The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1866-05-02
Mr.. Jefferson Davi,.l

to nave been generally interpreted as res
! toring the privilege Of the writ ofhabeas
corpus to the States lately lin Instruction
This fact has again directed the public at
tention to Mr.. Davis. On Tuesday. MIR.
Boutwell, of Massachusetts offered a series
of resolutions, instructing the Commute on
the Judiciary to enquire whether any,Ieg-
islation' is necessary to bring him and Mr..
Clay to trial upon the UNANIMOUSLY false
charge of completely with the assassins Of
Mr.. Lincoln; aud also upon the charge Of
treason. Against this i'll omened movement
OF the Radicals, obviously designed to bring
about the trial of Mr.. Davis before Mill
tary Commission, Mr. Raymond ofthis city
kindly protested, by offering resolutions
requesting the President to take steps for
the speedy trial Of Mr.. Davis, upon the
charge Of treason, in the State of Virginia,
sor in some other district in which he may
be legally liable for trial" Mr.. Raymond
proposed that these resolutions should be
at once put upon their passage but Mr..
Thadeus Stevens, the Gleon of the Assem-
bly,, insisted that they should be referred to
the judiciary Committee, and to this Mr..
Raymond, after some feeble femopstrance,
consented. We presume that the Com
mittee will make its report at an early day.
The. President informed Congress on the
I'd of February that; the difficulty in the
way ofthe trial of MIR. Davis lay in the fact
that Chief Justice Chase, whose Circuit
embraces the State of Virginia, was un-
willingto hold court in that State until
Congress had "had an opportunity to con-
slider and act upon the whole subject of the
restoration of the broken relations of that
State with the Nation, and the snpercedure
therein of the military by the civil admin
istration." The conflict between the Exc
cutive and the Legislative Departments of
the Government, thus sharply defined by
the Chief Justice as long ago as October,
has not ceased, and still delays the trial OF
Mr.. Davis; for we presume that there is nd
doubt that he will be tried The question
really ct issue between the President and
the Radicals is whether the Chief Magis-
trate of the late Confederate States shall be
tried before Commission "organi2ed to
convict" or before a court wherein he shall
be fairly and impartially tried before ajury
of bis countrymen, This issue the Presi.
dent can at any time decide in accordance
his own views ofduty and wishes; and more
than this, he has at all times in reserve his
great prerogative of clemency.
Meanwhile q Fortress Monroe correspond.
Of ost 1,yhn ,UlNy
says word that can arouse sympathy for
tho distinguished prisoner Of State, says:
The great rebel chieftain himself contin-
ues on the even tenor of his way. pretty
much as for months past, His obdurate
will and intense pride of character have
horne him up thus far; but there is an end
to human endurance, and tho words, Il
breathe, and can bear" Of Byron must
merge'into a poetic fiction. tits becoming
thus with Davis. IN officer told me to-day
that he felt sure that lie acouM not lire the
summer out if kept IN prison.
. In confirmation of this statement, we
hear of the arrival Mt Fortress M0nroc Of
Doctor Craven, the kind-hcarted gentlemen
and dutiful physician, through whose hui
name interference Mr.. Davis was removed
w LIS. pItScub comparatively CoIiioie tpic
quarters, from the damp and unWholesome
casemate, i'll which he was first imprison-.
ed, and where he was so br1ltally treated
by his unfeeling jailer- that General Miles,
who is either SO ignorant that he knows
nothing of the shame that covers the name
Of Hudson Lowe, or SO base as to desire it
to blast and disgrace his own.
We infer from this visit of DR., Craven to
Fortress Monroe that it is the Presidents
intention, as it is his marifestand bounden
duty, to see to it that Mr.. Davis shall not
be murdered by the rigorous confinement
to which he is still subjected, through the
caprice and hatred Of General Miles-that
such stain, so dark and so disgraceful,
shall not be ineffacably affixed to his own
name nor to tho cscutcheon of our country.
If the Chief Justice willnot hold his court, |
and if Congress will not act in the matter,
let the President, if he is unwilling to win
the applause of good men everywhere by
setting his great captive free, at least
transfer him to some healthful place of con-
fnement, and subject him to the custody
of q gentleman, or at least of man.
IN. \. News.