The New York herald., 1862-08-26
en-. Davis Barbarian Congress.

'niougnout tne army might be perfected OF
the highest practical value and Importance.
i
Jefr. Davis Barbarian Congress.
n en- who could rebel against government
like oui own will not hesitate long at any sort
of infamy. 1t is not surprising, therefore, to
find the desperate leaders of the present hope.
less rebellion vainly endeayoring to substitute
cruelty for siren 9Th, and devising and adopting
the most barbarous and atrocious measures to
bolster up their sinking cause. In his last mes
sage jeff Davis recommends, and Immediately
upon its assemblage the present rebel Congress
entertained propositions in regard to retaliatory
warfare, which, if adopted and carried into
effect, will completely revolutionize this war,
and result in most frightful and unnecessary
bI0odshed. The measures to which we refer
were introduced into the barbarian Congress
by Mr.. Foote-commonly called Hangman
Foote-a noisy, clustering rebel Congressman
from Tennessee. They provide that if rebel
guerillas, or those who harbor and assist rebel
guerillas, shall be punished by Union officers.
such Union officers shall, if captured, be put to
death; that Union prisoners shall be held as
hostages for guerillas, and made to suffer the
same fate; that officers of Union negro regi-
ments shall be hung or shot, if captured, and
the negro sol diers sold into slavery; and that
hostages shall be taken from among the Union
prisoners for, and be made to suffer precisely
the same treatment as, every rebel citizen i'm
prisoned by our government. These bills were
referred to the Military Committee of the rebel
barbarian Congress, and, as they are approved
by JEFF. Davis, will probably be passed.
Such barbarous, brutal and inhuman mea-
sures will come home, like curses, to those who
inaugurate them. As threats, they amount to
nothing, and will deter the United States go
vernment from no proceedings which seem to
be necessary to the restoration of the Union.
If practically carried out they will only effect
greater disasters to the rebels, without at all
impairing the success of the Union cause.
None but men who are blind to all the dictates
of reason and humanity could ever entertain
such sanguinary ideas for a moment. The
simple fact that such acts are before the rebel
cruiting officers here at the North. The hang
ing Of single Union prisoner, or the butchery
Of a single Union officer, by command of the
rebel authorities, will be followed by ven-
geance as terrible as it will be speedy. Hither-
to this government has conducted the war in
most Christian spirit. Our efforts have been
devoted to restoring the Union, not to extermi-
mating the Southern people. Our armies have
been employed in defeating armed rebels,
not in Devastating Southern hearthstones.
The conduct of our soldiers in the
enemy's country has been most exem-
plary, and, in spite of the efforts of rebel
leaders to fire the hearts of their followers
by lying tales of Union outrages and atrocities,
they well know that no other army in the world
has ever equalled that Of the United States in
the kindness, justice and forbearance with
which it has respected the homes and protected
the families of its enemies. We believe that the
rebel leaders have often profited by and impos-
ed upon this clemency, and we know that the
wives of the rebel Generals Lee and Beauregard
have themselves experienced and appreciat-
ed the magnanimous generosity Of the Union
troops
It is no argument against this clemency that
our soldiers hang guerillas and give ,s,bush-
whackers short shrift These fellows, who
are farmers by day and soldiers by night; who
burn bridges and tear up railroad tracks who
fire upon passing trains and murder wounded
men in ambulances who sack peaceful vii
lagos and hang aged and inofensive Union citi-
zens, are not soldiers, and will not be recognize
ed as such, no matter what threats the rebel
barbarian Congress may illuminate They are
simply assassins, brigands, highwaymen and
land pirates, and should be shot down like dogs
wherever they are caught. LetJef Davis hold
one Of our regular officers as a hostage for q
guerilla, bushwhacker or bridgeburner at his
own peril. Already his crimes weigh heavy
on his soul, aud q few murders more or
less will not at all change the fate
to be meted out to him in this world and the
next. AS to the threat against Union negro
regiments, that is mere Jsrdum yfulnaea, since
no such regiments now exist under the authori
ty of the United States government 1t will be
however, that the rebels have
already organized negro regiments, and the
bcrbariF Of the tcitors is evident when we
consider that theg propose TO massacre Union
oficas for doing the very thing which they
have themselves authorized i'll their own armies
We do not arm the negroes, simply because we
believe that hV can do more for the Union in
other capacities than rs soldiers, and not be-
cause OF any feur Of retaliatory warfare. 1t
may be we'll for tie chief conspirators at the
South TO mderstnd these few facts plainly and
distinctly. The rebellion is now rs hopeless az
the restoration OF the Union Is certain. The
very consideration Of Yetahatory measures is an
open confession Of the weakness OF the rebel
cause. n JED. Davis and lis crew were not