Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1865-07-06
JUSTICE FOR JEFF. DAVIS.

Ken around thai OF jefferson OaFl5.
JUSTICE FOR JEFF. DAVIS.
In spite of the protestations of the
English sympathizers with the re-
bellion, against such In act, it is as
clearly the right and duty of the gov
ernment of the United States to hang
JEFF. Davis and his leading and most
criminal confederates, as to punish
any other offenders against the peace
and welfare of society. We hold
that if that most guilty and Infamous
of men is suffered to eecape the pen
alties he has earned, fESre is not a
murderer, robber, or q perjurer in
all the land who may mot with pro
priety plead the 1eniehcy that was
extended 10 him, as areason why all
punishment should cease, and why
stabbing, poisoning, afson and rob-
berry should be considered offenses
no more. Davis is a thousand times
guilty of every crime known to the
law and to the imagination of men.
He is guilty from the beginning to
the end-guilty in avery thought,
impulse hope, motion and act that
he has felt, shared, sor committed
since the rebellion was matured and
the war commencedEguilty because
he W; poss sessed Of en unholy am
bition--guilty because he warred
against light and knoviedge-doubly
gully in that the Wholesale blood
shed of which he waS in major part,
the cause, the fiendish cruelty and
barbarlty that he ADVOCATED in the
field and in the prison pen, and the
ruinous upheavsl of society that was
contemplated by his act, the parent
of all offences, were undertaken,
avowed and defended.in the interest
and for the benefit of human slave
ry, in itself the climaxof all outrages
against the laws of God and man.
He must not be suffered to escape.
The unparalleled magnitude of his
offences should be no shield against
punishment demanded by all law,
human and divine The number OF
his accomplices. and the impossible
ity of inflicting death on all who
have been seduced into rebellion by
his false and infan Gus persuasions,
only make justice more anxious to
clutch him, the head and front Of the
great offending.
We put aside sentimentality; VIC
shut our eyes to the magnitude and
fierceness of The resistance he was
able to make against the constituted
authority exercised in the cause oi
humanity and truth; we make no &C.
count of the mock heroics in which
his admirers on this continent and
on the other, indulge. We judge
him as we would an assassin who
way lays his victim by the roadside
and puts bullet through his brain
for the money that his pockets may
contain; as we would the wretch who
burns his neighbors house in The
night to crafty his hate and passion
for revenge; as we would the fienC
who torments with studied cruelty
and starves with diabolical malignity
the orphan apprentice whom evi
fortune puts into his hands. We be
lieve him to be the epitome ef al
human lnfamy--the most monstroul
creation OF the age. This republic
is not strong enough to forgive him
We know that imbecilitily and feal
) say that living in banishment h
would be forgotten; that, if hung. h'
would be canoniBed as a martyr
Yes, there Is class of women whit
: have. for four years past been full o
the desire to tear some Yankee
heart out, that they might stamp i
beneath their feet; these would b.
glad, if he does suffer the conse
, quences of his crime, to sprinkle
their handkerchiefs with drops o
his blood, and hang these precious
mementoes il Some shrine wher,
they could be adored. There ar,
men, especially in the North, wilt
) would quarrel for the possession o
! his breeches buttons, and contend
for locks of his hair--relies of thei
unworthiness and his Infamous exit
All who have sympathized with tn
: rebellion should in his respect b
gratified as far as his cold blood vii
: go, and to just the extent that hi
e hair and raiment can be divided. ]
!. possible, let the reminders of th
: criminal be preserved in every house
!, hold that has abetted treason an,
sheltered traitors. They will be a
t once the sign and the warning tina
! all such men and women need
e sign that the Republic is strong, an
q warning that treason Is punishe,
r with death. Marat, ,Danton and Rob
! espierre had their worshippers In
l fanny, as long as the infamous live
has no exemption from alteration
7 Why deprive JEFF. Davis of the post
: humous honors that were paid to tn
: triumyirate we have mentioned?-
=, With all their hloodthirstiness aul
e cruelty, it is to be said that they be
) lieved that they were killing for tn
IS freedom and ultimate happiness G
It mankind. The wretch for whom "
n invoke nothing but justice, delibel