The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1867-08-09
Who Was to Blame?

1t is pity that congress did not, among
its many proposed committees OF investiga-
ton, appoint one through which to ascer-
tain who was really to blame, on our side,
for the protracted suferings of our soldiers
in the prison pens of the south. That some
body was to blame there is no doubt, and
the time is coming when the atrocious
wrong must be shared by some one at the
north whose hand was deep in the occurren-
ces Of the day. Gen. Butler was accused of
refusing to exchange prisoners with the
south, unless they would count a black man
an Offset to a white, and months elapsed
while this question was pending, our brave
soldiers sickening and dying by thousands
un1er treatment as cruel as the world ever
knew, if half as bad as represented by those
suffered it. General Butler, though thus &C.
cused, called for a committee of investiga-
ton into the matter, which, if he is guilty,
was a bold demand in him, though he knew,
perhaps, from the character of his associates,
that they would not convict him. At any
rate, he moved the appointment of such COM
mittee, which we credit to his account.
We are now favored with statement
from General Ould, who was the rebel COM
missioner of exchanges, to the effect that in
August, 1864, he offered to deliver 15,0oo
sick and wounded union prisoners without
demanding an equivalent, and that 1t was
not until the next December that the United
States authorities sent 5000 rebel prisoners
to the mouth of the Savannah river and re-
ceived 13, 900 union prisoners in exchanged
He calls upon General milford to sustain
the assertion. Now the question recurs,
who was to blame for the four months of
waiting amid all that fearful suffering? 1t
was at this time our brave men were dying
by scores daily, holding out their hands to
their country for aid, and all knew it, and
wherefore was not Gen1 Ould's proposition,
that seems so generous, awaited of?
There is most grievous wrong here, and
it is pity that the proposed committee was
not appointed, in order to place the blame
where it belongs. IF it attaches to those in
high station we should know it, let the safe
ty of the republican party be ever so much
impsrilled thereby. Perhaps we could find
counterpart for Winder and Wirtz, in
gull. if not in punishment, on this side of
the line, who, whether q cabinet officer. a
general, or congressman, should be held
up to view for the detestation of those who
suffered and those who sympathized with
them.
At any rate the matter belongs with the
republicans. The ''copperhead" influence,
as it was termed, had then very little power,
and, we think, the most intense of the poll
ticians-even Boutwell, and Stevens-will
hardly dare lay the blame on President
johnson. This is one evil they cannot lay
on him, though they seek high and low for
chances to condemn him. The hue and cry
raised by the party now ruling the land,
about the treatment of our prisoners, has
lulled to sleep the thought that they were in
any degree responsible for it; but time sets
many things right, and the decisions and
ideas of to-day may be changed tomorrow.
The history of the war will be written by
some one who is not partisan, and then
many things will appear in different light
from what they now do.-Boston Pilot