The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-05-28
No Treason The National Debt n Ma
ttOmaI SVYindIe.

Ntohhl hWlnuAes
From g,e Herald.
The voice of the people rises with disap-
pointment and indignation at the conduct of
those who favored and have been instrumental
in the escape of the arch traitor, jeff. Davis
We have rarely witnessed a more general and
spontaneous expression of public sentiment
The release Of Davis on straw bail, which is
really the abandonment of the charge of trea-
son on the part of the Government and Judi
ciary, satisfies no one, except few uncon-
verted secessonsts. 1t leaves everything
unsettled; it makes the war farce; it shows
that half million of brave men have been
slain for naught, and that three thousand mil
lions of national debt contracted to put down
treason and to make it odiOus, is a swindle
Had Davis been tried and the laws vindicated
had the crime of treason been fixed and de-
fined, and stamped with that odium which the
authorities talked so much about, and which
would have made men shudder hereafter at
the thought of committing it, the people
would not have complained. Then they might
have been magnanimous even, and have con-
sented to Executive cemency to the Offenders
But now nothing is settled, and they ask. Is
there treason or is there not in this country
All the parties to this infamous fraud upon
the public are conscience stricken, or, rather
they are stricken with fear of the consequences
to themselves; for it is doubtful if they have
any conscience in the matter. Having COM
mitted the deed, they suddenly wake up to a
sense of the evil DONE like the assassin Booth
and appeal to the public with all sorts of lame
excuses and special pleading. The President
pleads want of authority or jurisdiction, and
throws the responsibility on Congress and
the judiciary. Congress did nothing, and en-
deavors to throw the responsibility on the
Executive. Chief Justice Chase, whose duty
it was especially to see that the traitor should
be tried, and treason punished, positively re-
fused to act, and now tries to make the Dis
trict Judge, the plant Dogberry Underwood.
responsible. Underwood, acting under in
structions from Mr.. Chase and the Admins
tration, undoubtedly made great fuss about
the heinous crime of treason, and then let the
traitor go on straw bail. Greeley, who, pre-
tending to represent the loyal North, and the
Republican party i'll particular, went all the
way to Richmond to influence his radical
friend, Underwood, and to volunteer bail for
the liberation of the traitor now makes q
pitiful defense of his conduct. Botts the bitter
enemy of Rebels, and Of Davis the chief one,
especially, was another of these volunteer and
uncalled-for bailmen who takes the stand to
defend himself before outraged public.
Well may the people ask, Is there treason
or is there not 2
All these radical declaimers against the
odiousness and Nervousness of treason-all
those pretended Simon Pure loyalists-have
been made in the end the tools of an able and
adroit States rights lawyer of this oitv.
Through their weakness and vanity Mr..
O'Conor has entrapped them. They placed
themselves in position to be tempted and
ruined politically, and he has lured them to
destruction. As lawyer, he has only done
his duty for his client. For the escape of the
chief Rebel the people will hold Mr.. Chase
to account with Greeley and the rest of the
radical Chase party who brought the disgrace
upon the country. Everywhere the question
is asked, Is there treason or is there not
But what will be the consequence of letting
the Rebel chiefg without being tried ? How
will the people interpret this act Will they
not argue that if there be no treason the war
was in vain and is fruitless There is now in
the public mind degree of CONSERVATION and
doubt. The action of the Government and
Judiciary has unsettled it. Is there treason or
is there not is the question every one asks.
Soon, If we mistake not, the people will in
terpTet the action of the Government, the Chief
Justice Underwood, Greeley and of all the
rest, as repudiating treason, and as declaring
the war a failure in its results. If so, will
they not regard the national debt national
swindle, and repudiate that as readily as
the crime of treason has been repudi-
ated They will say naturally enough that
they ought not to be burdened with a debt of
three thousand millions and upwards, reckon
ing the debt of the States as well as of the
General Government, for nothing. They will
ask why they should be taxed a hundred and
fiftyto two hundred millions year, when they
have been cheated in the object and results of
the war. Is there treason or is there not This
is the question of the time, before which every
other must give way. 1t involves the security
of our Government hereafter and the payment
or reputation of the national debt. Under
standing the action of the Government and the
judiciary as virtually declaring there is no
prised to see, within five years, the debt
created by the war repudiated as an imposi-
ton and fraud. That, in fact, would be the
logical consequence of letting treason go un-
tried and unpunished. Ii there be no treason
the war was all wrong and the national debt
is a national swindle.
The Opinion of the AttOrney-General'
From He Tribune
The opinion of the Attorney General upon
the clauses in the Reconstruction acts respect
ing the rights to vote and to hold Office, has
in itself evidence of its necessity; for the ques-
tions which have arisen needed to be decided
by the highest executive authority. Five
military commanders might otherwise make
five different interpretations of law which
needs to be uniformly enforced in the States in
which it is operative. Whether Mr. Stansbery
correctly defines the limits of the law is another
and important question, not fully to be exa-
M