The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1865-11-29
Petition for the Release Of JEFF.
natis. y.

SeAttneL. IL was written at the request
of many ladies of Raleigh, Forth Caro-
lima, by Mrs. Downing, of Virginia, dur
ing a trief visit to that city. That most
highly gifted authoress and lady has her
hosts Of admirers in all parts Of this
country, and enjoys an enviab!e reputa-
ton wherever the English language is
spoken. She is the authoress of that in
teresting work entitled "Nameless," and
has another book in press which is spken
Of as one which will greatly add to her
we'll deserved popularity. The petition
has already been signed by a large num-
Der Of ladies, and will be, if it has not
already been forwarded to the President
While in a literary point Of view it is
admirable, the spirit ~pervading it is d.
vine
PETITION.
To his ErccAency Andrev johnson, Pres
ident of The United States: 90
We, the Undersigned, acting on the
part Of the women Of your Excellency's
native city, and actuated by the spirit
which animates the women of the entire
South, most respectfully beg leave to
present to your Excellcncy, our petition
This is in behalf of Jefferson Davis.
lately invested with all the prerogatives
of a position similar to the one in which
your Excellency, by the direct i%nterposi'
ton of the hand Of God has been placed
now a captive languishing in prison.
Whether that prison be the just doom Of
him who is suffering from its effects, is
not a question to be argued by us. Fit
be conceded that the mar who is the rep
resentative of the people must suffer the
consequences of such representation, then
the decree which consigned Mr.. Davis to
imprisonment in a land which has hith,
erto been the worlds synonym for free.
dom, was a most proper one, and he is
undergoing only fitting expiration for
the offended majesty of the law. But
has he not suffered it sufficiently long
1t is impossible for justice to be temper.
ed with mercyY Will not the resources
of your Ezcellency's mind devise some
means by which their a%ntagonism may be
remoyed2
Is not America sufficiently glorious
Has she not been proved sufficiently
great to allow her to rise superior to the
Ipetty conventional codes of similar ma
tons, and exhibit to the world at once
her power and her magnanimity, by ex.
tending q free pardon TO one who, though
he may have erred grievously against her,
is still her child and still loves he 7 Will
not your Excellency be Americas agenl
in this matter2 Win you not, as the
embodiment Of her strength and great
ness, u~nloose the bonds of the patien
sufferer, who has SO meekly and uncom
plainingly seen the spring blossom intc
summer and summer fade into autumn
seen it through his prison bars?
Will you not release him before the
dreary winter comes, bringing with it sc
much of material discomfort to his fraiI
and delicate body, and what is far worse
that the most acute physical suffering,
the wintry chill of hope deferred to his
soul which pines for his freedom Give
him back, we implore you, TO the women
of the South. He is ours, and we love
him!
We bound up our hearts and souls il
fhim and the cause which he once repre-
scented. God has seen ft to permit that
cause to be lost forever, and we bow tc
His decree. In all the broad South there
is no one so mad as 20 cherish the hope
that Mr.. Davis may in any way be con
nected with a future consonant with what
our wishes we're when he was invested
with the dignity which has proved SO ia
tai 10 him. No such thought has an ex.
%istence /; he has no future, and all oul
hopes in him were connected wholly with
the past and are dead f.reVer.
But we would be less than women, il
we forsook him with whom the cause
which we loved and have lost was identi
fed, aud women like, cling to him all the
more closely because he is suffering and
stands 10 need of our sympathy.
The sweetest and hottest season of the
year is fast approaching, bringing to hu
man remembrance Him who oIlened the
prison doors OF the unclaimed universe
and gave freedom TO a ransomed world.
Will not your Excelleucy mark the
Christmas Of 1865, a year which has wit,
messed the reunion Of a glorious country
and made you its Chief Magistrate, BY
giving as a Christmas gift to the womeI
Of the South the freedom Of Jefferson
Davis?
Listen, We implOre your Exccllency, 4
our proceedings; give US the boon W
ask, not so much because you may con
slider the gift right in itself, but becaus
there is no wrong in it, and because W
want it 80 much, and beg for it so earn
cstly.
| Give back Mr.. Davis to his W littl
| childron-givo him back to US, VIII,
once stood in that relation toward him.
t Do not, wo leg you, permit Death to AT
t ticipate You and give to his sorely trie
s spirit the freedom which is now in h
power OF your Exccllency to bestow /; M
9 by his release make for yourself a hon
a in every Southern woman's heart-cau
IS yout name to wiring with praise in eve