New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-12-06
SPANISH TOOLS AND SPANISH ISLANDERS.

The underground emissaries of Spai1
spare no pains to furnish that government
with every specious SANDER to strengthen
the position of Spain and place our OWL
people in Che wrong OF course, this il
the best they can do fcr the "emoiu
ments" which they receive from Spain.
After striving to denationslize the Vir.
ginius, they appealed to American sym.
pathy for republic which violated the
law Of nations and of humanity. They
suggested the damages to result from any
violation of our own neutrality laws. and
sigmatized the men who had gone. like
Lafayette, to aid a republic struggling for
free religion, free suffrage and emancipa-
ton Of the blacks, as tilibusters and adj
| ventnrers who deserved the massacre that
| met them. The last cruel SANDER was the
! publication by these emissaries of a
charge that Ryan had borne a bad charac
ter and that Captain Fry had been guilty
OF an unnecessary destruction of life, in
firing upon a disabled Vessel Of Che
United States during the late civil war,
when, from considerations Of humanity.
he should not have done Sc. These ass
charges are published in the Chicago
Tribune and in che So. Louis Democrat and
are Hsed by those journals as an argument
against resenting the insult to the Ameri-
can flag. The personal charges seem very
improbable. Whas an officer should do
ID the heat of battle is a very different
thing from the duty of tribunal safe on
shore celebrating upon the fate Of I'M
armed men taken from an upresisting ves-
sci. We should infer from the uniform
good character of Captain Fry, from his
thoughtful memory of his murdered asso-
clates, and his domestic tenderness, that he
could have been incapable of any violation
Of the rules of civilized warfare. His vim
dicatlon, however, we leave with his fam
lily and his comrades. We concur in the
comment of the Chicago Post:
The Times pronounces the statements of
the Tribune relative to Fry's conduct at
Arkansas Bluffs as unGualitiedly false: and
from the glimpse we have had of the mans |
humanity prior to the recent execution, we |
must agree that nothing is less likely to be |
true Var or no war, we can afford to do |
justice to the memory Of man whose lips |
are dumb by the assassin s hand.
But what is the truth or falsehood of
these charges 20 do with the obligations OF
the government? Joseph Fly w.s an,
American cisizeR Spain captured YES
sci bearing the American Tag, when she
could noe have known by judicial decision
ehat the vessel was not entitled to carry
it. Spain boarded and searched an Ame,i-
can vessel, an act which cost Britain the
supremacy of the seas. If the Virginius
had no legal right to bear the flag-if
Joseph Fry had been one of the worst men
living, Spain had no more right TO drag
him from the deck of that vessel than
from Che Battery at New York. !
But there We're many other American ]
citizens besides Joseph Fry who werc
murdered in The same manner, ana the
life of each Of them, white or coYored. is
worth as much as that Of any other citi-
zen. Possibly the Spanish enlissaries will |
so a1oat charges against each Of them
We have even list Of these men, said SO
have been proselyted 20 the Spanish re.
lglon, ia the hope Or with the prsmise Of
pardon! Gan such thing be possible, !
ma would ie not add to she horror Of
abandoning those poor creatures il, IN
heir extremity, they should have even re- !
lounced their religious faith to secure a
aAty which the flag of the country could
lot secure to them? Let us discard these
outside issues of tie personal characters
II the victims of disrespece to our flag,
nd await the trial Of the question upon
IS merits.