Order about the Offices.

By General Schofield's orders multiple offices will be vacated and left to be filled by Radicals. Although General Schofield is fair and considerate at some point in the future it is clear that Radicals will hold all control over the Government.

Order about the Offices. General Schofield's order, published by us this morning, will throw open a large number of offices to the Radical party, who are hungering and thirsting after them. Power is not generally allowed to repose passively in men's hands. When the South was divided into districts, and military commanders appointed over them, the reflecting man could readily foresee that, sooner or later, all the authority conferred upon them would be exerted for the advancement of the policy under which they were placed in command. Those officers differed widely in their views-some were greatly less harsh and more wise in the administration of their powers than others. We have always accorded, and justly too, to General Schofield the credit of being the fairest and most considerate of them all. But the question of what shall be done with the South and its people is not to be left altogether with the commanders. As Mr. Johnson and General Grant both at one time checked the (then so regarded) excesses of some commanders, the party necessity equally now demands that a slow or reluctant administration shall be spurred up, in order to keep-pace with the requirements of the hour. As the signs from Washington indicate the rapid approach of the day when the whole power and patronage of the Government will be in Radical hands, we must expect a more decisive and summary administration of the military government of the districts-indeed, that the sequel of their organization shall be logically and completely developed. As we should not be surprised, we should be prepared for the events now, as we believe, rapidly to take place. It is true men are in office; and will be put into office, who would be unanimously rejected by the white people of the community; and in that respect we are no better off than the Poles, whose rulers are sent by Russia to tax them and oppress them with exactions and humiliations of every kind ; but we should look upon the present as a period of such wrong and injustice that it cannot possibly long endure. We should pray for its rapid progress and culmination, because it will thus all the sooner terminate. The offices are needed to feed and clothe the partisans of the dominant party, and must be had for that purpose. The Government at Washington will demand them and take them throughout the South.

“Order about the Offices.,” Reconstructing Virginia, accessed March 30, 2023, https://reconstructingvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/951.