The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1865-04-20
Admission Of Confederate Afro
cities,

The Confederate Congress appointed =
kcommittce TO rake up charges TO Offset
-FOUR re- e:ord Of their barbarous treatment
yof our captive soldiers. The result Is
Ewhat might be expected from a concern
twhosc first principle Is felshood. There
is no hesitation or qualification ia making
ntheir case. They make the bold as,cr
stion that the prisoners we hold ure as
kbadly treated as theirs. They instance
hseveral csses Of emaciuted persons re-
htu;ned In the exchanges Of the sick
ETheir defense against the evidence oil
lstaving our soldiers is Of two parts: lst
Hthcy assert that the rations furnished the
Rprisoncrs were never less than those nl
Htheir soldiers who guarded them; I'd, thai
Sthe short rators were in consequence oi
-Four destruction Of their supplies.
\ As to the exposure Of tue prisoners or
kBellc Isle to the inclemencirs Of the
weather, the Committee makes the bra
lzcn assertion that they all had tents ant
fires. II insults their suiftrings by chsrg
Hug their filth snd vermn 10 their owl
thabits, and that II might be expected tha
.h"thc scropings aud rakings of Europe
,<wUud be filthy in their habits.
.H Even this committee has not the assu
france to charge that the rations furnish
u ed rebel prisoners are insufficient. Tn,
HpcOple of the South have had many wit.
nesses in their own returned soldiers
that the rations were ABUNDANT. We
hhve the evidence of the dead, aud oI
thousands who have escaped out OF the
yjews of death, that the course of the rebe
Auuthorites toward our pr soners, whethci
lin scarcity or abundance, is deliberat,
estnrva,ion.
Tho scarcity Of food l. no excuse 70
pstarving prisoners, even IL il were true
In lact, there never has been any scqrcit,
9that made il impossible to procure food
I No bclligeront has tho right TO hol,
bprisoncrs OF war whom IL cannot feed
SThere is always the alternative Of dis
kchsrging them. The Confederates might
Shave danc II on parole. We may allow
Hthut bdlhgeren,s always have expense,
denough without, supporting prisoners
HOur Gtyernmert finds il n heavy charge
Eand SO, doubtless, do the Cuniederates
fBut there is abundant evidence that the
NbnrburiIies TO our soldiers were insiiput.
Ned by something moro than necessity OF
leconomy--by u demonincal cruelty. We
Hhave evidence Of their being starved in
Sthe midst Of plenty, Of their beng refused
Ioppor,unity to provide themselves shelter
ain the midst OF Il timSered country: OF
Ntheirbeing shot for the amusement of lhC
Hguard; oil thousands being confined wher,
for months there was not water enough
for drinking. Aud our correspondent
has described how, at Wilmington, the
9prsoners who had been brought ther,
for exchange, alter having been deprived
of food for three days, had the food which
the pity OF some of the inhabitants haC
brought to relieve their hunger. taken and
trnmpled in the mud before their eyes by
uConledcrutc soldiers. There IL n fiendsh
2spirit Of cruelty in the treatment of oul
men in the South that Is inhuman in oul
northern civilization, andsis t1 US almost
Incredible.
But this report OF the Committee ad
mits the chorge that was made at til,
time, but which seemed too atrocious 70
belief, thOt during Col. DAHLGREN's ex
pedition against Richmond, the Confede
rate authorities prepared mine unde
Libby Prison, and as they say, "pluce,
In it a quantity Of gunpowdcr for the pur
pose Of blowing up the buildings viii
their inmates in case OF an attempt tc
urescue them. The Committee defends
this plot TO blow up five or six thousand
prisoners Of war with gunpowder in case
5of prospect of DAHL0REs's success in
entering the city. A document which
admits such an atrocity wastes words IL
UdeDying any other.