The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1862-05-23

{ ons OF moderation and peace on
tie part OF the President and his
friends. They took up arms and de-
clared that they would never surren'
der until their rebellion had been re-
cognized or the institution establish
o by our fathers had been destroy.
ed. The people of the loyal States,
at last convinced that they could pre-.
s,rve their liberties only by an ap.
peal to the God of Battles, rushed TO
the standard OF the Republic, in re.
sponse to the call of the Chief nla.
gistrste.
Every etep Of this mons'rous
treason has been marked by violence
and crime. No transgression has
been too great, no wrong too start
ling for its leaders. They disregard
the sanciity OF the oaths they had
taken to support the Constitution. -
They repudiated all their obligations
to the people OF the Free States
They deceived and betrayed their
own fellow citizens, and crowded
their armies with forced levies. =
They drove from their midst all who
would not yield to their dcspotism,
or filled their prisons with men who
would not enlist under their flag.
They have crowned tho rebellion
by the perpetratioa Of deeds scarce
ly known even to savage warfare.
The Investigations Of your Commit-
tee have established this fact beyond
controversy. The witnesses called
b,'ore us were men Of undoubted
veracity and character. Some OF
them occupy high positions in the
army, and others high positions in
civil life, differing in political senti
ments. Their evidence presents a
remarkable concurrence Of opinion
and Of Judgment. Our fellow.coun'
trymen, heretofore sufficiently inn
pressed by the generosity and for.
bearance of the Government OF the
United States, and by the birbarous
character of the crusade against it,
will be shocked by the statements of
those unimpeached and unimpeach'
able witnesses; and foreign nations
must, With one accord, however
they have hesitatod heretofore, con-
signed to lasting odium the authors
of crimes which, in all their details,
Xceed the worst excesses OF the So.
poys of India.
"luhumanity to the living hos
been the leading trait Of the rebel
leaiers, but tswas reserved for yonr
Committee to disclose, as a concert.
ed system, their insults to the wonhd
ed, and their mutilation and desc.
Grafton OF the gallant dead. Our
soldiers taken prisoners, in honora-
bic battle, have been subjected to the
most shameful treatment. All the
considerations that inspire chivalric
emotions and generous considera-
tions for brave men have beon dis.
regarded. IL is almost beyond be.
lief that men fighting in such a
cause as ours, AMI sustained by a
Government which, in the midst oi
violence and treachery, have given
repeated evidences Of its indulgence
should have been subjected to trent
ment never before rcsorted to by one
foreign nation in a conflict with an
other. All the courtcsics of pro-
fessional and civil life seem to have
been discarded. Gen. BeauregarC
himself, who ON very recent occa
sion, boasted that he had been con
, trolled by humane feelings, after tn
, b title OF Bull Run. coolly propose,
10 hold Gen. Ricketts, as hostag,
for one OF the murderous privateers
, and the rebel Surgeons disdain Il
intercourse and communication will
our own Surgeons taken in honora
bic battle. The outrages upon tat
dead will revive tho recolectiuns o
8 the cruelties to which savage tribe
0 subject their prisoners. They wer'
/, buried, in many cases, naked will
{ their faces downward. They wer
| left to decay in the open air, thei
I bones b,ing carried of as trophies
y sometimes as ihe testimony proves
o to be used as personal adornments
] and one witness deliberately aver
y that tho head OF ono of our most ga
: ant officers was cut of by a seces
!, sionists, to he turned into a drink
" ing cup on the occasion Of his maj
e riage. Monstrous as this revelatio
It may appear to be, your cominitte
70 have been informed that, during I'll
ir last two weeks, the skull OF a Unio
j. soldier has been exhibited in tho o
h flee Of the Sergeant.at Arms of Il
10 House Of Representatives, whic
had been converted to such pu
t. pose, and which had been found {
" tho person oi one of the rebel prisol
to ers taken in recent conflict.
Of "Thc testimony of Gov. Spragu
Of of Rhode Island, is most interesting
re 1t confirms the worst reports again
~ the rebel soldiers, and conclusive
y, proves that tho body OF ono of (
n bravest officers in tho volunte
a. service was burned. IIe docs n
I'd hesitate to add that this hyena des
d, Grafton of the honored corpse W
,st because the rebels believed 1t 10
ri, the body of Col, Slocum, agail
nc whom they were iniuristcd for ha
ing displayed go much courage a
in ch unlru in forninn hia rnnit mr.