The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1868-09-29

On the 2Sth of January, 1866, Gen
Butler made very remarkable speech
at Lowell. The three or four years
since elapsed have been so crowded
with events that that speech seems pret-
ty well forgotten, although it drew much
attention at the time. 1t was soon after
the ridiculous Fort Fisher .fasco In
consequence of that fdsco, General But
ler had been relieved Of his command
by General Grant, and sent home. But
Ter, though an Indifferent officer, was a
sharp, alert observer; and he felt at lib
erty, in his Lowell speech, to express
his opinion of Grant with considerable
freedom. We concern ourselves at
present only with his damaging expo
sures Of General Grants cold-blooded
cruelty and sneaking hypocrisy in re-
lation to the poor, suffering Union pris-
oners. He fastened on him the imputa-
ton Of brutal Indifference to their lin
gering starvation in loathsome Southern
prisons, Butler stated in that speech,
that he had himself made successful
arrangement with Mr.. Ould, the South
ern Commissioner, for the exchange of
all our ,chite soldiers against an equal
number of rebel prisoners held by us,
leaving the exchange of the negroes for
a seperate and subsequent arrangement.
This Butler said would have left u bal
ance Of fifteen thousand rebel prisoners
in our possession, and about five hun
dred negro prisoners in the hands of
the rebels. When the negotiations
reached this stage, General Butler was
brought to sudden halt, and his work
undone, by superior authority. What
followed was so remarkable, and is so
fraught with painful interest, that the
account must be given in General But
lers own language:
| reported the points of agreement
between myself and the rebel agent to
the Secretary of War, and asked for
power to adjust the other questions of
difference, SO as to have the questions
of enslavirg negro soldiers stand alone,
to be dealt with by itself, and that the
whole power of the United States should
be exerted to do justice to those who
had fought the battles of the country,
and been captured in its service. The
'chole subject ras referred by the Score
tary Of Var TO the Lieutenant General
commanding, acho tclegraphed me on the
14h Of 4pra, 1864 in substance; "Break
off all negotiations on the subject Of er-
change till ,turther orde.S" And, there
fore, all negotiations were broken off,
save that of special exchange of sick
and wounded on either side went on. On
the 20M Of AprH receired another tel
egram OF Gen. Grant, ordering ''not an
other man TO be giren to the rebels" To
that answered, on the same day: "Lieu-
tenant General Grants instructions shall
be implicitly obeyed, assume that
you do not mean to stop the special ex-
change of the sick and wounded now
going on" To this l received a reply
in substance: "Do not give the rebels
a single able bodied man." From that
hour, so long as / remained in the de-
partment, exchanges of prisoners stop
ped under that order, because l could
not give the rebels any of their able
bodied soldiers in exchange. By send
ding the sick and wounded forward,
however, some twelve thousand of our
suffering soldiers were relieved, being
upwards of eight thousand $4,000 more
than we gave the rebels. In August last