New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1867-05-31
sURRATr AND HIS DEMONSTRATIONS.

Is the time ever to arrive when the whole
story of the plot that eliminated in the as
sassination Of President Lincoln may be
| written? More than two years have gone
since that horrible deed was perpetrated'
| five Of the actors in it lie in dishonored if
not unknown graves; two others are
wearing out their lives in hopeless Danish
ment upon the arid sands of the Tortugas,
and the only remaining COnspirator awaits
his trial-a trial for which he is ready and
apparently anxious, but which the govern
ment after months Of preparation still de-
lays. Is there or is there not any tounda-
ton for the DARK rumors and vague sus-
picions that seem to create themselves, as
no one can tell from whence they come, but
TO which this new delay has given fresh vi
tllity? Is John II. Surratt the only re-
naming conspirator, or are there Others
whose completely in either the abduction
or assassination plot it is deemed best to
conceal:
The charge upon which jefferson Davis
was kept for two years at Fortress Monroe
was, that evidence on file in the bureau
of military Justice showed that the assassi
nation plot was devised and procured by
him and other persons whose names were
given in the proclamation for his and their
arrest. Mr., Davis is discharged nothing
is said Of this accusation he does not deny
il. and calls on the government to relieve
/ him from the official and formal charge that
it has made against him as murderer.
Booths diary Is published, after being
| locked up two years in the war office.
Ii ghteen Of its pages are absent, but on
| the first Of those that remain is the deClara-
/ ton that for six months IRE had worked
to capmre'--to capture, but not to kill the
president. Who are the men referred to by
the pronoun we" Who were the men in
! Richmond to whom Surratt bore messages
from Booth coming and going during
these six months like bird of passage
Why is the mystery, if there be myster.
still maintained Who is to be injured by
lifting the veil. and penetrating the whole
truth to be known? Can it be possible
that continuance Of the mystery that has
! thus far hidden the truth is so desirable.
that to secure it Suuatt may, in his turn.
be set free as Davis has been,
People ask themselves these questions,
not in a queruous and carping spirit, but
with genuine anxiety and fear. Per.
| haps few days will enable US TO solve
them. But in the meantime it may be said
that more is already certainly known of the
conspiracy than is generally supposed. 1t
requires only few additional facts to be
divulged to enable one to comprehend the
whole scheme and to paint the whole pic
ture Of the crime, from It's comparatively
innocent inception as plot for the abduc-
ton Of the president, although even that
must have contemplated the possibility and
even the probability of his murder should
/ resistance be made or aid arrive before ii
| could be etIected), down to the moment
! when it had grown into a gigantic combi-
nation for the overthrow of the entire gov
| eminent by the assassination of its three
chief men, and the Conspirators parted from
each other to enter upon their bloody work.
We already have the materials for under
standing and depicting the personal charac-
ter of all the known conspirators, and the
motives that controlled them.
Perhaps the first impression that will be
made on the mind of one who sits down to
study the history Of the conspiracy will be
one of surprise at the religious character of
the principal actors in it. Booth, himself,
although not what is called a religious
man. evidently believed in God and in
His justice. His diary conyinces one of
that fact. He endeayors to soothe the
sflngs of his conscience, which begins to
torment him with agony more intense than
the bodily pains which he endures from his
fractured leg, by asserting to himself that
" God had made him the instrument of His
punishment for the man 10 whom the
country owed all her troubles" For a
week he eludes his pursuers, but does not
elude Nemesis. Behind him, as he is !
hunted like dog through swamps and |
woods, rides his sin. Remorse and re- |
pentanse have overtaken him. One mo |
ment, with that intense egotism which was |
the passion of his nature, he elevates and /
adores his crime the next, as a flash of |
truth illumines his dark soul, be covers at |
its horror. "God cannot pardon me if |
have done wrong. / am sure there is no |
pardon In heaven for me, since man con-
dennis me 50. Oh, God, try to forgive metz
the wretched man cries in his anguish.
The companion of his flight, the young
Herold, was also religious. Booth says:
:" This brave boy often prays-before and I
since the crime-with true and sincere
heart. Fit was crime, why can be pray
The same!" Louis Payne, the assassinsof
Mr.. Seward, was the son of a clergyman,
and had strong religious convictions His
rude and adventurous life had not de-
stroyed them--he had not before been a
criminal = on the contrary there was
reason to believe his life had been
adorned with good deeds.
Mrs. Surratt was q deeply religious
woman-almost, If not quite, devotee.
BY birth Protestant, she was by convic.
ton Catholic, and was faithful in the dis
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