Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1872-09-13
nx.GovERNoR VANCE's RECORD.
TOursee's ISLANDERS Denied-A Sails
bury Prison Story Related.

To the Editor Of the N 7. Tribune j.:
SIR: i am induced, by the attempts OF
| the Grant men to injure Mr.. Greeley
| through me, to notice certain charges
made by one A. w. TOurgee, carpet-baS
Judge of the North Carolina Superior
Court, against me, in a speech recently
| made somewhere in the State OF New
| York. AS | remember it fOr L have not
the paper before me) this man charges
| that, while Governor of North Carolina, l
became a conscript-hunter, arrested wO-
men and little children, and kept them
confined in pens, had their thumbs mashed
| under fences, &c, &c. So far as l am
| concerned | denOunGe these charges as i'll
famously and mahciOusly false. Such
| things were neither done by me, nor by
| any other person under my order, or with
my knowledge, consent or procurement.
The American people know that, al
though | went into the late war reluctantly,
L nevertheless fought it through, both i'll
| mill airy and civil position, with all my
mi rht and ability. For this | have not
apolOgized, Tor been called on to apologize.
But [ claim that, i'll all the bitterness and
fierce passions of that unfortunate struggle,
| was governed by principles of justice and
manhood. And if any man can show that
| was guilty, Knowingly and willfully, of
~ single ac' # cruelty Or inhumanity t.
friend or foe, l viii agree to be held up 10
tilc uetcSf ati0n OF manhind, as no better
t2&n tie Ie&iost carpej-bagger that ever
: f..u..a.l cn tn ni5eri55 of an unfortunate
poodle lie HulpCse Of such SANDERS de
il D.. at u.teryG Lpon the Southern sup
or.e~s t." II. Greeley is sufficiently APP
"r-u5. he No Ter at their iniquity is
n-. il -'. g. .,lelr Of their impudence.
I t1i.. Z Hal party, which makes no scru-
pie OF receiving TO its bosom tie veriest of
red-handad Rebels, and of cOddling upon
It's knees the widest monsters of treason,
expects to impose upon the Union senti-
meut of the North by showing what bad
company Mir. Greeley is in. They receive,
with songs of rejoicing, the returning prod
igal who, by entering the Radical camp,
shows that he desires to add plumber to his
rebellion and treason, and eXclairn virtu-
Ously against those who still stand out for
Greeley and peace to 4 distracted land
Let them first spurn the association with
Southern tire-eaters, and then they may
eXclaim against Mr.. Greeley's Rebel friends
| with cheeks that need not burn with shame.
VIII any of the papers which published
the Hon. Judge Tourgee's ISLANDERS upon
me now insert this refutation of them ? [
can hardly hope SO. When l was elected
to the United States Senate in 1870, the
organ OF the ADMINISTRATOR. IN W a Sl1ug-
ton, perpetrated foul calumny upon ne
by asserting that l was in a degree re-
sponsible for cruelties to Federal prison.
ers at Salisbury. l went to the War De
partment, where my official letter books
We're (and are still, 1 presume), and asked
permission to copy some letters from my
self to the Confederate States Secretary
of War on this subject. 1 was told
L could look at the letters, but could not
copy them without the permission of Con-
gress! l did look at them, .un1e charge
of clerk, and there they were, and are,
containing not only a full and triumphant
refutation Of the charges, but showing
that L had ezerted myself to obtain an al
deviation of their (the prisonersO condition.
But justice and truth were not expedient
then. l fear it will be yet many years be-
fore the public are fully alive to the weak
hess and wickedness of basing the public
policy upon the passions and falsehoods
begotten of the womb of civil war. May
God hasten the day.
Il. Is. VANCE.
Charlotte, N. c., Aug. 81, 1872.