New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-09-05
eaN. sHERIpAN ON DEE .mAssAeRE.,

line MES OF the radical press IN the North
TEEN with comments unfriendly to the people
Of New Orleans and the South in consequence
of the official statements of Gem Sheridan in
reference to the convention riot. Their col
umns are usually Illuminated in flaming CAPT
tails with such sentences as this, which We
quote from Boston paper before 1.-THE
affair was no mot, but massacre" These
appeals to the passions of the Northern peo-
pie are based upon the following extract from
Gen. sheridan's dispatch, Of August I'd, to
Gen. Grant:
The more information obtain of the affair Of
the S0th in this city the revolving it becomes.
| 1t was no riot. 1t was an absolute massacre by
the police, which was not exceled in murderous
cruelty by that of Fort Pillow. 1t was murder
which the mayor and the police Of the city perpe-
trated without shadow of necessity. Further
more. / believe it was premeditated, and every in
dtcation points to this. RECOMMEND the remov.
ing of this bad man. believe it would be hailed
with sincerest qualification by two-thirds OF the
| population of the city. There has been feeling
of insecurity the part of the people here on &C.
count of this man, which is now SO much increased
that the safety of life and property does not rest
with the civil authorities but the military.
1t is difficult to conceive Of the practical
bility of COMPRISING a greater number of
errors in SO small space. After the temper
ate review we have already given of the Cir
cumstances melting and attending the riot,
every candid reader must be impressed with
| the injustice of the above statements. 1t is
painful to us to read them, not only because
they are unjust to this community and are
calculated to excite undeseryed animosities
and bitterness in other sections, but because
la military gentleman SO high in position as
Gen. Sheridan and practically combining in
his own person the authority both of the SOL
der commanding an army and the statesman
welding for the time the political destiny of
more than million of people, should have
been betrayed into such Incorporate express
sions ssg
We have shown conolusive1y that the atti-
tude Of the police was that Of conservators Of
the public peace, and that instead of being
the assailants they were themselves attacked
by the conspirators and their instruments.
If Gen. Sheridan means, when he states that
he :. believes the riot was premeditated,
that it was designed on desired by the police
Or by the people, no hypothesis can be farther
from the facts. # any g Indication points to
this, we have bean unable to discover it, and
we think it is not in the power Of Gen. Sheri-
dan to pointit out The proofs to the contrary
are Overwhelming, and show the negative of the
proposition with mathematical accuracy The
g belief of General Sheridan in, the face of
a demonstration to the contrary, is, of course,
Q question which cannot-be controlled; but to
adhere to an opinion in opposition to the
deductions of facts and logic is no mark of
wisdom either in statesman or soldier
But weFcannot think that General Sheridan
appreciated the force Of the words which he
employed in the connection in which they APP
pear in his dispatch. If he did, why did he
retain the services Of the police in the
presence of martial law If they had pre-
meditated and executed an atrocious massacre
why did he leave them in power2 1t is true
That he states chat g the safety of life and
property does not rest with the civil authority
but the military but he contradicts that
statement on the following day when he re-
ports "quiet in the city, I and states that
notwith standing tho declaration of martial
Law e thereis no interference. on the part Of
the military with tie civil government, which
performs all its duties without .hindranee ,
The only purpose, il appears, for re-
tanning the military governor was that
Y it gives confidence, and enables the military
to know what is occurring in the city. It does
not interfere with civil matters If, in the
duty Of espionage thus assigned to the mill
tary governor, that officer was unable to dis
cover any cause forsuspending the functions
of amy civil officer, especially when General
Grant expressly directed General Sheridan
not to ''allow any Of the civil authorities to
act if you deem such action dangerous to the
public safety, it is as. strong a proof as could
De desired to shoy that General Sheridan was
convinced that both life and property were
safe in the hands Of the civil authorities
It is especially regretful to see General
Sheridan employing, in an official dispatch,
multiplicity Of adjectives which may display
feeling, but cannot convince the Judgment.
The simple oe,li, Utdigoictsof Cesar will live
in its elegant simplicity when the turgid
defamation of General Sheridan will have
passed away into forgetfulness. Not even
the association Of high-sounding words with
the exaggerated idea pervading the Northern
iAluu III NEleFSucG4lO IIle aldlf Oh GQfG 1ulOW
can impaEt true dignity. to the dispatch we
have quoted, or conceal the errors which it
embodies We proposesto strip this affair of
the disguise with which 10 needless yerbiage
invests it, to display il in its true simplicity,
and TO show that General Sheridan should
have been amongst the last to attempt to ex-
cite the public mind against what he seems
TO consider the muFderols cruelty" perpe-
trated at Fort Pillow. II 4.
And. FIRST why should Gen. Sheridan allude
to Fort PILLOW Of all, What possible connee-
ton can there, be between that affair and the
insu1rection against the State government in
New Orleans Gen. Sheridan was not called
upon to furnish food to appease the appetite
of the radical spirit which preys upon the
vitality of the Constitution. Why then should
he thus gratuitously do it We will not as
sumo that he did it from an improper motive,
as he assumes, without good reason, that
others act from nlaleyolent purpose. We
will not even state that we "beleye" his
design was an improper one We limit our
selves to facts, and merely assert tlYat So mn.