The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-06-11


demands. Under all circumstances, the court
is disposed to grant the motion of the District
Attorney, and think may say to counsel
that Mr.. Davis will, in all probability, at that
time be brought before the court, unless his
case shall IN the nsedutime be disposed Of 6y
the government, ,cltich Is altogether possible.
1t is within the power of the President OF the
United States to do what he pleases in these
matters, and presume that the counsel Iof
Mr.. Davis 1c0utd probably find 1t Iof tne ~
terest of their client to maze dpptcolaon a.
rectty to the government; but this court would
not teel justified in denying at thus time the
the application both OF the Chief-Justlce and
of the Attorney General.
Nynen tnis court adjourns it will adjourn
NOT until the next term, which is in November,
hit until the first Tuesday in October next.
+ As it is supposed from the array of-counsel
on both sides that have been named, 1t will be
a long trial, in which great political and con-
stitutional questions are to be discussed and
settled-probably taking two months. 1t
would undoubtedly be much more comforta-
BILE for counsel, as well as tor Mr.. Davis HIM
self, to have these months in the fall rather
than in the simmer, because it is every way
more comfortable in Richmond at that time
than in the summer. l think the counsel is
mistaken in supposing that Fortress Monroe
Richmond. When have been there in the
summer have found the sea breeze very re-
freshing.
hAr. Drady-But very limited society, your
honor. Laughter.
Judge Unuerwood-The society is limited.
However, the government is disposed 10 ex-
tend every reasonable privilege; and am hap
DIV to know that the wife OF tn prisoner is per-
mitted TO be with him, and that his friends
are permitted to visit him. The motion of
the District-Attoney is, therefore, granted
This court will adjourn, not until November,
but until the first Tuesday in October, which
Attorney General. The case will then, if not
before, be disposed Of
The Court thereupon adjourned. 1t is a
satisfaction to learn that If Davis is to be tried,
Chief Justice Chase is to preside. The hints
that he will not be put on trial, from the
United States Attorney and from the very
bench, are singularly explicit. Twice, and
without the slightest necessity, Judge Under
wood takes pains to assure counsel that their
clients case will perhaps be most speedily and
satisfactorily decided, upon application to the
President at Washington.
If this public suggestion from such an I'M
expected quarter, was designed to draw out
the popular sentiment upon the, matter, it is
working admirably. There is throughout the
North, calm, but profound conviction that
the crime of treason, as defined in the Consti-
tuition of the United States, has been commit
ted by Jefferson Davis, and that he should
suffer for it. There is no vindictive element
in the almost unanimous desire, that this test
case may be brought to, a fair trial and decid-
ed justly under the laws. If the laws will not
convict the man who VIGOROUSLY levied war
upon his country, Of the crime which that act
constitutes, then in Gods name let us know
it, and let the laws be so amended as to make
treason a punishable offence. If the meshes
of the law are SO wide, let this miserable
scoundrel take the paltry remnant of his in
famous life. The American people do not
thirst for his blood but they do aboveall things
desire to know whether treason which they
abhorred and against which they wrestled and
strove for weary months and years, is SO i'm
palpable thing, that jury cannot lay hands
upon 1t.
We publish elsewhere extracts from the
newspapers of Maine, touching this subject
These spontaneous expressions of the popu-
lar feeling, appearing almost simultaneously
in different parts Of the State, may serve to
show how nearly this matter comes home to
mems hearts, There are more than twelve
thousand graves at Andersonyille. All over
this broad State, there are homes which have
been desolated by the horrible cruelties which
were practiced against the lives of our brave
boys in that accursed stockade. And yet we
are expected quietly to listen to talk about the
disordered "nerves" of the man who was, under
Calhoun, the author of the Southern REBEL
ion, and to connive at his discharge without
trial. That expectation, wherever it exists, is
founded in misconception of the popular
temper, thorough and almost incredible.