Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 29.djvu/135

 Report of History Comnt/'/fcc of (]r ( '. V. 119

to be "outlawed"" by our government and denominated the "beast," but Lord Palmerston, in the British House of Commons, " took occa- sion to be astonished to blush and to proclaim his deepest indigna- tion at the tenor of that order." (2 Greeley, p. 100. )

But we are sick of these recitals, and must conclude our report, already longer than we intended it should be. We, therefore, only allude to the orders found on the person of Dahlgren, to burn, sack and destroy the city of Richmond, to " kill Jeff. Davis and his Cab- inet on the spot," &c.

The infamous deeds of General Edward A. Wild, both in Virginia and Georgia, and that of Colonel John McNeil in Missouri, some of which can be found set forth in the first volume of the Southern His- torical Papers, at pages 226 and 232, are shocking and disgraceful beyond description.

Now, contrast with all these orders and all this conduct, on the part of the Federal officers and soldiers, the address of General Early to the people of York, Pa., when our army invaded that State in the Gettysburg campaign; or, better still, the order of General Robert E. Lee to his army on that march. We will let that order speak for itself. Here it is :

"HEADQUARTERS A. N. V., " CHAMBERSBURG, PA., June 27, 1863.

" GENERAL ORDERS No. 73.

"The commanding general has marked with satisfaction the conduct of the troops on the march and confidently anticipates results commensurate with the high spirit they have manifested. No troops could have displayed greater fortitude or better performed the ard- uous marches of the first ten days. Their conduct in other respects has, with few exceptions, been in keeping with their character as soldiers, and entitles them to approbation and praise.

11 There have, however, been instances of forgetiulness on the part of some, that they have in keeping the yet unsullied reputation of the army, and the duties exacted of us by civilization and Christ- ianity are not less obligatory in the country of the enemy than in our own. The commanding general considers that no greater disgrace could befall the army, and through it to our whole people, than the perpetration of the barbarous outrages upon the innocent and de- fenceless and the wanton destruction of private property, that have marked the course of the enemy in our own country. Such pro- ceedings not only disgrace the perpetrators and all connected with