The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-10-17
The Situntion Altered.

was pleased OH yesterday to renew its
former references to the Indecent"
style ia which it thinks our paper is
conducted. Our articles are not
at all TO its taste. They are per-
sonal, they are "disgusting," they are
"revolting." Probably what is worse
than all, they are just and true. In a
style OF prodigious delicacy and refine
ment, the Mteiligencer utters its COM
plants about our plain and pointed
way of putting things, and whines like
a blubbering school-boy over few
sharp words.
While reading its plants and protes-
tations we have been reminded of a
period in the not remote past, when the
political situation was somewhat diff
ferent from the present, and when the
comparative circulation and influence
of the REGISTER and Mtelligenoer were
n OF expressed by the same figures and
duJcSliNoS " uiCn Noulu ioM DC hSSoS-
sary to set them forth. Then the In
teliigencer was at the summit of its pros
perity. We are willing to admit that,
in certain sense, its standing even ap-
proximated to the present respectable
ity of its city cotemporary. 1t had
bsyonets TO back it. 1t had Provost
Marshsls to imprison its rivals. 1t had
an Atheneum for all who fell under its
displeasure. 1t had a great army to
protect its circulation and shut out ri.
val sheets. 1t had full control of the
Postoffices of the State. 1t had POST
master in Wheeling and United States
Senator in promising prospective. Its
followers were blatant, arrogant and,
even in Ohio county, all powerful.
Loyalty" was triumphant, Democracy
at a discount; the IntelligeRcer waxed
fat and kicked. 1t was then too exalted
to think of the amenities of newspaper
| life; it was too prosperous to be polite.
1t denounced in the bitterest terms all
who opposed it. 1t scoffed at the name
of Democracy; it prosecuted the disci-
pies of that faith. 1t reviled them in
language that will never be forSotten;
it tracked them with "loyaP blood
hounds; it hunted them with the howl
ing minions of a relentless partisan
hate. The generality of people, of
course, have too many matters of more
Importance to think of, to cherish
the memory of its achievements, but
all will recollect its malignant pur-
poses-some will never forget the re-
suits of its teachings. There are some
blackened homesteads, and some broken
hearts in our mountain regions, that
will ever refer their desolation to the
merciless diabolism that encouraged
the border ruffians of West Virginia
as they went forth upon their mission
of violence and murder.
But these are things of the past. The
times are changed. The powerful and
arrogant fools Of yesterday are the
crouching, helpless towards of to-day.
The journal that was vindictive beyond
measure in its prosperity, has become
supremely ridiculous with few turns
in the wheel of political fortune. 1t
covers like cur under the lash. We
rem ember some poetry:
In all your intercourse with man,
This maxim you may surely trust,
Who plays the tyrant wlen he can
Will play the spaniel when he must.
What dignifed position to be sure.
A few years ago what cared it for pub
lie sentiment' What cared it for pri-
vate feelingi These and all other re-
straints it broke down in its work of
intolerance and persecution. 1t has no
right to invoke public opinion; it has
no right to complain of harsh words or
bitter assaults. It's record is full of
procedents for worse things than have
yet been said by its opponents; iti de-
barred by its own acts from carrying
it's complaints of denunciation to the
bar Of public decency. When it
and its patrons, learn to respect other
people, and can teach others to forget
past wrongs, then, and not till then,
can they plead the amenities and cour-
tesies of ilife in their own defence. The
men they injured have too much good
sense ever to retaliate. They will never
make past outrases tho excuse for re-
venge. Nevertheless they will always
speak the truth about the vicious and
corrupt, especially if those persons have
persistently slandered and prosecuted
their respectable superiors.