Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1865-07-06
JEFFERSON DAVIS AS NOR.
AL CRIMINAL. -

Iper's Magazine for July:
| At the time of our writing, the
most conspicuous offender ever cap
italy indicted in this country sits
alone In ; cspacious casemate Of For
tress Monroe, with only Bible upon
his table, and two silent sentinels
watching him by day and night
Perhaps, as he sits there or PAGES
the floor, he remembers the hapless
victims of Andenonville and Belle
Isle, or recalls the long horrors of the
war which has smeared so many
lovely fields with blood. In the ter
rible quiet of his prison does he ever
ask himself whether it was worth
while to dare such a grievous sorrow
ito his country for such a cause?-
Does he ever argue with himself that
even if the theory of State sovereign
ty were true, it was not wise to as
sert it at such a cost of misery, mere
ly for the sake of perpetuating some
thing which must surpass any con-
ce1vable in Justice of the nation to-
ward statef Has he never learned
that many things may be lawful
which are not expedient, and that
nothing but the most prolonged in
Justice Of which legal redress is hope
less is worse oppression than the
remedy of civil uar7
i Technically he is political pris-
oner. AS such he will be tried. But
he is also arraigned before the con
science and heart of his faithful fel-
low citizens as a moral criminal of
the worst kind. Even fanatical can
dor cannot plead that he was ignor
ant of the systematic horrors of the
Georgia prisons-the starving, the
freezing, the slow reduction of hu-
man beings to idiocy by exposure,
by hunger, by contact with filth and
disease. 1t was intended to weaken
them into despair and submission,
and it had that effect. It was also
intended to compel an exchange OF
sound and efficient men for his SER
vice, and there it failed. But the
first result was constant.
. Here, for instance, is note writ
ten in pencil from the United States
military prison at Nashville, by an
honest, industrious, sober, patriotic
neighbor of the Easy Chairs who
has been a faithful soldier of the tEar
from the beginning. He says that
he was captured before Petersburg
last August, and was sent from Rich
E mond to Salisbury. There he and
his comrades-there were ten thou
sand, in his estimate, during the pc.
riod of his imprisonment-were
e starved, and starved, and starved
and starved. They died, and died
! and by scores and hundreds took the
oath to the rebels and were placed
in their ranks. He and a few other:
persisted as long as he could. Bu
hunger and weakness and horror
gradually did their work and he sue
cumbed. From August until Apri
he had suffered more than we car
o imagine, and then he yielded. HI
: was put in the rebel ranks, and arm!
placed in his hands and those Of hi
companions, about half an hour be
fore Stoneman arrived. He did no
\ fire a shot against his hag-none o
them did--and they went directly
over to Stoneman, but as comm.
from the rebel ranks they were helt
as prisoners.
E, This is one case, and enough, bu
how tragical. Yet there were thou
sands and thousands like him VIII,
s, suffered, all that he suffered an
then, consumed with loathsome dis
eases, with broken hearts, with reel
:, ing brains, sank into the convulsiv
agonies of death, or laughed out il
stark madness, or driveled slowly o.
in idiocy. And they were young
re and brave, and noble men who wer
thus treated. They were guiltless Q
every crime, and had done nothin
ur but defend their country. At home
far away upon Western prairies
among New England hills, upon tn
shores of the lakes, along the Sc
D- coast, mothers, and wives and daugh
ters sickened with the long suspense
the horrible suspicion Their hal
whitened, their eyes grew dim wit
hopeless watching their cheeks thir
Is ned with acute fear, their heart
broke also, and they died amid;
their appalled, children. So awful
e, sorrow, so terrible suffering, bot
in itself and in what it occasioneC
no listory records. And it was th
- crime of this man who now sits alon
with his Bible and the silent sent
nels In Fortress Monroe.
1t is vain to plead for him as pr
litical offender The war was iittl
compared with the crimes Of the wa
Over the graves of the dearly b.
loved, shot dead upon the battlefield
we can bear and see that politics
differences may come to var. Bl
over the Golgothas of Millen an
Andersonville--over the spots whel
the pens stood in which heroic me
were treated as beasts are nevt
treated-we call murder murder, an
crime crime; and all murders and a
crimes are less black than these.
Whatever the verdict of the jur
may be upon the charge of treason
whatever the punishment, if the a
vs cused be convicted as a traitor
however, in case of his execution
Il