The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1865-12-09
[Frem tho Providence Or. IT, Herald and Post
STANTON THE CALIGULA
OE AMERICA

~ ~ - -NAl I1E"
fact of The deaths unnecessarily Mt Ander- 4
s~onville, in the rebel prison, of so many
thousands of our brave soldiers. What
ever degree OF blame sc may have Mt y
Itached 60 the conduct of tho lenders OIL u
The rebellion, however, we may have dis y
trihuted the odium and the guilt Of the '
war and whatever punishment VIZ may !
have deemed proper for those who were u
leneared in the conflict adversely to the q
Federal Government, it has been concod- !
ed ON all hands that whoever was guilty J
Through negligence or malice Of the death
of any of these prisoners, ought to saher :
the severest penalties which human lnge- !
nuity could invent or human capacity
could endure. l.
We have always said only make It ap-
lpear that for an hour any one has been
condemned illegally to the horrors Of the
Jacksonville prison pen, or has been there
kept when by the laws Of war he might
or should have been released, aud above
all that any one has there suffered aud
died through the wantonness Of feeling OF
Ianv official from Jefferson Davis, up or
down, as the case might be and be should
If caught, be left to the most condign pun
Iishment. The heart Of the whole country
has been tortured by the tales which have
been told of the suiferings of those who
have been consigned to the worse than
e black hole of Calcutta, or jersey prison
ships.
o. Strong men have groaned, and lender
as women have went as they have read OF
lg tho terrible scenes which were the daily
u ~exnerience of our men. aud the Adminls-
~tra,ion. when il would conceal its tyranny
in somo astounding acts Of injustice, has
re eudeayored TO connect its victim with the
~ atrocities. tho suiIerings and deaths oi
60 Andersonville.
TX And now It turns out, as has been here
air tofore charged, that for all this the Admin
'ae istration, and more especially as the mov-
ling and planning and active instrument,
~ Edward NJ. Stanton is responsible.
te Junius Henri Brown was Que OF the
I'M correspondents, during the war, OF the
en-, New York Tribune; he was captured and
Its remained a prisoner for twenty-foul
at months; after his escape and return h'
nuhlished a book, in which he said thai
i've : Edwin NJ. Stanton was responsible foi
de- the failure to exchange the thousands o
, Is prisoners Of war held in the South Mr.
the Charles A. Dana, in the Chicago Tribune
ers entered into an elaborate explanation t
of show that Stanton was in no way respon
by sible for the detention in captivity of MI
hey Browne. To which in the Tribune 9
Friday, the latter replies, and in the cours
of his letter says:
AXIS Mr.. Richardson, (another Tribune COZ
ers, respondent and myself spent nearly
ere week in the National Capitol after our q
and cane. e~ndeavoring to do all that was po
atty sible for the release Of the brave men
the the hands Of tho enemy and every or
heir we met there told the same story, that u
ldg Secretary of War was tho obstacle in y
do way of the resumption sf - h;e.snaefee
+ by ktoreaSer Con- Ratlasd By Stanton
- iPUfWafd the negro question to connI
cate and prevent the exchange. Col. j
ID. Streight, of Indianapolis, Ind. n fe
low prisoner with us in Libby. told NJ
Richardson after our return TO freedom
~ that 10 an interview between the Seereta,
and himself, the former declared to hi
that the Government could not afford
exchange able-bodied men for skeleton
Other officers aud civilians whose name
!, | cannot now remember, had assured m
nc, that he had used to them the same EaI
Se0 guage IN the effect, and there is no doul
= { whatever that that was his policy and q,
an termination until the clamors of the nee
, - pie compelled him to retire from his ba,
&C barous position.
lase Every one is aware that when the ex
!. : change did take place, not the siichtes
alteration had occurred in the question
and that our prisoners might as well hay,
been released twelve or eighteen month
before as At the resumption of the cartel
a. which would have saved the Republic a
aey least $4,000 or / 5000 heroic lives. Tia
tn5 they were not saved is due alone to Mr.
.nu Stanton's peculiar and logged obstinacy
and as / have remarked before. he is un
q questionably the digger of the unnamed
81 graves that crown the vicinity of ever,
"a Southern prison with historic and never
aee to-be-forgotten horrors"
ll That IS the testimony, the deliberate
and reiterated testimony of a correspond.
ng ent OF theAading Republican paper of the
country. He is 40 hound bought up fol
the purpose of condemning somebodH; he
IS not a Jail bird, selected because he is
nd willing to swear to whatever his employ.
ne ers may require him to utter; he is not q
forward witness, for he is only answering
the ~falsities and insinuations against him
no Of a leading paper, and the whole tone Of
sr his letter displays GOODNESS, impartiality
le- and manliness.
Where, then, Is the Military Commits
lc sion On how much less testimony have
men and women been hanged? IF Stan
se ton can stretch the necks of the innocent
so far as proof goes) of whomsoever he
Z pleases to charge for having conspired
lone murder, what penalty shall he pay,
g who BY his malicious, heartless. cold
~ blooded and damnable w~ickedness. his
Of peculiar policy" has digged the graves
Z and officially murdered SO many thousands
y of heroes and patriots?
81 Something may be pardoned to the man
who in a moment of ungovernable passion
strikes down his enemy. Popular feeling
q viii go far toward pardoning the crime Of
one having suffered a great wrong. by
brooding upon it, becomes SO reckless and
q so wild as to take the life of another; but
here Is criminal, who imperious and
harsh to extremity with scoundreIs of q
q common cast, is himself reeking with the
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