Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1865-06-07
THE SUPPRESSED TESTIMONY.

THE SUPPRESSED TESTIMONY,
The unseemIy haste OF some members CT the
newspaper press to assail the President and
Secretary Of War whenever the reasons Eor
their official acts We're not deliberately ex.
planned, has never been more noticeable than
on the occasion OF the recent suppression OF
Important ties timoay in the trial Of the conspi-
rators This crusade was participated in with
relentless pertnacisy by journalists whose
fierceness was only exceeded by the unac.
countabIe obtuseness CT their perceptions, and
who, blinded by their own prejudices, not only
calumniated' the Secretary OF War and the
Judge Advocate General butinsUited the Ex-
ecutiye and ignored altogether the integrity Of
the court. Nothing that fectious spirit could
suggest WIGS omitted IN denIaciation of Presi-
dent johnson and his associates. ForEetful of
the national importance and solemnity OF the
occasion, these journals in effect declared the
President a trickster, and his proclamation for
the apprehension OF the Canadian eonspira.ors
the offspring OF personal malignity.
The publication OF this testimony discioses
the reason for it's suppress sion, and as an I'M
questionable vindication OF the wisdomof the
authorities, renders more unpardonabfe the
Jealous haste of their maligners. The ends of
justice demanded secresy. The failure to have
issued the proclamation would have shown
an Indifference to CRIME as appalling as the
assassination itself. The civilized world WILL
snudder at the revelations In this testimony
and now begin to properly realize the devilish.
ness of the rebellion. The following from the
N Y. Herald Of yesterday appropriately sums
up the case: " ~
The testimony of Sanford Conover, Jas
b. Merritt, and Richard montgomery, for some
time suppressed, but now before the public,
makes some remarkable revelations. It will
be read with deep interest by those fugitive
rebel leaders who were SO dfsgusted with the
fact that President Johnson offered reward
for their capture 1t is to be hoped that it will
be read with deep interest BY that part of the
London press which argues that all these men
are entitled TO an Immediate pardon.
President Johnson offered rewards for the
capture OF JEFF. Davis, Clement @. Clay, Jacob
Thompson. Beverly Tucker, George N. San
ders, and w. q. Cleary. Jeh Davis was the
only one of these who heard Of the fact in
silence. All the rest united TO- I'LL the papers
with Mortified outcry OF injured innocence.
One declared it was an attempt TO degrade MS
.sChristian Fredericksburg that super
fine Christian who ran the prison pen at An.
dersonvilfe. They declared they had hardly
heard OF such G man as Boeth, and certainly
had never seen, mUeh less known him. One
man gave himself up to stand his trial, and the
others declared they would do SO II they
thought 1: possible that they could be tried
fairly but in the meantime they Kept at very
safSdis,ance.
Now it Is gwen as evidence on oath that all
these men were actively engaged in the ar
TduReHieNt VI tlls DloA W Xxx btuCOAu
If we could aecepg the statement OF Thompson,
SSnteys.SId the Fest as to. their innocence OF:
a CRIME that they are charged with, and iii
thsyFwere nc; MI before 30 deeply perjured as
STRAIGHTFORWARD stories Of, these nuirnpeached
witnesses must impress every one With tie
truth of the accounts they give OF their inteP-
course with the conspiratorsy ia Canada. But
as it is, with these ccnspirators telling their
own stories on one side, and the witnessed on
the other, it is everything TO nothing in fGEos,
OF the yeracity of tina latter. 1t is impossible
any longer to doubt" the completely of every
one named In the Presidents proclamatioa>