Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-07-26
From the National Intelligencer.
luvestigations-Important Disclosure.

| ,,xestirations- Important Disclosure.
The House of Representatives the other
sday appointed a committee to inquire INTO
the treatment of Union prisoners by the
so-callet7 Confederate authorities On sat
urdav Mr. Mungen moved to instruct the
same committee to extend their inquiries
so as to include a similar investigator on
the other side In the discussion OF this
proposition (which, by the way, was reject
ed Mr.. Eldridge made the surprising state,
mont, that in q conversation Wnlcn he Lao
had with General Ould, who had charge OF
the exchange Of prisoners on the part OF
the Confederate Government, he had been
Uniformed that an offer was made by Gener-
al Ould to the Union officers having the
matter IN charge, that he would give them
90 600 Union prisoners, sick and wounded,
I(makine ND the number of deficient with
able bodied men, tCutom any e4uteoIent
as the Confederate Government was una
BILE to feed and take care OF them properly
and that the offer was refused. 1t IS pro
bable that the Important fact thus set 1orth
would have been disputed by the partisab
press if it had not been verified on the
spot by General Butler himself, who was
in charge of the exchange of prisoners Oh
the part of the United States at the time.
He said
| "Ali the correspondence on the subject
had been laid before Congress IN January,
1865. In the fall of 1864, after the exchange
of prisoners had been stopped, propose
ton Was made by the rebels to give up the
sick prisoners held by them at Savannah
and Millen, Georgia. AS soon as transpor-
tutiou could be got the proposition was &C
centeli, and six steamboats, were sent to Sa-
vaunall, and took Oft over seven thousand
men. There I'D been some unavoidable
4 IN
of the army. And the offer had been made
to the rebels to let them send cotton to
New York, sell it through their own agents,
and with the proceeds procure what was
necessary for their prisoners.
The fact that the offer was made to give
up, >" aoith0M equiUdLent," 20, 600 Federal
troops, for the reason that their captors
could not properly provide for them, and
that this offer eras not accepted at the time,
but a proposition instead was submitted
which would Necessarily have caused in
definite delay, is here equivocally admitted
/ by General Butler he distinctly admitting,
as we understand the Chronicles report,
that upon receiving the offer he proposed
"to the rebels to let them send cotton to
New York, sell it through their own agents,
and with the proceeds procure what was
necessary for their prisoners. Now, 1t
would seem that these astonishing disclos-
ures would render supert1uous the raising
Of committee for the purpose of irquir-
ing as to where lay the fault for the :; starry
ing condition" of Federal prisoners in
Southern Andersonville : But it produced
no perceptible effect upon the House, and
we suppose the committee will peg away in
the further solution of the vexed problem.
A grave point, however, the committee
may very fttingly investigate. General
P,1tl Il in nfIll
history by the convenient phrase, There
had been some unavoidable delay in it, con-
sequent on the operations Of the army. -
This unavoidable delay" Is all that APP
pears to account for the failure even if the
offer of the rebels was promptly accepted,
Of the delivery of the thirteen thousand
prisoners in addition to the alleged seven
thousand whom the rebels had offered to
restore to their homes and who is the
Judge of "delay consequent on the opera
lions of the army ?" Who knows it was
unavoidable Who knows it was in conse-
quence Of army operations? Who puts of
the mourning kindred of these perishing
thirteen thousand with the assurance OF
"army necessity 2" The answer is, this
exploded and inglorious muddler IN war
fare on the floor Of the House. Let it be
investigated
In relation to this subject the New York
Tribune of yesterday, after denying the
allegation Of Mr.. Wood, of New York says
that it's editor had charged that cruelties
had been perpetrated upon rebel prisoners,
and quoting extensively from the report of
u committee Of the Confederate Congress
alleging such cruelties, remarks as follows
''Thcsc inculpations, We have seen, were
publicly made, more than two years ago,
IN the report of Joint committee. They
are professedly based on sworn testimony,
IN good part quoted therein, and they have
thus far received no specific contradiction.
We trust that they can be refuted or very
materially softened by connter-t Testimony,
and we are anxious that such testimony
shall be taken before those able to give it
shall be mainly dead or scattered to the
four winds of heaven. We ask Congress,
since it has too tardily resolved to investi-
gate the treatment OF orr men while pris-
oners to make the inquiry general and thor
ough-to demonstrate our readiness to face
the whole truth. Yet the House refuses to
do this, and, on motion of General Wash
burne, of Wisconsin, adopts the follow
ing :"
/ Whereas, irres ponsible statements have been
made by persons in sympathy with the lai re-
bell on implying that the Government of the
United States has inh manly treated its priso u
ers during the lat rebellion; and whereas no evil
den @ has been produced to show that sdch a!lo-
the loy-l people Of the United States are we'll sat-
i~tiei that In instance its prisoners treat
ed 9th rWisn than with kindness and humanity
therefore,
r. Solced That this House will q: tertAin no
resolution whIca implies 9th = than the most
kind. tend T, and humane treatment ofits Prison
~, unless such res ,ilition g accom- "a NED by q
responsible charge that they Wero treated other
wise"
General Washburne we have esteemed
o wise and able man, but this perform
ance is not among those on which that
Judgment is founded. There is not a sym
pathizer with "The Lost Cause !" on earth
who will not triumphantly read and cite
it as evidence that the Republicans dare
not make a full and fair investigation of
the treatment Of prisoners by each party
in our late civil war--not even before a
committee of their own choosing-and the
impartial world will be likely to agree
with them. Suppose a European histori-
IN writing the history of our great strug-
gle, with the Confederate report aforesaid
before him. and only General Washburne's
preamble and resolve to weigh against it,
can there be any doubt as to his conclu-
sion ?