Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1866-11-24
THE ASSASSINATION.

Jefferson Davis and His Accusers.
OR readers will be interested in the fol-
lowing brief review Of the proceedings Of
the Military Commission" which tried and
convicted some half dozen persons charged
with completely in the assassination of Mr.
Lincoln, in seeking to blacken the character
Of Mr. Davis as privy to it; and also of the
conduct of Mr.. Judge Advocate Holt in the
premises. The Richmond Examiner says it
is from the pen of an able and distinguished
jurist, residing in another State:
The general sentiment of the United
States has settled that the Military Commits
sion which passed upon the persons accused
of the assassination of Mr.. Lincoln had no
jurisdiction of the persons inculpated
The Commission was "new-minted judi
cature" that was unknown to the Constitu-
ton of the United States, and in derogation
of both.
The constitution of the Commission was
such, that if the purpose of the prosecutors
would have been served, they would have
would have vouched the fourth chapter of
the DOOk Oh O6uSSlo Is llIOIulllS COliClusANC
evidence of the martyr OF Abel.
1t is not surprising that the sentence OF
that Commission upon the parties before the
Court has shocked the moral sense of the
nation.
The evidence against Mrs. Surratt would
not have justified any grand jury Of the
country to have returned "a true bill"
But it is not with the persons who were
before that Commission that we have now to
deal.
There were j number Of persons Mr.. Da-
Wis and others who we're included in the in
dictment, but who were not present in the
Court, as to whom nine-tenths of the testi-
mony was employed to convict, not by the
Court-for the Court would not convict an
absent person-but by the public.
But the public could pass no judgment Of
conviction The object, therefore, was only
to seandalize with the view Of a conviction
thereafter.
Most of the testimony was contradicted on
the face Of it.
Hvams testified as to q conspiracy to in
feet whole armies with yellow fever and
smallpox, and that he actually imported
boxes of infected goods.
The box containing the most malignant
poison was sold at auction, and yet no dis
temper ever arose from the import. The
import was to have been of million of dol
lars of goods The import reached S143 or
less, and without infection. Hymns scds i'm
,nediotely pdrdoned.
The Judge Advocate General admits that
he has been the dupe Of ConOver and Others.
One question has not been answered in
reference to his employment of these wit
nesseS.
Did Mr.. Judge Advocate General Holt
use his own money to pay the bountles TO
Conoyer and others? If he did use his own
money, where did he get the authority to
spend the money of the United States in the
amounts that he confesses to have used?
What law, what usage allows Jude Ad-
vocate General to employ the treasure of
the United States to give bounties to per-
iured informers and impostors?
Another fact has never been accounted
for. The proclamation of the President
processes to have been made an evidence.
What was the testimony on which the pro-
clamation rested? What evidence did
Judge Advocate Holt report?
That of Conover and his associates was
ca post facto-the proclamation.
If any officer of the United States can
give large rewards for affidavits of particu-
lar tenor, it is quite certain that he can
have the afidavits to order that he needs.
Is there any law in the United States that
enables an officer to procure athdavlts to
order? to pay arbitrary prices for them?