The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-03-22

: WASHINGTON, March 20.-The House
has passed q bill to protect from legal pro-
secution Union officers from acts commit
ted during the war by order of superior
officers.
A Card from Bishop Lynch.
To the Editor Of the Ner York Tri-
> bune:
SIR: The Tribune of this morning
honors me with an editorial para
graph. I have ever endeavored to
stand aloof from angry political dis
cussions, deeming that course most
inJ accordance with my ecclesiastical
character. I have now an additional
motive, in the duty of s.letting by
cones Le by-gones, and of looking
forward hopefully, and of laboring 2
earnestly and manfully for happier
future. You will allow me, however,
to correct some mistakes as to facts
relating to myself, into which the
writer of the paragraph has fallen.
I 1. He states that 1 'was an origi-
Spal, acrimonious, efficient and persis-
Aent pro slavery rebel" This charge
Will, 1 think, surprise my personal
friends as it certainly surprises me.
So far as acrimony is charged, it does
not tally with sundry notices of me
and my acts, published in the 7,i-
ibnne itself in 1861, 1862 and 1863.
However, let this charge pass. To
discuss it, would be to discuss politics,
from which I abstain.
II. The paragraph states that [ had
n TIE Deum celebrated on the reduc-
tion of Fort Sumter, in April, 1861.
In reply, state that the TIE Deum
was announced and sung specially to
give thanks to God for the wonderful
fact-still incomprehensible to me-
that not single life had been lost in
the artillery duel of those two days.
The accompanying prayers implored
n continuance of the same divine
mercy-that the clouds which threat
ened might pass away, and that the
Sand might not have to mourn the
loss of many lives. This. it seems to
me, was a Christian appeal, not in
appropriate in q congregation where
many near and dear to us had passed
through the danger unscathed and
might again be exposed I am not
ASOHOAAoAOAO ALL hCWSJdpCl NcESlOllS
newspaper comments.
ID. The paragraph states. in the
third place, that I ''went to Europe
next summer" that is in 1861, and
'sdid induce the Pope to recognize
JeH Davis as a potentate Now, I
did not go to Europe for nearly three
years after the date assigned; and, in
point of fact, the Pope was not in
duced by me or any else to recognize
the Confederate Government. It is
incorrect to say that such recogni-
ton was ever given. True, when
President Davis learned-through
the newspapers, I presume-the no
BILE words uttered by his Holiness in
the cause of peace and charity, he
wrote to him a respectful letter, TO
which his Holiness replied i'm kind
and courteous language, such as he
always uses, and as the rules of well
understood etiquette required. Both
the letters were personal, not diplo-
matte. On both sides, they were
understood to be simply such. They
carried with them ne political or ma
tlonal character. I make this state
ment that there may be no mistake as
to facts. For myself, at the time of
the correspondence, I was in South
Carolina, and knew no more of It,
and had no mo"e to do with it, than
the editor of the Tribune himself.
Finally, while making these cor
rections in the statement of nv ere
cord, I will lay modesty aside, and
claim IN addition, as parG of the
record" that I ever desired and
prayed for peace; that during the war
1 labored earnestly and to the extent
of my ability to mitigate the evils at
tendant on it, without stopping to
inquire to what side OF to what church
the sufferers belonged; and that nov,
the war being over, I am laborins
with equal earnestness to repair some
OF the evils it has left behind.
We all desire that peace, prosperity
and eiaood will may be quickly and
hrh . re-established throughout Ill
the States, and that the Union mny
not be merely one of force, but may
be cemented by the influence of
mutual kindly Offices between all the
sections.
am engaged in reconstruction,
and l hope 1 shall meet the co-opera-
tlon L desire in New York. lam, sir.
very respectfully, your obedient SER