The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1876-11-15
SHERIDAN.

The telegraph informs US that GRANT
has sent SHERIDAN to New Orleans to
help count HAYES in. In this connec.
ton We invite especial attention to the
following article, which we extract from
the New York Tribune of January 7,
1875:
Such dispatch as that which General
Sheridan sent to the Secretary of War on
Tuesday is not warranted by any facts
known to the public; it would scarcely be
under any conceivable circumstances.
We hare nerer published such document
before, and zoe must say that nothing Ike
IL has epsr been seen IN any cOuutry u'lder
a Constitutional Government. 1t almost
induces one to believe that the world has
gone back two or three hundred years in
principles OF Government. Cromwell
did indeed ,erpc Ireland pretty much as
General Sheridan proposed TO treat LOte-
s,dna, but most of US were under the I'M
preston that that system OF Government
has been indefinitely abandoned. We
are at loss to make out what are Cen
eral Sheridan's ideas OF the Constitution
under which he lives, or of the functions
of Congress, or OF the powers OF the Exc
cutive, to say nothing OF the powers
which may righttully be exercised by n
Lieutenant General in the Army. He
first suggests that Congress should pass u
bill declaring q certain class OF people in
Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi
"Banditti." How many he would in
clude in that class does not appear, nor
does 1t explain since ,Chat date IN our has
toyy IL tcas usual for officers IN the army
TO presume TO dictate to Congress as to the
Leg,slation 1t should adopt. But, mo-
mept afterwards still better idea strikes
him, and be says: at is possible that If
the President would issue proclamation
declaring them bandltti, no further ac-
tion need be taken except that which
would devoive upon me. II thlS means
ANYTHING. II neans.that General Sher'dd"
,rouM tOrth,otth proceed TO hang or shoot
ne mann persons as he chose TO bring ,1sGer
his og,. description Of "bandith." We
have, then, plain proposal that the
President shall declare an Indefinite
mum Der of citizens bandltti," and that
General Sheridan should then deal with
them without benefit of judge or jury.
This would certainly be resolving the
Government into its primitive elements
But there is certainly shorter mode
which General Sheridan would recon-
mend. 1t is for the President to declare
the Constitution and all its amendments
null, shut up Congress, put down all the
newspapers, and then proclaim himself
Dictstor, with General Sheridan as his
sole minister and chief executioner. If
General Sheridan had advised this course
at once he would scarcely have shown a
greater ignorance or disregard OF law,
thsn he mas done in his most sItraordl.
nary dispatch OF January 9th, 1875.
We learn from our correspondent al
Washington that the President will soon
send in a message TO Congress, to day or
tomorrow, on the Louisiana difficulty,
and that it will be usually pointed" We
hone that il will not be pointed with bay
one,s like General Sheridsn's dispatch,
which seems to have produced an out.
burst of indignation from one end of the
country to the other. Some or the people
j., WASHINGTON must be curso,Siy incompe-
tent to gauge public feeling, or they 'coutd
hare nerer alto,oed that mad dispatch TO
hare seen the light 1t is much to be de-
sired that some members of the Govern
ment would take pains to acqusint them
selves with the tone and temper OF the
country. If the Government had been
prudent, it would have put General Sher-
idsn's ferocious dispatch in or under the
table, or into the fire, or said nothing
about it. Instead OF that, General Belk-
nap telegraphs back to Sheridan that SHE
President and oil OF US thoroughly approve
vo,lr course" which was one OF the most
unnecessary and foolish blunders ever
committed by the present Government.
We hope that the Presidents fsrtheom-
ing message will be little more credita-
bic to himself, his cabinet, and his party
and to the people of the United States.