The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-07-20
RATE OF SUBSCRIPTIONS.
RATES OF ADVERTISING,
THE late General Order issued by

-. e. two %
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS S 90
THE late General Order issued by
General Grant is of significance. 1t
commands his subordinates in the late
ly rebellious States to arrest persons
charged with crime, provided the civil
authorities have failed, neglected or
been unable to do SO. a strict and
prompt enforcement of the order is
enjoined. The order itself shows that
in the opinion of the government,
crime goes unpunished in the South,
and the language, in which it is couch
ed, shows that the need of an immedi-
ate and thorough change in the admin
istration of justice is imperative. Ger
tain journals are fond of assuring us
daily that the Southern States are en-
tirely orderly and tranquil, that there
IS no need of Civil Rights bill to in
sure protection to all citizens, white
and black, that there is no reason why
the general government should inter-
tere with the governments of those
States, that the United States troops
ought to be withdrawn, that Vicksburg
and Montgomery ought to be left to
themselves as much as Boston or Phil
adelphia, that all the stories of assaults
on peaceful men, white or black, are the
inventions of lying Radicals. We beg
them to read Gen. Grants order and
explain to US what it means. If pro-
perty and life are as safe in Mississippi
as in Rhode Island, why does the Lieu
tenant General take the administration
of justice into his hands in the former
State and not in the latter? If it be-
cause he is a radical? The simple
truth is, Gen. Grant sees the facts as
they are. He sees that there are wide
districts in the South where life and
property are not safe. In South Caro-
lima and in Mississippi, there have been
and probably are organized bands of
men, who plunder and murder and
spread terror around them. Most of
them had rather kill Yankee or a ne
gro than Southern white man. But
some of them are willing to prov upon
Southern victims, if they cannot find
Northern. There are yet other men in
the South, who, though not disposed to
assail their neighborS. would in an in
stant find occasion to pick a quarrel
with Northern man. If Gen. Steed-
man and Gen. Fullerton report truly
and fully on the condition of affairs in
Mississippi, they will announce that
whole counties there are ruled by ruff
fans. The newspaper correspondents
who are travelling with them, have so
written. No one who has carefully
watched the course of events at the
South. can have failed to be convinced
that it is far less comfortable and safe
for Northern men to attempt to live in
faSW ElG
year ago. There are many districts in
which Northern man could not re-
main with any comfort, if he should
freely express his ideas. 1t is the in
tention of the majority of this people,
that every citizen shall be protected in
the South and in every part OF this
country, in the enjoyment of the civil
rights to which he is entitled in his own
State. Until that end is accomplished,
liberty is not ours. General Grants
order, will, for the present, do much
towards achieving this result. The in
disposition or inability of the State au-
thorltles TO punish men who are guilty
OF crimes, is no longer to be a shield to
the criminal.
The following testimony of General
Sheridan respecting the state of affairs
at the South is given by the cores
pondent of the Cincinnati Commercial:
ne Sdlu there was an
change for the worse in the attitude of
the South within the last six months,
and bad symptoms appeared to be in
CreaSing. 1t now looked as if these in
fatuated people were about once more
to precipitate their own misfortune.
Nothing could have been more consid-
crate than the disposition of the nation
toward its defeated foes, even in the
heat OF passion and the flush of victory,
and had the rebels only manifested Il
temper correspondingly reasonable, as,
indeed, was very natural to be expected
after such chastisement, there could
have been no further difficulty. The
South evidently had no statesmen, else
SO plain problem would not continue
to be SO bungled. For it should be clear
that no class, once set free, can long re-
main disfranchised, and as they ought
to have forestalled their foes in giving
freedom to that class in war, so after
ward common sense ought to have
prompted at least the later prudence of
making allies in peace of those with
whom they are bound henceforth to
live. Instead, however, it appeared
certain the rebels had learned nothing
from experience, and would, in fact,
drive their only chance into unfriend-
ly hands. The safety of the public
peace and of the private rights of the
Union men in the South still required
the mediation of a sufficient military
| force, and If called upon to give his
testimony it should be, the United
States troops ought not yet to be re-
| moved from the South.