The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1862-02-07

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f1fDAr MORNIE0t........fE ?. 1893.
Oar Trea,Aehs eF Prisoners.
The project we made few days ago against
the Poison Inspecting Committee, insoleutly
appointed on a mission Of espionage TO the
South by the Liaco,n Government. has met
the universal enforcement OF the Southern
press and rab'ic; and the mort lively salts
faction is everywhere expressed nj the promb'
determination Of the Confederate antiquities
to refaae admission within onr lines 10 the
Commissioners selected.
Wha, right have these people to complain
Of AIRY treatment their prisoners are fs'e'v
ing al our hands, snpposing 1t ." he ever 5"
h~rbasous With whs, decency can they ark
termination 10 look iuto the condition ri our
nrisons or their inmates Those prisoners
came into oar country IN their own wrong. Oh
The most hratal and savage errand They
came uf,ou our territory, TO the doors of
our homes, to shoot down orr people, 10
outrage our women, 70 plumber our property,
and TO excite our slaves to instruction They
and 10 roam and run riot with Ere and faggot
over the land. We caught the savage intru-
ders Ia the act We shonld have been justi-
6ed 10 putting them instantly to death. We
should have executed a righteous ven
geance upon them, If we he'd, after the
manner of the aboriginal savages of the
forest, tied them 70 stakes, aud, amid
tonraa aud re;n;rinus Nv al
andexcrIciatiDg torture TO death. They choee
10 outlSw US from the pale of humanity, and
avowed their purpose to deal with us as in
famous persons whose existence was a curse
10 the earth. They repudiated the thought of
allowing Us the amenities of civilized war
fare. They banished humanity and Christian
moderation from Llsir pun poses, and came to
exterminate us as beasts and brntes Of the
forest All this was before We had caught
thsir prisoners
We had right to take them at their own
word, and if we were To encounter the treat
ment and fato of outlaws, to retort upon them
the desperate resistance usual with hostes In
NAM geheris They were two or three to one,
their men alone came against us. and our
fate with ourseives They came in their pride,
expecting to execute upon us the fetocioas in
tentions with which they set ont. They We're
driven back, and many OF them, less swift OF
foot than the rest, fell into our hands We
captured them by thousands There was no
fate our Ingenuity and just anger eonld have
invented which would have been TOO severe
Va ;xhf har t1isfcd bo hiuob
Tag Of the pirate and outlaw, and refused all
quarter. We might have manned and left
them lying upon the ground, "a become Gv-
ing prey to wolves and bIzzards.' We mi ht,
Ia mock humanity, have washed their wounds
with vitrio!, and ponltced them with pepper.
We might have pine he'd their iesh with hot
irons, and praoiced upon them those very
crue!ties which their lying tongues had go
often accused lis of visiting uron our slaves.
We might have buried them alive, and, with
a refinement Of savagery, have inserted
tables from the surface and by prOtracting res
pirstion, protracted the awful fate TO which
we thus consigned them.
But none of these things did we do We
returned good for evil; We chose the part OF
good ssmaritans. We gashe.sd together
their wounded aud sick in hospl0hs, and we
decently buried their dead when their defeat
ed comrades had not the huna nily and ieceney
10 ask to bury them themselves. Their Gov
erunent, with uneXampled brutality, had de-
cIsred all medicines con:raband of war, and pro
hib;ted their introduction within our bounia-
Ties. Notwithstanding this infamous decree,we
administered to them, OF our ecan:y supplies,
insufficient for our own sick, that which their
own Government thus denied them, though
costing us four prices; and in all respects did
We care for them as we cared for tho brave
sick and wounded who had been fighting for
our liberty aud security. The lives OF our
own sick and wounded soldiers We're very
precious in our sight and their comfort and
recovery We're very near to our hearts but
not even these cherished men received a
kindlier attention, than those who had come
10 slay, violate, rob, ruin, and exterininate us
Since the period when thousands OF these
hired emissaries fell into our hands, it has
suited the tactics OF the enemy to assume a
less savage tone towards our cause aud peo-
pie. The pirates" taken on our priva.
teers, which they would have ignomini-
ously hung Up by the neck amid the shouts
Of ali e4ultant mob, have gradually been
metamorphosed into prisoners of war,
and, In order to extricate their own prisoners
among us from the fate which they know we
oonld make as severe as We desired. they are
williag to exchange man for man.
That measure we will consent to but when,
with hypocriiical professions of philanthropy
aud affected solicitude for soldiers Of whom
their coldhearted race relhsed to bury the
dead, they would send populations to confer
with their prisoners and to SPY out our re-
sources and defenres, it is proper that we
shonld rebuke them by prompt and con.
temptuous refusal OF their command.
The Demands or tho Crisis.