Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1865-05-25
RUTLAND HERALD.
TUESDAY, MAY 90, 1866.
Self-Condemned.

ators. That Jetl, shall be tried, con-
victed and hung, is the demand of the
loyal people, 1t is demanded not as q
matter of vengeance against the indi-
vidual so much as of safety TO them
selves. The public safety is the prime
consideration in all human punishment
for crime and as the crime OF these arch
traitors far exceeds all others in danger
to the whole nation as well as In intrin-
sic magnitude, Nervousness and cruel
ty, it is felt that If capital punishment
does not follow conviction in the case at
least OF the chief traitor of all, it can
never again with propriety be inflicted
in any case. Either capital punishment
must abolish jeff Davis earthly exist
ence, or his continued existence must
abolish capital punishment.
The following utterances of Davis
himself, and of one of his chief CO work
ers, Henry A. Wise, are instructive and
very interesting on this subject They
stand condemned out of their own
mouths. In speech delivered by Da-
Wis in Faneuil Hall, in 1858, he enun-
ciated the following sound doctrine, by
which he may well be judged now
" Among culprits, there is none more
odious to my mind than public officer
who takes an oath to support the con-
stitution-the compact between the
states binding each other for the com
mon defence and general welfare of the
other-yet retains TO himself a mental
reservation that he will war upon the
principles he has sworn to maintain,
and upon the property rights, the pro-
lection of which are part of the compact
Of the Union. 1t Is crime too low to
be named before this assembly. 1t is
one which no man with selfrespeCt
would ever commit. To swear that he
will support the constitutional take
an Office which belongs in many of it's
relations to all the states, and to use it
as means of injurng portion of the
states of which he is thus the represent
alive, is treason to everything hOnora-
BILE in man. 1t is base and Cowardly
attack of him who gains the confidence
of another, in order that he may wound
him"
That Davis has no computations on
the subject of hanging, is evident from
the following, which an officer OF the
United States army, according to the
New York Evening POST heard him ut
ter just before the breaking out of the
war, This officer saws
" l heard Mr.. Davis utter the follow
ing words in Southern town, where he
delivered an address in November, 1860.
i did not hear the whole speech, only
the words quoted, as I passed by the
crowd of listeners
What cOerce sovereign State
Attempt to deprive US Of our inestima-
BILE rights
Let Mr.. Lincoln try it, or Mr.. Doug
las either, and we will hang them higher
than Hannah, and the only difference |
should make, would be that humorous
ly, as Mr.. Lincoln is conside. ably taller
than Mr.. Douglas, we should have to
build his gibbet, standing on his toes
and reaching up his hand, little high
er than that for Douglas
So much for Davis. Now it appears
that when John Brown was under SEN
tence of death for his raid into Virginia
in 1859, Fernando Wood wrote to Henry
A. Wise, then Governor OF the State,
suggesting that it might be more poll
tic to send Brown to the states prison
for life than to hang him. In reply
Wise wrote to Wood the following let
ter, which just at present has peculiar
significance. 1t should be remembered
in reading it, that John Browns effort,
wrong and hair Drained as it was, was
simply ridiculous for the paltry number
engaged in it t.; that he was crazy en-
thusiast beating his brains out against
q thick wall of crime and wrong and
that his ofense, as compared with that
OF JEFF Davis. Henry A. Wise, and 9th
ers. is less than the most diminutive
molehill to the most stupendous noun
tain. Here is what this Wise wrote;
RICHMOND, Va, Nov. 4, 4.oo9'
My Dear Sir Il have duly received
anu WeiSneQ every WOTu u your leJtSf.
give it all credit for good motives and
good moral, and as suggesting what,
perhaps, is good policy. Now, listen to
me, for my mind is infexibly made up.
Had reached Harpers Ferry before
these men were captured, land l would
have reached there in time had | been
forwarded as l ought to have been from
Washington and the Relay House,)
would have proclaimed martial law,
have stormed them in the quickest pos
sible time, have given them no quarter,
and if any had survived | would have
tried and executed them under sentence
of court martial. But I was too late.
The prisoners were captives, and then
determined to protect them to the utter
most of my power, and / did protect
them with my own person. l escorted
them to prison, and placed around them
such force as to overawe Lynch law.
Every comfort was given them by my
orders. And they have been scrupu-
lousy afforded a fair and speedy trial,
with every opportunity of defence for
crimes which were openly perpetrated