Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1865-05-20
From The N. Y. Tribune, May II :.
Trial of .IeE. Davis.

According to old-fashioned rules, the dis
cipline of culprt proceeds in this order:
/. Information of his crime; 2. Issue of
process for his arrest; 3. Capture; 4. In
dictment; 8. Arraignment and Trial; g..
Execution of the Sentence. Many persons
seem intent on beginning at the wrong end;
but the Government has thus far followed
established precedents, anu we presume he
will do so to the end.
If President johnson has not been misled
with regard to Davis completely in the as
sassination of President Lincoln, we trust
he is to be first tried distinctly and avow-
edly on that charge. Not having seen the
evidence lin the Bureau of Military JUS
tice," we have formed no judgment rs to
its strength; but we are advised that a lead
ing New York Democrat who knows the
arch-rebel intimately is convinced of his
guilt. And if Davis is an assassin, we are
anxious that he should be arraigned, tried,
convicted and punished as just that and
nothing else. We see nothing essentially
incredible in the presumption, after
what is known of the massacre of our
black and the starvation of our white SOL
diers under his authority without eliciting
one word of official rebuke from the func-
tionaries responsible before God and man
for these inhuman outrages. We shall GER
tainly regret to hear that the President was
induced to charge the fugitive Confederate
with such crime on Inadequate grounds;
but we would not have him tried for it un-
less the evidence is plainly sufficient to con-
vict him. Yet, if he should be tried for mur-
der and not convicted, he would still be SUBJ
ject to indictment and trial for treason.
And il he is to be so tried, we trust that
trial will be not merely public, deliberate,
and invested with all the forms and solem-
mites OF legally administered justice, but
that it will be presided over by the Chief
Justice of the United States. We trust that
two or more of the ablest lawyers in the
United States will prosecute, and a like
number defend the case, and that every
| question properly involved in the issue will
be raised and decided. We want distinct,
| positive adjudication of the assumed right
| of State or States to withdraw from the
! Union at pleasure, as also on their
alleged power to absolve their citi-
zens from their allegiance to the Fed
eral Constitution. We want clear adju-
| dication of the import, extent and limita-
tions of that allegiance, so that the cadet,
the military or naval officer, the civil func-
tionary, may know precisely what is the ju-
dicial construction of his oath-what 1.-THE
law of the landn understands and requires
him to mean by his oath. Properly tried
as it of course will be by such tribunal
JIlS case VIII uO lnuCn W StJIle duCnOTlCd-
lively and conclusively questions which
have too long remained open, and give to
our institutions that conference and solidity
which their founders clearly contemplated,
but which unsound and caviling commen-
taries have tended to weaken and UNDER
mine.
Among the great State trials which illus
trate the jurisprudence of Christendom,
that of Jefferson Davis and others for trea-
son, in defiantly resisting the authority of
the United States and waging bloody war
for its subversion throughout thirteen
States, is destined to hold prominent
place. Let the. American people bear in
mind that they too, are on trial in this case
and by their calmness, order, and respect
for their own authorities and tribunals,
make plain the difference between Freedom
and Anarchy, giving one more evidence
that the strongest possible Government is
that which is based on the intelligent atfec-
tion and unshackled choice of an entire peo-
f,la