The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-29 00:00:00

RETALIATION IN WAR,

The Richmond papers publish the following cor-
respondence between Generals Sherman and Wade
Hampton :

"Headquarters, Military Division of the Mississippi,
in the Field, Feb. 24, 1865.
Lieutenant-General Wade Hampton, command-
ing cavalry forces, C.S.A.

" General,—lt is officially reported to me that our
foraging parties are murdered after capture, and
labelled ' Death to all foragers.' One instance of a
lieutenant and seven men, near Chesterfield, and
another of twenty, near a ravine 80 rods from the
main road,' about three miles from Feasterville. I
have ordered a similar number of prisoners in our
hands to be disposed of in like manner.
" I hold about 1,000 prisoners captured in various
ways, and can stand it as long as you ; but I hardly
think these murders are committed with your know-
ledge, and would suggest that you give notice to the
people at large that orgy life taken by them shall
results in the death of one of your eroia4eManres=

"Of course you cannot question my right to
forage on the country. It is a war right as old as
history. The manner of exercising it varies with
circumstances ; and if the civil authorities will sup-
ply my requisitions, I will forbid all foraging. But
I find no civil authorities who can respond to calls
for forage or provisions, and therefore must collect
directly of the people. I have no doubt this is the
occasion of much misbehaviour on the part of our
men, but I cannot permit au enemy to judge or
punish with wholesale murder.
'• Personally I regret the bitter feelings engen-
dered by this war ; but they were to be expected,
and I simply allege that those who struck the first
bow and made war inevitable ought not, in fairness,
to reproach us for the natural consequences. I
merely assert our war right to forage, and my re-
solve to protect my foragers to the extent of life for
life.—l am, with respect, your obedient servant,
" W. T. SHERMAN, Major-Gen. U.S.A."
GENERAL HAMPTON'S REPLY.
" Headquarters, in the Field, Feb. 27.

"Major-Gen. W. T. Sherman, U.S.A.
"General,—Your communication of the 24th inst.
reached me to-day. In it you state that it has been
officially reported that your foraging parties were
murdered' after capture, and you go on to say that
you had ' ordered a similar number of prisoners in
your hands to be disposed of in, like manner.' That
is to say, you have ordered a number of Confede-
rate soldiers to be ' murdered.'

" You characterise your order in proper terms, for
the public voice, even in your own country, where
it seldom dares to express itself in vindication of
truth, honour, or justice, will surely agree with you
in pronouncing you guilty of murder if your order
" Before dismissing this portion of your letter, I
beg to assure you for every soldier of mine ' mur-
dered' by you I shall have executed at once two of
yours, giving in all cases preference to any officers
who may be in my hands.
"In reference to the statement you make regarding
the death of your foragers, I have only to say that
I know nothing of it ; that no orders given by me
authorise the killing of prisoners after capture, and
that I do not believe that my men killed any of
yours, except under circumstances in which it was
perfectly legitimate and proper they should kill
them.

" It is a part of the system of the thieves whom
you designate as your foragers to fire the dwellings
of those citizens whom they have robbed.
" To check this inhuman system, which is justly
execrated by every civilised nation, I have directed
my meh to shoot down all of your men who are
caught burning houses. This order shall remain in
force as long as you disgrace the profession of arms
by allowing your men to destroy private dwellings.
" You say that I cannot,•of course, question your
right to forage on the country. 'ltis a right as
old as history.' Ido not, sir, question this right.
But there is a right older even than this, and one
even more inalienable—the right that every man has
to defend his home and to protect those who are
dependent upon him ; and from my heart I wish
that every old man and boy in my country who can
fire a gun would shoot down, as he would a wild
beast, the men who are desolating their land, burn-
ing their houses, and insulting their women.
" You are particular in defining and claiming

war rights.' May I ask if you enumerate among
them the right to fire upon a defenceless city with-
out notice ; to burn that city to the ground after it
had been surrendered by the authorities, who
claimed, though in vain, that protection which is
always accorded in civilised warfare to non-comba-
tants ; to fire the dwelling-houses of citizens after
robbing them, and to perpetrate even darker crimes
than these—crimes too black to be mentioned]

" You have permitted, if you have not ordered,
the commission of these offences against humanity
and the rules of war. You fired into the city of
Columbia without a word of warning. After its
surrender by the mayor, who demanded protection
to private property, you laid the whole city in ashes,
leaving amid its ruins thousands of old men and
helpless women and children, who are likely to
perish of starvation and exposure. Your line of
march can be traced by the lurid light of burning
houses, and in more than one household there is an
agony far mote bitter than that of death.

" The Indian scalped his victim regardless of sex
or age, but with all his barbarity he always respected
the persons of his female captives. Your soldiers,
more savage than the Indian, insult those whose
natural protectors are absent.
" In conclusion, I have only to request that
whenever of my men disposed of,' or
terms appear to be synonymous
murdered,' for liatvhee any
with you, you will let me hear of it, in order that I
may know what action to take in the matter. In
the meantime I shall hold 56 of your men as hostages
for those you have ordered to be executed.—l am
yours, &c.,
" WADE HAMPTON, Lieutenant-General."

And then he drew a dial from his poke,
And looking on it with lack lustre eye,
Says very wisely, ' It is ten o'clock :
Thus we may see,' quoth he, how the world wags."'
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ARREST OF AN AMERICAN EDITOR.—On last
Thursday P. Gray Meek, Esq., editor of the Belle-
Ant (Pa.) Watchnum, was arrested by the military autho-
rities and dragged from his home in Centre County to Har-
risburg, where he has been thurst into the common guard-
house among disorderly soldiars and deserters, without
even the common comfort of a bed to lie upon. What are
the charges against Mr. Meek we know not. We presume,
however, that he has offended softie of the minions of the
despotism that now rules with a rod of iron over what was
once a free people. That his entire innocence of any crime
will be made to appear we have not the slightest doubt.
We know him well, and a purer nature or a braver spirit
than that of P. Gray Meek is not to be found in the State.
He is one of the ablesfand most fearless writers Pennsyl-
vania. We are sure he cannot be long kept in custody.
The day for such infamous outrages must speedily pass
away.--Lancaster (Pa.) Intelligencer.