The Portland daily press., 1867-02-22

orr readers will recall the circumstance Of
some citizens of Rome, Ga, being arrested ior
having publicly displayed the nag Oh the rebel
confaderacv The friends OF these men ad-
dressed ! letter of demonstrates to General
,1s,1son declaring that they had aaccepted in
Good faith the present status of affairs" that
they are law-abiding citizens. and praying that
they be released. 81 In reply, Major-General
Thomas has sent TO the mayor of Rome the fol-
lowing, in which the evident failure of these
chivalrous gentry to comprehend what the ex-
isting status is, would seem to be set forth in
manner which even Southerners ought to be
able to understand. 1t is as good as anything
which has yet been said on the frequent impu-
dent manifestations of rebel sentiment
HEADQUARTERS Dept OF TENNESSEE,
Lin9a LOUISVILLE, KY, Feb. y, 1857.
Charles III. Smith, Mayor Of the City % ho"'e'
Georgia, and Others = a ul-a
\ Gentlemen The Major-General comna1aT
ing the department directs me 70 ~ Nv ottb
uItimo. addressed to Brevet MaJor-Generai
Davis 'Tillson. commanding sub-district OF
Georgia giving statement OF facts ana circum-
stances which caused the arrese =. ueata;n GU
Jisnlav of the flag of the late Southern con-
faderacv in that city, and asking that Justice
NAV be done and the prisoners released. I'D.
In your letter you state no disrespect was
the exhibition of the confederate flag. and that
the parties who displayed it have accepted in
good faith the present status of affairs and do
acknowledge the jurisdiction of the United
State government, sc. HI gi h5laI SOP N b
II that is the case it can only be supposed,
presuming that they possess ordinary intelli-
gence, that they misunderstood the present
status OF affairs which is that the rebellion has
been decided to be huge crime, embodying
all the crimes of the decalOgue, and that it has
been conquered and disarmed, and that its
very name and emblems are hateful to the peo-
pie of the United States and he must be in
deed obtuse who expects, without offence, to
parade before the eyes of loyal people that
which they execrate, and their adherence of
which they have expressed in the most en-
phatic language in which it is possible for a
great nation to utter its sentiments.
1t is pretended by certain newspapers that
because no order had been issued from these
headquarters that the flag of the confederacy
was not to see the light the citizens were not
warned that it would be q reasonable act.
This excuse is too puerile to answer, and un-
worthy Of schoolboy even. The young men
arrested, as well as other citizens OF the South,
know well enough what is right and what. is
wrong in such matters, without waiting to be
guided by orders especially naming and pro-
hibiting displays honoring treason, and of
course Conforming loyalty. Were they SO stu
pid as not to possess such innate sense of pro-
priety, the order from these headquarters for
bidding gl0rificatiOn over the remains Of the
rebel Brigadier-General Hanson should have
been q sufficient warning that such perform
ances would not be tolerated.
The sole cause of this and similar offences
hes in the fact that certain citizens f Rome,
and portion of the people in the States late
ly in rebellion, do not and have not accepted
the situation, and that is, that the late civil
war was rebellion, and history will be SO re-
cord it. Those engaged in it are and will be
pronounced rebels; rebellion implies treason,
and treason is crime, and o heirOus one too,
and deserving of punishment; and that traitors
have not been punished is owing to the mag,
nanimity of the conquerors. With too many
people of the South the late civil war is called
a revolution, rebels are called "confederates,"
loyalists to the whole country are called damn
ed Yankees and traitors, and over the whole
great crime, with its accursed record of slaugh-
tered heroes, patriots murdered because of
their true-hearted love of country, widowed
wives and orphaned children, and prisoners of
war slain amid such horrors as find no parallel
in the history of the world, they are trying to
throw the gloss of responsibility, and thrusting
with contumely and derision from their socie-
ty the men and women who would not Join
hands with them in the work of running their
country. Everywhere in the States lately in
rebellion treason is respectable and loyalty
odiOus. This the people Of the United States,
who ended the rebellion and saved the coun-
try, will otpermit, and all attempts to main
tain this unnatural order of things will be met
by decided disapproval. f - l
As, however, it is pretended by the friends of
the citizens arrested that they were SO igno-
rant as not to know that it was wrong for pa
rolled prisoners and UNPUBLISHED traitors to glo-
ry in their shame and fiaunt the symbol of
Of their crimes in the face of the country, thew
will be released from confinement, with the
understanding that no act of treason will be
passed unnOticed when detected, and may
they and others who think like them profit by
the lesson they have received. l,5 s.' 3s.i,
. ttysll--E..5 ..,il5a WIN. d. WHIPPLE, 49,
Brevet Major General U. s. A. and A. A. g..