The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-02-07
Tuesday Morning, Jan. u, 1866.

Tuesday Morning, Jan. y, 1866.
Southern Barbarity to Federal Soldiers.
and its Remedy.
Mr.. A. d. Richardson, the correspondent.
OF the N. Y. Tribune, who was so long incar ?
cerated in rebel prison, from which he has
recently gained release has long article in
the Tribune upon the barbarous treatment OF.
- the Union soldiers In the rebel prisons, and
8 the proper remedy for those evils, from which;
we make the following ex tracts:s sa1oc d
ssa5o After Salisbury became q receptacle for
regular prisoners of war, it was silent like ythe
tomb. 1t sent back no echo. No man was
= exchanged from II; few escaped. We used
TO long-O how earnestly that some int lii
gent and trustworthy voice might 20 up to-
Lhe North, and tell the condition of those dy-5
ing prisoners. After our escape, when 1t
seemed impossible that we could survive
the trials and perils which environed us, we
pfoMised each other, repeatedly and sOl7
emnly. that II any one OF us did live to re-
gain nome and freedom, he should give to the
II Hmatter hs, earliest and most earnest efforts,
We have endeavored, under the solemnil lies
OF an oath, to give the, plain, simple lacts
without exaggeration or coloring, to the Gov
erRment and the public. That the Rebels are
T-Aellberately, killing our men BY hunger. and
cold, when they have an abundance of corn
and fuel, are truths which cannot be denied.
When the prisoners went there, they wero
a newly captured, and, like the most OF our sol
diers In the field, young men in robust health,
ieod Vet seventy days later, we left them dying at
"oN the rate of thirteen >per cent month";
4 mortality which in forty eight hours would
- depopuiats any city in the world and send its
7 iphabitants flying from it % from pesti-
lelcel And my associate, Mr., Browne, who
had the very best facilities for knowing, testi-
T. nes that out of an average Of nearly eight
I'D thousand prisoners there were not at any le
~ time ave hundred well men--an estimate
-7s', which the rebel surgeons frequently and EN-
phatically confirmed, in my own hearing q,
The power Is In our oWn hands. We hold
9s the tong end OF the lever. We have an excess
OF prisoners, by at least fifteen or tweaty thon,
sand. We can exchange man for man, and
,asei set retain rebels eDDugh toainsure the good
.e4as Treatment Of any eapuFes, black or white,
whom thsv nay take hereafter &c exchange
% ds impracticable. ~e can compel theM t9 stop
This atrocious and systematic barbarity. II
any man believes tist we can ssanfard" 70 De
inhuInan and unchristiaA 10 the last ex.ent
1sJ toward those who wear our uniform and fol
gsf z low our Gag and fght cur battlesy bat Rannot
afford to exercise the least severity howard
men whose hands are red with the blood OF
ioie our own soldiers, then may God mend his I'M
re derstandlngf sas ~ ss5e, III, .ss1 =. =
nb Yergeasy for well-fad and well.clothed
70 Senators, in their warm chamber TO rise up
Humanity and Christianity. wish They
30 could be prisonors themselves long enough to
Hook at this subject from the other side /
wish they could live awhile among the daily
and nightly horrors, which for sixty days sur
= rounded US, and burned into our memoi les
1aiks hot irons. 1 wish they could look ito
those foul pens at Salisbury, which by spar-
version of the English tongue are hospitals
y " where our poor fellows are crowded upon iAe
cold, naked, filthy Aoors, without one word of
rernH HfnoR rfo HnnfS SnNs mill mt
even that degree OF warmth and cleanliness
which we give TO our dumb beasts and see
their wasted forms, and their sad, pleading
eyes. wish, they could wake, at any hour
Of The hight, and hear, on oil sides, far and
near. tsat terrible thack. "hack, !. "hack," in
,e,., ,ghose pnegmonic tones almost every prise Ter
tNvV seems to be coughing his life away. wish
v they could look 90 the dead cart with its ri I'D
= p FERNS, piled upon each ether like logs-.he
stark, swaVing arms-the white, gAsshy IA
VI stony eyes 1t EsstleS elongi bearing away
SIS precious freight to be tAfoRa into tfenches
and eoEered with q little earth I think q tew
hours In the stiffness of that garrison, eniVsn-
ed by NO hilsritg Or athletic game, broken by
no sound of laughter OF ofsong, would change
their view of the matter. sciesh 3se
I say nothing OF the deliberate mqrd RS
- which are SO frequent, because they are kind
Ss ness itsek compared with this DYING DV inch
es, while the body grows weaker and weaker
upon itself until the lanp4f life goes out. u
there Is no early relief In store foF those Sails
ss bury prisoners II believe before God 1T wo ld
be ! mercy to them, ii their keepers, any
morning, we're to ds4w them supin line and
shoot them, to the last man. q
1t is announced that we are sending kjG2s-
cts and food to our prisoners in the South
. Will 1t require Tour years more of bitter but
r. uniform experience to teach US that In all
such mutual arrangements the rebels have us
at disadvantages because, while we may
ss@ (, keep engagements. they always break them
esss when seIfinterest reqnifes IT,. Even If they
carried out the arrangement In good faith par
aa@q prisoners are nearly all far in the interior
With the utmost endeRgprs, by telegraphiug
to aud fro andstimuisting negligent agents, it
.sgs requires from twentyave 70 forty days TO
- send little package from Richmond TO Sails
Il bury by express. The winter Womb ba lOlg
past before Q blanket or q pound OF food
could reach the prisoners, and at the present
rate Of mortality and enlistment in the rebel
armys hoR many wouldsbe leftP
s i, Probably some OF the supplies will reach the
az priselars.s It is morsllY certain that large
q portion Of them will 60 to Feplenish the i'm
2si povefished Quartermaster and GomWiysary
lissr Departments Of the rebel army. No religious
ial bigotia the days Of the Inquisition was ever
agsl more true TO the injunction "NO faith with
"a heretlcs" than they are to tie principle o.
%No faith with Yankees.'' Why, K have known
sbsa our Government, month after month, coniin.
iaa le 70 send by it's truceboats tuns and tnns of
valuable private boxes for prisoners. while tie
or rebels, not satisfied with their usual practice
df % of stealing q portion HGder the rose, upon
some frivolous pretext or otiasF were openly
., eoufseating every pound of them. 1t The
same time, as 1 am assured, the returnine
truce-boats were loaded down With boxes q nj
co rebel prisoners from their friends In the
e South. and our own express lines crowded
with supplies from their sympathizers Ia lhs
North. And can Only regard the recent an
aouncement that we Hay ssga private boxes
to friends and relatives 10 the Soqth as crue
30 &elusion. One box Ia ak or ten may rescl
h its desHnaiion:i but the restwill supply on
5 GERS and hangersson In Richmond, and thieves
along the Southern railroads. GENERALLY, wit
coGee and sugar at no expense whatever, un
5ri9 less the leopard has changed his spots s5ne
the 18th Of December. . = -9sf4
But where Is the remedy we eeeky be
4ust Iieye there ere two, and only two adsqu2t
ones. The frst is sG immediate general ex
ehanae-nO. an, exchange ct the usual rate Q
ofleiai business, which viii l6sSa bait of CO
- nrisoners to die before itreacKes thsGaz-bH
e,ne vvhich shall return to Us all the SalisbuF
sufferers within two weeks, and every prison
d, er in the South within,a Q mopth.r ox .sn
- The other Is an Immediate special retAl:a
.os saon. not np0n the Rebel private ciers.-
9sge Thev {seiehe 10 the middle and poorer classe
ofths Sopth, Wbo were never specially hos