory Of the departed in
that cradle Of letters and of science The
savage respects the ashes Of his ancestors,
and loves u linger around the graves Of his
fading people. The nations Of antiquity
most celebrated in history have left stately
mausoleums in commemoration of their dead.
Even
When Nero persisted by the justest doom
Which ever the destroyer yet destroyed
Amid the roar Of liberated Rome,
Of nations freed, and the world overjOyed,
4 tomb:
Perhaps the weakness of a heart not void
| Of feeling for some kindness DONE when power
Had left the wretch an interrupted hour.
The memories which cluster around West
minister Abbey evince the regard Of our
own race for departed worth and the public
acts of the United States government, as well
as individual acts throughout the whole ex-
tent Of our land, show the universally Of the
feeling of respect for the dead.
! A sentiment which nature has implanted in
every heart, and which christian charity has
seduIously cultivated, cannot easily be eradi-
Gated and no wise ruler would undertake to
war with it. As well might an attempt be
made to stife, by orders the sorrowing sobs
of the infant, or to repress the tears Of the an
guished widow or of the bereaved parent as to
extinguish the feeling of sorrow for lost Con
federate friends and the desire to mark with
appropriate tomb-stones their humble but
honorable graves To undertake the suppress
sion of such feeling would be SO unreasona-
BILE that we freely acquit General Sheridan of
the odium which would attach to a construc-
ton of his order that would forbid the cree
ton by their friends Inappropriate monuments
over the graves of those who have fallen in
BATTLE But as we understand the facts no
other character of monument has been DESIGN
ed. We think, therefore, that the order is
based upon an entirely erroneous view of the
question, and forbids thing which, inreality.
has never been contemplated. If our view be
correct the publication of the order was,
therefore, needless. II was also impolitic, for
it gives rise to renewed acerbity of feeling in
our own community, and furnishes rich re-
past Of imaginary wrongs which the radicals
Of New England will roll as a sweet morsel in
their mouths.
But EVENT. the design in reality existed to
erect monuments ato commemorate the late
rebellion, or the war Of 1912, or the old
rebellion" Of 1776, where does General Sher-
idan derive his authority to prevent the execr,-
ton Of the design? He certainly Yields large
power. He is vested with great authority.
Immense responsibilities attach to his posi-
ton. We concede that during the prevalence
Of the war, the parchment of the Constitution, |
to employ the words of President johnson, |
Hwas rolled up, and the acts of commanders
were not closely scrutinized. But the same |
high authority informs us that the time has
arrived for the parchment ssto be unrolled "
and for the Constitution to be revived. The
courts Of the land, who are the interpreters of
the Law, are beginning again to read the les
sons OF wisdom from the scroll Mr. Justice |
Nelson Of the Supreme Court of the United
States, Judge Ballard of the u. S. Circuit
Court, and numerous other able iurists, have
the return Of peace, and with it the
Of civil law and the restriction Of
military power to the exercise Of authority
over military men. If therefore the erection
Of tombstones be Illegal, the civil law can pre-
vent their erection, and can call the military,
if necessary, to their aid to assist in their pre-
yention or in their demolition. For General
Sheridan to assume the initiative is to assume
all the authority of the civil law, which the
appropriate legal tribunals of the country have
denied that ne possesses. Basing our opinion 7
therefore upon that Of the high judicial trib-
unals Of the land, We are compelled to think
not only that the action Of the military an
5horities is impolitie, but that it Il also
llegd.
The second paragraph of the general order
provides, that
All reorganzations of Confederate companies
batteries, regiments brigades or divisions. within
he limits of this military division, for Whatsoever
purpose, are hereby dissolved, and the mainte
lance Of such organizations, either in public or
private manner, is prohibited. t
We ooncede that if any such organizations
Is are above alislded IN eyisted Will, 49, ~,