Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1865-06-22

IOSoASHCO W pAt'ot1 iaui~l PuuiSH
ments which are inexpedient. Yet
in this case the lawful penalty be in
expedient, in no conceivable case o
the kind can it ever be expedient.
1t is useless to urge that the United
States Government IS now the strong
est in the world, and may magnani
mously dismiss baffed conspiratol
with contempt. Why should it mo-
dismiss baffled pickpocket with
contempt 1t is possibly in no dan.
ger from the pickpocket. 1t is Ger.
tainly in no dangee from the con
spirator. II treasok be, like theft, g
crime, it is as necessary thatit should
be punished according to law. If II
be felt that it should not be punished
according to law, it is because it is
not regarded as a crime. When 9
notorious assassin who has long de-
fed the law is finally secured and
sentenced, there is nocurious inquiry
whether the sentence shall be execu.
ted. If Booth had been arrested
unhurt there would have been nc
plea that magnaHimity required his
pardon or Communication of his pun.
ishment. Now the law awards the
same penalty to treason as to assas.
sination. Davis is as guilty as Booth.
Why is there any question of his
proper fate, unless from the convic-
ton that treason is not considered
so morally criminal as assassination?
In a case so clear and so unmiti-
gated as Davis's, eommutation of
punishment would be mere evasion
of the law, and would be the strong
est proof that the law should be
changed. For we can not agree that
exile would be, as claimed by some,
a more impressive and useful doom
than death. Whatever loyal Ameri
can citizens and their friends else
where may think Of the guilt of
DAVIS, it is certainly true that there
are hundreds and thousands of per-
sons in this country who would con-
slider themselves honored by his
presence as guest In their houses.
Would the miscallsd Union Club in
Fifth Avenue in New York, which
refused to expel Judah Benjamin,
his most wicked accomplice, be like
ly to refuse to entertain Jefferson
Davis9 Would Mr.. Belmont, the
chairman of the Democratic. National
Committee, who. protected Lord Har-
tington in wearing a rebel badge in
his house, probably close his doors to
the chosen chief of the rebellion
which Mr.. Belmont so conspicuously
honored?
And if this be so at home, how
much more so would it be abroad!
Morally speaking, Jefferson Davis is
still the same man whom Mr.. Glad
stone, the British Chancellor of the
EXchequer, saluted as the Creator of
nation. He is still the same man
who was chief leader of a people who
Lord Russell, the British Foreign
Minister, admiringly declared were
fighting for independence. If the
liberal and friendly Monckton Mil
mes, now Lord Houghton, invites
Mazzini and Louis Blanc to breakfast,
and Mr.. Gladstone bids Gsrfbaldi to
lunch, the Tory Lord Derby, who
thinks the murder of Mr.. Lincoln
"a blunder," would hardly hesitate
to invite the unfortunate gentleman,
Jefferson DAVIS, to dinner; and we
doubt if General Mcclellan, or his
friend the Honorable August Bel
mont, were they IN London, would
decline to meet him at my Lords
table. Yetwe are very sure neither
of these gentleman would have en-
tertaiDed Wilkes Booth, who, let it
be remembered, is, in the eye of the
law, no guiltier than Davis. And
why, but because they would consi6-
er Jefferson Davis not q criminal,
but political exile, like Charles the
Second in Germany, or the Count de
Provence in Flanders, or Louis
Philippe at Clsremont If Davis es-
cape the gallows, he will not wan
der through the world like Cain. nor
be Stunned like Benedict Arnold
He will appeal to aristocratic sympa-
thy and Tory respect, like fallen
Belisarius.
1t is again said that blood enough
has been shed, and that we wish to
see no more. But those who say
this forget that the very object of
the death penalty awarded to treason
is the prevention of bloodshed. They
also forget that man who has muir
dered 8 whole family should hardly
escape punishment because he has
killed so many. So with the asser-
ton that the leader of great war
can not be treated as q criminal
The trainers Of the Constitution were
men who knew exactly what words
meant. They knew that treason is
in It's nature an offense upon a great
scale. When they contemplated the
suspension of the privilege Of the
writ of ka6eas corpus in case of rebel
lion they knew treason to be posi-
BILE, and they defined treason to con-
sist in levying war, and Congress, in
the full light of all such knowledge,
affixed death as the penalty Of trea-
son.
If, then, as our foreign friends,
like the London Star and others,
suggest, it would be wise and proper
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