Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1867-01-28
1HE LAST SINGLE CAPTIVE.


We had commenced an article alluding to
the strange silence of the press and people,
North aod South iu regard to the continued
imprisonment of Mr.. Davis, when the following
from the Cincinnati Enquirer was handed US by
a friend. We give it place as illustrating the
sentiment of candid Unonists in regard to the
temper of our people, and longer persecution
of him who suffers for nations fault
Petersburg Mdec
The Enquirer says:
''The great war between the two opposing
sections Of the American Union has long since
closed. Peace reigns between the eight millions
of Americans on the one side, and the twenty
FIVE millions on the other. The two or three
millions of men who altogether took al active
part in it have been disbanded, and those that
are living are again discharging the peaceful
duties of citizens at home. The great chief OF
the losing side, as we'll as the minor officers and
privates, have all been released by the victor,
and to the extent of their ability are endeavor
ing by industry and enterprise, to repleulsh
their private fortunes, SO terribly shattered by
the events of the conflict.
General Lee, the commander of that ever
memorable Army Of Northern Virginia"
which for years chained success to its banners,
which defeated and routed, in succession, tour
of the immense a.maments of the North, led
by their most splendid and experienced soldiers,
who, by the vgor Of bis defence, so long
protected it against the most astonishing odds,
and vested Richmond with historical immor
tally that will never die, is now discharging
the oniet duties of College President in the
sequestered valley of his native State.
From being the commander OF force which
for nearly four years bade defiance to the as:
saults of that power which could put, and did
actually do so, its millions Of men in the field,
he is now the instructor of few hundred
Young men In the intellectual arts aud sciences.
He who at one time was armed with almost
,he power of dictatoS over an extent Of teri
tory half as large as the continent of Europe,
DOW only makes the rules and regulations gov
ernipg the students in an Institution oflearnlng.
Beauregard, who actually struck the first
blow in war that set whole continent 10
blaze of arms-whose vigor aud skill on the
plains of Bull Run saved the infant Southern
iJonfederacy from immediate ruin, and gave it
force and consistency that for years after rem
dercd the contest doubtful-whose engineering
skill made the defence Of Charleston second
only to that of Richmond. is now engaged reg
ulatiug the affairs Of a railroad in Louisiana.
Lonestreet, Joe Johnston, Hood, D. H. Hill,
Cheatham, Bragg, and the other great COM
manders who either in Virginia or in the army
of the Mississippi Valley interposed so stout
resistance to the progress Of the Northern in
vadng hosts, have all been amnestied, and
have sunk again into the private walks of life
have disappeared, not from public recollection,
but from public view.
Members of the Confederate Congress, who
with lavish hands voted all the means Of the
country, to sustain the desperate strife, and
members of the Cabinet at Richmond, who Oh
ganized the resistance thus put ut their dispo-
sal, who gave the countenance OF their names
and influence to the cause of their sectloo,
have heen released from any accountability to
the Federal Government The second officer
of the Confederacy, its Vice-President, A. II:
Stephens, of Georgia has been pardoned, and
is now understood to be preparing in the leisure
of bis home, work illustrating and throwing
light upon the terrible strife which has de
yastated bis country and ruined its resources.
Those who, in the pulpit the press and the
forum, by their eloquence and zeal, reused the
people of the South to that desperate extremity,
when everything was risked upon the issue OF
armed collision, have shared in the amnesty OF
the past, and are partakcrs of whatever hope
exists for the future But where, then, are
the prisoners of the mighty North-the cap
tives upon whom it is visiting the stern and
relentless attributes of its power? Have we
told the whole story fits action after the war ?
Has it really had the wisdom, not to say mag
nanimity, to issue general and universal
amnesty, without exception to all who partlcl
pated in the late unhappy troubles? We wish
we could answer these interrogatorles in the
affirmative, but there is another and reverse
side to the picture.
We behold It by turning our eyes in the
direction of Fortress Monroe, the greatest
military post over which our flags ioats-
There is feeble old man, whom we guard
whom we have thrown the panoply OF our
vengeance. He, the President of the late
Contederacy-who, at the request OF eight
millions of people and eleven sovereign States,
accepted the position of their chief political
servant and ative-sotary and alone,
is the one political prisoner of the Government.
and as such, the attention of the world is liked
upon him. In one main essential, he can
adopt the beautiful lines of Lord Byron, trans
lated from the French, as applied to Napoleon
Bouaparte, then an exile upon the Island of
Helena, into whose mouth these words are put:
"Ihave coped with the nations which conquered
me only,
When the meteor ofconquest alurad metoo far;
nave copeu Win Inc naLlOnS WHICH ulesiu iue'
thus lonely,
The last single captive to millions in war"
Mr.. Davis is indeed the "last, single cap
tive to millions in war" His is to be a sort
OF vicarious punishment for the whole South
ern people, whose sins are thus to be made to
suffer penalty We are to find one-third OF
the States and one quarter of our people guilty
OF treason through him, who is to atone tol
tteir combined action!