Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1864-12-07

the bed would not have been tempted to
laugh and so betray himself
Sick and In Prison and ye Visited Nc Not.
OF all existing objects of sympathy,
charity and fellow feeling among US, our
fellow countrymen in rebel prisons are
certainly most calculated to touch our
hearts and move our sensibilties The
condition of these men is no longer a de-
batable question, The veil is lifted Tho
concealment is at an end The facts are
before tho world. These men are suffer
ing, are dying, from hunger, thirst and
exposure. Many Of those, who but year
ago passed into captivity, strong, hale,
healthy, well clothed and wei shod, are
row sleeping in the graves Of the famish-
ed Nay, some Of their bodies have no
graves They are food for vulture.
Their bones are bleaching on the soil of
thcir native land under the sun of the
"hospitable" and "chivalrous" South We
are assured, upon such authority as adj
mits of no question, that there are fire.
quent deaths among our prisoners at the
South from proximity to the dead bodies
Of their comrades This circumstance
will illustrate better, perhaps, than any
ether of the many kindred ones that could
be related, the wantonness of malice and
uncharitableaess with which our captured
braces are treated And while the dead
are left unburied, thus becoming them
selves the means of multiplying them
selves, the living are subjected to the feel
ing, as we'll as the seeing, of death in its
most horrid and repulsive forms. They
have the .sensibi tiles of life while they
experience the dissolution of death. So'-
diers who once fought for us are now rot
ting for us, and are nevertheless alive =
Would that our modification of mind
were commensurate with their mortifca-
ton of flesh
But why rehearse the oft-reiterated and
ever sickening tale? Why, simply that
the rehearsal of it may remind us of it
and remind us of those who, of all the
suffering and distressed the world over
should most profoundly appeal to our phi
l,nthrophy.
These men, if not our sons, or brothers
or fathers, are sons or brothers or fathers
of our neighbors. Some of them we are
acquainted with, if not related to. They
are above US in patriotism. They excel
US in loyalty. They are beyond US in self
sacrifice. They have outstripped us in
good works for the cause. If we are pat
riots, they are martyrs. If we are loyal,
they are sacrifcialy loyal. If We are
true, they are true unto death, unto liv-
ing death. If we live for the flag, they
die for it, and live while they die If we
suffer for the Republic, they starve for the
Republic If we sacrifice something for
the country, they sacrifice everything for
the country. And while the majority of
us, whatever we may do or give, are
abundantly provided for and never 60
hungry, cold or unshetered, the ma ority
of them are exposed to the wind, the
night and the rain, to hunger and thirst,
to exhaustion and to putrifaction of the
flesh.
We put the question to the reader Of
this, then, and ask him to put it to his
neighbor: Are we doing the utmost for
the relief and succor of these our coun-
trymen who are parishing for lack Of the
simplest necessaries Of life in Southern
prison houses? Can we do nothing more
for them than we are doing for them p
Are we doing anything for them? IF not,
is there anything we can do for them p
If their exchange" is impossible, is their
relief equally so? If we cannot secure
their liberty, cannot we save their life p
If we cannot make them free, cannot we
make them comfortable? Must all the
Fairs" lie for our soldier, in camp and
hospital, and none for our soldiers in cap
tivitv? Must there be a Commission for
every suffering class of our people but
this class of suffcrers7 In short, is there
not some way, means, or enterprise by
which these hungry shall be fed, these ma
ked clothed, these sick and imprisoned
visited? We appeal for answers to these
question. to the philanthropy # this Com
monwealth, and of this great, thrifty,
wealthy metropolis Chicago Journal
s9 The St Louis Republican refers
to the good feeling and liberal tone of
| leading or Administration journals and
| speakers. 1t says:
"There are, indeed, conspicuous exam
pies Of the exhibition of a conciliatory
| spirit towards the defeated party-a rec
ognition of the fact that, though in a mi
nority, they are still numerous and re.
spectacle as minority, and entitled tC
notice and consideration If this temper
now shown by many of the leading mer
and presse. politically opposed 70 the Dem
ocrats were general Y emulated, we nigh
soon witness the complete inauguration o.
the era of good feeling
| nRAJeff Davis has suppressed twt
North Carolina papers for "disloyalty. -