The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1867-05-25
THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC.

n,ent of New York---Ihe heiease %
Jeff Davis.
meeting of Post No of the Grand
= of the Republic was held last evening
~ 957 Bowery, at which there was large
attondauce OF the members. The meeting
VAS strictly private. A resolution was
adopted authorizing committee 10 prepare
any, INC ut the Post with regard to the action OF
i l,' government relative to the release OF
Tue s.sson Davis. The following is the adj
J SsnSs which was submitted, and after being
.nsd was adopted with acclamation:-
i''>@ THE ADDRESS.
A., ovcnt of first magnitude recently oc-
.,-,.od at Richmond. in the State OF Vir-
cu :n;o Jefferson Davis. the President of a
sinIiious crew, consorted for the sanguinary
i1"otrncton of the Union, having been con
,.oIsed from military fortress to the civil
;,r;sdiction of the government OF the United
IS.ntes was in immediate sequel arralgned
e'r treason before federal court. Upon
i ~, his innocence he was forthwith en-
1PnrTed, on the condition that twenty gentle
lais ~ qualified pecuniary worth should re-
men ", their liability to forfeit to the peo-
cUSnt the United States one hundred thou
PIC " donars in case that the Jefferson Davis
s.n,' ,,d omit to render his body at the official
shu ~, ~ The court at its next ensuing term
o G,,l; arent stands forth from the worlds
MS routine. and calls a halt in its affairs of
uu' ,ler,tion and review. Its impress de-
e".n the ultimate point of the national
t.,lradv The conspiracy, the revolt, the
IsaoIatino war and the dear-won victory
lien ,"J lon the way which conducts US unex-
,'ootcdlv TO the acquittal of their virtual
p intbor It is not alone the politician nor
a. tochnical statesman whose sense of re-
tr;Lntive equities we desire to consult. or
II osa convictions of the national eXigency
# is orr purpose to address. These dwell
Zoo often in the eXpedients, and always trim
10 the current of the time. Their feeble as
nirotions for the public veal succumb too
readily to prospective popular favor, and
their aptitude to personal considerations
rules with potency so arbitrary that honest
;ndoenent is rendered difficult and its eX
weston impossible. The recent past is
rrammed with an experience which attests
tbr fact When felon hands assailed the
government and rebellious levies strobe,
With crushing steps. over the national in
tpo,ity. the scrannel pipe of American states
men was inaudihle. \ reason more adequate
advanced to the emergency, and Judge
mcnt. as of intuition. guided the armies of
the republic. The feeble essay of the func
4ionarv was supplemented by the vigorous
impulse of the people; public opinion com
peIled the shrinking and undecided official
TO it's policy and its service; armies spon-
taneously regarded the general summonsto
the field. and ere the fright unclaimed facul-
ties of our Wanted statesmen had emerged
to lust appreciation of the peril, the stanch,
popUlar sense had OWNED the remedy and
appIied it. We are advised. therefore, of
the signal incompetency of classified leaders
either to advise the policy of action which
should direct national legislation or to select
the measures most suitable to the national
honor. The singular truth, often heard, bat
without general acceptance, that the voice
of the people is the voice of god, seems to
have been proclaimed anew, under the terri
BILE sanctions of the late war, and with all
the authority of its issues. We do not err,
we think, therefore, in referring to the pop
ular test the propriety of the enlargement of
Jefferson Davis. nor in arraigning at the bar
ofpublic opinion the authors and instruments
of bis acquittal While doing this, how
ever. we cannot fail to remember how i'm
portant part of the popular mind is con-
stituted of the military. The soldiers who
composed our armies in the field form, now,
large portion of our industrial population.
But their influence upon the general thought
is far in excess of their numerical proportions.
We think we do not err in the superstition
that, whether mole or less the influx to our
peaceful population from disbanding volun-
teers, the tenor of its opinions IS, to large
extent, supplied by the opinions of those
who contributed, in the ranks, to the down
fall of the rebellion. The question, then
which the grave event we are discussing has
thrust upon the public, however interesting
to the masses, will probably be entertained
in much the same aspect with which it i:
addressed to that portion of them who sur
vive the battles they fought against thei
rebelious assailants. But are We right IL
denouncng the admission to bail of Jeffer
son Davis, by the United States Court fol
for the District of Virginia, as his aeouitaI
of the charge Of treason? Certainly, if the
ostensibie meaning of the formula observed
in the liberation of Mr.. Davis be consulted,
the undecided question of his innocence, OBJ
viously, has been postponed to the issue of a
trial hereafter. But, that the formal admis-
sion of prisoner to tail is frequently re-
sorted to as the ceremonial of his DISCHARGE.
is notoriously true. The alternative of trial
and conviction, or escape and safety, is often
purchased by the surety at the price nomi
mated in the bond. In this instance every
attending circumstance denotes the prevail
ing intention Months of preparation pre-
ceding the conEocation of the court learned
counsel charged by the government with the
conduct of the case; and the conviction stu,
diously ineulcated, of the diligence and anx,
iety of those in Authority to apply to the
head Of the rebellion the lessons of the law
indicated specifically an approaching trial
But the equivocation of Washington coun-
sells warranted suspicious of their dissimula-
ton, which the result has not been slow TO
justify. In the meantime, strange voices of
merciful mctaphysicians were preaching the
solace OF universal amnesty, with specific APP
lication to the unconditional release of jeff
Davis. He was removed from Fortress Mon
roe. He was taken to the city of Richmond,
where an occasional court had been pre-
pared. He was arranged upon an indict-
ment OF marvellous coincidence with the
emergency; and when, upon pleading, the
prisoner OF more than a years incarceration
signlhed readiness and demand trial, 10 I!
the government, so diligent in preparation,
50 anxious for the trial, and so profuse in its
employment of counsel learned in the law,
PROCESSES inability to proceed. The prose-
cu'lns attorney, with trained complais-
ance, aequiesces in a proposition to
pail; a compliant court mods assent, and an
array OF twenty worthy gentlemen, under
the resignation Of bail, unite in virtual
contribution Of Gs oon