Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1866-10-05
Guilty or Not GUILTY.

Guilty or Not Guilty!
Somebody said it was very fine to be liv-
ing history, to feel conscious, day by day,
that the times through which you are pass
ing and the daily events, would make
thrilling and wonderful chapter in history.
1t may be, every one to his taste. Some of
us would be satisfied to be more quiet and
less "thrilling' than we have been the last
few years. Is it over? Some think so:
others would say, in the words of the Scrip
ture, "One woe is past and behold another
woe cometh quickly" Everything, they tell
us, depends on the coming elections. Heav-
en- guide them.
Here is a question now agitatcd. Did
jeff Davis and his cabinet know of the in
tended murder of President Lincoln? Some
will answer yes; others deny the charge
with horror. If we may believe history, it
would have been no new thing. A physi.
clan of standing in Tennessee, a man of in
telligence and principle, spoke of it as a fact.
known fact, that President Taylor was
poisoned. He knew it to be so. as far as ev-
idencc could prove it, and understood that
it was done as desperate move to secure
the ascendency Of the South.
1t is singular fact that when they have
failed to secure President suited to their
views, they have always managed to have
the Vice President and some how he has
always too, found his way to the head of the
ic 10 ho
cidence! Proof exists that there was a plan
to assassinate Mr.. Lincoln on his way TO
Washington, so that he should never be in
augurated, and it was only by the intense
watchfulness and care of his friends under
Providence that he escaped. Who plotted
his death then? Nameless rufans and as
sassins? No; they could have no motive:
political men rather, who wanted him out of
the way. For four years he escaped, and
was second time safely inaugurated, with
an army to protect him. Then came the
end.
Look at the history Of the war, the atroc-
tiles, the butcheries, the slow starvation of
Andersonville with its nameless horrors the
horrors of Libby Prison and Belle Isle. all
with the knowledge and therefore the con-
sent of the leaders, and see whether they
would be likely to stick at anything. See
| the advance of Lee, seconded by the riots
| and mobs in the city of New York: see the
atrocious plans to fire some of our Northern
cities, but too well carried out in some of
their features since. 1t is not mere accident
+lot
| and hotels in New York, the Academy OF
| Music. the hotels United States. Congress
and Columbian at Saratoga, the city of Port
| land, peculiarly obnoxious, as we all know.
since the capture Of a robel prize there. the
| Union League House and other fires in
| Philadelphia, and in some Of our Western
cities. To be sure we have had fires before.
they are no new thing; but some Of these
are rather marked, and taken in connection
with the attempts at hotel burning known
and detected, are more than mere coinci-
dences. All the more marked, because Of
the repeated threat, rs we have heard and
know, "We will burn your cities, we will re-
venge ourselves by fire." This threat has
been too often repeated not to mean some
thing.
Reviewing all these facts, the question re-
turns, did the leaders plan these things?
and were they in the plot to murder Lin
colu?" Who else? Men of low degree had
less motive, and would hardly care to OK
pose themselves TO all the risks, unless they
were employed-and rewarded And this
is what we are told by those who were in
the South in those days, and We're none too
loyal then nor now The election went
against then, their candidate, Mcclellan, was
ANONYMOUSLY defeated, in way to show
how the North stood Then they said, eve
must possess ourselves of johnson at all
hazards" How twas done, those who read
history at some future day may know better
than we, They possessed themselves of
johnson, and put Lincoln out of the way.
(Remember Taylor and Fillmore, Harrison
ana Iyler) johnson began strong in order
to confirm himself in his place. One would
ian hope he was honest then, and fell after
ward. But very early the question wos
asked, "Are we to be TylerizedYn And
there is but one answer to that question
now.
Who plan and plot and contrive these
things? The subordinates? Nay, the lead
ers. And where does these plotting begin,
when the whole chain of events is so closely
and carefully linked? Where, but at the
beginning?
Look at the singular coincidence in South
ern history, that in every case where they
have failed to elect a President TO suit them,
they have not failed to secure the Vice Pres
ident Dove look upon the crime with hor-
rtr9 Remember wirat h matter II tdmmuu