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history of the exchange question.
But in order to make a proper case for posterity on a special and deeply interesting topic,
Commissioner Ould urged and succeeded in raising a joint Congressional Comittee at
Richmond, to take the testimony of returned prisoners as to their treatment by the enemy.
That Committee was raised, and a large mass of testimony was taken, which was unfortunately lost; by fire.
This Committee, however, made a report in February, 1865, a copy of which was preserved.
It is a document which should be read with care; the space it occupies could scarcely be filled with a narrative more just and condensed; and we therefore annex it, in full:
Report of the joint select committee of the Confederate Congress, appointed to investigate the condition and treatment of prisoners of war.
The duties assigned to the committee under the several resolutions of Congress designating them, are “to investigate and report upon the condition and treatment of the prisoners of war respectively held by the
Confederate and
United States Governments, upon the causes of their detention, and the refusal to exchange; and also upon the violations by the enemy of the rules of civilized warfare in the conduct of the war.”
These subjects are broad in extent and importance; and in order fully to investigate and present them, the committee propose to continue their labours in obtaining evidence, and deducing from it a truthful report of facts illustrative of the spirit in which the war has been conducted.
But we deem it proper at this time to make a preliminary report, founded upon evidence recently taken, relating to the treatment of prisoners of war by both belligerents.
This report is rendered especially important, by reason of persistent efforts lately made by the
Government of the
United States, and by associations and individuals connected or co-operating with it, to asperse the honour of the
Confederate authorities, and to charge them with deliberate and wilful cruelty to prisoners of war. Two publications have been issued at the
North within the past year, and have been circulated not only in the
United States, but in some parts of the
South, and in
Europe.
One of these is the report of the joint select committee of the Northern Congress on the conduct of the war, known as “Report no. 67.”
The other purports to be a “Narrative of the privations and sufferings of
United States officers and soldiers while prisoners of war,” and is issued as a report of a commission of enquiry appointed by “The United States Sanitary Commission.”
This body is alleged to consist of
Valentine Mott, M. D.,
Edward Delafield, M. D.,
Gouverneur Morris Wilkins,
Esq.,
Ellerslie Wallace, M. D.,--
Ion.
J. J. Clarke Hare, and
Rev. Treadwell Walden.
Although these persons are not of sufficient public importance and weight to give authority to their publication, yet your committee have deemed it proper to notice it in connection with the “Report no. 67,” before mentioned, because the Sanitary Commission has been understood to have acted to a greater extent under the control and by the authority of the United States Government, and because their report claims to be founded on evidence taken in solemn form.
A candid reader of these publications will not fail to discover that, whether the statements they make be true or not, their spirit is not adapted to promote a better feeling between the hostile powers.
They are not intended for the humane purpose of
