The daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1863-1864, 1864-09-23
9ailpg &eglsterk.
RAKER 4 LONG, Editors.
.n-D.v SEPTEMBER 20, 1864
National Democratic Ticket.
For President,
GEO. b. MCCLELLAN,
-ll OF NEW JERSEY .t9 ~
For vice.Prssi1snt,
GEORGE 81. PENDLETON, j..
OF OHIO.


One of the many serious charges in the
long hill of Indictment. found by the peo>
n,e AGAINST ABRAHAM LINCOLN, is his treat
ment of those whom fortune has condemned
10 ENQUIRE the hard lot OF prisoners OF war
In violation of all the principles Of enlight'
eped humanity and in direct contraventlon
Of the dictates of sound policy, prisoners
are permitted to languish in confinement
both in the Northern and Southern States,
while fanatics gable about "the status OF
the negro The entire responsibility Tor
the stoppsge of the system Of exchanges
and for the wretched higgling about negro
troops, while brave white mon are drag
ring out miserable existence or dying ten
thousand deaths in filthy pens, in comparl
son with which the slave barracoons OF the
African coast are a paradise, rests with
ABRAHAM LINCOLN alone and he cannot
shake it of: =
His plea in extenuation OF his refusal 70
consent to cartel Of exchange is, that the
rebels will not release the negro prisoners
who have fallen into their hands. But,
assuredly, such an apology as this will tall
to satisfy the friends and relatives OF those
white soldiers who are dying in Anderson
vile, and such an excuse must seem like
mockery to those prisoners themselves. 1t
is we'll understood that the North has such
a surplus of prisoners over those held BY
the South that, were they exchanged man
for man, as the rebels propose, all the
Union soldiers now starving in Southern
prisons might be restored to their friends
or to the army, and we would still hold
enough to serve as hostages for the few
hundreds of enlisted negroes who are in
captivity. Indeed, it is past the compre-
hension of man to know how even the ne
groes-the favored proteges of this Admin>
istration~are to be benefited by the Re-
fusal to allow the whites to be exchanged.
Their condition is in no way ameliorated
by the fact that thousands of Northern
white men are suffering with them, or that
Southern prisoners are undergoing the
hardships of confinement in Northern forts
and camps. If every white Union soldier
now in the South were exchanged, and,
when sufficiently recovered from the
effects of his imprisonment, placed in the
army again, the negro prisoners would GER
tainly be no worse off than now, and we
would thus add to our army more and bet>
ter soldiers than any forced CONSUMPTION
can bring. But, losing sight Of the advan-
tages which would accrue to the army by q
liberal and enlightened system of exchange,
disregarding the fact that the Union priso-
ners are suffering pangs whose bare recital
chills the blood of the reader, our authori
ties insists that the negroes must first be
relieved and then, possibly, they may con-
sent to some attention to the situation Of
the whites. Was ever such infatuation
known before2
We call the attention of our readers to
the article on the first page of this NOR
ning's paper, showing conclusively where
the responsibility for the refusal to e1-
change prisoners properly rests, and then
ask, is it any wonder, in view of the facts
recited there, that the Chicago Conve ntion
unanimously passed the following resolu
ton:
Resolped, That the shameful disregard by
the Administration of its duty in respect to
our fellow citizens who now and long have
been prisoners of war in suffering condi-
ton, deserves the severest reprobation, on
the score alike ofpublic policy and common
humanity.