I am happy to see that the Secretary of War is not insensible to this commanding duty. Here is an extract from a communication which he sent to the House of Representatives as late as January 21st:—
“On the 15th October the subject of exchanges was placed under the direction of Lieutenant-General Grant, with full authority to take any steps he might deem proper to effect the release and exchange of our soldiers, and of loyal persons, held as prisoners by the Rebel authorities. He was instructed that it was the desire of the President that no efforts consistent with national safety and honor should be spared to effect the prompt release of all soldiers and loyal persons in captivity to the Rebels as prisoners of war, or on any other grounds, and the subject was committed to him with full authority to act in the premises as he should deem right and proper. Under this authority the subject of exchanges has from that time continued in his charge, and such efforts have been made as he deemed proper to obtain the release of our prisoners.
“An arrangement was made for the supply of our prisoners,—the articles to be distributed under the direction of our own officers, paroled for that purpose; and the corresponding privilege was extended to the Rebel authorities. In order to afford every facility for relief, special exchanges have been offered, whenever desired on behalf of our prisoners. Such exchanges have in a few instances been permitted by the Rebel authorities, but in many others they have been denied.
“A large number of exchanges, including all the sick, has been effected within a recent period. The Commissary General of Prisoners has been directed to make a detailed report of all the exchanges that have been accomplished since the general exchange ceased. It will be furnished to the House of Representatives as soon as completed.
“The last communication of General Grant gives reason to believe that a full and complete exchange of all prisoners will speedily be made. It also appears from his statement that weekly supplies are furnished to our prisoners, and distributed by officers of our own selection.”[60]
Let these instructions be followed, and it is difficult to see what remains to be done. Exchange, retaliation, and every other agency “right and proper,” are fully authorized in the discretion of the commanding general. There is nothing in the arsenal of war he may not employ. What more is needed? But this brings me again to the proposition before the Senate.
The Committee, not content with what has been done,—distrustful, perhaps, of the commanding general,—propose that Congress shall instruct the President to enter upon a system of retaliation, where we shall imitate as precisely as possible Rebel barbarism, and make our prisons the scenes of torments we here denounce. Why, Sir, to state the case is to answer it. The Senator from Michigan, who advocates so eloquently this unprecedented retaliation, attempted a description of the torments making the Rebel prisons horrible, but language failed him. After speaking of their “immeasurable criminality,” and “the horrors of those scenes,” which he said were “absolutely indescribable,” beggaring even his affluence of language and of passion, he proceeded to ask that we should do these same things,—that we should take the lives of prisoners, even by freezing and starvation, or turn them into living skeletons,—by Act of Congress.
Sir, the Law of Retaliation, which he invokes, has its limits, and these are found in the laws of civilized society. Admit the Law of Retaliation; yet you cannot escape from its circumscription. As well escape from the planet on which we live. What civilization forbids cannot be done. Your enemy may be barbarous and cruel, but you cannot be barbarous and cruel. The rule is clear and unquestionable. Perhaps the true principle of law on this precise point was never better expressed than by one of our masters, William Shakespeare, natural jurist as well as poet, when he makes Macbeth exclaim,—
“I dare do all that may become a man;