The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1867-11-06
= Rebellion Honorable"
GENERAL 7. II, snfEIpAs's SPEECH

son 10 invite remark His dutieS a6 soldier beng
over do not know that lie has any character at ALL
We not aware that he has ever announced an idea
which has taken any hold the popular iud or that
he has exhibited any particular virtue that challenges
the worlds admiration. We know, indeed, from the
beet OF all evidence that the sarnp of this district
charged with the duty Of reconstructns the States un
der bis command, he exceeded the powers conferred
by the bills, and executed the delegated powers in
spirit of such partisan rudeness and effect that he be-
came, for the time, the idol of the Radical party, and
procured its Congressional representatives give his
illegal acts the force and effect of awg 1t is nothing
new in history for military to play this role 1t
was q common thing among the Roman pro-consuls
The world has permitted them to sleep i'll oblivion,
nevertheless except when and then some curious
historian has exhumed their characters, " to point
moral adorn tale 1t is very likely that the fu
ture use Of the of Philip H. Sheridan will be
limited to the object. But his duties here have
ended. He is now playing the part of popular hero
before Northern audiences, and if may credit the
partisan press without popular effect In this
part there is Significance in his utterances worthy of
! the notice of the press of the day.
General Sberidan-unlike Caesar or Napoleon-t
seems is pabe of speech. Still, after receptions
here and there, he has attempted the thing He has
at least defined his position, and it amounts to this
that he, Philip Fl. Sheridan will not make "rebellion
honorable" Partu-iet moates' The mountain is in
labor and the ridiculous mouse, to which it gives
birth, is the abortion before yon Philip Sheridan will
not make rebellion honorable!" Hear 0 We heav
ems! and give ear, 0 earth ~
! But General Sheridan's profession, however is to
give very exalted place to honor. In fact honor is
the object Of soldiers dream as should be of his
every act and ia fair to his profession to assume
that during h7 military direction of the Fifth District
he was seeking to make If not the rebellion at least
something else honorable Congress has said his ad.
mnlstraton was auccess-the President that it was
open tyranny His friends and foes alike appeal to his
proof Of what sort of hono he was in pursuit
Of and how he attained it. His acts then, are the
tests Of his honorable achievements What are they?
1t would be sad waste Of time to enumerate in de-
tail, the acts of General Sheridan, made memorable
Louisiana, and honorable" in the Judgment of Con-
gress. Let it Suffice then, to MENTION as a specimen
of bis honorable" achievements: first, that even be-
fore he clothed with such power as Congress could
CONFER he substituted the single authority of his will
This kind Of "rcbelion" to civil liberty and popular
government is, perhaps, " honorable" with General
Sheridan and General Sheridans masters and admir-
ers; but neither he they can make it honorable"
to the people Of Louisiana the people of the United
States
In 1910, one John Hampton, denying this right to
English king, made " rebellion honorable" Inl6SS
Somcrs, Montague, Russell and WHARTON denying this
right OF making his will paramount to English law made
second rebellion" only honorable" but sue
cess-a revolution that stands out in the history of
constitutional law like Chimborazo to the inhabitants
of the plain. Later, few hardy descendants of the
same race occupying new continent made rebe-
ion honorable against another English king baptsng
new 1and-and because be wished to substitute his
will for the established laws of the people George
Washington in the protesting thunders of his art-
lery made tLat rebellion honorable" and taught all
English monarch, aud the American people, that q re-
belli0n to tyrants is sacred duty.
But, says General Shcridan-the cphemeral popinay
of fugitive noorety achieved at the end of the war
and amid the smoking barns Of the Shenandoah Val
ley" will not make rebellion honorable"
Now, what means General Sheridan by this express
sion Of bis potent, but powerless, determines
ton? Does he mean, be will not make the late re-
beion" honorable? If SO, the expression of his pur
pose is simply and ridculously ludcrous The war is
ended: its motives belong to its authors its acts to
history; its aspirations to freemen everywhere. With
these he has nothing to do: They have passed beyond
his judgment.
He will not make the partcipators honorable: per
haps this is what the orator meant. He would exclude
them from office: he would taboo them, he would .
brand them, he would put the mark of Cain upon
them, He mas done all these things, with and without
authority, so far az mere power could accomplish them
But what then? Can General Sheridan afx stigma
upon any honest in the Fifth District? Why his
attempt to do so would ennoble any subject of bis
wrath, except pehaps Gov. Wells with whom and him
SELF with the people at large, it sheer dog-fght
Has he aspersed the character of Throckmoron The
people of Texas to-day, without regard to their rebel
antecedents, would reGect Throcknoron, by major
itg ten-fold greater than they did two years ago Did
be njure the character of Mayor Monroe? Give to the
people of New Orleans an opportunity to decide and
who doubts the verdict? And where is the man, eth
er in Louisiana Or Texas, whose future popularity has
not been secured by Sheridan's enmity? 1t is true,
and no intelligent man can deny it, that
Second-ln order to crafty mean, partisan spirit
he removed officers, elected by the people, and put in
their places partisan tools Of his own without charac
ter and without capacity
1t part of a deliberate and daboical plan to
Justify his interference with the civil law. to remove
capable men, and to employ the villains of his own Gre
alton, TO make the administration of the Law contempt
ible. He has succeeded-but still the people, while
dcpsng his magistrates, remember the magistrates of
their choice, and still revere their own laws
But we need not speculate what General Sheridan
meant by his sublime and concretcd eeotism 1t is
very plain. He, the commander Of the Fifth District
the idol of the Radical party-was removed for his
infexibe devotion to principle, by President whose
object to defeat the will Of Congress and make re-
bellion honorable by the abasemcnt of that eminently
patriotic body He meant to impcate the Executive,
and to effect this, did not scruple an nnuendo, point
ing to- but not avowng SANDER And this leads US to
charge General Sheridan as guilty-twce guilty.
Third-Of INSTRUMENTATION to the Executive for the
purpose Of destroying the moral sanctions attached to
the character and public opinions of the Chief Magis-
tratc Of the nation. OF this INSTRUMENTATION he was
guilty as the commander of the Fifth District in