The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-10-16
PORTLAND.

There are two KINDS OF minds" says VIII
ty writer, ''the legal mind and the human
mind" Perhaps no better illustration of the
difference between these two orders OF lntelii-
gence was ever given, than that afforded by Ihe
recent assertion of the Hon. Thomas Ewing, OF |
Ohio. that CONGRESS "has the same right to as
sumo that New York as that georgia ~ ulOt
to be represented until it complies with their
prescribed qualification" Mr.. Ewing. who by
the way was member of the Peace Congress
in 1861, does not realize that anything has
occurred since that time to cast suspicion up
on the good intentions of the Georgia slave
holders. He finds nothing about the Rebel
lion IN MS copy the constitution, nor in
Judge Story's commentaries upon that i'm
mortal instrument. There is no legal eyid-
dence before the court which Mr.. Ewing holds
in the seclusion of his private thoughts, to
prove that there has been any rebellion
There has indeed been what the Rev. MI.
Nasty calls ian onpleasantness," which Mr..
Ewing dimly remembers as lasting for some
years and rustling through the newspapers at a
terrible rate. But the reporters we not I'M
der oath-exccpt when they got in Gen. Joe
Hookers way 1t is not legally proven that
there was any blood shed at the places spoken
of as the Seven Pines, Malvern Hill, Vicks-
burg, Gettysburg and the rest. The Supreme
Court of the United States has never decided
that such places as these exist even, aid the
presumption is clearly against the existence Of
such locality as Bull Run. Currere est ooere
A Run Is not place but an act, as we speak
ora smart rum or "a short run" and again
what strange qualification does this word Bull
implyl The legal presumption is that there
no such place as Bull Run, whence it follows
by easy steps, that no battle was fought there;
that the war did not begin with the battle
which did not take place; and ii it did not be-
gin, OF course there was no war. -
AS Mr.. Ewing finds no legal evidence that
there has been war; he naturally and ogi-
cally sees no difference between the relations
OF Ne ! York and Georgia to the general gov
eminent. To the merely human mind how
ever it Is rather plain, that there has been a
good deal of hard fighting. The popular opin-
Ion leans In that direction. The men who
put ON the blue uniform and marched south
ward In 1861, are particularly positive on this
point. The men who with Sherman marched
across the State OF Georgia are quite sure that
the excursion was warike and not PEACEFUL
They scout the insinuation that they NAV
have been dreaming, and ask if dreams leave
wounds and sickness in then train They are
positive 1t was Georgia and not New York,
through Which they marched aud that one ofthe
great battles they totisht occurred hear Atlanta
and not Schenectady. The common mind, not
versed in legal refinements, accepts this testi-
mony, and all the more readily because it is
corrobora led by severity of taxation which
can be accounted for only by the enormous
waste of war. Believing that war was waged
against the United States by the slaveholers
OF Georgia, and that war so waged involved
every Georgian who took part in it in the
guilt OF treason, plain people find great diff
terence between the political standing of the
Georglans and the New Workers. Over the
State OF Georgia we claim through the gener-
al government unbroken authority The right
OF her loyal people to representation we do
not for moment question. The right Of her
paroled prisoners of war to any privileges iex-
cept such as we concede and upon such condi-
tons as we choose to impose, we unequivocal-
ly deny to-
great majority Of the American people
are not lawyers. 1t is safe therefore to pre-
dict that the legal view will not prevail. Gem
-tienien may spin arguments as fine and as
long as they please. The robust common
sense OF the common people will break
through their SPIDERS webs without feeling
Che slender hindrance. Fact is more power
erfui than any theory. There has been a
war. We beat the enemy. 1t is for us to Of
fer terms and not for the enemy to talk of his
rgihts. Just and mercifil, we mean to be,
but we will neither be buIlied by traitors nor
cozened by Machiavelian tricks with words
THE TRIAL OF JEFF. DAvIs.-It appears from
the statement Of Attorney General Stanberry.
that there is technical hitch in the proceed
ings against Mr.. Davis which may require fur
ther legislation before they can be resumed
The prisoner is entirely comfortable where he
IS, enjoying as good quarters rs most of those
occupied by the officers oftlle fort" zone Rad
ical, in a letter to the Boston Advertiser. has
recently expressed the opinion that some facts
are 50 notorious as to render legal proof super
fiuous and ridiculous. One of these in the
opinion of this irreyerent parsonage, is the fact
that Jefferson Davis as President of the So
called Southern Coniederacy did levy war up
ON the United States thereby mourning tie
faint of treason, and requiring now only to be
sentenced and punished, either by perpetual
imprisonment, exile, or death. There is reason
enough in what this mad Radical says, at least |
to stop the mouths of those who object to the |
delay in bringing Davis to trial on the ground
of his presumed innocence. u, ,u,a
IT turns outtLat the author of the fictitious
dispatch to the Philadelphia Ledger, is H. NJ
Flint alias Druid" Of the New York World,
alias Dion" of the Portland Advertiser. Flint
discharged from the staff of the World
some time ago. on account OF the remarkable
regularity with which his predictions were |
proved false by kilograms of the same date
The proyerb about "faee like Flint" is aptly |