Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1863-11-26

the eighteen thousand paroles which you state you have
III your possession and which you claim a valid
You rest the validity Of these paroes-which have
never seem and which acknowledge to have been
cumusting for many monhs-on General Orders of The
United States Government Nos 40 and 100. These
TWO orders announce general rules based the usagos
OF war; but cartel having been agreed upon no
order OF either party could set aside its provisions,
which ! have stated to you several occasions,
For iDstahce' commander, being captured, might,
under certain circumstances give parole for himself and
his command without violating General Order No 100
(Which includes General Order No 49, but unless the
parong was done at City Point or other named place
it would DO in violation of the cartel nor could excep-
tons be- taken to this by the party granting the
parole, because the validity Of the parole depends
strlct compliance with the provisions of the cartel
Paragraph 1870 of Order 100 which prescrbes the duties
that paroed soldier may perform also to extent
set aside BY the cartel which restricts these duties to
much more limited field than the order Paragraph I3l,
Wucn you attempt to make much Of is also rendered
imperative by the cartel because it could only apply to
paroles DOT given at the points designated for delivery;
put all slcn paroles are by the cartel made invalid and
the parolng party therefore has pretext for claiming
their recognition Had such claim been admitted the
enect az deltysburg would have been to give Gen. Lee
sne privilege oil placing his prisoners in our hands, to be
dehVered 10 MN at City Point, at our own charge claim
90. manfesty absurd that surprised that you
should have had the assurance to make it.
let precisely this ground rests the foundation for
tne eighteen thousand paroles which you claim valid.
Paroles on the field of battle often given haste by the
enemy unable to take of receive Them nfor
mai and invalid by the laws of Most of the paroles
and detached commands in the West No possession
ever had, no delivery made and no rolls have
ever been of those giving Them On the capture
OF town by cavalry raid the command remained long
enough to take the paroles of the unarmed citizens there
and then decamped leaving the paroled behind and
forwarding the paroles to accumulate in your Office in
hcnmond yet you have the to say that you
expect the United States Government to exchange prison
ers egtmatey captured in battle and now held in Gus
tody for such paroles these
IL Is WELT you to write letters filled with wel-feigned
hahn
OF your Government or yourself for publication in the
South to deude the suffering people there into the belle
tna you and your Government are doing every thing to
cause resumption of eKchanges but feel it my duty
10 say that your principles flexible and your rule of
action slightly Influenced by sense of truth honesty
or honor that find it almost impossible to arrive at any
iar understanding with you the subject, and all my
efforts thus far for the above reason been rutess
In your communication of October 9th you the fol-
lowing language
state that General Orders Nos 40 and 100
long before No 100 delivered Their respective
dates Will show that to be the fact My personal reco
lection that General Order No 100 was never commun
Gated in letter"
You then proceed to impress the public with an idea of
your careful habits, as follows:
is my habit faithfully keep all letters written by the
FEEDER Agent of Exchange"
But this most important letter happened to be mislad
which intelligence you convey to the Southern public
follows:
careful search Of the records of nv office does not dis
close any letter from Lieut. Col Ludlow communicating
General Order No. 1907
On November sent you copy Of the letter hereto
annexed, copied from Colonel Ludlows letter book but
through fear that might have the fate of the orig
nal and mscarried, l sent IL again
HEADQUARTERS DEP'MT OF VIRGINIA.
Seventh Army Corps,
Fort Monroe, (Va.) May 22d, 1868.
Hon RoBERT GUILD, Agent for Exchange of Prisoners
SIR: have the honor enclose copies of
Orders Nos 40 and 100 of War Department announcing my
relations and instructions for the of the United
States forces in the field in the matter of paroles These
army would invite your special attention article
OF the which provides that all prisoners of shall
be sent to places of delivery therein specified The
ton Of this article will obvate much discussion and difficulty
growing OF the mode time aud place of giving
No paroles exchanges will be considered binding except
those under the stipulatons of said article permitting
mander OF two opposing armies To exchange release
parole other points mutually agreed said
: am very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"Wm 81. LUDLOW"
Ii appears to me that you have been unfortunate on
two occasions: first in forgetting the statement you have
made to alluded TO in the beginning Of this communca
ton and second in your not having received the above
letter. As communications between the Agents of Elk
change 20 through but two hands, 1.-THE assistant agent
it strikes little extraordinary that out of hundreds
the above should be the only one to mscarry.
The denals Of facts which abound your last letter
though they may have some weight the South will not
avail to convince the people of the North that you are not
utterly reckless Of integrity and fairness and full Of fnesss
in declarations of exchange and the foundations you
claim for them Respectfully,
s. A. MEREnITH, Brig. Gen.
Commissioner for Exchange.