Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-06-28

English endorsement of His Release uo
ace GreeIy's Action "CreditabIe tn II,
Political Judgment"
From the London Times. Tn,

Political Judgment
From the London Times Jnne r.
Horace Greedy, who, it is said. has boa,,
censured by his party for ADVOCATING IT,
release Of Mr.. Jefferson Davis and eivino,
bail for his appearance, will be Thought LSs
the world to need no defence. His condnc.
is alike creditable to his humanity and HE
political Judgment. He has taken the lend
in showing generosity to fallen opponnnt
and by SO doing he has done more to ~
store the union between the North orl
South than could have been done bv a oon,a
of ultra-republican orations. '''o'e
With the release of Mr.. Jefferson D0r;s
it may be said that the last scene of tho
} great civil war i'll America has come r. ON
end. 1t IS worthy close of q great CON.
test, an act of moderation of which tbo , ~
pie may be proud, and of which tho &c
likely to receive the benefit in the snhsi
dence OF angry passions, and the restore
hon, or rather the creation, of a national
feeling pervading the entire Union. We
looking at the contemporary history Of
america ilI Il olstance, can see how wise has
been the resolution of the government not
to shed the blood of the leader of secass;or
or even to condemn him to any depradino
punishment. Yetit is greatly to the credit
of the American people that they have been
able to see with foreign eyes and to feel
with foreign hearts, to repress the yindin
tiveness which long struggle produces,
and to treat that great State prisoner ey,
actIy as disinterested bystanders would
have had him treated. Y Whatever
may have been Mr.. Johnson's errors of mol
icy, he WAS, at least, right in resolving that
nothing should be done in the case of Mr.
Davis until the public excitement had
cooled. In this he was steadily supported
l. O. i
Cabinet, which, under Mr.. Lincoln. had
combated with such perseverance Mr. Davis
government.
Against their skilful obstinacy the waves
of popular tumult broke in vain. Thev
assented to the principle of all that the
ultra republicans urged; they admitted
that the Southern President was puiltv
that he was Jeroboam who had for q time
succeeded in breaking up the republic, and
whom the federal government might Justly
call to q strict account Mr.. Davis was
always to be tried so soon as the ordinary
course of procedure should allow it vet
month after month went by and he still
remained an inmate of his fortress prison.
Mr.. Johnson and his advisers knew the
people better than they knew themselves
At least year ago it began to be plain
that the current of popular INDIGNATION
had been stayed or turned. The worst
charges against him, as, for instance, of
having abetted the murder of Mr. Lincoln.
and consented to the cruel treatment of the
| federal prisoners, were taciuy abandoned,
and people began to say that it was dis
graceful to calumniate q fallen enemy As
the process of reconstruction has proceeded
the hatred of the North has gradually died
away, and now it is admitted by the most
trustworthy observers of public opinion
in the States that the release of the pris-
oner has given satisfaction to all but small
minority.
This contamination is what might have
been expected among u generous AM re-
fecting people. It would be perver;ion
Of law to punish the acts Of the Southern
people as treason it would be equally CON
trary to justice to single out Jefferson Da-
Wis as the prime mover and representative
of the South. Secession is now a thing of
of the past, and we may speak of it as i'm.
partially as if we had only read of it in the
pages of Greek or Roman history. Its char
acter was not that of treason, inasmuch as,
rightly or wronly, neither the Southern
people, nor many of the North, hold that
they owed allegiance to the federal author
ity. Most politicians and nearly all law
yers had held, up to 1860, that though the
constitution did not permit the withdrawal
withdrew there were no means, even if
there was a moral right to prevent it. Such
was the view of President Buchanan such
was the view of those who afterwards fought
most steadily against the confederacy The
credit of having taken advantage Of that
turn of the tide of national feeling which
was produced by the attack on Fort Sum.
ter is due to President Lincoln, who, more
than any other man, has been the saviour
of the American republic. His firm reso-
luton, though no doubt something shaken
by the i'll fortune of war, was never broken
down, and at last the exhaustion of the
South gave his policy it's complete, though
long delayed triumph. Yet the position nc
CURED by the Southerners during this great
war was far above that of unsuccessful trail
tors.
They a0ere recogaaized as 6eligerentS 6y their
o,rn enemy as a0eN as by foreign nationS.--
Their generals were treated with, the pris-
oners made from them were disposed of
according to the usages of war, and their
chief armies retired from the campaign az
ter military capitulations such as would
have been made between Independent M
tons.
The government first and next to the
people;of the United States, have perceived
the weight of these considerations, and it
may, perhaps, be taken as certain that no
serious punishment will be inflicted on
Mr.. Davis. Probabably he will not even
be put on his trial. The best thing for the
Union now is that all vindictiveness should
be allowed to die away, and that the South
erners should be encouraged to accept the
Union, not only as necessity, but as an
advantage.
During the thirty years that preceded
secession they were gradually losing all
sentiment of community with the North.
They dislike and despise +" the Yankees"
they kept apart even in Northern cities
from the opposite section, and associated
among themselves almost as the English
colony would in any continental city
They may still retain their old antiputhy,
but it will be TO longer accompanied by
their old self~esteem. They now recog-
nize the equal valor and superior strength
of the North, and this is the first step to
hearty cooperation. Unless some barrier
be raised between the two sections there
is no reason why they should not become
more firmly joined than before they sep
arated. But for making hatred longlived
there would have been nothing like