Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-03-04
The President v,ndlcated by Sec

|
| The testimony given by Mr.. Stanton, be-
fore the committee of the lower House of
Congress. in reference to the prisoners who
! were discharged from Fort Delaware, under
la writ of hdbeds corpus issued bv Judge
| Hall, of Delaware, is complete exculpa-
! tion of President Johnson from the charge
\ of attempting to eVade the laws, or to screen
| criminals deserving punishment from the
Consequences of their crimes. Whatever
else may be said with regard to the Secre-
tary. III sthis instance he has with manly
| fraalSness, assumed the whole responsibil-
| ity for an act which was seized upon as
grave charge against the President, and it
bis now manifest that so far from the pris-
Toners having been removed from the Tor
! thgas to Fort Delaware in order to bring
them within the reach of judicial process,
they were removed purely on the score OF
humanity, and because their lives and those
OF other prisoners would have been endan-
gered by being crowdedIin- sickly season
upon that desOlate spot. The testimony of
the Secretary Is valuable. inasmuch as 1t
Eappears that he had no sympathy whatever
with the Pfis anefs- 0poA. any score. HewAS-
reluctant, indeed. to assume the responsi-
bility of recommending that the sentences
OF DEATH. which Z hatf sbeen pr0nouneed
against them. should be executed, because
Tit was understood that the opinion of the
Supreme Court in the case of Milligan did
not warrant the execution of capital
sentence OnIOTC6U ny a GTlUuHdlS
Land oherefore he recommeuded that the
SENTENCES should be commuted to impris-
Otmerit for life. Well might the hOnOra-
Bile Secretary pause upon an act which
would have stained, his hands with
tTblood a crimson no less deep than If he had
timb6ed his hands. in that of men entirely
! innoceflt,u proyi6ed the law of the land
would not justify him in ordering it to be
1shed. Nor did the crime seem any the less
Ito the Secretary because he differed in
opinion from the Supreme Court as TO the
trne exposition of the law. SO long as that
judgment stood it was for him to obey it,
and it was for the President to respect it.
! It follows from this the even If the Pres
ident had. in point of fact, removed. the
condemned men from the military district
of Gen. Sickles to Fort Delaware, in order
TO bring them within the protection OF the
| judiciary, he would have done no more
thanb his duty. If not justified in causing
the sentence of death TO be executed. be-
cause of the opinion of the Supreme Court
that it was wholly illegal, sitg would have
been clearly proper, for the President to
take the condemned out of the reach of the
military and place them under the protec-
4 ton of that department which is charged
d with guarding the lives andiliberties ofthe
fcitiZen: so that if it had been disclosed
before the committee that the President
really purposed to do what he was charged
kwith having done, he would have been liza
BILE to no censure, but entitled to praise for
Iendeayoring to have the laws faithfully ex-
| eeuted, -z ,.ss 20 .,- - - e. =
The committee and the, press have harped
Eupon the fact that after these men had
been released they were received at their
homes with exultation. as proof that the
people took delight in the crime which had
Ebeen imputed to them. But it is most
Llikely TO be the truth that the eXultatiOn
referred to was the expression of joy to
i find, that there was some law in the land
which would protect human life from the
unlicensed power of military commissions,
and (which is much more lahhorTents than
any single crime. The people there, too,
4 .Ievidently have doubts of the guilt of the
parties, 7as has Mr.. Cooper, who made the
4 iIninority report to Congress Oh the subject.
No wonder, then, that in Joy over the
greater triumph of right, the people for
/ the rnomentgpu5 aside thesindignation they
4 felt for the crime which had beer commit
\ ted, leaving to their civil tribunals the fu-
ture inquiry as to the offenders. In the
! history of every people the men who have
! heenDithe accidental Representatives of a
great principle, who have been the victims
Of public wrong, aud invasion of the
rights OF society, have been invested with
! a halo reflected from the sacred principle
under the Influence of which they have
been sheltered. And no greater mistake
could be made by men calling themselves
statesmen than to confound the overwhelm-
| ing enthusiasm for the rights of society
with sympathy for murderer. When
Twill those in power consent to understand
better the springs of human action, and
erase to confound all true distinctions for
the sake of their miserable partisan ends !?
,t-BdLtin1ore Sun. 5di .i 5-'4ar Gs!- - dlc3 b