New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1866-02-03
WIsE,s FOLLY.

What country is there in the world Except
ours) in which, after the suppression OF san
culinary rebellion, the remaining promoters
would be allowed to meander about abusing
their lawful magistrates, and blowing their own
cracked horns at pleasurel Anywhere else,
Gov. Wise, if permitted to talk at all after
war like ours, would be forced TO do so without
the customary lingual apparatus, for his head
would be off his shoulders, unless stitched on
BY his surviving friends. 1t is pretty fair test
of the strength of the Government that 1t
allows this man to 60 on with his talking and
TO assert that the Rebels were "pure patriots,
! loyal citizens, brave, honest, devoted men'-n
short, immortal heroes and martyrs" Per-
haps we can afford TO laugh at this top-lofty
language-it is the damage which 1t may do III
Virginia which chiefly exciteS our indig-
nation. That poor, exhausted, war-strieken
State requires other nursing than this
TO restore it to busy and diligent vital
lity. 1t needs peace, contentment, and good
nature, a lively sense of past errors and
of present duties sturdy remuneration OF
the mad folly of Secession. Only in strict ad-
herence. without the least mental reservation,
TO the oaths which they have sworn, can Nlr'
ginians find safety and happiness; and here is
this man Wise stirring up the old ieuds, feeding
the old passions, nursing the old prejudices, and,
so far as We can see, quite willing to lead the
discouraged into new endeavors, and the re-
pentant into the commission of fresh political
sins. He is the enemy of peace, the foe of law,
the hater of order. lie persists in telling his
fellow citizens that they are down-trodden and
cruelty oppressed. lie does his best to make
them disconnected with their lot. He is in the
worst sense of the word demagogue. He is a
tmischief-maker fomenter of sedition, and,
therefore, a public pest. There is no sort Of
excuse for his irritating language, unless
he thinks that Virginia is delinquent in hanging
back from the experiment of a second insurrec-
ton. How do those Virginians feel about this
who have determined TO return in good faith to
their alegiancel If this dshonor which Wise
so rhetorically parades be real, are they men to
suffer itf According to the Wise theory. who
ever has returned to loyalty is a knaye, whoever
has taken the oath of allegiance is a coward,
whoever submits to the Federal authority is a
poltroon, whoever holds his peace is dumb
dog worthy of his chains and slavery. War is
the inevitable logical sequitur of Wise's oratory;
and if he doesn't mean fighting he is nothing
better than flea on the body polite, and should
be thumbcd and fingered into quetness. He is
precisely in the position of man who should
cal upon the people Of NewYork to shoulder
arms against the Albany Government. We
declare that we sincerely sympathize with
all that is good and honorable in Virginia
under this affection. To a quondam Rebel who
has concluded to discard the old nonsense, and
to live good citizen, the oratory of Wise must
be positive Distress while nobody knows into
what petty mischievous courses it may mislead
the weak. If he would but stick something
sharp into himself, and die after the high
Roman fashion But he knows better than to
do that. He knows that there is no speech
making in the grave.