Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-06-21

lpI h1Is DdplS see ule JneU, DuG TeLlTeu,
| thinking it better the prisoner should be
| left alone In the fist moments of regaining
so much OF his personal freedom. ?7sli'..
| Called again at 2 p. M. with the officer of
the day. Immediately on entering, Mr..
Davis arose from his seat, both hands eX
tended. and his eyes filled with tears. lie
was evidently about 10 say something, but
checked himself, or was checked by rush
of emotions, and sat down upon his he'd.
WHAT HE HAD TO SAY ABOUT CRUELTY TO
.t,..,n.,,,t - PRISONERS. rff,.... .....
June 1l-Mr. Davis remarked that when
his tray OF breakfast was brought in that
morning, he overheard some soldiers In the
guard-room outside commenting on the
food given our prisoners during the late
war. To hold him responsible for this was
worse than absurd-criminally false. For
the last two years of the war Lees army
had never more than half and was oftener
on quarter rations Of rusty bacon and corn.
1t was yet worse with other Southern ar
niles when operating IN a country which
man, with q front of thirty or forty miles,
breaking into new country, found no
trouble In procuring food but had he halt
edanywhere, even for single week, must
have starved. Marching every day, his
men eat out q new section, and lett behind
them a starving wilderness.
Col. Northr0p, his Commissary General,
had many difficulties to contend with; and,
not least, the incessant hostility OF certain
opponents of his administration, who, by
striking at Northrop, really meant to strike
at him. Even General --, otherwise so
moderate aud conservative, was finally in
duced to join this injurious clamor. There
was food In the COnfederacy, but no means
nr a hOl6 n af
ter the currency had become deprecated |;
and, If collected, then came the difficulty
of its transportation, Their railToadswere
over-taxed, and the rolling stock soon gave
out. They could not feed their own troops;
and prisoners of war in all countries and
ages have had cause of complaint. Some
OF his people confined In the West and at
lookout Point, had been nearly starved at
certain times, though he well knew, or we'll
believed, full prison rations had been or
dered and paid for In these cases.
Herd men together in idleness within an
inclosure, their arms taken from them, their
organization lost, without employment for
their time, and you will find it difficult to
dered to receive precisely the same ratiOns
given to the troops guarding them; but dis
honest commissaries and provost marshals
were not confined to any people. Doubt
less the prisoners on both sides often suf-
fered that the officers having charge of them
might grow rich; but wherever such dis
honesty could be brought home, prompt
punishment followed. General Winder and
Colonel Northrop did the best they could.
he believed; but both were poorly Obryed
or seconded by their SuborIlinates. To hol
him responsible for such unauthorized pri-
vations was both cruel and absurd. He is
,,,a 10. 81, IL. L.. I
conscious of the extreme difficulty of feed
ing the prisoners, made the most liberal
offers for eXchange--almost willing to ac-
eept any terms that would release his people
from their burden. Non-exchange. how
ever, was the policy adopted by the Federal
Government--lust as Austria, in her later
campaigns against Frederick the Great, re-
fused to exchange; her calculation being,
that as her population was five times more
numerous than Prussia's, the refusal to eX-
change would be wise measure. That it
may have been prudent, though inhuman,
sitnated as the South was, he was not pre-
pared to deny; but protested against being
held responsible for evils which no power
of his could avert, and to escape from which
almost any concessions had been offered.
MR.. LINCoLN's Observation-Disclosures
DENT TPIERcE-THE TORTURE OF BEING CON-
sTANTLY WATCHED.
SUNDAY, July 1l.-Was sent for by Mr..
Davis, and called in company with Captain
r. o. Buckley, officer of the Day.
Found prisoner very desponding, the fail
ure of his sight troubling him, and his
nights almost without sleep. His present
treatment was killing him by inches, and
he wished shorter work could be made of
his torment. He had hoped long since
for a trial, which should be public, and
therefore with some semblance of fairness;
but hope deferred was making his heart
sick. The odious, malignant and absurd
insinuation that he was connected in some
manner with the great crime and folly of
Mr.. Lincoln's assassination, was his chief
personal motive for so earnestly desiring an
early opportunity of vindication. But
apart from this, he was evidently made the
representative in whose person the action
of the seeding States was to be argued aud
decided; he yet more strongly desired for
this reason to be heard in behalf of the de-
feated, but to him still sacred cause. The
defeat he accepted, as a man has to accept
all necessities OF accomplished fact; but to
vindicate the theory and Justice of his
cause, showing by the authority of the Con-
.stitution and the Fathers of the Country,
that his people had only asserted a right
had committed no crime-this was the last
remaining labor Which life could impose on
him as public duty. Mr.. Davis then spoke
of ex-President Franklin Pierce in terms
of warm admiration, as the public man who
had studied Constitutional law, and the re-
lation of the States to the highest profit, 4
renarking 9that IL he were given any
choice of counsel, Mr.. Pierce would be
one of those whose advice he would
think most reliable. He also spoke of
Mr.. Charles Eames, Of Washington, as
a walking encyclopedias of Constitu-
tional law, very accurate and ready in
his reference to precedents; adding
that he had seen report in the Herald
that aMessfs.i ReveTdy Johnson Of Mary,
land, and Charles O'Conor, of New York,
had professed their readiness TO assume his
defense, when approached by some of his |
friends for that purpose, for which he felt
grateful, both personally and for his peo-
Pile. His own fate was OF noimportance in |
this matter, save to the Government, on
which history would devOlve the responsi- |
bllity for his treatment. Martyr6om,
while representing the deliberate action of |
his people, would be Immortality; but for the |
sake OF Justice, not merely to his own peo1
ple;but' to the American people, whose tuol
t1pe liberties were nowat stake in his per-
son, fair and public trial was now the me- 1
cessity of the situation,
''My PEOPLE, ,"he added, nattempted what |
your people denounced as d Articulation.
Ny people failed; but yonr people have
suffered a revolution which must prove
disastrous ID Nheir liberties unless promptly |
remedied bv legal decision In their efforts |