The daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1863-1864, 1864-01-05
The Rebel Press.
From the Richmond Dispatch, 26th
Is Exchange OF Pris oners.

sI, From the Richmond Dispatch, 26th
.i'u Exchange Of Prisoners. s.
a- As the exchange of prisoners is to be re-
sumed at an early day, this seems proper
occasion to comment upon the cruel policy
which arrested il, !. -.r-ssraEE .' ...-I
The attempt of Lincoln to place the slaves,
stolen by his marauders and recruitedto ill
up his ranks, on the same footing with white
soldiers, and his refusal to continue the ex
change of prisoners unless these slaves be
exchanged for our own soldiers, is one Of
the most impudent proceedings of which
there is any account. 1t is an attempt to
force surrender, on our part, of the whole
ground, not openly made, but insidiously
suggested. These States seeded from the
Union because they had every reason to
believe that the election of Lincoln secured
the triumph of party whose main-lndeed,
whose onIy-principle of action was open
and undisguised ity to the institution
of slavery. The war commenced upon that
ground, and has been carried on upon it
In the midst of this war Lincoln issues
proclamation, wherein, in open violation of
the Constitution under which he has become
President of the United States, he proclaims
all our slaves free, and calls upon them to
rally to his support, in his endeavor to sub l
jugate their masters. Now, he places the
soldiers formed out of the slave population
by this unwarranted proclamation, and this
alone, in the same category with his white
soldiers. II We consent to the exchange,
we admit his right to lberate Our negroes
by his proclamation. We admit that this
proclamation has an effect which no act of
Congress could have; we admit that it has
destroyed an institution guaranteed in in
tegrity by the Constitution of the United
States; we admit that We still live under the
laws of the United States, and that we are
rebels, fighting against lawfully constituted
authority. On the surface, this refusal to
exchange except on the condition in ques-
ton, seems nothing more than dispute
about the terms of such exchange. IL real
ity, if we resign our position, we give up all
we have been fighting for This cunningly y
devised scheme is above the reach of Lin
coin. He is certainly well versed in the
small bubbles of the lower class Of attor-
neys. But his intellect could never have
grasped the far.reaching consequences
which must follow the success of his nego-
tiators in carrying the proposed plan OF ex-
change Seward is at the bottom of this
thing 1t is characteristic Of the man 1t
is full of cunning, but of cunning SO trans
parent that the opposite party cannot pos
sibly be- deceived. 1t is one of those de-
vices which cunning men are apt to mistake
for wisdom, but which is, after all, nothing
more than cunning.
The effect, and the only effect, which this
policy can possibly have, has been often
pointed out, and, indeed, can not be msta-
ken. 1t subjects certain number of brave
men on both sides in long and painful cap
tvity--a captivity commensurate Indeed
with the duration of the war But it
accomplshes no other object. To suppose
that it will induce the Confederate States
who have staked their all upon the issue of
the struggle, to abandon the very ground
upon which they entered into it, is to en-
brace talacy, which cunning may very
well encourage, but which wisdom could
never for moment entertain. To believe
that men who have shed go much blood, and
endured So many hardships as the soldiers
of the Confederate armies, will abandon the
cadse IN which they have fought so bravely,
and endured so patiently, merely to relieve
a portion Of their comrades from captivity, |
painful as ii may be to them, and deeply as
their feelings may be wounded by it, Is to
an entire ignorance of the springs
of human passion. The greater part of
these men have seen their homes desecrated
or destroyed, their means of subsistence cut
up by the roots, their lands wasted their
houses burned, their whole country turned
into wilderness. Iu many instances they
have seen their friends slaug htered before
their eyes, and their wives and children
turned out of doors, to subsist by charity, or
by the exercise of their own industry under
the most unfavorable Clrcumstan.
ces. In vast number Of instances
they are ruined men. accumulated dis.
asters, and the near prospect of still further
disasters, have had no effect upon them
Or rather, if it has had any effect,
it has been entirely the reverse
of what might have been expected
1t has stimulated, instead Of enervating
them. 1t has made heroes cut of men who.
under other circumstances, night have been
mere soldiers.
With the most sincere pleasure, then, do
we receive the report that the enemy has
consented to put an end to the cruel and
most useless policy which he himself iuau-
g urated. and for which he alone is reSpon
sible to God aud to the opinion of man
kind.