Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-05-26
The Trial Of Davis.

Mac, the Washington correspondent
of the Cincinnati Commercial, closes a
letter on the subject of the Davis trial
thus:
In this utilitarian age, when every
question is decided by the cui bono stan
dard, it may well be asked what good
will come OF the execution of JEFF Davis
1t may be answered that treason will be
punished, but | cannot see upon what
principle this side of the New Testament
the death Of one man can be made to
atone for the crime of eight millions,
every one of whom we're equally guilty
with him. AS well ascribe to one man
in the North all the glory of putting
down the rebellion, as heap upon one
man in the South all the infamy of or
ganizing it, and carrying it forward TO
its end Mr.. Lincoln freely confessed
that he but followed public sentiment in
all he did in the North; and Davis did
no more in what he did in the South
Suppose, then, Davis were hung to-mor-
row, would anybody feel better? Would
the widows aud orphans of the North
feel their grief assuaged2 Would the
wounded heroes of Gettysburg and
Vicksburg walk more lightly on their
wooden legs2 l think not. One out
of eight millions guilty of treason would
be punished, as they all deserve, accord
ing to the letter and spirit OF the law.
The rope that hung him would be his
ladder to glory, and in the hearts of his
surviving accomplices his dying utter
ance would echo for years, trumpet
call to vengeance. II is impossible to
infict upon Davis any disgrace the
Southern people will not feel extended
to them; and even if their reason can be
brought to say he sinned, their conscience
will compel them-if compulsion be
needed-to say 8 his sin was our sin" and
mothers will whisper to their children of
him as French royalist mothers whis-
pered to theirs of Louis XVI: He
died for us, his people" But it is said
the trial and execution Of Davis would
settle forever the right of secession, or
the wrong of it, rather 1 cant see
how. Can jury of twelve men, picked
up at random out of the streets of Rich
mond, decide forever a question about
which the greatest intellects of America
have contended since the formation of
the Government The right of secession
is question which no court can ever
decide so as TO have any binding effect.
1t will never be determined, except as
in the last few years, by the force of
arms. Suppose the Supreme Court had
decided, before 1861, that State had a
right to secede, wonld that decision,
whether by Jay, Marshall, Tany, or any
body else, have prevented the loyal peo-
Pile of the North from rushing to arms to
preserve the Uuion after Sumter was
fired upon? Canute, sitting upon his
chair at the seaside and bidding the
waves to recede, was not more impotent
than Chief Justice telling the people
not to invade the South in 1861 would
have been. And suppose the Supreme
Court should decide that State had no
right to secede, and that majority of
the people, losing all respect for the
determined differently and
agreed to carry their determination into
effect, how long does any one think
court decision would hold them in the
Union ? So that the whole question re-
solves itself into this-that so long as a
majority of the people are loyal, seces
sion is impossible; when a majority be-
come disloyal, coercion is impossible. A
Republic can only exist so long as its
people are politically virtuous.