Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1865-08-14
I,r. Dnvi. as n MORAL Crimiu.l.

OeOrSe Su'eS "AAIeS III 11aIpeI Q
Magazine, for July:
At the time of our writing the most con-
spicuous offender ever capitally indicted
in this country sits alone in a spacious
easement Of Fortress Monroe with only a
Bible upon his table, and two silent senti-
nels watching him by day and night.
Perhaps as he sits there or PAGES the floor
he remembers the hapless victims of An
jacksonville and Belle Isle, or recalls the
long horrors of the war which has smear.
ed so many lovely fields with blood. In
the terrible Quiet Of his prison does he
ever ask himself whether it was worth
while to dare such a grevious sorrow to
his country for such a causes Does he
ever argue with himself that even if the
theory Of State sovereignty were true, 1t
was not wise to assert it at such cost OF
misery merely for the sake of perpetuating
something which must surpass any con-
ceivable injustice Of the nation toward a
State: Has he never learned that many
things may be lawful which are not expe-
dent, and that nothing but the most pro-
longed injustice Of which legal redress is
hopeless is a worse oppression than the
remedy of civil war; Technically he IS q
political prisoner. As such he will be
tried. But he is also arraigned before the
conscience and heart of his faithful citi-
zen as a moral criminal of the worst
kind. Even fanatical candor can not
plead that he was ignorant Of the system
attic horrors of the Georgia prisons-the
starving, the freezing, the slow reduction
Of human beings to idiocy by exposure,
by hunger, BY contact with filth and dis
ease. II was intended to weaken them
into despair and submission, and it had
that effect. It was also intended to COM
pei an exchange of sound and efficient
men for his service, and there it failed.
But the first result was constant. Here,
instance, is q note written in pencil from
the United States Military Prison at Nash
vile, by an honest, industrious, sober,
patriotic neighbor of the Easy Chairs,
who has been a faithful soldier of the war
from the beginning. He says that he was
captured before Petersburg last August,
and was sent from Richmond to Salisbury.
There he and all his comrades-there were
ten thousand in his estimate. during the
period Of his imprisonment-were 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 others per-
sisted as long as they could. But hunger
and weakness and horror gradually did
their work and he succumbed. From
August until April he had suffered more
than we can imagine, and then he yield
ed. He was put in the rebel ranks,
and arms placed in his hands and those
Of his companions, about half an hour be-
fore Stoneman arrived. He did not fire q
shot against his t1ag-none of them did
and they went directly over to Stoneman,
but as coming from the rebel ranks they
were held as prisoners. This is one case.
sad enough. but with alleviations-one
case, not the worst, but how tragical. Yet
there were thousands like him who suf-
all that he suffered, and then. con-
sumed with loathsome disease, broken
hearts. with Keeling brains, sank into con-
agonies of death, or laughed out
in stark madness, or drivelled slowly on
in idiocy. And they were young and
brave and noble men who were thus
They were guiltless of every
and had done nothing but defend
their country. At home, far away upon
Western p~rairies, among New England
hills, upon the shores of the lakes, along
the sea coast. mothers and wives and
daughters sickened with the long sus-
pense, the horrible suspicion. Their hair
whitened, their eyes grew dim, with hope
less watching. their cheeks thinned with
fear, their hearts broke also, and
they died amidst their appalled, children.
So awful a sorrow. so terrible II suffering,
both in itself and in what it occasioned,
no history records. And it was the crime
of this man who now sits alone with his
Bible and the silent sentinels in Fortress
Monroe. 1t is vain to plead for him as a
offender. The war was little
compared with the crimes of the war.
Over the graves of the dearly beloved, shot
dead upon the battle field, we can hear and
zee that political difference may come to
war;. But over the Golgathas Of Millen
and Andersonville-over the spots where
the pens stood in which heroic men were
as beasts are never treated-we
call murder, murder, and crime, crime;
and all murders and all crimes are less
black than these. Whatever the verdict
Of the jury may be upon the charge of
treason-whatever the punishment, if the
accused be convincied as a t~raitor-how-
ever. in Ease of his execution. he may be
ranked among political victims, the YER
dict ofevery generous heart and Of history
is sure against this nan as a criminal not
less than the infamous English Jeffreys.
Viewed merely as a political leader, his
whole public career is unlighted with a
noble action, and his speeches will
be vainly searched for one generous emo
ton. If his infamy in history will be
singular, it will be In every point de.
The same kind Of gloomy odium
that settled upon the name of James H.,
but tenfold deeper, as he was infinitely |
more criminal. will gather and darken
around that of Jefferson Davis"