Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1865-07-27
RUTLAND HERALD.
THURSDAY, JULY 20, 1865.
Jeff. Davis, Trial.


The discussion of this subject has
been revived In the newspapers since the
assassins were disposed of. Whether
JEFF. is to be tried by civil or military
court, and whether for treason or Tor
completely in the assassination oil Presl-
dent Lincoln, are the questions discussed
and concerning which nothing is yet
definitely known. Certain statements,
as that among recently captured papers
there have been found documents con-
Meeting the arch rebel directly with the
assassination, and that the room in
which the assassins were tried is being
fitted up for some purpose, have lately
given rise to the report that Davis Is to
be tried by military commission ON the
assassination charge. Nothing has yet
occurred, however, to confirm this report,
and It would hardly be worth further
mention at this time, except for the pro-
test il has occasioned against such a
trial. The press very generally demand
that JEFF. Davis shall be tried by civil
court for the crime of treason, and We
think this demand is well founded. Now
is the time to settle the momentous
question, by the proper judicial tribunal,
whether treason is punishable by law
in this country, and if so whether the
punishment is to be in inverse proper
ton to the magnitude or temporary sue
cess of the crime An obscure individ-
ual who, with handful of followers,
commits a single overt act of treason,
is properly and swiftly punished. Shall
the chief of another treason, simply be-
cause that treason is of gigantic pro-
portions, because it seeks the very life
of the nation, because its overthrow
REQUIRES the sacrifice Of tens upon tens
of thousands of the best and noblest Of
the land, and of millions upon millions
of treasure, because it succeeds in utter
" desolating half of the country and
in clothing the whole nation in mourn
ing-shall the chief of such treason,
we say, escape punishment for his great
crime Shall the magnitude of the
crime excuse the crime altogether
That is the question which should be
definitely and conclusively decided now.
The future welfare and safety of the
country demand that it be decided now
Completely in the assassination of Presi-
dent Lincoln it Is true, would render
Davis dispicable enough, if proved but
that assassination, horrible as it was,
was after all but a single one of the in
Vulnerable cold blooded, notwithstanding
atrocities growing out of the one all
embracing crime of treason; 1t was but
one of the numberless parts constituting
the REASONABLE whole. JEFF. Davis is gull
tyof the crime which caused the death not
only Of Mr.. Lincoln but also of hundreds
of thousands of others, by slaughter on
the field of battle, by cold blooded mas,
sacre, by deliberate and horrible starVa'
ton in prisons directly under his own
control, and which would have caused
the death of the nation bad it succeeded.
To try him, then, for single murder,
sou. ver aggravated the case, would
,or,, aud needed lesson for pos
terity, would settle nv question ior 'ne
future, would seem like 'ooi Aie'lnI
of escape on the part of the governor,
from the responsibility of trying ano
nnnishing treason. The sum of all the
yillainies of this terrible fonr years war
we repeat, is treason, and now let us
know, for the future good of the coun
try, whether the crime is punishable ol
the disposition that is made of him wh'
stands to-day as its leader and repre-
sentative.