The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1865-09-18
GIVE US THE U

GIVE US THE TRUTH.
A point has been raised by the ultra
sympathetic press of the country since
the Wirz trial commenced, which we
should like to see definitively settled. II
is asserted by the New York NeaCs, and
it publishes many letters from Confede-
rate prisoners, extracts from Richmond
papers, communications from various
persons, and deals plentifully in insinu-
ations on its own responsibility, in sup
port of the assertion, that the sufferings
of the Confederate prisoners at Elmira,
Camp Chase and elsewhere, far surpassed
the hardships and inhumanities to
which the Union prisoners were subject
ed by Wirz, Winder and others; and it ac-
enses Union prison-keepers of acts equal.
ly as brutal, horrible and barbarous as
those for which Wirz is now being tried.
These assertions have frequently been
made, and, although We do not believe
them, still we regret that some color has
been given to their truth from the fact
that no effort. has been made to disprove
them. We have frequently heard re-
tnrped Confederate prisoners complain
OF bad treatment, and of starvation and
neglect in the Northern prisons, but
they generally presented such q good
appearance, and looked so like men who
had been well enough cared for, that we
We're inclined to look upon their COM
plants as the legitimate offspring OF
those necessary rigors of prison life
to which all prisoners must, in the
nature of things, be more or less
subjected, be the disposition of their
captors ever so humane. Captivity is a
burden grievous to be borne wen
under the most favorable circumstan-
ces, and the slightest sufferings, depri-
vations, or seventies of treatment are
apt TO be magnified by the morbid minds
of the melancholy and brooding victims
and therefore we have always been dis
posed to make very great allowances in
listening to their evidently exaggerated
storiesof harsh treatment. Nevertheless,
we confess that, after making all these
allowances, the accounts given by rebel
soldiers of their sufferings, led us to
doubt, whether or not in many cases
unnecessarily harsh and cruel discipline
had not been resorted to by some Wirz or
Winder, of the Federal army, who may
have had charge of prisoners, at
some one or other Of the camps I'm the
North,particularly, after ex~trayagant re-
ports of the inhumanities practiced upon |
the Union prisoners i'm the South |
had become so common. 1T is not impro.
bable that retaliatory measures may have
been unauthorizedly resorted to-with
out the knowledge CT the President. the
War Department, or the Generals Of the
army. AS there are savage, brutal, md
cruel men everywhere, it would be UNI
reasonable to suppose that a few of them
may no have received commissions in
the United States army, and 1yirz
ihay nave had his counterparts even
among our own prison-keepers.
: ailors are Seldom humane men for
IL not untreo. uently happens that the
absence Oh the ennobling qualities
vi humanity is the best recommends
ton such instruments of torture ca
furnish. We know, too, that in a l,rf 20
army are often to be found officers W no
treat their W soldiers with quite as
much brutality as is even provedag INST
Wlrz. IL Is not ap uncommon thin g 1 n
any army o brutal subordinate o ficer
10 cfueiiS .or' vure his men, and to per-
petrate az Is of most unfeeling barbarity
"i'iA' at fear of ever being called to
acc cunt for his deeds. 1t might be that
some of these monsters, who are never
anxious to do a soldiers duty at the
front, were intrusted with the care of
the prisoners, and treated their charges
with undue severity, and even with
monstrous cruelty. At all events, a
thorough investigation of the matter
might be ordered, if for no other pur-
pose than to put to rest these frequent
accusations, some of which appearto be
quite well-defined, while others are
vague, unreliable, and, doubtless, false.
If the honor of the South Is at stake in
the Wirz trial the fair fame o fthe North is
equally endangered by these frequent
and undenied assertions-these recrimi-
nations, and attempts at justification by
asserting that the Confederate prisoners
Were treated as bad, if not worse than
the Union prisoners. Let the matter be
thoroughly sifted, in order that we may
arrive at the truth. Such a course can
not but rebound to the honor of a great
and magnanimous people, while it will
forever silence these ISLANDERS, il they be
ISLANDERS.
The nomination of L. II. CHANDLER,
Esq, OF Norfolk, for Congress will give
profound satisfaction to all true friends
ofthe Unionin Virginia. He was known
In former DAYS as an e~lOouent and gaI.