The following is copied from Brownlow’s
Knoxville ( Tennessee) Whig, and shyws
the people of the South to be fully post
ed as to the laws of war regarding the right
and power of the federal authorities to
abolish slavery if necessary to the public
peace and welfare:
Gen. Butler having pul about sixty Vir
ginia slaves to work, who escaped from
their owners, and took refuge in the Fed
eral Army, a distressing howl is kept up
in Southern newspapers, and the cry of ne
gro-stealing is raised against the Federal
troops, an 1 their commanding officers.
This brings up the principles of interna
tional law, and the several precedents that
Butler seems to be following. A synopsis
of the doctrine was given by Gen. Edmond
I’. Gaines, at New Orleans, in 1833. Gen.
