The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1865-05-24
Of Jefferson DavIss


capture of President Jefferson Davis, of
the Southern Confed ,racy, his family aud
staff, by detachment Of Federal soldiers,
in Georgia, seventy miles from Macon -
The reports came through General Will
son, at Macon, who gives currency to re-
ports Of several absurd details Of which
he could have had no knowledge and
which were invented to cast derisiou up
on Davis and crafty the public appetite
for sensational scandal. Mr.. Davis is 70,
ported to have "behaved himself with
dignity and resignation" and this is
doubles true, for man Of his calibre,
and who has for four years held the po-
sition he did, discharged the duties Of a
great Office to which he was elevated by
the unanimous voice Of FIVE millions Of
people, is not likely to conduct himself
like poltrooh or 40 imbecile when over.
taken by disaster. Few men known in
the worlds history have experienced
greater vicissitudes of fortune in 80 short
a space Of time than Jefferson Davis and
unles his future course fails to correspond
with his past, he will meet whatever fate
has in store fer him with dignity and
courage which will disarm his enemies
of much Of their malice, and deprive his
misfortunes Of half their terrors.
From the nature Of the contest in which
the country has been engaged, and the
extreme bitterness which entered into it,
Mr.. Davis has concentrated upon himself
the rancorous hatred Of great number Of
people in the North, who had not the
disposition and the capacity to separate
the individual and the cause, and who
now look forward to his ignominious OK.
ecution On the gallows as the fual and
deserved punishment due to the sins Of
the South, and as the satisfaction Of the
claims Of Justice. From every debascd
press and from almost every pulpit there
will 60 up q ravenous cry for blood,
which the administration at Washington
will scarcely have the moral courage, if
it had the magnanimity, to resist. Loud.
er, shriller, and more fierce than the CRY
which went up from the mobs Of Paris
for the blood of the revoiutionists, will
come this shout Of vengeance against
jeff Davis. Thirty years Of intense ha-
tired Of the South, carefully nurtured by
| Abolition eloquence and malevoleuce,
concentrated by thirty years Of Abolition
education, must bO appeased by the blood
Of single man. The revolution Of the
people Of the South is popularity believed
to be embodied in that one emaciated
figure, and the cry is up to tho end the
, two together with all the ignoniny that
can be invented.
Pretexts enough for the execution Of
Jefferson Davis will be fourd. If it is
found best to maintain the accusation
made in President Johnson's proclama
ton. that Davis was an accessory to the
assassination Of Mr.. Lincoln-although
, rs Gerritt Smith says, no "sane man be
! lieves such thiug'-there will be ne
! difficulty in organizing Military Com
: mission which will promptly convict hin
Of that, or any other charge, with or with
out testimony or trial, and as prompt.
j.. put the sentence Of death in execution
Whatever "bloody instructions" issu'
i from Washington, where men are fr'n
i zied with the smell Of human blood, vii
!. find ready instruments willing to execut
4 them. As to what shape these ''ihstruc
q tions" will take in returning to those VIII
;. give them, as such instructions arc sal
. to return, it is not necessary to discuss
, We are forced to the conclusion tina
A the execution Of President Davis by tn
Federal authorities is as certain as any
thing in the future can be- and we ar
equally we'll assured that such an ever
will bs fatal and most deplorable mi
4 take. jeff Davis individually is Of littl
N more consequence than any other prom
A. nent Southern man, He did not max
n n. the revolution, he could not control Il
~ he did not lead it; he only followed
n. the wake of the loviathan, when any otl
er course would have insured his destru
rn ton. His life is no more precious TO hi
Ie than the lives of half q million Southel
=. soldiers were to those who cheerfully su
"a rendered them. His execution will
a but another sacrifice in cause whit
n FIVE millions Of Southern people belle
n. to be the cause Of liberty, of patriotisl
no aud Of ccuntry--as sacred as that I
"a which Washington fought, and their fol
7 fathers perished. It will be more. ~
e.. execution Of Jefferson DAVIS will give q
of cause Of the South martyr whose bio
or will be more potent with the Southe
nm people than all the actions Of his life.'
+. One great act Of sectional revenge "
va undo the work Of armies, and resolve I
" Southern States into scething cauldr'
N;s Of diseontent, revolt, revolution and bloc
In In shed. We have only to look into Eul
"a pean history to be assured Of the inex,
n able fact that a martyr has more inf
a ence in keeping alive and propagate
~ the fame Of revolution than all 9th
~, M causes combined. The execution Of 50,
oc conspicuous chieftaln elevated by revol
'" tion, passes down from generation to g
liz Grafton, from sire to son, an incentive
iva further revolution, aud an example to
,M,v M initiated. The terrors Of the punshmt
I. are powerless to intimidate the most Ii
,st N, i'd, while the glory Of the martyr is I
me- me envy and admiration Of the enthusiast.
al. JEFF Davis viii have more sympathy q
be more powerful dangling from gallo
a than when ruling in Richmond,- Crii
NY A man in Philadelphia has been b
'us' for trial in $500 bonds for taking ano