Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-09-02

april, 1854. in substance: Break off all nego-
tsdtto1is on the subject of exchange till further
oxdeTs,' And, therefore, all negotiations
were broken off, save that a special ex-
csange ofsick and wounded on either side
went on. On the 20th of .April receiued
another telegram Of General Grant ordering
not another man to be gtuefs to the reJels.N TI
that l answered, on the same day: Lieu
tenant General Grants instructions shall
be implicitly obeyed. I assume that you
do not mean to stop the special exchange
of the sick and wounded now going on To
this received reply in substance: DO not
give the rebels single able-bodied man.
From that hour, so long as. | remained in
the department, exchanges of prisoners
stopped under that order, because l could
not give the rebels any of their able-bodied
soldiers in exchange. By. sending 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, MIR. Ould, finding
negotiations were broken off and that no
exchanges were made, wrote to General
Hitchcock, the commissioner at Washing
| ton, that the rebels were ready to exchange.
man for man, all the prisoners held by
them, as i had proposed in December.
Under the distractions of the Lieutenant Gene
raj, 1 ,orote to- Mr.. Ould a letter, tolsich has
been published, saying: DO you mean to giue up
all your action and reuoke all your laos about
| black men employed as soldiersP These Ques-
tions acre the, Elm argued justly, as 7 think,
not automatically. but o6trusiuely and de-
lnl0nstrQttUely,s NoT,vFpR THE PURPOSE OF
FURTHERING EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS, BUT
FOR THE PURPOSE OF PREVENTING AND
STOPPING THE EXCHANGE AND FURNISHING
A GROUND ON WHICH WE COULD FAIRLY
sTAND.i Lam now at liberty to state these
In no
pondence on the subject of exchange now
on the public files of Congress. furnished
| by the War Department upon resolution.
| am not at liberty to state my opinions as
to the correctness and propriety of this
conrse of action of the Lieutenant General
in relation to exchanges, because, as it is
not proper'to utteriaj word of condemns
even applaud where i think them right,
lest, moi applauding in other instances,
| such acts as / may mention would imply
eensure.0 I only desire that the responsible
| Ity of stopping exchanges of prisoners, be
| it wise or unwise, should rest upon the
Lieutenant General commanding, and not
upon me. have carried the weight of so
grave matter for nineimonths, and now
propose, as the facts are laid before Con-
| gress and the country, not to carry any
! longer any more of it than belongs to me.
Since wrote my farewell address to the
| Army of the James, L havereceived letters
from the far West saying, why do you
claim that you have not uselessly sacri-
feed the lives of your men, when you
have left thousands OF our brothers and
sonstoi starve and rot in Southern prisons
In answ, T to all such appeals / am allowed
only to repeat l have not uselessly sacri-
feed the lives of the soldiers of the Union;
their blood does not stain my garments
This is notIcriticismi upon the acts of any
body but only the enunciation of a fact, in
explanation of which the responsibilities
of my position will not allow me to say
more" ."io9si iii " ht t441 -i-4 -f1i-=-'.'i <
There is no material fact stated by Mr..
OULD but is openly confessed by the
speech of Gen. BUTLER. The letter Bur-
LER wrote under the instruction of Gen.
GRANT to Mr.. OULD, when it was proposed
to exchange the colored as well as the
white troops, the writer frankly says, was
not for the purpose of furthering the ex-
change of our suffering troops, shut for the
purpose ofpreuenttng and stopping the exchange
and furnishing ground upon sohich zee could
fairly stand" 10
= If, as Gen. BUTLER says, this letter was
sent for the purpose of getting an excuse
for not exchanging prisoners, was written
u nder the instructions of Gen. GRANT. it
proves more than even Mr.. OULD has
charged, and is as dark spot on the char
acter of Gen. GRANT as his most deadly
enemy, if any such he has, could wish.
If Gen. GRANT did not permit the ex-
change of prisoners-if it was not owing
to him the Union troops were detained sick
and starving at Andersonville, by which
many of them lost their lives by starvation
and sickness, then Gen. BUTLER stands
forth in his published speech, as a
slanderer of Gen. GRANT, and as such
should be secuted by the entire commu-
nifty. - .-r.s..l-5, .4.-.-l
The quarrel is between GRANT and Bur
LER: They can settle it to their own salts
t''eoioa'' 1-r aac -TsHL.il.-..~ --af'f .I- Ira,