New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1864-08-27

f.rrass, aud certainly all tho ground On which
we can insist without VIOLATION OF miltay law. 10
fey months preyious to their capture In battle have
been living all their lives in the STATES OF the South
shall not DO dealt with as traitors according 10 tne g
Measure OF their sovereignty is Outrage not only
nnblic law but on common sense. IL Ia proposed only
IN Obedience to fsDatical abolition. To this csuse this
crime against the conuonest rights OF begerent inc
thiyty rht thous OF our soldiers Ut Anderson
vile owe their untold suferinga With Mr.. Lincoln
rhen, lies the remedy. - -,
Let TIE Tribune fling Black Republican chicape foi
once 30 the dogs and act In relation 70 those victims OF
f,nl fanlt cism like Journal Of some manly gym
nathies LIT 1t demand that Mr. Lincoln shall absndon
pTetepse IN direct conflict with public law. and re-
move tim, the only obstacle that has existed in the
vay of an exchange Of prisoners. Let II demand that
though the President break his oath IN reference to the
nights Of the citizen and the sovereignty OF those Stato
he will at elst keep faith In reference to tho cartel made
with the south for the protection Of our soldiers. II
tint Iourns with its breadth Of influence among TIE
sunp1rters Of the Administration make these demands
,bese thousands If from own hoarhstones now
pininc ri Andersonyil, win. as II an angel had
visited them in their bondage have the gates OF their
prison ground flung open. Its authority IN the
case undoubted THE TRIBUNE, with the law decidedly
in favor Of such course set every man OF those
Thirty light thousand free within two weeks II IL only
consent 10 rise for moment superior to the bondage OF
fiction IT, under these circumstances those unhappy
men whom thst very journal Inns forth to fight shall
continue starvo and 20 rot and 20 die In those prs
ons then say. in hope that may put stop 81 al
events to attempts at making political capital our OF
head OF TIm NEW y oRK TRIBUNE"
Conments by The Tribune.
/. Two distinct questions are at issue: j. DO
the ReJels treat our captured prisoners humanity
and 2. Who is TO blame for the general stoppdge q
e1ehanges' These questions The DAILY Ne1s
seeks to compound in the interest Of its master,
at the expense of truth and justice. Suppose it
were true, as it is false that our Government were
to blame for tho stoppage Of exchanges; that
would not justify, nor even paliate, the starying
or otherwise killing of our captured soldiers.
No Government ia under any legal or moral
obligation to exchange prisoners: il may do so,
or may not, as to it shall seem good, without
giving its antagonist any right to complain. If,
then, our captured soldiers are exposed TO need
less suffering and peril by the Rebel authorities,
the difference concerning and deadlock in.
exchanges cannot excuse that inhumanity.
III. The Ners interposes doubt as to the
Rebels being " straitened for provisions"
but it has babitually, persistently, secuted the
insisting that they, being an sgri.
cultural people wholly. and no longer engaged
in the growing Of commercial staples, have food
in abundance. But it matters not, for the pres
ent purpose, whcthor they have or have not food
enough; since, if they have not, they should at
once parole the great body Of their prisoners.
No belieerent in ChristendOm has any night TO
retain in captivity prisoners Of war whom he is
unable to feed And it, as The Ne1s hints, the
Rebels energies are absorbed by the war, to the
exclusion of al other svoidable duties" this
method of properly feeding ard shcltering their
prisoners is an interval portion Of War-making
and one Of IT'S unavoidable duties.
Ill. But, says The Nar,, Grant that their
"soldiers are not as much exposed st Peter
"burg as ours are at Andersonyilc to Gun. and
"rain, and raggedDess." All, sirS You Know
better than that. Soldiers in the field arc OK
posed to hardships and perils 10 which it would
be naked murder to expose prisoners of war.
Tho former may DO for weeks under fire; the
latter never are, save while they are being hur'
red to place Of safety In the rear. Iheiorner
may be required to march, and scout, and picket,
and fight, through deadly hurricane; the lat
ter may not. The laws Of war forbid all needless
exposure to priyation and misery, whether o.
prisoners or Others.
Bat soldiers in service are Away at liberty 70
shelter and comfort themselves, to the utmost En-
tent consistent nth the eIigenoies Of the serpiee
They may throw up booths, or huts or any kind
of temporary covering; and they helpthemselve'
freely TO fuel, even FROM fences and buildings
Halt a regiment where you viii, it proceeds a
once To shelter itself TO tho best of its ability
and with small regard to expense. Since pris
oners were first taken, they have always Ike
wise been sheltered, or at least permitted 10 shell
ter themselves. This our brethren at Anderson
vile could and would have done in day, ifper
mitted. Giyo them one hundred axes, with G
location in one Of tho forests which are 20 abun
dant and luxuriant at the South, and they would
have decent cabins, with beds of evergrccr
branches, or Of least of dry leaves, within q
very few days. What excuse, then, for theil
wholesale murderl
w. But "the cartel. says The N,us. Whatcar
tel our Government has ever been most anxious
TO carry into effect. 1t provides for prompt ex
changes of all captured soldiers OF specifel
points, man Cor man, rank for rank. We ash
nothing more, wish nothing else. That hin
dcrs!
"The negro stands in the way" says II. Mas
That is TO say, our Government does not admit
that tho Rebels may rghtfully murder its Blacl
soldiers, exchanging only its White ones But
does "the cartel" justify any such distinction
Certainly not IL you deny this produce i, and