The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1865-05-12
Che Naneoek Ssffetsonian.
TER Ms:
$500 PER ANNUM IN ADVANCE
An Appeal for Jus,icr

Az q meeting held in Philadelphi
on Friday evening, 14th nit Nfr. AL
bert n. Gilbert delivered the follow
ing perth n address:
We owe a debt to The leaders Of th,
rebellion. .vhatf Thoroughly reat
in history, understanding the princi
pies Of political economy, familiar
with the springs OF national action
they inaugurated this rebellion. They
were not misled They knew all th,
consequences Of the venture they
made, They knew that IL the North
were loyal and brave, they must wade
through seas of blood, yet they cast
the die and assumed the risk They
had no great moral end in view, no
lofty political principle to viddicate,
no worthy object to achieve. Buttwo
things were to be accomrlished--pcr-
sonal aggrandizemdnt and, ne they
hoped, tho rcrpetuity Of slavery. -
Yet they sounded the tocsin whose
Hrst peal made the whole world tr NJ.
bic. By fraud and force confined,
by falsehood most ioul, aud intimida-
zion of every degree, they mislcd the
masses, and organized their forces
They lowered in the very su5limity
OF all conceivable crime talsehood,
robbery, assassination, starvation,
aavage cruelty TO prisoners, enctiiice
OF honor and pledged word; all these
were but departments Of the one
great crime that compreheudcd all,
the most stupondous treason the
world has ever seen. A million OF
men lie cold 81 death, the result OF
their experiment. ThousaAls of our
bomesteads have been destroyed the
air is black with the sombre drapery
Of those who mourn, the glare OF
burning cities has lit the heavens, and
the earth has become crimson with
blood, that these leaders might try
their experiment Tie world has
stood appalled, nj their tlendish cruel.
ty The men, the object, the means
were all unholy; yes, satanic and we
are asked to take these men to our
hearts; not only to forgive, but to
conciliate. to love, TO honor.
1t is shameiul-it is atrocious. ]
care not though thousand Ward
Beechers had said II, it is aLrocious. -
1t insults the memory of our dead
heroes, and the faces Of our living
ones. 1t delies God, and ridicules
our national existence. 1t proclaims
the satanic principle, the more helm
Gus the crime the less guilt. Ii q
man In your midst commits bur
glary, you imprison him, il he com.
mits n murder YOU hang him. These
have committed tens of thousands Of
both, and we are to forgive and en-
brace them. But short time ago,
you hung Captain Gordon for ongag.
ing in the slave trade and the men
whose legitimate ultimate would have
been its re- establishment. we are to
embrace. You hung Captain BeaIl q
few weeks since, aud after him again
Kennedy, and the devils in human
form who employed them you ask the
nation to forgive and love. With
the sunken cheeks and lack lustre
eyes OF our poor, starved soldiers now
in our midst, with the sight OF the
skin Of living men dried over the
extremities of bones like dried meat,
TO blister our eyes, with funeral col
umns teeming with deaths from star
walton. we are asked to clasp the
hand of their savage destroye,s in
fraternal prcssure..s--e
Never! Never! Never! I call not
for vengence. but for justice No
more severe than that which You adj
minister in your courts every day,
Justice which proportions punishment
to crime. I demand that that the
majesty Of the Government shall be
vindicated; that the sncer of Euro
peans at our rope OF sand shall not he