The Cleveland leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1865-1865, 1865-05-05
The 6e5eI Assassination PIOs KNOWN
fr. KErnuHann.


I'm EmgEands
Seme time previous TO the culmination
Of the rebel plot for the assassination of
the President and the entire Executive
department Of the Government, there aP'
pearedih an English Journal which is well
known to be edited in the secession inter
est, the announcement that fisherman
would shortly be the autocras OF Ameil-
ca." When this prediction wAs made iSs
meaning was not understood and many
doubted if it had any meaning Whs'eVer'
In the light of recent events 1t becomes
most terribIy ineligible Therecsnt plot,
which succeeded only in etfecting the mur-
der of the President, undoubtedly had for
its object the removal of all officers of the
government, civil and military, superior in
rank to She man. In this wholesale
butehery the President Vice President,
President of the Senate, Speaker of the
House, all the Cabinet, and the Lieutenant
General were included. If such 3 plan
had been consunmsted, Sherman would
indeed have been the asutOcrst Of Amer
ica.n So much for the first indication OF
BIitish knowledge of the design.
Another feet of the same sort is thst the
London La6er, in commenting upon the
fall of Richmond and the snnihilation of
the military power of the COnfederacy, re-
marks that r4he first set Of the war has
terminated, and that in the second the
South will probably be more successful"
What does the I'sder mean by 'the second
act of the war" A government which
has lost its capital and its armies cannot
hope TO succeed In 3 fair and manly con-
test in the field, nor does the LHdeT refer to
such contest. Clearly its expression is
but faintly disguised threat that the
South intends 10 gain by treachery Whist it
hss lost in warfare,-thst, beaten in the
field, it intends to resort to robbery, pirscy,
arson and assassina ion. In this "sct of
war" as the Lg5ez miscalls crimes that
would shame BOrgiA. it hopes that the
South will be more successful
So much for proof that the conspiracy
tomurder the President Wss known before
hand in EnglsHd- OF course the informs
fion on which these Anglo-rebels founded
their speculstions came from Richmond
In this connection it is well TO mark the
significant fact that when Mr.. Jefferson
Davis. setting through Breckinridge opened
negotiations with Sherman, he did so just
as though that General we're indeed, SIS the
rebel organ in England asserted that hssoo
would be the "autocrat Of America" He
could not hope that the terms sgreed upon
nv General Sherman would be ratified by
the President and his Cabinet. But oher-
man was well-known as a Democrat in pol
jtics. and 8 Southern man by residence be-
fore the war. He had many friends in the
rebel army and Government. He wss
known to have regretted and deplored the
war. Trusting in these facts, and in the
knowledge that Sherman was no diploma
fist and might be easily duped into false
position by willy politicians, Davis deter
mined to take step which would remove
the entire Union Government at one fell
blow,-ths assassination Of the entire ex-
eeutive department, and of General Grant,
and within tweuty-four hours Of the
time assigned Tor the contamination OF the
Eillainy, opened negotiations with Sherman.
That the plot was known in Canada has
been officially snnounced, and facts which
have been published implicste in the
course they took their cue from Richmond.
Taking all these facts together the con-
clusion that the whole scheme was
carefully concocted by the rebel gov
ernment as the last expedient to save the
cause of treason, is unavoidable. That it
miscsrried is due TO the failure of tho in
strumsnts employed and not to any want
Of deliberate malignity on the part of the
villains who conceived It.
suruav,Iar NJ tho HaheI GaerafRrV of