Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-07-30

with which he observed every official
order in his delicate position as COnfed-
crate agent in Canada, Something fur
ther NAV be stated as to the three most
serious charges that have been laid at
his door, and even now, when the dead
issues of the past are buried, it is sought
TO revamp effete rumOrs by the produc-
ton of musty and lOng-buried dOcu-
ments. The utter falsity of gratuitOus
charges can be cOntradicted by simple
statement of facts.
MIR. THOMPSON has been accused of
aiding and abetting in the assassination
of President Lincoln, of having author
lied the burning of the city of New
York, and Of being accessory to the st.
Albans raid.
Let us briefly examine each of these
charges in the grade of their enormity.
First, with reference to
THE ST. ALBANs RAID,
the testimony that has already been ad-
duced before the investigating commit
tee in Congress proves incidentally not
only that Mr.. Thompson disapproved of
il, bet that he had ordered the leader of
the party to return to Richmond and re-
port himself for duty. When this party
showed a disposition to disObey the or
der he applied for relief from this order
to another commissioner, as ride Lieu
tenant YOung's letter to Mr.. Clay, ad-
duced before the Congressional Commit
tee.
This makes it clear that Mr.. Thomp-
son refused TO sanction the raid upon st.
Adams, because he was under the i'm
preston that the movement was impol-
itic. 1t is true, however, that when
these young men were arrested under the
ExtraditiOn Treaty, that Mr.. Thompson,
in generous compliance with the solicit
tations of the friends of the parties ar
raigned, stood by them in their hour of
need in order to save them from being
delivered up to enemies who, in their
existing state Of excitement, would be
incapable of giving them a fair trial. In
so doing he discharged a simple act of
Justice in Difference to impulses of phi
lanthropy and dictates Of duty.
THE BURNING OF THE NEW YORK HO-
TELs.
And now to approach the present more
serious charge as to the burning of this
city. Many fair homes of the South had
already been desOlated, burned and
razed TO the ground. Irritated by these
wantOn acts Of destruction, wild and
desperate young men assumed an ire
spOnsible license of retaliation. Mr..
Thompson never justified the burning
of private property, but in a general
order authorized the destruction of fed
eral stores wherever they could be found.
The public property used as war ma
terial in New York was immense, and
the public stores without limit. Its navy
yard was reiitting ships with rapidity,
which We're carrying desOlatiOn to South
ern homes. To burn or destroy these
was a iustifiable war measure. War can
only be defined as licensed crime. To
take life in a State of peace is murder;
to burn a house is arson; to pillage or
take that which is not your own by force
is robbery; yet belligerents as war
measures commit all these acts from
cOmpUlsion of circumstances. So of
many acts committed during the
last unhappy conflict. When the
effort to destroy public stores failed
Mr.. Thompson at no time and in no
way sanctioned any subsequent effort
to destroy the private property of nom
cOmbatants; for however much this
might have been justifiable as retalia-
tory, it was not sanctioned by the rules
of civilized warfare. There are many
acts, however, in a state of war to which
the most honorable man may give his
assent, the commission of which in
time of peace would be abhorrent. 1t
may be asserted, but it is yet to be
proven, that Mr.. Thompson ever eX-
ceeded these justifiable limits. 1t is
true, when the young men, who made
the efforts to burn the hotels, escaped to
Canada, that they applied for aid to
return To their homes, and Mr.. ThOmp-
son, being charged with the duty Of re-
turning escaped Confederate soldiers to
the government to which they then adj
hered, felt bound to furnish them the
means Of returning, and accordingly did
so. They were all so returned, except
ing Kennedy, who was arrested in the
attempt, tried and executed as a spy.
This is a full, frank and truthful state
ment Of the extent Of Mr.. ThOmpsOn's
connection with that affair, in all Of
which conduct we can recognize the
clearness and firmness with which he
confined himself within the limits of the
authority iutrusted to him in only justi-
flying the rights which are awarded to
belligeTents. In the case of
THE ASSASSINATION OF Mr.. LINCOLN.
The first intimatiOn Mr.. Thompson
ever had that he was suspected of being
in any way implicated came from the
proclamation which emanated from
Washington. a subsequent trial, su-
horned witness and Congressional COM
mittees all failed to establish any proof
Of the slightest completely to every
mind not gangrened 10y political or per-
sonal animosity. Separate and apart
from any other fact, the well-knOwn
caution with which Mr.. Thompson was
accustomed to deal with men forbade
the belief that he would have held any
such conversation as that detailed by
the man (Conover) who has since eX-
plated his crime of perjury by a resi-
dence in the State prison.
Needless, therefore, to revamp these
idle stories, for truth will ever prevail,
and the conscience void of offense can
safely eXclaim, "ThOu canst not shake
thy CORY locks at me.n
Truth pleads at the bar of history after
many days; and when the calamities
created by war shall have passed away,
compassion for those illuminated, by an
easy transition, is changed into cOndem-
nation Of the unjust judgment of oppos-
ing minds. c.