The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-11-14


and eudeavor. to .cnt of our tupplies.
To this he uttered a most positive mega
tive. He said II would be'contrafy to
the laws Of nations, as had been decid-
ed offen in. the Courts of Admiralty,
and would be moreover a violation oi
the Constitution. or course i admitted
all this but maintained thatsuch was
the Intention of the Washington Gabi-
net. Laws and Courts and ,Constitu-
tions would not be impedim in{the
way of Yankees resolved upon our
superior numbers, and under the pre-
text of saving the Union, and annihi-
laing slavery, they would invade us
like the army worn, which enters the
green fields In countless numbers. The
real object was to enjoy our soil and
climate by means Of confikcation. He
poohed me into silence with an fnttg-
nant frown." go. c "a n Z
Now, will the candid reader say the
character of Bonn bastes Furioso is over.
drawn for the man who could talk as
Ex-Governor Wise did. on the brink of
one of the greatest convulslons of
modern times2 1tHas just such windy
nonsense as that quoted above which
impelleds the South int9 The. igulph of
war. 1t was just such bombast that
d1shgured our cause In the eyes ofthe
aAu 1lhh6 ~ ElhASut1Ant luz
people ofthe South recollect how they
were told by Wise and such men, that
the war was to despatched by a few
blades of ''old iron;" that the Yankees
would run at levelled corn-stalks, and
how. the Governor attempted TO scare
the enemy In Western Virginia, by
decking himself with immense yellow
leggings and pair Of old flint-lock
pistols. Such nonsense deserves some
ri 81 khaN aIf fda
of ridicule. 1t was an important ele-
ment of the war, an indispensable part
of its story;n lL has incurred large
share of the responsibility for the fear
ful misery which overspreads and op-
presses our land; and If all the big, pas
sionate words in which we were told
that the war was simplysto be foot
race after Yankees, and the South need
ed no other arms than sharpened "bits
of carriage sprinRs, % with which to
pursue the fugitive foe, were gulphed
down the throats of their authors until
they were choked they. would be treat
ed as they deserved.
AT least, let such men observe the de-
cency of silence, and be dumb in view
ofthe great ruins of the war which they
once SO lightly and insolently discuss
ed. The public is done with. their bonn.
bast. The day of the Henry a. Wises
and Roger A,sPrtorss and Martin Lip
combs-the time'of the gongs and the
bubbles, and4the bnck.skin leggins,
and the fiint-lock pistols-is over; and
a country covered with graves, SCARED,
and In torment, is Inonu-
ment OF what aifew swollen fools may
d0s Shame and silence befit such crea-
lures now. ss-s =s=o- ~. a. z, ~
After writing column onsLee and
his LieutepG1tS, exc Governor Wise con-
cludes that the book twill never hurt
any one, and no one need prompt, COR
rect, ,criticise or publish their discor-
danttuotes." Why then his critical and
obligatory epistle? The author is
well satisfied with the success Of htsto-
rical works. They have obtained a
million OF readers: they have been
in England; they have
been translated into the French Lam
guage, and the Ex-Governor Will have
10 run histpen very fast and in many
oYertake their statements:
They will live when HE own three'day
speeches and multiplied manifestoes
have passed into the dung-hills of the
next generation.
When the author-decide to wrtte CO.
temporary history, he was aware that
in attempting the truth, a nd gscorning
all the solicitations of partiality, he
would encounter many personal ami
mosities. He chose TO brave them If
he had represented every Southern
General (eYen Ex-Governor Wise) as a
great Mntiades, or Scipio, or Charles
Martell, or gallant Cid, the Campeador
-if he had called them knights and
cheyaliers and characterization he
would have been caught up into. the
mutual admiratiop of society, aud
been praised by the newspapers, and
celebrated by all the penny trumpets
of the South. But he chose to write
tI,aE4.SSEh ,t1afnixy and faa rlpta VI and
firmly, and soberly, for postertty; and
the consequence is that he Is, perhaps,
the best-abused writer OF his day CON
stantly assailed by barbed paragraphs
and the small arms OF personal enml.
ty,s and the coWardlY tomahRWks OF
hatred, and all the weapons of maItg-
nant criticism. But he can afford 70
Of the attentions of envy They
are no more the penalties than
they are the proofs OF merit. The
author has made his usual alsrule not
10 enter upon controversies with
critics. eHNos man5e was ever written
down unless by himself Gays Doctor
johnson, who proved the virtue Of this
noble and excellent rule In MS own Own
case, by never replying to the critics
who assailed him from envy or person
al malignity, or accepting their invita-.
tions to unworthy and Improbable
controversy. II Is melancholy, indeed,
how many otherwise deserving writers
have "written themselves down" by
the free useiof theIpen personal con-
troversies, and killed their regulations
in low and common quarrels with nn-
worthy critics. Every author N ust, at
last, trust his reputation to his own
merit; and II he has such, he may pc
sure that the great public VIII perceive
and reward Il.
It Is in this belief that the undersign-
.ed mas forborne much from explana-
tions and defences in newspapers.
However he may have departed from
bis rule in this single instance OF ex-
Governor wise,s extraordinary attack,
he may safely promise to descend no
further into controversy with hoary
.scold aud political haggard, rotten with
the old cores of vanity, and supporting
a miserable existence only by the anos
'tIyfaes of self:Iove and concelt.
- EDWARD A. POLLARD.
BA1rrMoREs November 8.
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