The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-07-18
"wHAr Is THE Coop OF LYrso?"-The

otao VI Wnst IL sne oooo'o1 Lying!
1t says: ic i
Harper's Weekly published the follow
ing shameful passage from the Tribune,
giving an erroneous date, but otherwise
not altering q word or line:
"When the rebellious traitors are
overwhelmed in the field, and scattered
like leaves before an angry wind, it must
not be to return to peaceful and content
ed homes. They must find poverty at
their fre-sides. and see privation III the
anxious eyes OF mothers and the rags Of
children"
We consider this one Of the most cruel
passages ever written, and We say that O
war, no bitterness, no amount Of anger,
would justify it. Alarmed at being CON
fronted with it at the very time when he
is appealing to Southerners for their
votes. Greeley instructed some of his
men to denounce the passage as forgery
SEQ the Tribune, July Q. by this be
meant that the passage had been invent
ed by Mcssrs. Harpers, nnd had never
appeared in the Tribune. It added to
its charge of forgery these words: I'VE
leave the public to judge the moral
quality of the act committed by the
Messrs. Harper"
Wa then gave the correct date of the
quotation. and stigmatized the course OF
the Tribune. in describing the passage ss
forgery, as dishonest to the last degree.
1t could not disprove our reference to its
own columns, but it made the following
attempt to sneak out of its charge of
forgery: Nf.
"Welj," says the Times, sit did ap-
pear on She lss Of May. 1861. So it did.
and many things were written and
spoken, both North and South, during
tue mouth that followed the lombard
ment and capture of Fort Sumter, by
Beauregard, and which witnessed the
massacre OF the Massachusetts volun.
teers in the streets of Baltimore, which
no one would have uttered at the close
of 1860"
The Times, however, does not add the
very gist of the Iribune's reply. viz: that
Mr.. Greeley did not write the paragraph
In question, nor induce any one else to
write it. In view of this suppression OF
the truth. it need only be said, in regard
to the Times query, "What is the good
OF lylng?' that If that paper cannot en-
tighten the world on the subject. it is
useless for any one else to nuke the at
tempt.
We desire. however, to call attention
terances which it quotes are not justified
by war, bitterness or any amount of
anger. We cordially agree with this
statement, and venture to say, that the
files of the New York journals, including
Harpers Weekly, the journal of cioilisa.
tion, will exhibit daily and weekly, at
that time. perfect parallel to this afro
city, even il they do not surpass it in
wickedness and malignity. Indeed, if
we had access to the files Of the Times, it
would not be difficult to prove that it
was as truly loil' in this regard as the
Tribune. The North and South we're
then at white heat, and very few citizens
OF either eeotion would now be willing to
approve their own ntterances ut that Pc
Rod. But here is the point to which we
would call attentions: That while the
Times and its like profess to execrate q
sentiment thrown off in the first fury OF
the war, like blazing fragment of rock
from volcano, and which, such as it
was. never came from Horace Greeley,
they are the vehement upholders OF
policy which, seven years after the war
has closed, carries out in practice, car
ries out in deliberate cold blood, that
passionate mania, and does not permit
the people of the South to have "peace-
full and contented homes" but compels
them to ''6nd poverty at their firesides,
and see privation in the anxious eyes of
mothers and rags Of children" Such is
the spectacle which is now witnessed in
many Southern home, as the unhappy
father. son or brother is marched, hand
cuGed and guarded by file of soldiers,
through Southern cities to Northern
penitentiaries, on charge of Ku Klux,
or more horrible still, as has been the
case, shot down in their tracks by Fede-
raj soldiers, in attempting to escape
from arrest for alleged violations of the
enforcement law. Yet the men who ad-
vocate cruelty aud wrong unknown at
this day in Russia, Turkey or the worss
despotism Of Asia. roll up their sancti-
monious eyes in holy horror at utter
ances of passionate men in the war,
which, even il carried out, would not
have been as merciless and horrible as
what they are now encouraging in cold
blood to secure the perpetuation of their
political power.
The sentiment attributed to Mr.. Gree.
ley, it is sufficient to say, is declared by
his own journal never to have proceeded
from his pen. We may add, that it is
not in accordance with His character. ,,f