Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-05-24

without a trial or conviction. he
ought to remember that Davis has been
convicted By WAGER of battle. It IS an
old form Of trial, it is true, and some
what barbarous, but it is nevertheless
the one to which the arch traitor ap-
pealed and there is no higher human
court for culprits of his kind. Davis
and his eo=eonspirauoEs plead guilty Of
treason before the court of Judge
Grant at Appommatox Court House in
April So, and the verdict Of guilty
then rendered is approved by the ma
ton. The treason Of Davis is mat
ter Of history and TO make It matter
Of legal record cannot add either to its
criminality or its certainty.
But granting Mr.. GTeeley's theory
that it is an outrage to keep a man in
prison without trial or conviction, up
on whom is 1t an outrage ? Upon JEFF
Davis Can auy treatment be out
lrageous to such as he No one de-
MES that he deserUes Imprisonment,
even hanging, and to keep him i'm
prisoned must be merely technical
outrage. It is not an outrage IN fact but
an outrage in Ial1. And is Mr.. Gree
/ ley's humanity so gushing and far
reaching as to extend sympathy foI
even a technical outrage upon JEFF
Da7is2 We confess that ours is not,
and the arch traitor might have mar
/ tyred'' a thousand years among the
verminous dens of Libby or IN the vile
i pen of Belle Island without bringing
our stony heart to consent to bail him
out. Union soldiers of our aequain-
tance, robust and noble young men.
captured at Gettysburg were marched
to Staunton, thele stripped of the
blankets they slept on, the shelter
tents that protected them from the
storm, the money In their pockets, and
even the shoes on their feet, then
marched barefoot over the finty turn
pike to Richmond, and there put like
cattle into an open pen on Belle Island
where, without roof but the heavens
or bed but the damp earth, they were
/ literally starred to death under JEFF
Davis very nose. These were not tech
nical outrages; they were real, and il
is as certain that Davis is responsible
! for them as it is that the bones oI
I those Young men to-day whiteu Vir-
ginia clay. True patriotic hearts still
bleed on account of them and it would
add something to the dignity of The
nation if it would visit some punish
ment upon the traitor who thus wan
tonly and Wickedly brought mourning
and desolation to so many loyal homes
/ And when it comes to choose an OBJ
ject of sympathy can any one hesitate
between these bereaved ones and JEFF
Davis
But Mr.. Greeley represents that the
persons who desired the release Of Da.
Wis declared his signature on the bal
bond necessary to secure it. If SO, st
much the worse, for that tseems to place
upon Mr.. Greeley the responsibility fol
the release. If Greeley had not sign
ed the bond Davis would be still in
! Jail unless some staunch Democra Il
/ had bailed him or the Administration
! had taken the responsibility of turning
him loose. And we confess we woulc
much rather have Andrew johnson
and the Democratic party bear the
odium of Davis discharge than Hor
ace Greeley whom we believe to be {
man of kind heart and honest pur
poses. If Davis became an elephant
upon the hands Of the Government i
was Johnson's s fault and not that o.
the Republican party or any member
oft. Whether Mr.. Greeley assumed
to act in behalf of that party or on hi
own responsibility his action was
| wholly gratuitous. If Andy johnson
through neglect Of duty got himsel
into dilemma why should Greeley
or any other Republican concern him
self aboutit? Had johnson done sim
ply his duty, or what in speech after
speech, with vigorous gesture auC
truculent threat he vowed he woulc
do, Davis would have been tried anC
disposed of by military commission
long ago. But no such thing was dom
and perhaps was never intended. Up
on the President, therefore, rests thu
| chief responsibility for Davis escape
from hanging and for his ultimate re
lease, and We regret sincerely that Mr.
/ Horace Greeley should ever have as
sumed any part of that responsibility
or incurred any of the odium whicl
must inevitably accompany 1t.