The New York herald., 1868-09-05

TftsUItHt, WTICu
will meet on Friday, the 25th inst. at the same
place. The meeting then adjourned.
THE EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS QUESTION.
Another Letter from Ex-RebeI Commissioner
Ould.
RICHMOND, Va, Sept. 2, 1868.
My attention has been called to q letter Of S. A.
Meredith, who styles himself 'late Brigadier Gen.
eral and United States Commissioner OF Exchange
published originally in the Buffalo Commercial Al
retiSer and copied in other papers. This ''United
States Commissioner is not Brigadier General Solo
mon A. Meredith, OF Indiana as the Hon. Gar
ret Davis, OF Kentucky, supposed in his re-
marks in the United States Senate upon re-
taliation in January, 1866, but Sullivan A. Mere
dith, formerly of Philadelphia. He is more
commonly and will say more apty, known as
''Sully Meredith" No man who knows him well
would ever get angry ut anything he says or writes
he Is sucn an ass. Hear him:"Another insuperable
obstacle TO returning exchanges was in the matter
OF paroles Mr.. Ould mad some eighteen or twenty
thousand which he claimed valid. Most, II not
all, OF these paroles We're taken by gueras, BUSH
Whackeis anu uelacneu commands IN the West. NO
possession was ever had no delivery was ever made
and no rolls were ever furnished On the capture oil
town by rebel cavalry raid the command re-
manned long enough To take the paroles Of unarmed
citizens there, and then decamped, leaving the
paroled men behind, and forwarding the paroles to
Richmond And the rebels had the assurance To re-
quire the United States government TO exchange
prisoners legIumately captured IN battle for such
paroles as theser
To show how utterly untruthful Sully s, win
give an extract from an Official letter which wrote
to him on November Il. 1853, IN relation to these
very PAROLES Ii is as foows-
II will not claim the paroles Of citizens. All the
paroles which Will produce VIII be those OF federal
soldiers In actual service at the time of capture l
will show the particular locality were the parties
were captured the command to which they belonged,
the command which captured them and the precise
date or each transaction. VIII accompany the pre-
sentatOn with such full and particular evidence as
will enable you TO verify the truth OF the case by
your own records and the statements OF your own
officers and soldiers"
Now, whether Sully forgot the other day in Buffalo
that he had received such letter. or purposely
fasifed the fact, know not IL Is perhaps charita
BILE to infer that he had forgotten, that is habit
of his. recollect one case, when no was acting as
United states Commissioner, in which he failed to
claim certain credits to which he entitled and
took occasion to refresh his memory. If he wishes
the particulars and asks for them IN more polite Ian
guage than he uses III his letter will give them 10
him.
Sully is scarcely more accurate in his citation Of
the other 'causes OF the suspension OF the cartel"
1t is utterly untrue, either that made iIlega de-
clarations OF exchange or that ''al prisoners
dately returned to active duty in the rebel army
1t was the practice OF the agents OF exchange on
both sides to declare exchanges when equivalents
were given either In prisoners or paroles The fifth
article Of the cartel provided that each party, upon
the discharge of prisoners of the other party IL
thOrzed to discharge an equal number OF their own
officers and men from parole furnishing at the same
time to the other party list OF their prisoners
6isGharged sdv. and @ OF Their own own oSers and
party to relieve from parole such Of their
own officers and men as the party may
Of hand or discharged federal troops from their pa
roles had under this article OF the cartel the right
to declare exchanges TO that extent, and did so de-
clare Never in any one instance did go beyond
that. always promptly notified the federal agent
OF the exchanges. Surely had the right to offset
the Vicksburg paroles by those taken by Forrest and
Wheeler in Tennessee. The federal practice and my
own were in accord: Sully knows IT. In q letter
xrttt ton ty on nntn n1ATO In i'm AA
out eleven instances which his predecessor Lieu
tenant Colonel Ludlow, had done the same thing.
only claim such paroles were In accordance with
the general orders of the United States War Depart
ment. No one knows better than Sully that my de-
claratons OF exchange were limited to cases where
had either furnished equivalents In prisoners or
II. however he wants an instance when men un-
der parole were ordered TO duty without exchange,
he will find II IN the list OF General Schenck's re-
markable military achievements. That dstin-
guished commander, by General order No. 10, dated
March ., 1862 required all the officers and men who
had Deen captured In his department and released
on parole TO return to service. penalty OF being
considered deserters No equivalents, not even pa
roles had been furnished. II Suly will come down
done with the prisoners who were captured and pa.
rolled by General Lee and his subordinate officers in
the Gettysburg campaign. Two of the officers who
ordered to duty refused, the ground Of their
paroles, and were court martaled Both OF these
dates were anterior To that OF Chckamauga.
Suly is not more fortunate In his reference to Mr..
Davis message and negro soldiers. As no officers
'handcd over 10 state ali lOrieS' the message
made no practical dniculty. Federal prisoners
white and black were under the exclusive control Of
the Confederate government during the whole VI the
war
negro troops The Confederate authorities did not
refuse TO exchange free negro troops II Is true that
they did not agree to treat negro slaves the sub
jecfs OF exchange. They dd not so consent, because
their constitutions, Confederate and state, recog-
nized slaves as property, and therefore, on recap
ture. they followed the rule OF all property aud
reverted to their former condition. They
held that an edict OF emancipation declared
by a hostile power did not defeat their
rights or the rights OF their citizens when the
slave came again into their possession. II the
case / do not see now that view can be answered.
In this matter have no conceanents 70 make, and
have, therefore, frankly stated the position taken by
The Confederate government. But Dc that as n may
why should dnculty about the release or slaves
who did not form one-fifteth OF the number orthe
prisoners prevent the exchange of the othersg
When streigl's men were detained under grave
charges preferred blythe Governor Of Alabama other
| exchanges went on. so when Morgan'5 inen
nut In a penentiary or Missouri soldiers were kept
| In ails exchanges were not stopped Was there TO
be one rule for the white men and another and more
favorable one for the backf General Butler thought
the case Of negro soldiers strong enough to stand
upon It's own merits. especially as Tue ledera gov
| ernment after all the Union prisoners were ex-
changed had large excess of Confederates on hand
who could be held n hostages; but it seems that
s,illy il right in one thing The matters he sets
forth were difficulties In the way Of exchange. Du
nnIv because they were made ny himself and his
nrompter-. | believed At the time, and now he
tieye that nc was to Fortress Monroe for the
nnrpose OF preventing exchanges. General Butler,
In s Massachusetts speech OF January, 1865 frankly
confessed that he was reluctantly engaged in that
sort OF business at later date. He had willing
Iorerunner in sully Moreover he was coarse. rude,
arrogant and 50 ineXpresslUy stupid that II
was dinicult 10 transact any business with
him. tocrably fair specimen Of his style 0f corre-
spondence as agent of exchange Is found In this
Iualo letter. In the preparation OF my letter OF the
1th ultmo studiOusly avoided anything In the way
of ephet or denunciation, aud confined myself to
simple array OF facts with AN appeal In each case
ptlfr TO the record or O the testimony OF federal
officers. well knew that the sluccs Of abuse would
ne opened. If | had thought OF Suy would have
frt assured that his little f0odgae would be the
first This style OF attack has, however terrors
| for me. I have bufreted many time with worse
calamitles. ,,,.,
SuIiy says that the difficulties which he enumerdtes
| "aone were the causes which prevented the ex-
change Of prisoners and these were in opera
tion until the close OF the war; Sully retired from