, 1864-01-08

SUN lent; as to clothing, they lacked some
blankets; but on the whole, the prisoners
had little to complain Of; and their statement
Of the amount and Kind Of provisions given
them makes it evident that they are neither
starving nor suffering.
Armed with this statement, General Batter
took I've hundred and twenty of the prison
cts, selecting sound men from among those
longest In our hands, and sends them, with
courteous letter, including this statement of
treatment, under flag of truce up the James
River to City Point, Offering them man for
man, and oGc # for ofh .er, for al equal num-
ber Of onr men in their hande. lis purpose
was to follow this up with another, md an
other boat load, till he had exchanged for all
our men-nt least az, far as the rebel authori-
ties would 60. ''
In due time the boat returned, bringing
i've hundred and twenty of the United States
captiyes; the chance 80 far being too fair and
good to be shirked; bnt with it this dispatch
from The high powers Of Dixie:
'.That they sent these men In exchange 70. those
:" that had been rent up, but that no ,nore should
abe cent until We released all In our hands, wheo
..they would do the eame and until We gave up
every calm which we had made II behalf Of or sE
''colored eoldtcrs nc had enlisted, turned over
!. thct otEceu to the cruel punfshulents imposed
by the lp5etcndsD law Of he Confederate Con- Co.,
*4lu fhould be executed Immediately upon cap
~tute, aud that his officers and soldiers should be
And lastly, they declined to hold any further
IS eral.'
It is truc that this is substantially what the
country has been told before by Gen. Hitch
cock; bnt VIC understand It now, without
any mistake. We must give all the rebel
prisoners In our hands for al1 Of ours in their
hands-say 10000 to 5000 for 10, coo to Isl
600. We must ceashto protect the colored
soldiers but allow such MS the rebels capture
to be shot down or sold into slavery, as shall
please the captors. The white officers who
command them we must give up to be hung
or Imprisoned in Southern dungeons for life.
And finally, we must give up the ttBeast But
lsr'' to their tender mercies, to be roasted
alive, or swung In chains, as holocaust to
rebel vengeance, On account of his. rigor in
treating the infuriated swaggercrs Of New
Orleans whnt time he gave tutorship to that
prond den of rebellion.
Ofconrsc the exchange cannot slide smooth
II over go big stone, and will stay Us 1t Is
till something new turns up. We mistake
the temper of the Government or of the
country If there is any coming down to eucl,
prepostcrous conditions.
1t is telegraphed that all the rebel prison.
ers in the country are put, or to be put, under
the care of General Butler; so that if there is
to be any treatment for exchange at all, it
must be through him. This would include
the prisoners here IN Camp Doug1as and the
camp established ut Rock Island, as well US
others. The inference seems to be, by some,
that all are to be moved off to Point Lookout
at once. We could very well spare onr por-
ton; but it does not follow, Of necessity, that
al the rebel prisoners are to be assembled in
one place because under thet are Of one COM
mandcr. Still, for convenience Of handling,
or other reasons, 1t may be true that all are to
go into Buffers Department They could not
70 into better hands. TIE dsnomeznext will be
watched with good deal Of interest-not by
such as have re1atives In the prisons Of Dixie
alone, nor by the country alone, but By the
civilized world. If the rebels had any char
acter In particular, it would be at stake.