Baltimore daily commercial. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1865-1867, 1865-11-07
FROM THE SOUTH.
Petitions for the Pardon of JEFF. Davis
Ehe Mississippi Legislature and Georgia
Convention

correspondent of the Herald writing from Jack.
son. Miss, says that Ex-Governor Charles Clark, re-
Gently released from confinement by President Jobn
son. attended the session yesterday. bill was passed
allowing nm the salary of Governor for the last two
years OF his term (under the Confederacy) as relief
he being as stated by Mr.. Lyles without n dollar
in the world Another resolution inviting him to
seat inside the bar and also to address the Legisla
lure on some iuttfe occasion, also passed Mr.
u. reStei was elected Trustee of the State Uni
yersty on the fifth ballot. The most important event
of the day. however, was the reading and unanimous
| adoption of a document memoriaIizine President
johnson for the pardon Of jeff Davis II was draft
ed by Mr. Hiyer. editor of the Natchez Courier and
| was received with tremendous eclot
The petition is of considerable length and ex-
pressed n rs somewhat eloquent terms It says that
though the civil war has terminated though the
State mas resumed her allegiance, and though many
OF those engaged IN the strife have returned to their
tor the presence OF Davis, without whom they are
ncons9lable as he has so endeared himself to them
to principle forttude when suffering and generosity
tbsm nsn that hs has become with
was no lawess spirit that plunged them into revolt
that he was merely their representative in the re-
belli0ni and that as they have been forgiven. he
should be also, and be allowed to return to assist
them at their present toll and labor in reorganzing
the social structure" e"N-"AAs
1t concludes as follows:
The people of Mississippi, who know Jefferson 10 =
Wis so well. know that if there is such thing as
moral impossibility it is morally impossible that his
name can be justly chargeable with assassination
with cruelty, or with crime. His heart never enter,
famed ms hand never gave help any such atrocty
promote the safety and stability of the general rov
eminent, that the dungeon. or the seaffold or the
galows, are to be made the cure alls for political
onenees; nor can IT harmonZe and unite our peopIe
if Jefferson Davis prison. place of exile or grave
IS to be revisited every hour in thought and every
year in fact by thousands ofmen who hold allegiance
to the national government. 1t would be in that case
Mecca, at whose shrine we would feel bound every
gay ana year to remember that he sacrificed for
the people among whom he was born with whom he
was educated, whose prejudces and opinions he en-
tertained and whose fate and fortunes he wished 70
share ~
Show to us that peace has truly its victories as well
as War-vlctorles over prejudice passion and revenge:
the people this portion of the Union sUen s9
ects instead of willing brethren The cruel war has
prosperous North; but it has come down with riant's
weight upon every portion of once fair and happy
South. The evidences are all around us We meet
them at every STEP see them every hour of the day
and hear them with ears but too well accustomed to
the sound Is it Just or wise can it be beneficial
that another costly sacrifice shall be made of our
blood and treasure? And Jefferson Davis is of our
blood and he is our treasure? We believe it true
RbocX ba be og y3T for u.s. for the nation for the world
and the South should not be widened 1t were
hyp9crtlc9l to say that the cessation of the civil war
done until the amnesty extended to us reaches him:
and that as we are being restored to your councils
suOulu DO TeStOreu 10 ours. lhe country will he
safer with you in our hearts and him in our hands
than it can be with him in our hearts and thourhts
continually, and his person in your custody.
The walls OF military prisons have told enough of
suffering. Enough blood has been she'd
-whose guiltless drops
Are every one a woe, a sore complaint
-GalnSt him whose wrongs give edge unto the swords
That make such waste i'll brief mortality
Open the doors of Jefferson Davis Let him breathe
once more the ar AZ OF personal freedom Return him
to the Stateof Mississippi! Make her his bondsman
lie will readily call ,ybo
guarded and confined as he is. Let our fortunes
be his. and the halo Of honor that surrounds your
position and name will become radiant with the true
and undlmmcd glory of official and personal mag
nanmity.
The same correspondent describes the political is
sues III Mississippi as rapidly becoming more dis
tinctly defined. One party favors granting to The
freedmen certain civil rights including that of testi-
flying in the courts while the other wishes to allow
them no greater privileges excepting their freedom
than those they had while in state of slavery The
chief leaders Provisional Governor Sharkey and has
a majority IN both houses of the Legislature but
among the people of the State at large the other
party Is said to be numerically the stronger. Mr.
Alcon, who has been elected as Governor Sharkey's
colleague i'll the United States Senate recently made
an address to the members of the Legislature in
which he took ground in favor of admitting negro
testimony IN the courts and maintained that the ac-
ton OF the late State convention not only swept away
slavery, but all the old laws made for the government
and restriction OF the colored people under it.
In the Georgia Convention. the Sd instant
resolutions adopted declaring it the duty of the
Legislature to provide for the widows and orphans of
Georgia soldiers who served in the rebel army, and
requesting Provisional Governor johnson to order
the organization of State militia A resolution ask
ing the President to pardon the rebel Commander
Tatnal restore to him his property, was unani-
mously adopted.
Colonel Anderson, of Savannah, presented to the
Convention memorial, asking the President to par
don jeff Davis, which was adopted. The petition
concludes as follows:
We ask the continuance of that career of clemency
which your Excellency has begun, and which alone
we earnestly believe can the true unity and
the lasting greatness of the nation. Dispensing that
mercy which is inculcated by the example Of our
great Master on high, your name will be transmitted
to your countrymen of the benefactors of man
kind. The constitution of our country renewed and
fortified by your measures, will extend its
protection over contented and happy people,
founded, as it will be, upon consent and affection
and resting like the great arch ofthe heavens equally
upon all" -