The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1865-10-31
TRIAL OF JEFFERSON DAVIS.

1t is quite certain that the President
has determined that Mr.. Davis shall be
lried for treason, and we think it very
proper conclusion on the part of Mr..
Johnson. His best friends cannot object
to the forms of trial being honestly
gone through with, in order that great
principles in our Government may be
deiinitively settled. In this trial there
is no thought OF. visiting personal ven
geance upon the head of Jefferson Davis.
No such unworthy and vindictive mo-
tive governs the action of the President,
a fact made sufficiently apparent by the
pardon or parole of others equally as
guilty in the opinion of the world as the
ex-President of the Confederacy. There
is a higher motive, and that is to estab-
lish the actual legal position or moral
turpitude of those who took up arms Tor
the purpose of dissolving the Union
and establishing an Independent State.
There are wise men who hold that there
can be no such thing as treason commit
ted by an American citizen against the
government, save by giving aid and
comfort to the foreign enemies of the
country in time of war, and this, too, III
the face of the constitutional provision
which declares that treason against
the United States shall consist in levy
ing war against them, or adhering to
their enemies" IF firing on Fort Sum-
ter and selling the forts and raising an
unkn own flag over their ramparts was
not levying war against the United
States, what was it? But we will not
discuss the question. Weview the trial
of Mr.. Davis in the light of IA grand in
quest upon the dead body of the South
ern Confederacy, except that instead of
inquiring into when, where, and in
what manner it met its death, the ques-
ton of how and by what authority it
came into existence, is the important
matter for solution. 1t will be an inquiry
into the legitimacy of its birth-into the
legality of the right Of secession. We
trust therefore that those ladies' and gen
tlemen of the South who have been so
earnestly petitioning the President for
the pardon of their chief, will possess
their souls with patience, and allow the
law to take its course. Mr.. Davis is liv-
ing very comfortably and quietly at
Fortress Monroe, and his interests can
not possibly be placed in any greater
jeopardy after trial, than they are at
present. If he be proved guilty of trea-
son, the executive will still hold the
power of life and death in his hands,
and should he choose to exercise the
high prerogative of executive clemency,
it will be proper for him then to pardon
the criminal. At present, Mr.. Davis is
guilty of no crime in the eyes of the
law; and where no crime has heen
proven, how can pardon be
extended? The whole matter must be
thoroughly discussed by the best legal
ability of the country and passed upon
by the highest judicial tribunal, and we
may perhaps derive much benefit from
the trial, and arrive at better know
ledge of the principles upon which our
republican institutions are based, and
the real powers of our government. All
men should therefore willingly acqui-
esce in the justice and likewise in the
expediency and necessity of trying, not
Mr.. Davis particularly, but the legality
of the great event in which he was a
principal actor. We do not believe
there is a single individual in the land
that thirsts for the blood of Mr.. Davis
that would take pleasure in witnessing
his execution-but there is a strong de-
sire to test the question of treason, and
put at rest forever all doubts upon
that score. We want decision as a
future guide, and to deter future at
tempts to dismember the Union. We
care very little for the punishment of an
individual, for we have very grave
doubts that the fear of punishment ever
deferred any one from the commission
of a crime. Let the trial proceed.