The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-06 00:00:00

is not, however, of enlisting, but of kidnappings
our fellow-citizens that, in the present instance, We
complain. If Federal recruiting agents made their
appearance either in Irish villages or in these raan.a-
facturing districts of the north of England in wh.
slett
unfortunately at the present time scant labour tar
be found even for the most industrious, and if (what-
ever deception they sought to practise on the authoe
rities) they frankly stated to those whose services
they needed the nature of the duties they would be
expected to perform, then, however strenuously we
might urge the Government to repress such prac:
tiers, we should at least feel that those who had
been induced to enter the service of the American
Government did so with their eyes open, and with
a full knowledge of the consequences which might
probably ensue on the election which they made.
But such has not been the conduct of the Federal
emissaries. They have not recruited, they have uis
veigled ; they have not found soldiers by seouctive.
promises of large bounties, high wages, plenty
prize money, or of the pleasures and the excitement
of a military life, but by treacherously concealing'
from the recruit the fact that he was wanted as a
soldier, by cajoling, and not unfrequent4 drugging,
their victims, and by coercing them when utterly
helpless to enter a profession from which they were,
averse. It is thus that for many months the wasted
ranks of the Federal armies have been in no 030,1
degree recruited from the British population ; en f
it is against this practice, not only in the name
offended law, but of our outraged fellow-citizens,
that we protest. The correspondence published laf,
our columns yesterday bears on the enlistment
seven Irishmen, who, havin arrived at Portland,
were induced—by means which have since been
admitted by the Federal Government to have been
grossly illegal—to enter the military service of th,
Northern States. As soon as the facts were brought
to the notice of the British Minister at Washington
a formal demand was made by him on the Federalt
Government for their liberation, and the 132haed
material portion of the despatches now Publia,„il
e
refers to the scandalous treatment to W"—
these men were subjected after their right tc,
be discharged had been to all apPee,.a/3„d
established and allowed. They had been en
'lB
into. the 20th Maine Regiment, and sent tossers
with the army of the Potomac, and, by th
nip
that the order for their dismissal from' that errsa'v
had been granted by the Federal Secretary for
0..„
one of them had been killed in action. It is,
ever, to the treatment which the survivors met wits
after they had virtually ceased to belong tctai
service. of the United States that we invite eel3e7l;
attention. In a letter addressed by Thomas 'rt.,'"
one of these men, to Consul Murray, and ellus'a
quently transmitted by Lord Lyons to Mr. Sevier
the. usage to which they were submitted is °et:
tioned in simple but graphic language. °aisle;
receipt of the order from the Secretary for
they were. by direction of the provestaneres,
placed in the bull ring, an open space in the la,e,;(i
surrounded by armed men, in which are Pia' ",.0
prisoners of all grades." Subsequently "WY viers
transferred transferred from one bull ring to another froin
9th of June until the 23d of the same month, vibe
.they were well-nigh starved, as they had at ell.
time to march three successive days without
t;
mouthful of food, and consequently were reduced
eating clover and green apples to support nettl"r„ee's
Despite their remonstrances, and their sassureth;;
that they were not prisoners, they were finally, Ii
the 23d, " sent with convicts under guard to lirilBy:
ington, and then transferred to the Old Cae'
from thence they were sent in irons to Be!'°t'
where they were left handcuffed together all nigho
but for the purpose of getting sleep they had
break the cuffs. The consequence was that the:
were marched through Boston tied with r°Pen-i
and ultimately arrived in Portland." On the 701
July Lord Lyons addressed a letter to Mr SevraArg:
enclosing to
a copy of Thomas Tully's statement, de
mending that no time should be lost in calling t,
account these who are responsible for the treat
ment of these unfortunate men. To this despt"we
no reply had been received at the time of Lorne
Lyons's latest communication to Earl II118,8e;„);
When we call to mind the extreme measure vil-""c,
the British Government had recourse to nearly
years since in order to enforce reparation from
the Brazilian Government for indignities alleged
to have been offered to some En fish officers, bat
subsequently disproved, we sincerely trust that
in
the present instance ample redress will be exacta,
for misconduct which aears to have been Proved
by the most conclusive tespptimony, and which it will
be found impossible to justify. It is observable
that although the Federal Secretary at War ga
directions for the transmission of Tully and his
companions to Washington, be has not as yet abso-
lutely authorised their discharge from the Federal
service ; and Lord Lyons's repeated applications for
their dismissal have elicited no other than the
stereotyped official reply that the matter is under
the consideration of the Secretary for War. We
should not be inclined to criticise too minutely a
little
.delay, if, meanwhile, the men alleged to have
been illegally enlisted were treated with that
consideration which persona under the protection
The
the British Government have a right to dernsou'
The treatment to which these unfortunate 1603103
have been subjected has been entirely tinprovok!cit
and seems to have been dictated solely by a desire
on the part of the military authorities to insult an
injure d
those whom they could no longer employ of
retain under their jurisdiction. Large allowance!
must be made for the license of American camps'
but if the facts, as stated, are proved, the British
Government should not be satisfied with anything
less than the exemplary punishment of all :"1"„f
have been concerned in a commission of a serio
the grossest outrages.