The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-06-28
JEFFERsON DAVIS AS A MORAL.
CRIMINAL.

r
JEFFERsON DAVIS AS a 0TOnAT
] CRIMINAL.
3n George w. Curtis writes I'M TIatna,,s
4flftggsi,e for July: ~ III r i,gt5 ,iii5t
At the time of our writing the most
eonspicuous offender ever capita1lv In.
dicted in this country sits alone in a
spacious caserhate of Fortress Monroe,
with only Bible upon his table. ana
two silent sentinels watching him Inv
day md night. Perhaps as he ATS there
or PAGES the HoOr he Remembers Tie
hapless victims of AndersonviIIe and
l3elle Isle, or recalls the long horrors OF
the war Which has slnenred so many
lovely fields with blood. In, tile terri
Bile quiet of his prison does he eyeriilsll
| himself whether it was worth while 10
dare such q grleVOus sorrow to his cOun-
try for such cnusc2. Does he ever
fIFtgu argue with himself that even if the
theory OF State sovereignty. We're true
it was not wiso to assert it ut such cost
of misery, merely for the sake of per
petuating something which must Sur-
pass any conceivable injustice of the
nation. tOwnrd u State2 Has he meyer
| learned tliat many things phS lje law
tfU1 Which are not eXpedient, and TINT
nothing but the most prolonged inius-
tice of which legal redress is hopeless
IS u worse oppression than the remedy
fof civil war? .Il.77'
.! /" Technically he ism political prisoner,
AS such he Will be tried. . But he is also
nrraigued before the conscience and
heart Of his fnithtul fellow-citizensas n
moral criminal of theWorStEi Even
flnaticpl candOr can not plead that he
was ignorant of the Systematic horrors
of. the Georgia prisons the starving.
the freezing, the slow reduction of htI-
man beings to idiocy by exposure, by
hunger, by contact with filth and dis
ease. lt.Nyas Intended, TO, weaken them
into despair and submission, md it had
that effect. II was also intended to
compel an eXchangelof sound and cffi-
Client men for his service, and there IL
failed. but the first result was c0n-
"Herc. for instance, is d note wilton
hin pencil from the United States milf
tary prison Mt Nashville, by an honest,
Industrious sober, patriotic neighhor of
/ the E1sy' Chair'9, MILO las lleeIl Il fifth
ful soldier of the war from the Begin
nng. He says thnt he was captured
before Petersburg last August, and was
sent from Richmond TO Salisbury
There he and all his ceomr9des-there
were ten thousand, iii his estfnnte. dur
ing the period of his imprisOnment-
We're starved and starved and starved.
They died and died, and by scores and
hundreds took the oath to- the rebels
and were placed in their ranks. He
and n few others persisted us long
! as he could. But hunger and weakness
and horror gradually did their work
and he succumbed. From August un-
TIL April. he had suffered more than we
can lmug1nei and then he yielded. He
was putin the rebel ranks and arms
placed i'll his bands and those of his
companions, about half nm hour before
lStonemHn arrived. He did not fire II
shot against his fiag-none of them did
and they went directly over to Stone
man, but rs coming from the rebel
ranks they were held as prisoners.
This IS one case, sad enough, but
with nlleViOtionS-onc case not the
worst, but how tragical. Yet there were
thousands and thousands like him who
Isuftered all that he suffered, and then,
consumed with loathsome diseases, with
broken hearts, with,t reelinS brains
sank into convulsivc agonies of death,
or laughed out in stark madness, oil
driVelled slowly OH in idiocy. And
they were young and brave and
noble men who We're thus treated
They were guiltless of every crime
and had done nothing but defend
their country. At home, far away
, upon Western PrOiries, among New
England hills, upon, the sshores.of the
llkes, along the sea coast, mothers and
wives and daughters sickened with the
long suspense, tho horrible SUSPICION
dim with hopeless watching, theil
t chehlfs thinned with acute fear, thgiI
hearts broke also, and thoy died amidst
their appalled, children. So awful q
! sorrow, so terrible suffering, both in
itself and In what it Oceasioned, no his
i tory records. And it was the crime OF
V this man who now sits alone with his
Bible andithe silent sentinelsf in Fort
tress Monroe.
ut is vain to plead for him as a politi-
y cal offender, The war was little com.
pared with the crimes ofthe war. oSei
the graves OF the. dearly beloved, shO
dead upon the battle field, we cnn hea
and SEQ that political differences may
"A come to war. But over the GOIgot11tls
i of Millen and AndersonYille-over tho
) spots where the pens Stood in which
: heroic men were treated as beasts ar
; never treated-we call murder murder
: and crime crime; aud all murders auC
4 all crimes nre less black than these.
"Whatevet the verdict of the jury
4 may be upon the charge of treason
Il whatever the punishment, If the accused
3 be convicted as n trnitor however, il
0 case of his execution, he may be ranked
9 among political victims, the verdict o
n every generous heart and of history Il
= sure against this man hs a criminal no
less thnnthe infnmo Gus English Jetfreys
d Viewed nerely as II poll leader, hi
whole public csIreersis un1ighted with.
!, single noble action, and his speeches
rnIiwill be VainlY selrched for one gen
3 erous emotion! If This inhimy in history
will be singular, it will be in every
IL point deSerypd The same kind o
! gloomy odfum that settles upon tht
I fnames Of eIahes III, I but tenfold deeper
7 us he was infinitely criminal, vii
; gather and darlSen around that of Jsff
j Davis" q. :. -
: THE Indcr, late Confederate organ
? inotifies Englisfnnen Tint inasmuch a
n the ,ynr. Is -aninallN finished the tim