Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1863-07-28
TUESDAY, MORNING, JULY IS, 1868.
EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS.
BYTYLEls il ALLEGRO.


EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS.
The exchange Of pr soners between us and
our eaemes s. ems to be at an end altogether.
The las; flag of truce boat which brought
Confederate prisoners for exchange to Civ
Point, arrived the,e on the 4th of july. I'm
media,ely after that, the Yankee Government
became aware that they held in their hands u
large excess of Confederate prisoners: and
they Immediately discontinued exchanges
i"e FIRST TWO Or three flag of truce boats that
cane empty, brought excuses more or less i'll
geuiuus; aud our Commissioner, Judge Guild
not beng yet aware Of their policy, and un-
wiling to raise final issue with the enemy,
continued to fill up their boat with Yankee
prisoners. In this way they procured the lib
eration of several thousands of their men, mud
gave no equivalent. The last flag of truce
boat. however, came to City Point the day be-
fore yesterday; empty as usual; and not
SO much as an. excuse was offered The Con-
fed rate Commissioner then declined to send
away any Of the Yankee prisoners in our
hauds; and the boat went away empty as it
came.
This is a plain statement Of the facts. 1t
vii surprise nobody who had formed cor
rect appreciation of the enemy with which We
have to deal and perhaps those who have
been disposed to believe that the Yankee ma
ton resembled in some measure the other
civilized people of the earth, will have their
eyes opened OF last.
But there. is something more to be told.
battle of Gettysburg, there were from four to
five thousand Confederate prisoners confined
in Fort Delaware. That fort is now crowded
to its utmost capacity with weltcring mass
ofhuman beings, our own gallant Confederate
soldiers, the sons and the brothers of our peo-
pie, the stay and the pride Of thousands Of
Southern families. Fort Delaware is the most
unwholeSome Of their many dungeons; and its
scauty supply of water is, especially at this
season, altogether pestilential. Week after
week the encmy's Commissioner has under
take" to send home some Of these in his ex-
changes. but Fort Delaware is kept always
full When prisoners die other prisoners a:c
brought i'll 10 fill their places, and to die in
their tu:n. 1t is the favorite place of confnc.
ment for Con;ederates, because there they die
fast, or contrac: diseases which make them in
va!,Ls for life.
We may as well consider and understand
the meaning of this new policy-of discon-
tiuuing the exchange, and killing off Confedc-
rate prisoners by disease. 1t means that as
the Yankees have more men in their country
than we. have, and also possess the facility
Of procuring as many mercenaries rs they
need from foreign countries, they intend to
wear down our military matsriel; and, in the
long run, they hope to get through with us by
this simple method. They judciously reflect
that we hold fewer prisoners than they do
AMI th,t even if We had as many, they can
better spare their men than we ours; nay.
that if we kept Tor killed) FIVE to their oues
the balance would still be against US. They
do not care for their soldiers, who are chiop,v
hired foreign mercenaries; and they Gin al
ways fill their ranks again from, the sy ,arminr
hives Of Europe. At this game me stakes
are not equal.
The simple narrative VIZ have given Will
sufficiently explain tho insolent reception
which was given to ..Lr. Stephens humane
mission, having ir. view some arrangement
which should mitigate the horrors of war,
and prevent the necessity of bloody retalia-
ton: they desire and intend to agyravate the
horrors of war, and to provoke bloody retalia
pJn.
The same explanation will serve for the pro-
ceedings Of the enemy in regard to the two
officers Of our army, who were recruiting in
Kentucky, and happened to fall into the hands
of the Yankees; they were executed as spies.
or robbers. Our Government applied to the
enemy's Government asking to be informed
Of the charge against these officers; no reply
was given Thereupon the Confederate Gov
ernnent caused two Federal officers of equal
rauk Ia he chosen by 1T, in order to be exc
cuted by way of retaliation. On this becom-
ing known ut Washington, orders were given
to thrust into dungeon two grounded officers,
General F. Lee, and Capt. Winder, the sons
Of our great General Robert E. Lee, and o
General Winder, Chef Provost Marshal AZ
Richmond, in order that if we dared re-
taliate for the death of the two recruiting
officers in kentucky, those two men should
be put to death. This is not military
retaliation: in the first place, the grades are
not equal in the next place, the victims are
not chosen by lot. 1t is not retaliation. but g.
. cowardiy blow aimed ut the dearest affections
of special individuals: it is not retaliation.
but deliberate challenge to the general
h'sting of the Black Flag along the whole
limo.
.ere is n" use in Disgusting to ourselves
the purport Of the policy We hszo. here de-
scribed. 1t is war to the knife. Our Govern.
ment has done all that was possible to do il
Order to avoid The terrible. issue. When WI
had large excess of prisoners, we sent them
away before they were exchanged. Whel
our army has been in the enemy's country. il
was strictly ordered to respect private proper
ty artd to spare non-combatants, though the
property Of our people had been systematical-
" DESTROYED, and our helpless women and lit
tie ones had been driven out homeless and
naked upon the world. All this forbearance
and chivalrous courtesy on our part--all this
christianity and civilization" as Genera
Lee says-bas been thrown away upon sucl
an enemy. We have been casting our pearls
before swine, indeed.
What, then, is to be done? The people vii!
look to our Government for an answer.
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT "a
We take great pleasure in publishing from,
the Raleigh Register" the subjoined defence
of "Gen Pettigrew's Brigade" The attention