The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-06-08
9irlluuud 1ispattlr,
SATURDAY..................JUNE 8, 1867.

From the Anti i.slavery standard

In spite of the "three wise men of Co
tham," Beecher, Greeley, and Smith, We
still hold that treason and murder ought
to be punished, and that had there been
q will, q way could have been found that
1t is most unsound as we'll as disgraceful
policy to treat murderers like honest men,
In order to conciliate other murderers.
The religion Of these wise men consists in
swapping morality for success. They have
every quality Of Yankee pedler except
his cuteness.
In contrast with these muddled pbilan-
thropists and clergymen, tossing about
words Of whose meaning they know no.
thing, look at the sensible and clear-sight-
ed, statesmanlike letter on confscation OF
Thaddeus Stevens. Mr.. Greeley, like all
convicted sinners, takes refuge in that
coward's castle-an effort to show my in
consistency. No amount Of inconsistency
on my part would lessen his guilt. He
expended so much magnanimity, however,
in going to Richmond to clasp Davis's hand
that he had none left to copy in his CO.
lumns my statements which he under
takes to answer and comment on. In
stead Of this new-fangled and wondrous
magnanimity wish he could find time to
cultivate wee bit of that homely and old
fashioned virtue, justice. The nation and
/ should both be better for it. In regard
to his statements, let me say never asked
for Dayis's death, and do not now.
He deserved death, and the Government
which leaves him alive confesses that it
murdered Wirz. Had l been President,
and ready to execute Wirz, / should have
shot Ia vic xrithin frya hnprs oft far
his arrest, not as traitor or belligerent,
but as murderer and butcher, wholesale
violater Of the laws Of honorable war. But
l am against life-taking, and my whole the
DRY of rebel punishment explained in
speech in April, 1865, on Lincoln's death.
I repudiated the idea Of trying him by
jury; not, however, from any doubt that
he could be convicted. Take him to Law
renee, Kansas, and try him for QuantrelPs
murders; take him within sight Of st. AL
bans, and set him before Vermont jury
does any man doubt that he would be con-
victed? But I would no more honor him
with jury trial than l would an adder.
In the winter Of 1865 and 1866 | secuted
the idea Of Furnishing Davis in any way
because / saw that with Johnson in the
White House and Greeley in the Tribune
the first traitor from excess of backbone,
and the second equally in our way from
entire wa4 one-justice was an impos;,
sibility. Nk anxious, in such untoward
circumstances, to snatch all / could.
Waving, therefore, justice, | struggled for
the negro's vote. And because he himself
thus blocked the wheels Of right, Mr..
Greeley quotes me as if allowing or advo-
eating the release of Davis. | saw and
said that the idea of Davis's punishment
was as old as the ark-his release fore
gone conclusion and l hold Johnson and
Greeley responsible for this-Johnson be-
cause he planned, and Greeley because he
endorses it. My position is submission to
the inevitable. Mr.. Greeley'S position is
fellowship with the disgraceful. Let me
not, however, do injustice to President
Johnson by seeming to bring him down to
Greeley's level. The President released
Davis; but he never went to Richmond to
congratulate and shake hands with him.
/ go for substance and not for forms.
This whining about Davis's imprisonment
would be absurd if it were not criminal.
Has he suffered millionth part of the
misery he inflicted on others! Has he
suffered one thousandth part of what he
deserved? If I had been President, l
would have kept him in prison until the
ingenuity of the last survivor of The kin
dred of those starved at AndersOnville
confessed itself unable to devise way of
bringing him to trial. They should have had
a century, if necessary, 10 invent a pro-
cess that would enable the nation "to exc
cute justice between man and man." I'm
prisoned a few months too long! Let him
he thankful that he did not fall into the
hands of barbarian like himself, and meet
with retaliation, which would have been
torture and starvation unto idocy, unless
death, more merciful than his jailor, took
him to its loving arms. l have no fear of
Davis. This nation is strong enough (as
have said every week for the last three
years. to despise million such. But We
are not strong enough to allow that crime
should be treated as ill-uSed innocence.
We are not strong enough to have the
foundations Of our moral sense sapped by
the sophisms and vagaries of our leaders.
jefferson Davis is one Of the yilest and
guiltiest men Of the century. The Go
vernment has released him, not because it
could not punish hint has not tried to
do so-but because it eXpectsto to strengthen
its party by this ignoring Of crime. The
philanthropists who rejoice in this dis
graceful act are either stone blind or too
besotted to deserve our confidence here
after. WENDELL PHILLIPS.