Shreveport daily news., 1861-07-25

l. "
} ed by the inAamed passions and mad
| ness Of intoxication.
But who shall depriciate the horrn,
with which they regard the cool, de.
liberate malignity with which, unde,
the pretext of suppressing an insur.
rection, said by themselves to be up.
held by minority only of our people,
makes q special war on the sick. in.
ciuding women and children, by care
fully devised measures to prevent their
obtaining medicines necessary for
their cure. Sacred claims to humanity
even during the fury ofactual bsttle, by
a carefal deviation of an attack unon
the hospitals containing wounded enc
mics, are outraged in cold blood bv =
Government and people that pretend
TO desire continuance of fraternal
connections. All these outraees must
remain unavenged, save by the uni
versal reprobation of mankind, In
all cases where the actual perpetrators
OF wrongs escape capture, they admi,
Of no retaliation.
The humanity of our people woul.
shrink instinctively from the bare
idea of waging a like war upon the
sick, the women and the children of
the enemy.
But there are other savage practices
which have been resorted to bv the Co
vernment of the United States which
do admit Of repression by retaliation.
l have been driven to necessarily en-
forcing this repression.
The prisoners Of war taken by the
enemy on board the armed schooner
Savannah, sailing under our commits
sion, were, as l am creditably adj
vised, treated like common felons. mn,
in irons, confined in Jail usually ap-
propriated to criminals of the wors,
dye, and threatened with punishment,
as such: had made application for
the exchange of these prisoners to
the commanding officer of the enc
my's squadron, off Charleston, bu,
chat officer had already sent the pris-
oners to New York, when the applica-
ton was made. I, therefore. deemed
it my duty to renew the proposal for
the exchange to the constitutional
Commandey-in-Chief of the armv and
navy Of the United States, the oniv
officer having control of the prison
ers. 70 this end, I dispatched an
officer 70 him under a flag Of truce.
and in making the proposal I inform
ed President Lincoln Of my resolute
purpose to check all barLarities on
prisoners Of war by such severity,
retaliating on prisonars held by the
United States, as should secure the
abandonment Of the practice. To
this communication a reply would be
returned by President Lincoln .s
soon as possible. I earnestly hope
this promised reply, which has not
been received, will convey the assu-
rance that the prisoners of war viii
be treated in this unhappy contest
with that regard to humanity which
has made such conspicuous progress
in the conduct of modern Warfare
Ut the resources of precaution, how
ever, and until the promised reply is
received, still retain in close custu-
dy some of the captured Of the enc
my, whom it had been my pleasure
previously to enlarge on parole, and
whose fate must necessarily depend
on that of the prisoners held by tne
enemy. append copy Of NV
communication to the President and
commander-in- chief of the army and
navy of the United States, and Of
the report of the officer charged to
deliver it. Marked Doc. A.
There are some other passages in
the remarkable paper to which i have
directed your attention, having refer
ence to the peculiar relations which
exist between this Government and
the States usually termed 'tBorder
slave States" which cannot properly
n hnI