December 18, 1861 – Spies

The Richmond Examiner has repeatedly urged the impolicy of employing in the departments of the Confederate States at Richmond, persons with Yankee proclivities and those who held office under the Lincoln government until a late period. These office jackalls have forced themselves into every possible nook in the South, both in the Confederate and state governments where an office was to be had. Shrewd Yankees and foreigners seem to have been preferred to our native Southerners where they could be had, and the government has thus placed itself in a position to be of espionage by Lincoln employees all over the South. The Richmond Dispatch states that a recent New York newspaper publishes a complete list of the regiments, battalions and companies in the Confederate service ; a list not entirely correct, but one much fuller than any Richmond editor could have made out, from documents in his possession. Congress holds its secret sessions, complaint is often uttered and in some instances not without cause, we think, that Southern papers publish too much, and yet every important fact or movement in the South is communicated by agents of the Northern press in the South, who must be more or less connected with the Confederate government This subject demands the attention of Congress. Lincolnites, if among us, should be ferreted out and exposed, whatever may be their position.

Weekly Standard, Raleigh, NC

1 Comment

  1. Lisa Fulton

    Yikes. Some things never change.

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