Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1866-11-16
The trial or release Of Jefferson Dayisshas


been subject of exceeding interest to the
Southern people, since he was first incarce-
rated, and for which they have persistently
besought the powers that be. We have as
persistently essaycd, By all the might Of logic
and evidence, to remove from his character
the foul blot Of completely in the assassinar
ton of Abraham Lincoln, attempted to be
fastened uponit by suborned witnesses: tits,
therefore, very gratifying to our feelings that
Northern men of the rabid stamp are COM
PEELED to agree with the conclusions at which
we arrived, however late, and hence we pub
fish the following interesting article from the
New York Tribune of Tuesday last:
Eighteen months have nearly elapsed since
Jefferson Davis was made a state prisoner.
He had previously been publicly charged, by
the President of the United States, with con-
spring to assassinate President Lincoln, and
500, 900 offered for his capture thereupon.
The capture was promptly made and the
money duly paid I; yet up to this hour, there
has not been even an attempt made by the
Government to procure his Indictment on that
charge. He has been popularity, if not Off
cially, accused of completely in the virtual
murder of Union soldiers, while prisoners Of
war, by subjecting them to needless, inhu-
man exposure, privation and abuse; but no Of
fetal attempt has been made to indict him on
that charge He has been indicted for simple
treason and even this Indictment has not
been obtained at the instance of the Govern
ment 1t may be so badly drawn that no
conviction could be had on it, whatever the
proof advanced; yet the Executive could
say, II am not responsible for this. The
Indictment was obtained without the assent
or privity Of my Attorney General or Cabi-
net" M atsil 'f
Repeated attempts have been made by the
prisoners counsel to bring his case to trial !;
but to no purpose. The Government does
not appear to prosecute the machinery of
the courts is always out order. At one time,
martial law stands in the way; when that
obstacle is removed, there is cavil as to the
suf6ciency Of completeness Of its withdrawal;
and, when that will no longer serve, it is
found that Congress has somehow disarranged
the judicial districts, SO that the case cannot
safely be proceeded with And Congress it.
self, having most inconsiderately meddled
with the matter, never took pains to inquire
what action on its part, if any, was requisite !;
so that now Congress, President and Chief
Justice, are in a complete middle on the SUBJ
ject; each seeming inclined to throw all re-
sponsibility for the delay on one or both of
the others.
The upshot of all this is, that the prisoner
is not tried. nor likely to be, and that if tried
he is morally certain not to be. convicted; if
convicted, not to be punished. There are
still many persons who would like to have
him executed; but there is not one intelligent
man on earth who has the faintest notion that
he ever will be. For, though governments
sometimes infict capital punishment on con-.
spicuous Rebels. they never, at least in mod
ern times, do, SO long after their rebellion was
suppressed Austria, in 1849, put to death
thirteen of the Hungarian leaders betrayed
into her hands by the miscreant Gorgey; but
she tried them by drumbcad court-martial
directly after their surrender. and had them
all hanged and buried within forty-eight
hours. Had she waited eighteen months, and
then executed them, she would have invoked
the excavations of all Christendom.
Since it is notorious that Davis is not to
be punished, why is he still kept awaiting
| trial which he alone seems to desire, and
which he can by no means obtain ? What
good end is subserved by persisting in, a
menace which still serves to irritate, though
it no longer appalls sa l.8 aa
Congress, at it's last session, evidently felt
that it had the President at disadvantage
with regard to this prisoner that be was an
elephant which Mr.. johnson had too earger-
ly acquired, and was now unable either to
keep or dispose Of save to his own loss. In
the state Of feeling then prevalent, this aspect
of the case was regarded by many with evil
dent complacency. Had the President been
a man of high courage, we think he would
have bailed the prisoner and called on Con-
gress to demand, if that were deemed advis-
able, that he should be surrendered and tried,
and to prescribe the legal conditions of such
trial, since the laws as they stand seem in
| adequate or defective. But he should first,
at all events, have publicly retracted the
charge of completely with the assassins Of
President Lincoln, since he has virtually
abandoned it by not attempting to found an
Indictment thereon. It is neither just nor
wise to send forth prisoner of state with
brand Of murder On his brow, and naked
failure to prosecute is but equivalent to the
Scotch verdict, =" Not proven . If Mr.. Da-
Wis is even probably guilty of completely with
Booth, he should long since have been in
dicted and tried for that crime; if he is not,
he should have ere this been explicitly freed
from the reproach, even though he were to
be executed for treason on the morrow. A
great government may deal sternly with Of
lenders but not meanly; it cannot afford to.
seem unwilling to repair an obvious wrong.
The Board of Public Works have made
the following appointments of State proxies
and directors for the Va. Central Railroad
Proxies: VIM j. Robertson, Thomas J.
Niche and Thos r. Price Directors r.
H. Maury, r. B. Davis and Jacob Baylor.
Also for the Orange and Alexandria Rail-