Sir: Having accepted your patriotic offer to proceed as a military commissioner under flag of truce to Washington, you will receive herewith your letter of authority to the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States. The letter is signed by me, as Commander in Chief of the Confederate land and naval forces.
You will perceive
from the terms of the letter that it is so worded as to avoid any political
difficulties in its reception. Intended exclusively as one of those
communications between belligerents which public law recognizes as necessary
and proper between hostile forces, care has been taken to give no pretext for
refusing to receive it on the ground that it would involve a tacit recognition
of the independence of the Confederacy. Your mission is simply one of humanity,
and has no political aspect.
If objection is
made to receiving your letter on the ground that it is not addressed to Abraham
Lincoln as President, instead of Commander in Chief, etc., then you will
present the duplicate letter which is addressed to him as President and signed
by me as President. To this letter objection may be made on the ground that I
am not recognized to be President of the Confederacy. In this event you will
decline any further attempt to confer on the subject of your mission, as such
conference is admissible only on the footing of perfect equality.
My recent
interviews with you have put you so fully in possession of my views that it is
scarcely necessary to give you any detailed instructions, even were I at this
moment well enough to attempt it. My whole purpose is in one word to place this
war on the footing of such as are waged by civilized people in modern times,
and to divest it of the savage character which has been impressed on it by our
enemies, in spite of all our efforts and protests. War is full enough of
unavoidable horrors under all its aspects to justify and even to demand of any
Christian rulers who may be unhappily engaged in carrying it on to seek to
restrict its calamities and to divest it of all unnecessary severities. You
will endeavor to establish the cartel for the exchange of prisoners on such a
basis as to avoid the constant difficulties and complaints which arise, and to
prevent for the future what we deem the unfair conduct of our enemies in
evading the delivery of the prisoners who fall into their hands; in retarding
it by sending them on circuitous routes, and by detaining them sometimes for
months in camps and prisons; and in persisting in taking captive noncombatants.
Your attention is
called also to the unheard-of conduct of Federal officers in driving from their
homes entire communities of women and children, as well as of men, whom they
find in districts occupied by their troops, for no other reason than because
these unfortunates are faithful to the allegiance due to their States, and
refuse to take an oath of fidelity to their enemies.
The putting to
death of unarmed prisoners has been a ground of just complaint in more than one
instance; and the recent execution of officers of our army in Kentucky, for the
sole cause that they were engaged in recruiting service in a State which is
claimed as still one of the United States, but is also claimed by us as one of
the Confederate States, must be repressed by retaliation if not unconditionally
abandoned, because it would justify the like execution in every other State of
the Confederacy; and the practice is barbarous, uselessly cruel, and can only
lead to the slaughter of prisoners on both sides — a result too horrible to be
contemplated without making every effort to avoid it.
On these and all
kindred subjects you will consider your authority full and ample to make such
arrangements as will temper the present cruel character of the contest, and
full confidence is placed in your judgment, patriotism, and discretion that,
while carrying out the objects of your mission, you will take care that the
equal rights of the Confederacy be always preserved.
SOURCE: A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Confederacy, Including the Diplomatic Correspondence, 1861-1865, Volume I: First Congress, Third Session, p.341-3
No comments:
Post a Comment