“Resolved, That any attempted imitation of Rebel barbarism in the treatment of prisoners is plainly impracticable, on account of its inconsistency with the prevailing sentiments of humanity among us; that it would be injurious at home, for it would barbarize the whole community; that it would be utterly useless, for it could not affect the cruel authors of the revolting conduct we seek to overcome; that it would be immoral, inasmuch as it proceeded from vengeance alone; that it could have no other result than to degrade the national character and the national name, and to bring down upon our country the reprobation of history; and that, being thus impracticable, useless, immoral, and degrading, it must be rejected as a measure of retaliation, precisely as the barbarism of roasting or eating prisoners is always rejected by civilized powers.
“Resolved, That the United States, filled with grief and sympathy for cherished fellow-citizens who, as officers and soldiers, have become the victims of Heaven-defying outrage, hereby declare their solemn determination to end this great iniquity by ending the Rebellion of which it is the natural fruit; that, to secure this humane and righteous consummation, they pledge anew their best energies and the resources of the whole people; and they call upon all to bear witness that in this necessary warfare with barbarism they renounce all vengeance and every evil example, and plant themselves firmly on the sacred landmarks of Christian civilization, under the protection of that God who is present with every prisoner, and enables heroic souls to suffer for their country.”
Mr. Sumner addressed the Senate in support of his resolutions. After analyzing the resolution of the Committee, and exhibiting its character, he proceeded:—
Now, Sir, I believe that the Senate will not venture, in this age of Christian light, under any inducement, under any provocation, to counsel the Executive Government to enter into such open competition with barbarism. Sir, the thing is impossible; it must not be entertained. We cannot be cruel, or barbarous, or savage, because the Rebels we now meet in warfare are cruel, barbarous, and savage. We cannot imitate the detested example. We find no precedent for such retaliation in our own history nor in the history of other nations. We find no precedent, I say, in our own history. This question was one of the earliest presented to General Washington after taking command of the American forces at Cambridge. From his headquarters there, under date of August 11, 1775, he addressed a letter to General Gage, commander of the British forces in Boston, which, as I believe, contains the full extent to which a nation can honorably go; and I must say, that, as I read it, I felt new pride in that commander who thus early in the discharge of his great duties showed such insight into their proper limits and responsibilities. Addressing General Gage, he said:—
“Sir,—I understand that the officers engaged in the cause of Liberty and their country, who by the fortune of war have fallen into your hands, have been thrown indiscriminately into a common jail appropriated for felons; that no consideration has been had for those of the most respectable rank, when languishing with wounds and sickness; and that some have been even amputated in this unworthy situation.”
Then, reminding the British commander of the cause in which he was engaged, Washington continued:—
“My duty now makes it necessary to apprise you that for the future I shall regulate all my conduct towards those gentlemen who are or may be in our possession exactly by the rule you shall observe towards those of ours now in your custody. If severity and hardship mark the line of your conduct, painful as it may be to me, your prisoners will feel its effects; but if kindness and humanity are shown to ours, I shall with pleasure consider those in our hands only as unfortunate, and they shall receive from me that treatment to which the unfortunate are ever entitled.”[48]
Senators about me say, “That is sound.” I am glad they say so; and if they can find in this correspondence any sanction of the savage system now inaugurated in Rebel prisons, let them point it out. The correspondence has its own limitations in the statement of facts on which it proceeds, which you will please observe. Prisoners had been thrown indiscriminately into a common jail for felons, and with no consideration for those of the most respectable rank, even when languishing with wounds and sickness; and some of them had limbs amputated in this unworthy situation. But there is, Sir, no such painful suggestion as that in our resolution: they had not “been subjected to treatment unexampled for cruelty in the history of civilized war, and finding its parallels only in the conduct of savage tribes,—a treatment resulting in the death of multitudes by the slow, but designed, process of starvation”: no such thing appears in the case; and the judgment of Washington was applied strictly to the facts before him.
This is not all. Search the history of our country, and you find that the practice is fixed, while the rule has received an accuracy of statement from which there can be no escape. I have before me the words of Chancellor Kent, in his valuable Commentaries:—
“Instances of resolutions to retaliate on innocent prisoners of war occurred in this country during the Revolutionary War, as well as during the War of 1812; but there was no instance in which retaliation, beyond the measure of severe confinement, took place in respect to prisoners of war.”[49]