The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1864-1911, 1866-06-13

Court 10 Try Him-The Right
of BeIIigerents-rhe Policy OF
Humanity. Gerrit smith TO
ChieE.jus!ice Chase.
PETKRBoRo May 18th, 1856.
CHIEF-JUsrIcE CLASSIFY Dear SIR
| see that Jefferson Davis Is to be brought
before YOU for trial. | believe you have not
the right TO try him; aud l hope you will
hold you have not.
Your Court administers the Constitu-
tion-not the laws Of war. Bat neither
Jefferson Davis nor any OF his fellow revo-
lutionists are uDder The Constitution: nor
have they been, since the contest they etn-
barked IN and became a civil war. They
are under the law of war-under the law OF
the conqueror- as exclusively as would be
Mexico, were il she, instead OF the South,
that We have conquered. In saying exclu-
sively, | do not forget that our goyermen-
tai action is TO the the CONTRARY. But this
is hybrid action-this weak and cOwardy
vaeilliation b,tween the Constitution and
the law of war-this dealing with the South,
now under the one aud now under the other
proves nothing but its own absurditV.
The South, if peace between her and the
North Is restored, is again under the Con
%stItutlon. If it is not restored, land her
misrepresentation in Congress, and our
troops in the midst of her, are among the
things which prove it is not,l then Is she
still under the law of war. Under this law
let her be punished for her vic cations OF this
law-be it for starving our prisoners, tor as
sassating our President, or for slaughtering
on the battlefield our surrend red prisoners
| Under this law. it they participated IN any
OF these crimes, let even her Davises AMI
| S~tephenses and Lees be trsed; and, | ada,
that for no offense, whatever, should they
be tried by any ther than a military court.
BUT why do | put the South on a footing
| Of a conquered natiOn2 | do 80, first, be
cause in the light OF the teachings OF the
wisest and most advanced publiclSts she Is
on it; second, because our Government Is
committed by its own acts during the war to
regard the South as on this footing; and
third, BECAUSE of the abundent and conclu-
siye reasons they are why pubiicists shout
have taught as they did, and why our Gov
eminent should have acted as it did.
/. A few citations will show that | have
not mistaken these teachings. Vattel says:
but when a nation becomes divided in
to parties absolutely independent, and no
longer acknowledging a common superior,
tnH SlhIc Is ulSSUlNCu, All ~ "oi "
the two stands on the same ground, in
every respect, as a public war between two
different nations. They decide their quar-.
ri by arms, as two different nations would
do. The obligation to observe the common
laws oil war towards each other Is therefore
absolute indespensably binding on both par
ties, and the same which the laws OF the ma
tions imposes on all nation IN transaction!
between Stare and State.
As precisely our case is this as il Waite
had Us, and US only, in his mind.
Hailanl, Macaulay, Welcker, unsurpassed
authorities on such subjects, and all OF on
own enlightened day, fully sustain Vattel
In speaking of civil war, Hallam says:
1.-The yanquished are to be Judged by tn
rules OF nations, not of municipal law.
Macaulay says, that in such is the case
r The vauquished ought to be treated &C
cording to the rules not Of municipal but o
international lew.
And Welcker says:
His 1.-THE leader,s) followers are ais
more or less punishSble as aiders and abet
, tors, as long as their number has not grow
1 SO large that . sincere belief exists that h
:, or they act with the consent Of the nation
! or that a division of the nation has take
! place into two hostile camps, In the latte
. case the rebellion becomes civil war: til
u right has beco ne doubtful, and is left, as
the wars between several States, to the d
:, cision OF an almighty judgement. (Gotte
J 6erich.) Under such presumption, ever
> citizen is bounl to declare him 'elf for on
u or the other party, according to the Wi
: law of soIen he is bound to DO ito g
| either right or left, and neither blame ne
u punish ment can reach him, whatever tt
. result Of the battle may be. Then they a
> only ~visators and vanquished-not loyalis
y and criminals, And although it is diicu
i to state the precise momen when rebelliC
= eases and civil war commences. there ne
t ertheless exists an essential difference b
. tween them, and when the moment has a
u rived, it is then for the victorious patty
extend the clemency, and even no punis
ment at all, for prudence and humani
" would dictate such a course
In the article Treason" in the ne
t American C~yclopedia, said to written by o
eminent fellow-ci izen, Doctor Lieber, q
!, the following lines;
mo one incurs the guilt of treason
an adherence to a king or government
fdcto, although the king or government h
+. but the right of a successful rebel, and 10
= a
Is all by subsequent defeat.
2. That u Government is committed
-, its own acts to deal with the South as wi
~ a conquered nation is manifest in the lig
:. of the character OF those acts. 1t follow
" other nations and recognized the belliger
- lights of the South its Supreme Court U
animously recognizing them, It Blockade
- her ports. 1t exchanged prisoners wi
=, her. 1t negotiated with her for peace
~ and in one OF these negotiations our Coz
y missiDners who went more than halt way
Il meet hers, were no less than the Preside
- and tha Secretary Of State. In a prd,
! came into a clear understanding with I
- enemy, that the war should be conduct
.. according to the law Of war.
- | do not forget that our Order No. 100
- 1883 is quoted to prove that we therein o
~ priced the enemy that, finally ~vanquishe
~ he would be held for treason, Nor do
y forget that President Lincoln's Proclan
- ton Of amnesty implied that the case "
. still of treason. But these were all &C pa
as well as er post .fncto papers, and ha
q therefore, no power to repeal nor in al
wise modify the understanding between t
a. parties-most emphatically not while I
"A parties we're continuing to act upon that ,
81 Outstanding. The SAN is rue of any
ii of Congress touching the case. And, j
'st here, let me say that, since there was
70. treason 70 pardon, President johnson /
a. no pardoning to do. pardons to South,
men are no more in place than would
he pardons to Englishmen had we conquer
tni England.
49, 8. / will advert to a few of the abul
~ ant and conclusive reasons which just
bo these eminent writer's on public law in t
100 ing the ground in question, and viii
Jo therefore, justify our Government in b
;ze ing virtually taken it.
A. A mere insurrection or rebellion is
he put down by municipal or local law
,as But when the strife rises into the digr
and dimensions of a civil war, the b.