Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-11-05

jamin has been solicited for publication, by
one who has heard much said about holding
Virgiuians in prison to exchange them with
the State of Ohio, by which State Virginians
and Kentuckians have been Imprisoned in
Cowsheds, &C., for the crime of differing from
Line ln's Government in opinion
WAR DEPARTMENT, G. S. A.
Richmond, Oct. 20, 1861.
SIR-In answer to your letter of yesterday,
l can only say that none can more deeply re-
get than do, the condition of all those, not
only of Virginia, but of other States, who
have been seized by despotic and un>cru-
pulOus power and incarcerated, whether in
cowsheds or in dungeons. 1t is, however, a
well known fact that this Government has
spared no effort to Introduce a system of ex-
change of prisoners Of toar, and that its efforts
have been hitherto unsuccessful.
The prisoners of whom you speak are not
prisoners of ,car. They are men not taken
in arms. They are political prisoners, and
your proposal seems to be that we shall hold
in Jail men convicted of no crime, as political
prisoners also; that we shall initiate tn
loathsome practices of which you complain,
and shall, within our own Confcderacy, hold
men in prison who are citizens of Virginia,
by mere arbitrary military power, for the
purpose OF exchanging them against those
held under like circumstances by the enemy.
Pardon me for suggesting that l do not
think you have reflected on the true nature
of the course of action you advise, and for
stating that this Government can enter into
no such contest of evil doing as is proposed
Prisoners held in Jail are examined, and if
guilty, or believed TO be guilty OF treason or
other crime against the State or Confedera-
cy, are handed over to the ciUI power, be.
cause ours is a government of law, and it is
our highest and proudest boast SO to main
tain it.
Numerous prisoners haze been thus trans
ferred by this Department to the courts of JUS
tlce. All others are released, for our citizens
| cannot be held in Jail on suspicion, and let us
thank Providence that this exemption from
violence to personal liberty, is one of the le-
gltlmate, as 1t Is the most precious fruit of the
struggle in which we are engaged. The gen
eral Jail delivery of which you seem to COM
plain, was, if am rightly informed, an exam
ination into the causes of the Imprisonment
of many citizens of Virginia, who had been
placed in confinement by military command
ers, who were taken unarmed and against
whom no evidence could be produced. Sure
ly you would not have desired, in the inter
ests of your own liberty and that of those
most dear to you, that the violent hand Of
| military power should have been laid on these
men. The Convention of Virginia authorized
your Governor to arrest on suspicion, aliens
| believed to be dangerous; but no law giver of
these Confederate States has ever yet dream
ed of comforting on any public functionary
the power of holding our oWn catizens in Jail on
suspicion.
l am, therefore, compelled respectfully to
decline your proposal to hold Virginians in
prison until the enemy shall release other
Virginiaus that he holds in prison. At the
same time 1 will cheerfully aid, to the utmost
of my power, in bringing to due punishment
all traitors and other criminals; and will most
heartily cooperate in any legitimate effort to
relieve our fellow citizens imprisoned in this
or other States, whose wrongs and suferings
l deplore, but am powerless to remedy.
l am, respectfully,
Your Obedient servant,
J. p. BENJAMIN,
Acting SECRETARY of War.