New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1864-11-09

been regularly delivered and in good order were with
held. No reason was given. Three hundred arrived
every week. and were received by Col Ould. Commits
sioner Of Exchange but. instead Of being distributed
were retained and PILED up In ,odreoHsss asaT by. and
in full sgh Of he tGalol,ed oad hnSy oopires. Tire
thousand were there when Lieut. Col. Fsrnsworth came
away.
There was some show Of delivery however bni IN
manner especially hcartlcss Five six Of the boxes
were given during the week The eager prisoner, ex'
pectant perhaps of wfe's or mothers thoughtful pro
vision for him was called the door and ordered to
spread his blanket when the open cans whether con
tanning preserved fruits condensed milk. tobacco
vegetables or meats were thrown prom'scuonSiy TO-
gothcr, and often ruined BY the minghng.
And again:
1.-THE officers were permitted TO scDd ont and bnJ
articles at cxtrayagaut prices, ard would ma 'he
clothes stationery. hams and butter which they mac
purchased bearing e marks cfe Sanitary Commission
Yet our authorities were again and again AS
sured that all boxes Tor prisoners were punctu'
ally delivered.
OF the treatment on Belle Isle We have al
ready presented abundant accounts. "Ihey
were fed as the swine are fed " is q description
only too favorable. Indeed, the whole terrible
tale is best summed up in the mortality bills:
"a hospital steward. while prisoner. attending to
some duty in the hospital found by accident the Con
federac Surceon.G enerals quarterly report which 10
brought away with him when be was paroled. by this
il appears that in the months Of January February and
March last out fneary hundred patients
abont fourteen hundrcd-or hall the number-died +
hA1 the report adds:
"And what was here done in prison and hospital to
OR private soldiers on Belle Ise and to our officers
in the Libby, was done nearly oil the South These
facts are most conspicuous only because In the fore
ground But from almost every station in the distant
south. of which anything is known. comes the same
story OF robbery and insult Of starvation on food both
bad and insufficient OF cxposure-in the day to beat
and in the night to the frost-of shootings without
warning. of close and filthy or unsheltered en-
campmen.s. Of disease without care or medical treat
1nent and of deaths without number
For the character of the treatment let the
above more than suffice. As to the necessity
under which the Rebels have sometimes been
presumed to lie, and as to the excuse that our
men Jared no worse than the Rebel soldiers
there is nothing Jeff of either The whole sham
is exposed, the whole vail rent asunder by this
report. Surely there was no compulslon to
cruelty, no compulsion to plumber prisoners, no
compusion to steal supplies sent from The
North. no compulsion TO crowd them in insult
fcicnt warehouses as in Libby, or to expose
them under the sky as at Belle Isle and at
Andersonylle, no compassion to shoot de-
fenseless prisoners for an imaginary and IN
voluntary crime. These atrocities the heDcis
committed from no other necessity than was
imposed on them by their own inhumanity'
They have been neither excused, nor denied, nor
explained away. Wei, therefore, does this re-
port declare that "until an excuse or eKlla-
nation comes, the Government by whom sHch
things are authorized and the people by whose
public sentiment such things are encouraged,
will stand arraigned for almost immeasurable
inhumanity and criminality before the civilized
world
Nor can the world doubt that "people, who
were capable Of these other unaccountable and
inexcusable acts, were capable, also, of delber-
ately Withholding necessary food from their
prisoners Of way and furnishing them with
what was indgestible and loathsome, when
their own army was abundantiy supplied with
good and wholesome food No more il it per-
mitted 10 deny that "all was predetermined
plan, originating somewhere in the Rebel coun-
sells, for destroying and disabling the soldiers Of
their enemy, who had honorably surrendered in
the field"
The Commission have examined largely into
the matter OF supplies to the Rebel soldiers.
The invariable answer was that they were well
fed and clothed. Prisoners from all the Rebel
armies and from six Of the Rebel States, some
thirty or forty witnesses in all, were examined,
and their stories never varied. 1.-The result of
the whole amounts to this: In the words of one
of them, 'They had nothing to complain OF III
the way Of food and clothing They were sup
Piled with rdtons, only few ounces less than
the over generous ration OF the United States
army"
"The only time in which they suffered any prisaton
was on forced march, when they were IN advance OF
THEN supplies-a matter liable to occnr in any army.
In Winter they lived in cabins or tents. well
warmed. and well supplied with fuel. None ever suf.
fered from the cold IL Summer they were sheltered
by tents, but these they LEFT behind when cam.
paigu They were fully supplied with coihins and
with blankets or oiclohs. \ requsiton on the Quar-
termastcr could always procure any article that was
necessary"
"They describe the lospials both in thc city aud in
u, FeiG Fnft, nd nj me iqrl
attendance Tic bedding and sheets in Hospital No 4.