The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-13 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 13, 1863,

The Proclamation of President Davis.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES-A

PROCLAMATION.
Whereas, a communication was addressed on the 6th day
of July last (1862), by General Robert E. Lee, acting under
the instructions of the Secretary of War of the Confederate
States of America, to General H. W. Halleck, Commander-
in-Chief the United States Army, informing the latter that
a report had reached this Government that Wm. B. Mum-
ford, a citizen of the Confederate States, had been executed
by the United States authorities at New Orleans, for having
pulled down the United States flag in that city, before its
occupation by the I) nited States forces, and calling for a
statement of the facts, with a view of retaliation, if such
outrage had really been committed under the sanction of
the authorities of the United States :

And whereas (no answer having been received to said
letter), another letter was, on the 2d of August last (1862),
addressed by General Lee, under my instructions, to General
Halleck, renewing the inquiries in relation to the execution
of the said Mumford, with the information that, in the event
of not receiving a reply within 15 days, it would be assumed
that the fact was true, and was sanctioned by the Govern-
ment of the United States :

And whereas an answer, dated on the 7th of August last
(1862), was addressed to General Lee by General H. W.
Halleck, the said General-in-Chief of the armies of the
United States, alleging sufficient causes for failure to make
early reply to said letter of the 6th of July, asserting that

" no authentic information had been received in relation to
the execution of Mumford, but measures will be immedi-
ately taken to ascertain the facts of the alleged execution,"
and promising that General Lee should be duly .informed
thereof :

And whereas, on the 25th of November last (1862),another
letter was addressed, under my instructions, by Robert
Ould, Confederate agent for the exchange of prisoners,
under the cartel between the two Governments, to Lieu-
tenant-Colonel W. H. Ludlow, agent of the United States
under said cartel, informing him that the explanation pro-
mised in the said letter of General Halleck, of the 7th of
August last, had not yet been received, and that, if no
answer was sent to the Government within 15 days from the
delivery of this last communication, it would be considered
that an answer is declined :

And whereas, in a letter, dated on the 3d day of the present
month of December, the said Lieutenant-Colonel Ludlow
apprised the said Robert Ould that the above-recited com-
munication of the 19th of November had been received and
forwarded to the Secretary of War of the "United States,
and whereas this last delay of 15 days allowed for answer
elapsed and no answer has been received :
And whereas, in addition to the tacit admission resulting
from the above refusal to answer, I have received evidence
fully establishing the truth of the fact that the said Wm.
B. Mumford, a citizen of the Confederacy, was aotually and
Publicly executed, in cold blood, by hanging, after the oc-
cupation of the city of New Orleans, by the forces under
Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, when said Mumford was an un-
resisting and non-combatant captive, and for no offence
even alleged to have been committed by him subsequent to
the date of the capture of the said city :
And whereas, the silence of the Government of the United
States, and its maintaining of said Butler in high office
under its authority, for many months after his commission
of an act that can be viewed in no other light than as a de-
liberate murder, as well as of numerous other outrages and
atrocities hereafter to be mentioned, afford evidence too
conclusive that the said Government sanctions the conduct
of the said Butler, and is determined that he shall remain
unpunished for these crimes :
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Con-
federate States of America, and in their name, do pronounce
and declare the said Benjamin F. Butler to be a felon, de-
serving of capital punishment. Ido order that he shall no
longer be considered or treated simply as a public enemy of
the Confederate States of America, but as an outlaw and
common enemy of mankind, and that, in the event of his
capture, the officer in command of the capturing force do
cause him to be immediately executed by hanging.
And I do further order that no commissioned officer of the
United States, taken captive, shall be released on parole,
before exchange, until the said Butler shall have met with
due punishment for his crimes.
And whereas, the hostilities waged against this Confede-
racy by the forces of the United States, under the command
of said Benjamin F. Butler, have borne no resemblance to
such warfare as is alone permissible by the rules of inter-
national law or the usage of civilisation, but have been cha-
racterised by repeated atrocities and outrages, among the
large number of which the following may be cited as ex-
amples :
Peaceful and aged citizens, unresisting captives and non-
combatants, have been confined at hard labour, with chains
attached to their limbs, and are still so held in dungeons
ant fortresses.

Others have been submitted to a like degrading punish-
ment for selling medicines to the sick soldiers of the Confe-
deracy.
The soldiers of the United States have been invited and
encouraged, in general orders, to insult and outrage the
wives, the mothers, and the sisters If our citizens.
Helpless women have been torn from their homes and
subjected to solitary confinement,—some in fortresses and
prisons, and one especially on an island of barren sand, un-
der a tropical sun ; have been fed with loathsome rations
that had been condemned as unfit for soldiers ; and have
been exposed to the vilest insults.
Prisoners of war who surrendered to the naval forces of
the United States, on agreement that they should be re-
leased on parole, have been seized and kept in close con-
finement.

Repeated pretexts have been sought or invented for
plundering the inhabitants of the captured city, by fines
levied and collected under threats of imprisoning recusants
at hard labour with ball and chain. The entire population
of New Orleans have been forced to elect between starve-

tion, by the confiscation of all their property, and taking
an oath against conscience to bear allegiance to the invader
of their country.
Egress from the city has been refused to those whose for-
titude withstood the test, and even to lone and aged women,
and to helpless children ; and after being ejected from their
homes, and robbed of their property. they have been left to
starve in the streets or subsist on charity.
The slaves have been driven from the plantations in the
neighbourhood of New Orleans until their owners would
consent to share their crops with the Commanding-Gene •
ral, his brother, Andrew J. Butler, and other officers, and
when such consent had been extorted, the slaves have been
restored to the plantations, and there compelled to work
under the bayonets of the guards of United States' soldiers.
Where that partnership was refused armed expeditions have
been sent to the plantations to rob them of everything that
was susceptible of removal.

And even slaves, too aged or infirm for work, have, in
spite of their entreaties, been forced from the homes pro-
vided by their owners, and driven to wander helpless on
tho highway.

By a recent general order, No. 91, the entire property in
that part of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River has
been sequestrated for confiscation, and officers have been
assigned to duty, with orders to gather up and collect the
personal property, and turn over to the proper officers, upon
their receipts, such of said property as may be required for
the use of the United States' army ; to collect together all
the other personal property, and bring the same to New
Orleans, and cause it to be sold at public auction to the
highest biddy re—an order which, if executed, condemns to
punishment, by starvation, at least a quarter of a million of
human beings, of all ages, sexes, and conditions, and of
which the execution, although forbidden to military officers
by the orders of President Lincoln, is in accordance
with the Confiscation Law of our enemies, which he has
effected to be enforced through the agency of civil officials.
And, finally, the African slaves have not only been in-
cited to insurrection by every licence and encouragement,
but numbers of them have actually been armed for a servile
war—a war in its nature far exceeding the horrors and
most merciless atrocities of savages.
And whereas the officers under command of the said

Butler have been in many instances active and zealous
agents in the commission of these crimes, and no instance
is known of the refusal of any of them to participate in the
outrages above narrated.
And whereas, the President of the United States litta by
by public and official declarations signified not only his ap-
proval of the effort to excite servile rear within the Confede-
racy, but his intention to give aid and encouragement
thereto, if these independent States shall continue to refuse
submission to a foreign power after the Ist day of January
next, and has thus made known that all appeal to the law
of nations, the dictates of reason, and the instincts of hu-
manity would be addressed in vain to our enemies, and
that they Call be deterred from the commission of these
crimes only by the terrors of just retribution.
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Con-
federate States of America, and acting by their authority,
appealing to the Divine Judge in attestation that their con-
duct is not guided by the passion of revenge, but that they
reluctantly yield to the solemn duty of redressing by neces-
sary severity crimes of which their citizens are the victims,
d
said Benjamin P
P.
o issue this my proclamation, and by virtue of my autho-
rity _ as Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the Confede-
rate States, do order :
I. That all commissioned officers in the command of the
Butler be declared not entitled to be con-
sidered as Beadle
d death; and that they, and
eserving
each of them be, engaged in honourable warfare, but as
robbers and criminalss
whenever captured, reserved for exe-
cution
2. That the private soldiers Ron-commissioned offi-
cers in the army of said Butler 1
be considered as only the
.
instruments used for the commission of
that they therefore
f crimes perpetrated
by his orders, and not as free g
Of war WitUktia* dam be treated when captured ao primine

and humanity, ala be sent home on the usual parole that
they will in no manner aid or serve the United States in
any capacity during the continuance of this war, unless
duly exchanged.

3. That all negro slaves captured in arms be at once de-
livered over to the Executive authorities of the respective
States to which they belong, to be dealt with according to
the laws of said States.
4. That the like orders be executed in all cases with re•
spest to all commissioned officers of the United States when
found serving in company with said slaves in insurrection
against the authorities of the different States of this Confe-
deracy.

In testimony whereof I have signed these presents, and
caused the seal of the Confederates States of America to be
affixed thereto, at the city of Richmond, on this 23d day of
December, in the year of our Lord, 1862.

JEFFERSON DAVIS.
By the President,
J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of State.

THE TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS.

A meeting of the Juridical Society was held last
evening, at their rooms in St. Martin's-place, Mr.
C. CLARKE presiding.

The subject of discussion was " Our Present
Treatment of Criminals," which was opened by Mr.
WORSLEY, who observed that in substituting penal
servitude for transportation we had undertaken, as
it were, to burn our own smoke; and it bad been
alleged that in doing so we had withdrawn from
s tciety its necessary protection. The object of all
punishment was first, the safroty-of society ; secondly,
his reformation. As society was in some degree
responsible for the moral condition of every indivi-
dual composing it, society was bound in inflicting
punishment for crime to provide for this second
object. It was complained that the present
system neither protected society nor reformed the
prisoner, and consequently that it had altogether
failed. It was all important that the judicial
and the executive officer should be at one, mad the
sentence which the former pronounced it was the
duty of the other to carry out; but at present the
chaplain stepped in between the two to mitigate the
punishment the judicial officer awarded. Now, gaol
chaplains, from their training, were perhaps the
least competent to judge between an assumed and a
real reformation of criminals, and thus it was that
tickets of leave were given to the worst class of con-
victed prisoners, who were let loose again to prey
upon society. The speaker alluded to the Rev. Mr.
Davis's sport in confirmation of this view. He (Mr.
Worsley) doubted much whether a man brought up
by criminal parents and the companion of thieves
all his life was capable of reformation unless taught
very young. The ticket of leave he regarded as an
unconstitutional abatement of the punishment the
judge awarded. Quoting a recent case of burglary
committed by a ticket•of-leave man who had been
four times convicted and on a fifth eonviction sen-
tenced to three years penal servitude, was let loose
on a ticket of leave, and shortly afterwards com-
mitted the crime of which he now stands charged,
he remarked that it was mere madness to treat har-
dened criminals in this manner. Under the present
system crimes, and especially crimes attended with
violence, had largely increased. As bearing out his
opinion as to the improper interference of the Exe-
cutive at the Home-office in mitigating without suf-
ficient cause the sentences pronounced by the judges
he quoted the recent addresses of Sir W. Crofton at
Bristol, Sir C. Hamilton at Warwick, and Sir W.
Miles in Somersetahire, the latter having offered a
very valuable suggestion emanating from the chief
constable of Somersetshire, that no convict should
hate a ticket of leave granted him unless he bad a
bona fide offer of employment, and could produce re-
sponsible persons who would be answerable for his
future good conduct. The system now in operation
had been introduced at the instance of Sir J. Jebb,
not for the purpose of reforming criminals and pro-
tecting society, but to save expense; but it had failed
in this—the expense in consequence of these ticket-
of-leave men being brought up, tried, and con-
victed again and again having increased rather
than diminished. He objected strongly to the
practice of allowing persons charged with serious
crimes to elect whether they wou'd go to a jury or
be dealt with summarily, urging that in most cases
the magistrate who was called upon so to deal with
the offender could not as a rule know so much of
his antecedents as would be in all probability known
if the criminal were committed and tried by a jury.
Generally the result at which he arrived was that,
under the existing system, the law was not carried
out—that there was no concord of action between
the judicial and executive authorities—that inside
the prison there was no means of creating fear in
the minds of the prisoner of returning to the gaol
on committing a fresh crime, but a system of com-
parative luxury and high mental and physical ali-
ment—that tickets of leave were granted without
sufficient proof of the reformation of the criminal,
and that they were seldom or never revoked,
tor, as far as he (Mr. Worsley) knew, there was no
instance of such revocation—that there were no
means taken to prevent the criminal returning to
criminal life—that the evil lay not with the law
but with the executive, and that the punishment of
crime was costly and inefficient. He had three
suggestions to offer for the consideration of the
meeting and of the Government commission—first,
a judicious mixture of penal discipline at home and
transportation to the colonies afterwards; secondly,
that in all punishments not capital it should be pro-
vided by act of parliament that the executive should
have no power to alter the term of punishment, but
only to regulate the discipline of the gaol, to relax
it or to heighten it according to the conduct of the
prisoner ; and, thirdly, the repeal of the Summary
Jurisdiction Act.

The CHAIRMAN felt they were much indebted to
Mr. Worsiey for his suggestions. _lt would be for

the meeting to consider them. In regard to the
ticket-of-leave, he considered it was not only
unconstitutional, but dangerous. The object of
the change of the law was to redu:e the extreme
severity of the criminal law as it formerly stood in
respect to punishment, but the earlier advocates
of milder punishment were still more strongly the
advocates of certainty of punishment, which under
the ticket-of-leave system was impossible. He
agreed with Mr. Worsley as to the impropriety of
acting upon the reports of gaol chaplains, who were
often deceived by the prison conduct of prisoners,
and with regard to a suggestion made by that gen-
tleman, that every convict let loose upon society
should be branded with the view of identification,
he (the chairman) concurred that if such a practice
were adopted it would be advantageous. He agreed
that the power of withdrawing the ticket-of-leave
by che„interference of the Secretary of State, was
no sufficient protection, and he would suggest that
if tickets•of-leave should still be granted, it should
be in the power of any magistrate or judge before
whom the party holding it was brought, charged
with another offence, to revoke it at once.

Mr. S. WILLIAMS remarked that the-Public had
at length come round to an opinion he expressed
some years ago in that room, that the present system
neither reformed nor inspired fear in the criminal.
He recommended that criminals should be sentenced
not to so much time in prison, but to so much labour,
and it that labour was not performed that he
should be reduced to a diet of bread and water,
and remain a prisoner until it was performed.
He also sugrste that the prisoners should he
associated in gangs, the members of which should
be all responsible for the conduct of the general
body, and for the performance of the allotted
labour tasks. When the labour was completed, then
the convict should have the right to go freo.
Mr. HUME WILLIAMS took a different view to
that of the previous speakers who practically by
their propositions upheld the existing system of
uncertain and varying punishments. It was unfor-

tunate that in the scale of dietary and general treat-

meat the prisons contrasted so attractively with the
workhouses. Prisoners ought to have only such
coarse food as would enable them to do the work

allotted to them, and not luxuries or comforts which
the honest poor could not command. In Ireland the
system of penal servitude had worked well, because
when the sentence was commuted the criminal was
still kept under surveillance, and was furnished
with work in the prison at trades there taught them,
and strange as it might appear the men so taught
and employed were eagerly sought for in the manu-
factories here. If the system thus guarded and
carried out with such precaution answered so well
in Ireland, he saw no reason why, if the same means
were adopted, it should not be equally successful in
thiscoun try. He opposed the suggestion of branding
the criminal on his leaving the gaol as tending to
degrade him beyond redemption, and he doubted
but little if it had been adopted that instead of 400
out of 1,400 discharged criminals, who they had
been told had returned to their criminal habits
within a given time, they would have had the whole
1,400 preying upon society. He submitted that the
Government works and the Government manufac-
tures would afford ample means for providing con -
victs with employment, both while undergoing their
sentences and when released on tickets-of-leave,
while it would effect a considerable saving of public
money.
Mr. WALKER MARSHALL considered the circum-
stances of England were so different to those of Ire-
land, that a system which might succeed in the lat-
ter country might altogether fail in the former. The
ticket-of-leave system, coupled with the discipline
and dietary of the gaols, failed in the three great
requirements of all punishment—viz., that they
should be certain, punative, and reforma•
tory. He suggested that professed criminals, or
persons convicted more than once, should be kept
on poorer diet and be subjected to greater severity
in the gaol than the labouring man who was con-
victed for the first time, and who ought to be kept
in a state of health that would enable him to resume
his ordinary work on his release. For the State to
undertake the duty of teaching criminals a trade,
and provide them with work, would be to do more
for them than for the honest portions of the com-
munity.
The debate was then adjourned to the next meet-
ing, and a vote of thanks to the chairman concluded
the proceedings.