The National tribune., 1883-11-15
The Claims Of Our Ex-prisoners,

THE passage OF bill by the next Con-
gress to pension tile survivors of rebal pris-
ons is most ardeatly to be desired, and we
entertain the hope that some measure of this
sort viii be enacted. The bills that have
been proposed at various times differ very
widely in their provisions, and some, indeed,
are entirely inpracticable. But the Robin
son bin, in the amended form in which it is
proposed to urge its enactment next winter
measure. As amended, the bill provides for
the pensioning of all ex-prisoners confined
between May LIST, 1861, and May 1st, 1865,
as follows:
All who were prisoners Of war two months and
less than six months, oae-hff pension those who
were prisoners Of war six months and less than
twelve months, tliree-fourths pension; and an
such as were prisoners Of twelve months and
more than twelve months, 8 total pension. And
furthermore, such surviving prisoners Of war shall
receive two dollars day for each and every days
confinement in said Confederate military prisons:
Proridei. That surh pensions shall. in each case
begin from the date Of the passage of this act and
shall be paid at the same time and IN the same
manner as other pensions paid. dstd pro-
rded further, That this act shall not entifIe any
person TO draw more than one pension but that
such survivors Of the Ee-c1led Confederate mill
iaTy prisons entitled and arc receiving pen-
SONS al the time of the passage Of flie act shall be
entitled 70 the increase Of tilclr pension which this
act may grant them
We are in favor Of the enactment of such
measure because. Experience has dem
onstrated that under the present pension
laws many of our ex-prIsoners, as to whose
disability there is no question, are nevert}le-
less unable TO produce the legal evidence
required to substantiate their claims; and
2. Because the men who were iucaTcerated
IN Southern prison pens were subjected to
such cruel and barbarous treatment as TO
take them ont of the category of ordinary
applicants for pensions and make them a
class by themselves. The fact Of the matter
is, that neither Congress nor the public have
ever been acquainted fully with the char
acter and extent of the sufferings which
these poor fellows endured while confined in
rebel stockades, and the time has nov come
it seems TO us, when the Government should
shoulder, fairly and squareiy, its obligation
10 compensate our ex-prisoners for the extra
ordinary and unwarranted sacrifices which
they We're compelled to make in its behalf
Through the failure Of the Government to
sanction an exchange they were practically
turned over to the tender mercies of such
fiends as Turner and Winder, at Richmond,
and Wirz at AndersonviIle, and Barrett at
Florence, and il ought to be taken into con-
sideration that they were driven, by the
cruelties inflicted upon them and the state
of starvation TO which they were reduced, TO
a point Of desperation, when, to resist the
tempting offers of the Confederates to
abandon the service of the United States
was practically equivalent to suffering mar
tyrdom. 1t is true that by the terms of their
oath Of allegiance to the Government they
could not without dishonor have abandoned,
even in the last extremity, the cause to which
they had sworn to be faithful, butt ought to
be remembered that when they enlisted
in the service of their country, it was with
the expectation that the war would be con-
Quoted under the rules Of civilized warfare,
and that if captured they would be treated
with the care and attention that the require
ments of civilized warfare demands 1t
ought not 10 be forgotten that the hardships
which these men endured far surpassed
those which fell to the lot of any ordinary
soldier in Camp, On the march, or on the