The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1863-12-22

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- YonADs Rr1esaees aeA Cs0msesess
uoesA9oD.
Wa oAoerye tAat the Yankees are already
rnh,u9 great ne OF the remarks made BY
u. YooeA, h The House q Representatives.
watA regard 70 the alleged starvation q their
psisonsuA The subject hes been broasa'
Up Il their CoagsssA and their press en-
laRIO upoa 4 With Oh the exAeyesaaon 70
- expected nom Tire mast lying nation on
~ ~ q the Garth. We deeply regret
ut To although It certainly ought
% haye been invatigAaed--was introduced
bya SpsssA q - much bitterness As that
aetsfbatod 70 Mr. roote. From the little We
lnev q We subject We are inclined TO think
- - rome too ar. We have been assured
TIT n there hAe sRer been IN occasion on
WAisA the pgiDoness were not properly SUP
Piled Il Aas been very byief, and the result Of
tAsy have Jared - wcll - our own soldiers,
~ surely tAat h enough.
Or tol1lers have Jared badly at timcs,
owing to circumstances with which al are
Vel acquainted The Yankees, last spring
end summer, sent beuds Of manuders into
The country lying between the Potomac and
james river. They reduced II almost to a
dsssrt They destroyed the crops, burnt
tAe MILF, shot all the horses, mules, aheep.
oasn, and cows that they could not carry
%. collected all the plows, hoes, axes, and
agricultural Implements OF every kIno INTO
piles and Get DIRE to them, and went OF, car
Tying with them oil the negroes that could
10 induced to follow them. The object,
boldly ayowed by Lincoln himself, was to
starve the population into submission.--
Modem history presents hut one parallel to
the ld.blooded atrocity Of this proceed.
ing. The mouster Carrier, during the Reign
Of Terror In France, undertook In this way
20 starve the people Of Nantes and the sur
rounding district. His orders TO that effect
Exactly parallel TO the orders under which
the Yankee Generals acted last sprins-were
read before the Convention when he was
tiled for his life, after the fall Of Robespierre
and they ELECTED cry Of horror even from
that assembly, hardened a. It was in crime by
long habit The consequence Of these atroci
ties was difficulty of procurin food for both
army and population. Both ofthese suffered,
and, 10 some exrent, are suffering now. And
now, when these Yankee prisoners are suffer
ing from their own acts-when they are
pinched for the food which their own hands
have destroyed-when they pine for the lux.
uries which their own Internal malIgnity has
rendered It impossible 70 procure--are we to
bear the burden Of their iniquitys Are We
TO be bl2med for what It was not in our
power to prevent? Are we, and we alone,
to suffer the penalty Of their transgressions
Are our soldiers, who are fighting our bat
tles, to he deprived of food, that they
may have plenty: No, by all that Is just.
al that Il patriotic, all that is truly gen.
scous! Let them suffer the penalty of their
own atrocities, and thank their stars that 1t
u not harder to bear. We would be per
tectly justified in stinting them to half
or quarter OF the allowance we make to
our own soldiers, instead Of giving them
exactly the same rations that our soldiers
receive II anybody suffer, It is perfectly
Just that 1t should be they, but for whose acts,
done In defiance OF all the laws that regulate
tho proceedings Of war, there would he no
suffering at ALL II is Of the nature Of the
prisoners condition that he should share the
lot Of those with whom he is a prisoner
He cannot expect better fare than that which
y received by the soldiers to whom hesur-
readers. II they pine for want, he must
pine too. II they live plentiiHlly. he must
he plentifully fed also. II one party or the
other must suffer. he must be that party.
The proceedings of the Yankees upon this
subject-their speeches and their writings
60 beyond anything they have yet attempted
In the way of impudence. They give orders
to destroy our country, In order to starve us
cut, and they expect while they are starving
rs we shall allow full rations to their pris
oners! We hope no man will be moved
from bis balance ny what they say. What
care we for the opinion Of the world? The
world ignores no, notw lthatanAipg the court
We have paid It. Why should We care what
lies it may believe Of us.
During the disc ussiOns which have arisen
out OF this question. Commissary Northrop
has been treated with unmeasured severty.
He may deserve it all. Cor ar'ght we know
We do not know the man when We see him; he
j. nothing to us. But these transactions are
becoming matters of history, and history
will look at both sides Of u question. Com.
missary Northrop has, We believe, allied his
present office from the beginning of the war.
It h, all must allow, a very difficult office 10
Ill. 1t must have been especially so at the
beginning, when he was raw himself and had
nothing but raw hands to operate with The