The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-03-25
Congress on JeG Davis and Andrew
Jehnson-A Public Disgrace.
From the New York Herald.

CsHgress on JeG Davis and Andrew
Jehnson-A Public Disgrace.
From the New York Herald.l
At the end OF the.year 1860, and il
the early days of 1861, the air of the
whole South vibrated with the prepara
\ tions for war. 1t was war to be waget
against the Union-war for the de
struction of the Government of the Uni
ted States. In those same days every
stone in the Capitol echoed the vale
dictory eloquenee of the Southern lead
ers, men leaving the very halls of the
National Legislature to go and head the
reasonable movement, insulting the
common sense of the country with pa
rade of the reasons that impelled then
to strike at the nations life. Promi
nent in the number of these men wa!
jeff. Davis. He, with his confederates
played this part of the. drama with
impudent defiance. He went away
denouncing the Constitution, and boast
ing what should be done to destroy it
boasting the way in which he should
return. Cataline to the very lei ter
None stepped forward to impede his
path. Nay, he went with the approba'
tion and encouragement of the men
who became the great leaders of the
Republican party. He went with the
applause of Horace Greeley, tue restless
vituperative, and inconsequent. agita-
tor of the Radical press; of Mr.. Stan
ton, the oily-tengued plotser for power
All these men argued for the right OF
JEFF Davis to 90 and do what he might
/ g., n lo.A,- Nf ha .
\ as covered by "the sacred right of rev.
olution against tyranny" claiming that
to prevent or oppose him would be in
consistent with the doctrines of the
Declaration of Independence.
Davis, thus applauded, thus stimula-
ted, thus encouraged to believe that he
was heading a movement as noble as
that which made the colonies free, went
out TO organize and conduct the Internal
work. Davis went out thus, and every
Southern man of political note went
with him, save one. One man alone OF
the representatives of Southern constit-
uencies in the United States Congress
did not sympathize with thepurposes of
the Shareholders to establish an aristoc-
racy OH the ruins of our freedom. One
Southern man, prominent in the world
of politics. adhered earnestly, unfalter.
ingly, with all the intense fervor of a
positive nature, to the cause of the
Union; and this man was Andrew Jehn-
son, one of the Senators from Tennessee.
He denounced the whole reasonable at
tempt from the first blow. No whisper
of tolerance for it ever passed his lips.
From the United States Senate he went
to Tennessee-nearer to the rage of bat
tie. He was made military governor,
aud ruled the State with unconquerable
will and Interchangeable fidelity to the
cause the nation had az heart. He was
thus participating in the dangers aud
savage turmoil of the struggle, while
the Radical leaders were making plans
at Niagara Falls for surrender to the
enemy, plundering the nation in the is
sue of ruinous contracts to political
Ladherents, and breaking down the bar
riers that guarded popular rights by
arbitrary arrests Of inotfensive persons.
Such were the relative positions of men
through the terrible four years, until
the soldiers and sailors-the men of the
matchmaking their own generals and
admirals, ended the war; and the at
tempt that Davis had led, that Chase,
Greeley, Stanton, AID Gerritt Smith
had encOuraged-an attempt that came
nearer success than ever did such a revolt
befOre-ended in failure, thanks to the
people, to the man of the apple tree,
and to the "herO in the shrouds."
Peace came, and the country breathed
free in the anticipation of rstnrninS
happiness and prosperity. over the
whole land men had the same hepe, in
dulged the same rejoicing that the
trouble was over. Wisely generous,
the people would have shaken hands
with the South at once, and taken IT
without reserve into full fellowship,
conscious that the men who had felt
the war in their homes, and the bitter
ness of the failure in their hearts, need
ed only their memories to keep them
from renewing the great attempt. But
as there are eover-righteous men, so there
are men who have more than the nor
nal quantity of patriotic spirit;
and both classes are very nice on
particulars. 1t turned out that
there were a number of supera-
bundantly patriotic men to be heard
when it came to settling terms. They
were the men who had helped Davis to
make the war-the eXtravagant aboli-
tionists who could yet so sympathiZe
with slavery as to Justify its revolt on
texts from the Declaration OF lnds-
lpendence. These men had not been the
absolute and earnest enemies of the
Southern effort till it had failed beyond
redemption, and then their enmity
blazed out all the fiercer for being so
new and coming so late. These men
would not hear of peace on the terms
the people declared for. They made
difficulties, insisted on conditions, and
made tbs niger the basis of all pro-
positions; and thus they have kept up,
till now we have reign of anarchy.
But even yet they will not consent to
the punishment of the greatest criminal
of the age, and JEFF. Davis is now al
large with the names of Horace Greeley
aud Gerrit Smith-the types and SYM
bells of Radicalism-on his bail bond
vet these men seem to recognise the
natural necessity that some man should
suffer, that some great trial and punish
ment should signalize the close of the
war. On whom should the blow fall
Strangest piece of Satanic irony, they
have chosen for the victim that oDC
faithful Southern Senator. The ont
man who adhered to the Union when al
$the Southern Senators beside went ou
with the encouragement of Radica
leaders-the man who stood NJ
stoutly for the cause whel
these same leaders were com
promised in corrupt plots of every sort
that man is now tried rs an enemy t
the nation, while these same Radica
leaders stand between JEFF. Davis ant
Justice. Did Mephistopheles ever foo
his poor victim to such startling re
lsultf viii not this story forever damn
the Justice of the Republic as the syno
uym of all that is most pitiable anC
contemplate in human remembrance
Is it not diabolicsl, atrocious, past al
patience to contemplate, that these i'm
pudently corrupt wretches can perver
Justice to this degree, and so foul th'
name and fair repute of a great party
and that, worse than the rest, if posi-