Year: 1863

towards preventing tne people from resist


him. t 7as calf9 i-@


And here the question naturally recurs
: did the citizens stand by and see thes
, things done with out making an effort to sup
? port the laws aud to suppress such rascali
ties? With unspeakable modification aut
chsgrin, and, as one of the citizens, with tn
deepest sense of the disgrace inflicted upoi
the city, and CALLING sensation of humilia
ton, we answer they did that very thins
and nothing else. Worse than that, some
were heard to tell Underwood to proceed


aud that they would stand by him; others


that he had not robbed enough. but that be


ought to have plundered half the stores in


the place; others. that if any attempt wa:
made to enforce the laws they. would help


Underwood in any fight that might ensue;
others, that if they fought at all it would be
on Underwood's side, and that they could
raise two hundred aud fifty men to help him.
in which they most foully lied and most
atrociously slandered the community. For
to do the people the simplest justice, tn e
mass of them are neither thieves nor the
aiders and abettors of thieves nor the aiders
and abettors of thieves, but are as honest as
the generality of communities, and oppose
Interpretations. alike when committed by
scoundrelly secessionists or by those who
claim to be Union men only to disgrace the
name aud the cause, and who care nothing
Tor their country except SO far as their iden
tlhcation with its cause may license them
to st"al with impunity. And We can also
say OF them that they are posse ssed of all
proper aud becoming courage. This much
may be said in apology for their submission
to the ignominy:. Many of them had no
arms. and all were without preparation or
organization; and they felt that they would
have as antagonists not only UGderwood's IS
men, but large part of the Provost Guard
and some of their fellow citizens, who were
ready enough and audaciously boasted of
their readiness to murder all who lifted heir
arms in defense Of law and order and private
property. But after the very best of the
case is made there must still rem ain burn
Ing sense of shame tlngling through the
Veins OF every honest man in the community.


Those who invited, ccuntenanced or sane
toned such proceedings were: Thieves, who
desire that all law and security to property
may be overthrown, and anarchy prevail, in
order that they, like Underwood, may rob
with impu nifty instead of working: Men
whose passions have so bereft them of all
moral aud every other kind of sense that
they proc lain, that because Everett, with a
force too strong to be resisted. broke through
our lines and p'undereG some of our citizens,
therefore Underwood ought to be allowed to
rob others at his discretion, and that any
attempt to enforce the law against him is an
evidence of reasonable proclivities, and tn at
those who make it ought to be shot: Poll
ticians, who, feeling themselves Stunned
and avoided by all respectable and good
men as they would one with the leprosy, and
knowing that their only hope of prominence
is in a corrupt, prohigate and immoral pub
- ~
meanest passions, inhamiDg the ignorant
and the weak, and lending encouragem
to the dishonest, in order that all these ele-
ments may be united for them, either to Sc
cure their political elevation or to carry out
the malice and vindictiveness of their own
base hearts To the influence and teachings
of such men are to be attributed the acts of
Underwood, and the encouragement he met
with from portion of the populace. Il is
imm ediately and exclusively referable to
them, and the scorn and loathing of all de-
cent people should be manifested towards
them--no other punishment can reach them,
FOR they work by tortuouS ways, strike in the
dark, and expose their dupes and TOOLS not
themselves, to danger. They are od;ous;
mere panders to depravity; mere breeders OF
tumult, violence and crime. Worse than
these it is impossible for men to be. Let





to the infamy and obloquy they so richly
deserve.


And now, what shall be done in reference
to this matter? Let justice be done, and let
the fullest and severest penalties known to
the criminal law be enforced against Under
wood and his gang. Judge Andrews will
soon hold Court in this City. Let a grand
jury be empanneled and indictm ents for
robbery be brought in against Underwood
and his party and against Everett and his
rebel marauders and thieves. When this is
done, let application be formally made to
Gen. Burnside to capture all these rascals
and hand them over to the civil authorities.
Let force of military be stationed in the
neigh borhood, and if any outbreak is made
by the sympathizers with Union thieves or
rebel thieves, let the only argumeu and
remonstrarce be that of force. Let the vio-
lation of law be met here as it was met In
New Y ork City, with grape and canister,
steel aud the rope. In what is the act OF
Underwood and of his aiders and abettors
in our midst better than the acts of the
brutal savages who so recently pillaged
the City of New York? If the acts of the
latter were treason against the national au-
thority, so were the acts of the former trea-
son against the State authority, and in their
legitimate scope the State laws are as much
entitled to respect as th e Nation laws. The
criminalty is the same and it should be
punished in the same manner. There is no
other way to treat this disease. Force is
the only thing these bad men respect. and
force be applied. In the meantime, let the
people organize for self-protection. As
matters stand. the impunity with which the
robbery on Tuesday was committed, and
the absence of all preparations to prevent
recurrence of similar acts, only encourages
Underwood to come again and bring all his
friends, with their wagons.


@A resident of Petersburg, Virginia. is