Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-10-30
MONDAY, OCTOBER 80, 1865.
rhe Approaching Trial of JED. DIX.

dispatch from Washington to the New
York Herald, purporting to give the de
tails of the arrangements and intentions
of the Government in respeett to JEFF. Da-
Wis. The statements are inherently prob
able, and are, 50 far .c~orrobdrated by al
other facts Which have come under our
observation that WeabslieEe them4Fne@
We are most heartily gladthat this dis
position is to be made of the representa-
tive rebel. That Jefferson Davis, the Off
eial head ofthe rebellion, should be brought
TO trial, almost every truly loyal man
has always believed. That this trial
should be for treason, and before a civil
court, We have urged frequently and earns
estiy Even if Davis were implicated
in the assassination of the President, in the
piracy on our Northern borders, in the at
tempted burning of Northern cities, in the
attempted destruction of our steamboats,,
in the yellow fever plot, in the systematic
torture nhictedon our prisoners, or in the
thousand and one monstrous v%illainies Of
the rebellion, these are emily lesser parts
andlegitimate developments of the parent
crimeoftreason. Murder is the greatest
possible crime against the individual, and
treason, which aims to murder the State,
is as much greater a crime than murder as
the life Of the State is more important than
the life of a single man.. This great guilt,
which caps the climaxof all ofenses against
human law, needs to be defined and pun
ished. As President johnson has said
Treason must be made odious.' We are
glad to see that the o1er-shadowing magni-
tude of the crime is considered and ac-
knowledged by placing Jefferson Da-.
Wis on trial for it. rrr
The trial viii be the greatest, in the in
terests involved, the intellect and elO-
quence brought to bear, the attention ex-
cited, the historical associations suggested,
and the influence eKerted, that is recorded
in the annals of the courts. Nor ancient
Greece nor modern Britain, with all their
tribunals and sentences, can parallel it.
Neither Cicero nor Demosthenes, neither
Burke nor Foxihhd ever such an opportu-
nifty for display of forensic eloquence or
legal acumen as this case involves. The
trialOf Marcellus was not mora interesting ;
that of Charles the First not graver; that
of Warren Hastings did not suggest more
interesting memories; that of Robert En-
met did not involve more deeply the prin-
ciples of constitutional liberty. The ac-
cessOries of this trial are worthy of its
importance. 1t viii take place before the
highest court known to our law, and be-
fore a magistrate who holds not only the
first place on the American bench, but
the first rank of the age as a statesman,
6~nancier, philanthropist and thinker. The
legal talent employed is among the first
in the country. The senior counsel for
the prosecution is James S. Speed, the At
torney General of the. United States, well
known as a lawyer of great acumen and
ability. His associates are worthy of him.
Lowell H. Rousseau, the heroic Kentuck-
ian who saved his State for the Union,
III . n-
who fought his way up.to the rank of
Major General in the Union armies, and
who won a triumph in his recent election
to Congress as great as those he gained
in battle, is a most successful law
yen, and has BEEN pitted against
Mr.. Speedin cases of much mo
ment. John H. Clifford, another of the
counsel for the government, has been Sen
ator, Governor and Attorney General in
his native State of NJ Massachusetts, conduct
ed the famous case against DR.. Webster
for the murder of Parkman, and is n of
the finest lawyers in the country. Will
liam NJ. Evarts has a greater reputation
in the courts, perhaps, than any of his col
ehgues, though he has never held Office,
and has sought distinction solely in the
pursuit of law. les
The counsel for the defense are fitted by
political belief as well as by ability, to act
as the champions of the fallen REBEL
Charles OConer is the most ultra, as he
is the most ableand eloquent, of the New
York Democratic leaders. Ransom H.
Gillett, of Albany, became very generally
known by his defense of Colonel North,
when that Democratic politician was tried
before a military commission, a year ago,
for frauds in taking the New York sol
dier's vote. Both are acute and learned
lawyers. -r.Jaaa, etl lig af
1t is remarkable that the gentlemen
named as counsel on both sides, while prom
inent as lawyers, have not held office to-
any extent, and have not been brought
prominently before the public as political
Headers, The natural result viii be that
the strictly legal phases of the case will be
made much more prominent than the po-
litical ones, and so far as this is the result
it is to be a~pplauded. .m 1901
We wait with interest the commence
ment of a trial so suggestive in in its asso-
Citations, 50 lofty in its surroundings, so.
gigantic in its interests, so important in
its results. .7aIs-aH on
- $780, rFna TusAa6