Glass f^V67 
 
THE CRIMINAL; 
 
 THE CRIME; THE PENALTY. 
 
 GEORGE H. HEPWORTH. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 WALKER, FULLER, AND COMPANY, 
 
 245, Washington Street. 
 1865. 
 
 f 
 
£"467 
 
 ■-4^ 
 
 BOSTON: 
 PRINTED BY JOHX AVILSON AND SON. 
 
C&£ Cnmhtal; % €xmt; ik Wtmliv, 
 
 c» 
 
 Job iv. 8: "They that plough iniquity and sow wickedness 
 
 REAP THE SAME." 
 
 These words were true three thousand years ago, and they 
 are equally true to-day. It has been the concurrent experi- 
 ence of alleges, that wrong prevails but a little while ; and, 
 though it succeed in putting on the imperial robes of power, 
 it shortly comes to grief. We see a new and fearful illus- 
 tration of this law, — an illustration that speaks with warnino- 
 eloquence to all American citizens, in the short but ignoble 
 career of that man who is at last a captive in the hands of 
 justice. We look back upon the rebellion which he inaugu- 
 rated, and which in crumbling is likely to bury him beneath 
 its ruins, and we search in vain for a single bright spot in 
 all its black darkness of cruelty and crime. Generally, in 
 a vast movement of this kind, involving the welfare of so 
 , many persons, one can find an excuse either in the motive 
 which began it, the heroism which illustrated it, or the 
 sublime courage, overcome but not conquered, which marked 
 Its end. But here you read the whole tragedy through with 
 an aching heart, from the first to the last act : in the plot 
 and in the actors, you find no single attribute of pure, high- 
 minded, revolutionary fame. 
 
 Here is the nucleus of fact, out of Avhich the terrible 
 drama has been constructed. In a certain part of our fair 
 
land were eight millions of persons who were mostly very 
 ignorant ; but of this number there were three hundred and 
 fifty thousand who assumed that they were born to be the 
 dominant race. They ruled with a hand of iron. They 
 owned nearly all the land ; they held, vested in their own 
 persons, nearly all the political power of the region. Their 
 real estate stretched from the Atlantic to the Mississippi ; 
 and their personal property consisted of four millions of hu- 
 man beings. They allowed no schools to be built : they en- 
 acted laws making it a criminal offence to teach a black child 
 the alphabet. Without the sanction of any law, they mobbed 
 any man who dared by word or hint to criticise their institu- 
 tions. These three hundred and fifty thousand self-elected 
 lords of men and lands sent to "Washington certain shrewd 
 and unprincipled men whose business was to acquire a domi- 
 nant influence over the resources and politics of the whole 
 country. In order to this accomplishment, they used every 
 means which genius or bravado could devise ; but the good 
 God protected us, and they were unsuccessful. Then, Avith 
 theatric gesture, and with loud words of menace, they left 
 the halls of Congress. Every true man breathed a little 
 freer in their absence, though the storm-clouds were gath- 
 ering, and the aAvful hour of trial approached. 
 
 These men then went from village to town, and from 
 hamlet to city, until, by systematic exaggeration and false- 
 hood, the populace were roused to such a pitch that blood 
 must flow before the troubled waters could grow calm again. 
 Mind you, — for this is an important point, — these people 
 were not thus fired to self-sacrifice by any great wrongs 
 which they, in their own persons or property, had suffered 
 at our hands. They were stirred by the eloquence of trea- 
 son, and of traitors who dared not tell them, that the Gov- 
 ernment had offered to do all which justice to the whole 
 people might demand in order to avert a resort to the bloody 
 arbitrament of war ; and that the offer was spurned by these 
 
ambitious demagogues, who hoped to fill their coffers and to 
 grasp fame by standing on the black ruins of betrayed repub- 
 licanism. Oh, no ! they did not tell the truth, the whole 
 truth, and nothing but the truth. Had they done so, their 
 constituency would have unseated them at once. 
 
 For two years this unnatural enthusiasm lasted. I use 
 the word enthusiasm, but it is hardly appropriate. Frenzy 
 is a word which better expresses the condition of the South- 
 ern mind. Under its influence, battles were won ; but the 
 victory was almost always stained by some act of cruelty 
 or vengeance, which told us that the soldiers of the Confed- 
 eracy were not revolutionists as our own past history defines 
 the word, but only rebels and outlaws. After the first two 
 years, — during which the calm tide, calm but omnipotent 
 in its oceanic swell, of Northern patriotism rose higher and 
 higher, — the frenzy of the South spent itself. It partly 
 waked to a consciousness of the Aveakness of its cause, and 
 once in a while it caught a glimpse of the fact that it had 
 been deceived and duped by unprincipled leaders. At last, 
 after a series of continuous and signal ' defeats stretching 
 through twice twelve months more, their rights trodden 
 upon by those at Richmond who- should have been their 
 foremost defenders, robbed of their money by the State 
 Treasurer, and by extortionate taxes, crushed by the des- 
 potic laws of a Congress as unprincipled as the Venetian 
 Council of Ten, their sons dead, their grayhaired old men 
 conscripted, and sent with tottex'ing step into the battle, to 
 fall before the vigor of Union troops, their trade destroyed, 
 their cities laid in ashes, all weary, worn, and dispirited by 
 the profitless contest, they demanded of their generals an 
 immediate surrender to the Government of the United 
 States. 
 
 Well, brethren, we knew it would come to this at last. 
 The laws of political gravitation are irresistible. Our flag 
 was always the stronger and the better of the two, and we 
 . 1* 
 
6 
 
 had faith that ultimately it would prevail. We have never, 
 however, read a more bitter, dreary, and witless story than 
 that which I have just told you. I know that many Avill 
 tell us there is a brighter side to the picture. I am aware 
 that the Confederacy put on its best countenance and its best 
 colors ; but, like the veiled prophet of Korassan, though thei-e 
 Avas a false blaze of light about its face when it enjoyed the 
 fulness of its power, in its last hour the veil was rent away, 
 and the loathsome thing appeared with its natural face and in 
 its fitting costume. That the veil was rent away, and that 
 the rebellion in dying has made unwilling confession of its 
 own turpitude, is another signal proof of that Providence 
 which has protected every onward step of these four years 
 of woe. We can never be too thankful for the last two 
 points in the great tragedy. Suppose, for an instant, that 
 Booth, when, the fatal deed accomplished which robbed a 
 continent of her purest statesman, he strode upon the stage, 
 and brandished the knife, and shouted " Sic semper tyran- 
 nis," instead of skulking away, and hiding for days in 
 swamps, and disgviising himself in various ways, — like any 
 coward who has done a deed the remembrance of which 
 frightens him, — had shown that he believed himself in the 
 right, and that he was equal to all the consequences of his 
 act, by plunging the dagger into his own heart, and dying in 
 the presence of the audience, — he would have gone down 
 to history as a strangely misguided fanatic, Avith some little 
 coloring of inspiration about his name, as did Charlotte 
 Corday. 
 
 Suppose, again, that Jefferson Davis, when it Avas as- 
 certained beyond a doubt that the rebel stronghold must 
 fall, and the army retreat to the mountains, Avhen Lee, sur- 
 rounded and hemmed in by an invincible cordon of brave 
 men, gave up his sword and his command to General Grant ; 
 I say suppose that at that time Mr. Davis had said, as any 
 really true revolutionist Avould have said, " My cause is gone. 
 
I believed that I could free my country, could lead my peo- 
 ple to independence, a higher prosperity and better laws than 
 they have been able to enjoy heretofore. But I have failed. 
 I throw myself upon the magnanimity of the American 
 people." What would have been the result ? The pen of 
 the historian would hardly have placed him in the niche 
 he is now likely to occupy. His last hour would have 
 excused many an act of cruelty, and he would have been 
 made a hero in spite of justice. 
 
 But neither of these things were to be. Booth stands 
 before us in the attitude of a cowardly murderer. There is 
 nb single redeeming point in all his career. Davis will go 
 forth as an adventurer, basely using delegated power, and 
 richly meriting the end which awaits him. That the 
 rebellion has thus made confession of its iniquity is matter 
 of great thanksgiving. We shall say of it, and say truly, 
 that it was born in ambition, and that it died in infamy. 
 Its whole history will be told in the bass-relief which should 
 be placed upon its tombstone, — a petticoat and a bowie- 
 knife. These are the symbols of weakness and cruelty ; 
 and they truly tell the story of him who was not ashamed to 
 use the one in public, or the other in private. 
 
 But let us look a little more closely, and see if Ave can 
 read the lesson which this tragedy teaches. 
 
 I want to speak for a few minutes upon the nature of 
 the crime. I mean, of course, the crime of rebellion. I 
 am not heated, brethren, by any partisan fervor ; nay, I am 
 not urged to this criticism by any spirit of vengeance, 
 which might naturally sway the judgment as memory recalls 
 the hundreds of thousands of graves wliich this man has 
 caused to be dug, — graves so dear to you and to me, because 
 there repose the brave who once blessed our homes by their 
 sunny presence ; yet I dare say, that this generation has 
 produced no single individual of such prominent badness as 
 Jefferson Davis. Let the tender heart of Mercy look upon 
 
him, and she will turn aside to weep that the humanity of 
 an American citizen can fall so low. Let Justice look him 
 steadily in the eye, and explore his life, his dark designs, 
 his cruel machinations ; and she frowns upon the whole com- 
 munity that will endure his presence, except as a manacled 
 captive. I have tried to believe that the man was simply a 
 wild fanatic; that somewhere in his own heart could be 
 found a kind of belief that he was not Avholly wrong in hia 
 course, — but in vain. Study his public career; read his 
 speeches in Congress, his words to his constituents ; watch 
 the animus of the mdn, his cunning, his propensity to use men 
 in unprincipled ways, — and you will soon reach the con- 
 clusion, that he is not a broad, deep, large-minded statesman ; 
 one who loves An^erica, good government, and equal laws ; 
 but simply a greedy, ambitious politician ; a man after the 
 style of Wolsey, who hungered and thirsted for power, and 
 whose vaulting ambition, regardless of the character of the 
 means by which ends were reached, at last overleaped itself. 
 I think this will be the criticism of the gentlemen of Con- 
 gress who knew him most intimately, and listened with 
 aching hearts to his bitter, menacing words in 1860, when, 
 his plans complete, his accomplices all numbered, he foretold 
 the doom of the American Government, and went forth to 
 his work of evil. 
 
 But, says some one, it is easy enough to say all this, now 
 that he has failed. Failures are never eulogized, and un- 
 successful men seldom receive pity. Had he only suc- 
 ceeded, he would now be a hero instead of a captive. No ! 
 a thousand times no ! my brother. It is without doubt true 
 that the pomp of a triumphant cause does affect the mind, 
 and in some degree modify the judgment. But let it be 
 understood distinctly, that, if Jefferson Davis had succeeded, 
 the government he would have established would have been, 
 in its want of the true principles of a Christian political 
 economy, a consummate disgrace to his country. Can any 
 
9 
 
 degree of success, can all the pomp and circumstance of 
 triumph, hide the fact, that fetters for human limbs, that a 
 division and subdivision of the community into as many- 
 clans as marked the old Feudal times, were to be the 
 corner-stones of the new power ? Are we so base, is the 
 world sunk so low, that it cannot discriminate between good 
 and evil ? No : success must mean the good of the people ; 
 it must mean better laws, and more just relations between 
 man and man, between labor and capital, between class and 
 class, or this age will not recognize it. Had this criminal, 
 through any mischance on our part, secured a piece of 
 ground on which to build a dynasty of his own, he would 
 have darkened the page of history, and thrown a shadow 
 upon the beauty and enlightenment of our time. He and 
 his cause have been involved in one prodigious ruin by the 
 Union army, aided and encouraged by the irresistible spirit 
 of the century. 
 
 And, brethren, he, the criminal, is to be tried and con- 
 demned, not merely by the military commission convened at 
 "Washington, but also by the ideas, the aspirations, the ten- 
 dencies, of the historic hour. I summon him to the bar, to 
 answer to certain charges preferred by the current thought 
 of the times. He shall be tried in the vast court-room of 
 this nineteenth century, and he stands in its presence indicted 
 for treason against the best interests of humanity. Justice 
 and Mercy shall be his senior and junior counsel. Let 
 them plead, the one with all his love of right, the other with 
 all the eloquence of charity ; and, if he be acquitted, never 
 will I utter a word against the verdict. 
 
 Here, in this court-room, upon our right, shall sit the 
 great political minds of the age ; the men who have grasped 
 the thought of the hour, who have studied the hungry wants 
 of the people ; who know their capacity for liberty and self- 
 government, and who have devoted their lives to so influ- 
 ence legislation that these heavinsr masses should be lifted 
 
10 
 
 thereby. These men will judge righteously, and no loyal 
 soul need fear theii* verdict. 
 
 Here, upon the left, shall sit the reformers of the time. 
 They are a noble company, a little quick in judgment per- 
 haps, somewhat given to denunciation, but sturdy, steadfast 
 friends of all successful and all unsuccessful endeavors on 
 the part of society to change its condition for the better. 
 These men deal with the foremost thought of the age. They 
 are sharp-sighted to discover any way, either by dissolution 
 of existing modes of government, or by the establishment of 
 separate powers, to improve the world. Surely no just cause 
 need dread their criticism. No rebellion will be denounced 
 by them, simply because it is a rebellion. They will only 
 ask for its central thought ; and, if that be true, their ap- 
 proval will be had at once. 
 
 Here, again, at the end of the court-room, shall sit the 
 philanthropists, — a glorious assemblage of good men, Avho 
 have proved their fealty by years of sacrifice, and devotion to 
 their country. They are the men who, loving the masses, 
 trusted and loved by the masses, are as fit as any others to 
 pass sentence upon any new theory of government. Their 
 hands are always upon the people's pulse and the peo- 
 ple's heart; and they will be unfalteringly faithful to any 
 man or any law that promises to strengthen the moral sen- 
 timent, or to add to the intelligence of the State. Thus 
 shall be constituted the Supreme Bench who shall judge this 
 cause. 
 
 And here, covering the vast arena, croAvding together with 
 mingled curiosity and wonder, shall stand the whole people. 
 They shall constitute the jury in this trial. Let all the wit- 
 nesses be examined before them. Let them understand 
 Avhat this man would have done, had he succeeded in his 
 great adventures. Surely he need not fear their verdict ; 
 for he has more than once asserted, that he intended to 
 establish the best order of society known to man. 
 
11 
 
 Stand forth, criminal ! and plead your cause before this 
 august tribunal. You have nothing to fear, unless you fear 
 justice. Let all your eloquence come to your aid ; for upon 
 the verdict hangs honor or infamy for evermore. If, listen- 
 ing to your story, told with all the cunning of a glittering 
 rhetoric, you can persuade them to say, " Not Guilty," you 
 shall take position beside the great and good who have gladly 
 died for liberty : but, if you fail in this, and they see only a 
 bad heart that betrayed the Christ of Freedom for forty 
 pieces of silver, beware their verdict of " Guilty ; " for the 
 second Judas can hope for no better fate than the first. 
 
 Brethren, as the prisoner stands at the bar, meeting the 
 gaze of the world, the mind naturally asks the question, Who 
 is this man ? Has he heretofore been one of us, or is he the 
 product of another clime where rebellions are deemed bene- 
 fits ? Would that I might offer even this excuse for him. 
 Would that I might say, this death and woe is not the work 
 of an American citizen, but of a foreign enemy who has 
 stolen his way into the affections of the people that he might 
 the better betray them. But I cannot. I must confess, that 
 the great crime was conceived and executed by one who was 
 fitted by natural capacity, and by education, to be one of our 
 strongest friends ; and who would have never swerved from 
 his allegiance to his country, had he possessed a single spark 
 of gratitude. It is a humiliating confession, that the man 
 who has played us false owes all he has, and all he Avas be- 
 fore the fatal deed, to that Government which folded its 
 protecting arms about him at the very moment when he 
 was meditating her destruction. Jefferson Davis, like many 
 another man who has risen to eminence, was born in hum- 
 ble circumstances. Had not the inspiring breath of a free 
 and active and progressive people reached him, he might, 
 even now, be enjoying the obscurity from which his country 
 lifted him to honor. He was educated at the Government 
 expense, at West Point. The expense thus incurred by you 
 
n 
 
 and me and all of us, tliat he might learn the military art, 
 was cheerfully paid, with the distiuct understanding, that, if 
 ever trouble should come to this people, and the foreign in- 
 vader should tread upon our soil, or the civil rebellion 
 unfurl its blood-red banner, this man should rush to the 
 rescue, and, standing in the front rank of our defenders, 
 fight the foe to the last, and, if need be, die upon the field. 
 The' knowledge hoAv to use the sword, and how to wield 
 large bodies of men, was consecrated in the most solemn 
 manner to the benefit of American institutions. Base, base 
 ingratitude ! But let us not think of it, lest the accumulation 
 of crime, which increases at every step we take, unfit us for 
 our duty as impartial judges. Let us rather forget all we 
 can ; and ever enough will remain, of which we dare not be 
 unmindful, to rouse the deepest feelings of the heart. 
 
 He was raised to many a post of honor by his constitu- 
 ency, and at last took his seat in the halls of Congress, the 
 political Holy of Holies, where every statesman speaks and 
 votes with the responsibilities of future ages pressing upon 
 him. Before he darkened those high places with the shadow 
 of his treachery, he lifted his right hand towards high hea- 
 ven, and impiously kissed the book of Sacred Writ ; swear- 
 ing — not upon his honor as a weak man, but by his belief in 
 the Almighty One whose name he was even then pro- 
 faning ; and calling upon the justice of Heaven to mete out 
 to him his reward if he proved false to his trust — to use all 
 his influence, in private and in public, to strengthen the laws, 
 to increase the power, and to hallow the liberty of American 
 republicanism. His constituency expected this of him ; we 
 expected it of him, and the country that had educated him 
 demanded it. How has he fulfilled our hopes ! how has he 
 labored in our behalf! For what good law are we indebted 
 to him ? Is there one ? I would that there were a single one, 
 that we might hang thereon on some little word of excuse, 
 some mite of sympathy. "Was there ever before a criminal 
 
13 
 
 who did not have a single friend ; who could not point to 
 some part of his career, and say, " Look at that : then I 
 acted the part of a true man ; then I was generous or charit- 
 able or self-denying : think of it when you pass judgment " ? 
 
 But again I say, brethren, we must not dwell too long 
 upon these dark pages ; for, loving our country, which is our 
 home, our children's home, the home of all the hopes that 
 are dearest to humanity, we shall be so stiiTcd that some- 
 thing of passionate indignation — which is just, indeed, but 
 which ought to be restrained just now, lest we fail to secure 
 the end of exact justice — may influence our calm judgment. 
 
 Let us, then, name the several crimes of which this man 
 is accused. 
 
 First, We impeach him in the omnipotent name of the 
 people of this Republic, as being a deliberate conspirator 
 against a Government which, on the whole, — though there 
 are many parts which we would gladly alter, — is the best 
 the sun shines upon. And, furthermore, we assert, that the 
 prisoner has attempted this subversion, not in the interest of 
 mankind, and for the sake of opening up a larger liberty, 
 but with the hope of limiting the liberty already attained, 
 and building a government and an order of society out of 
 which the people have found their way by means of the 
 struggles of three hundred years. It will be proven against 
 this man, that for the last thirty years he has been actuated 
 by this base purpose ; that it has never once left his mind ; 
 that he-has used every inducement to persuade men of influ- 
 ence to enter into the conspiracy with him ; that he has sanc- 
 tioned, and by his speech aided in the organization of, a secret 
 society whose membership extended from the Gulf of Mexico 
 to the Lakes, — for we must confess even here, that the 
 Republic has found secret emissaries of the slave power in 
 Northern villages and cities ; that, by means of this society, 
 he has endeavored to create an antagonism between the 
 public opinion of the two sections. Is it a little thing for 
 
 2 
 
14 
 
 a cherished member of our common household, — one who 
 outwardly, in public speech, and while men were Avatching, 
 could so alter his natural face that he smiled approvingly 
 upon all our labors for the common good ; one whom we 
 trusted with power which is to be confided only to long-tried 
 servants, — I say, is it a little thing for such a one, while 
 all the family holds him to its heart, and says its prayers for 
 him at night, to steal into the darkness when good men are 
 asleep, and mine the sacred edifice with the intent to bury 
 house and inmates beneath one common ruin, while he en- 
 riched himself upon the debris? It is almost incredible. 
 Such deep-dyed treachery harmonizes well enough with the 
 history of the semi-barbarous nations of the middle ages ; but 
 can so great a criminal be found to-day, — to-day, brethren, 
 — and within the charmed circle of American life ? Alas ! 
 in heaven itself was found one who could not be content with 
 the glories of the Omnipotent ; who looked with envy upon 
 his Creator ; and who, with a few frenzied followers, dared 
 dispute the authority of the Supreme. But for that fact we 
 would not believe this. I shrink with horror, while I am 
 overwhelmed at the justice of the sentence, as I see the first 
 rebel toppling from his unhallowed height, and, falling from 
 night till morn, from morn till dewy eve, reach at last the 
 punishment which awaits that criminal for whom there is 
 no mercy, even in God's bosom ; and Avhen I look upon you, 
 O second rebel ! like, too like, unto the first in the blackness 
 of your deed, I say. What can you hope for ? 
 
 This man — is it not so, fi-iends? — time and again intro- 
 duced questions in Congress, with no other hope except to 
 stir up the already excited passions of North and South. 
 Instead of using his proud position and his great influence 
 to increase fraternal feeling, to hide or cure old wounds, he 
 was for ever probing our sore places ; for ever reminding us 
 that there were differences between us ; and for ever saying, 
 that the time was already at hand Avhen we must separate. 
 
15 
 
 His object was to compel the North to strike the first blow. 
 Even he, for a time, shrank from the overt act, though the 
 treason was burning in his heart. He seems like an unnatu- 
 ral son, who has lifted his hand and the fatal knife against 
 his mother ; her who gave him life ; who watched over him 
 in years of infancy ; who has prayed for and helped him 
 ever since ; and who cannot, cannot for a moment, (what a 
 moment that must be ! ) strike the blow ; for the thick flood 
 of dear memories comes rolling down from the past, and 
 stays his hand. But it is only for a moment. Soon — 
 but we must not anticipate. 
 
 Whose heart does not ache in remembering these things ? 
 Do you recall those shameful scenes in Washington, when 
 the Northern statesman was continually under the censor- 
 ship of the braggadocio's duelling-pistol or bowie-knife ? 
 Have we not been blushing with shame for years at the in- 
 decorum, the brutality, the utter want of temperance in 
 word and deed, which have characterized the conventions of 
 Congress ? Has not Europe looked across the Avater, and 
 laughed us to scorn, and pointed the finger of contempt at 
 the men who have legislated for the Republic ? " See, the 
 base-born churls at one moment are lauding free speech ; 
 and the next are trying to kill each other, if one chances to 
 say his say about the barbarism of slavery ! " 
 
 And, brethren, while all this was being done, we, the 
 North, said not a word. Our lips were closed, our hearts 
 were hushed and bleeding. We loved our country, and 
 were willing to sacrifice almost any thing in order to pre- 
 serve it. We heard the flag insulted, — we must make 
 this confession now, for it is becoming ; and, though we 
 burned to avenge it, we kept still in the name of the Union. 
 Yes : we let these foul plotters pass such laws that our very 
 religion was shadowed, our honor was touched, and we 
 almost saw the spectral shapes of our dead forefathers com- 
 ing from their graves to accuse us of cowardice. But it was 
 
16 
 
 not cowardice. Let the lust four years bear witness. It 
 was not cowardice : it was an overwlielming love of our 
 Republic ; and a fear, lest, in the din of battle, it might, by 
 some dread mischance, be destroyed. We listened to the 
 counsel of the great minds at the capitol. "We heard Mr. 
 Crittenden say, " I wish to God it was in my power to pre- 
 serve this Union by renouncing or agreeing to give up every 
 conscientious or other opinion. I might not be able to dis- 
 card it from my mind : I am under no obligation to do that. 
 I may retain the opinion ; but if I can do so great a good as 
 to preserve my country, and give it peace, I Avill forego any 
 action upon my opinion. Well, now," (turning to the few 
 true men who had not quite lost their faith in God), "this 
 is all that is asked of you." Did we not listen to that song 
 over long ? I think the page which records the forbearance, 
 the exceeding great forbearance, on the part of the North, 
 will be one of the wonders of history to the next generation. 
 At last, however, unable to compel us to inaugurate the 
 movement of separation, this man and his fellow-traitors, 
 with much loud boasting and equally loud threats, assuring 
 us that they Avould yet bring their slaves into the very 
 heart of New England, and call the roll, — had they done 
 so, the very graves Avould have given up their dead ; and, 
 though the recreant sons might not dare to lift the sword, 
 the crumbling ashes of the sires, brought to life again by 
 the sacrilege, would have fought the old battles a second 
 time, — showed their designs by retreating from those loyal 
 halls, which they were destined never to see again except as 
 prisoners. Four times twelve months have gone on their 
 way, — months whose history we will not recall ; and now, 
 his plans all foiled, and foiled not more by the Union army 
 than by the providence of God, his last cursed deed done, his 
 last threat uttered, yet unrepentant, with all his damning 
 guilt upon him, the criminal stands there, awaiting his sen- 
 tence. 
 
17 
 
 But is this all his crime ? I wish, indeed, it were. 
 Enough it is for one man to bear or answer for ; but what 
 comes after, to what has just been said, is as black to 
 white. 
 
 Second, "We impeach him as a wilful subverter of the best 
 ideas of the century, and of the tendency of our institutions. 
 If this age has any chief characteristic, it is its wider love of 
 all true laws. The Christianity of to-day is richer in good 
 works than that of yesterday. The great rule of right has 
 claimed our allegiance ; and we believe in an ample liberty 
 for all, in free speech, a free press, a free church, a free 
 man. The whole current of the age's thought runs in the 
 direction of the people. We take the bars down between 
 class and class ; we say no man is ignoble who has ambi- 
 tion ; no man is noble, unless he has a good thought and a 
 good life ; and all such, of whatever clime or station, belong 
 to the peerage of the nineteenth century, and have patent 
 titles of nobility signed by the Almighty. 
 
 I have studied, as carefully as my time would allow, the 
 history of rebellious, to find one like this which has just been 
 brought to a close, — in vain. This stands alone. From 
 Wat Tyler to Robespierre, every great convulsion in which 
 large numbers have been engaged, has been marked as origi- 
 nating in unwarranted oppression, and as having for its 
 object the good of the common people. In its centre was a 
 good thought. Some bad law has been expunged ; some 
 privilege, longed for, but denied by the imperial master, has 
 been extorted. 
 
 How is it with your rebellion, criminal ? Were the 
 people of the South sadly oppressed by laws made by North- 
 ern legislators ? Did you so deeply sympathize with their 
 cause, and were you so moved by your desire after the gen- 
 eral good, that you were willing to lead them through heroic 
 resistance to independence and liberty ? Do we forbid you to 
 build innumerable schoolhouses and churches ; to educate all 
 
 2* 
 
18 
 
 classes ; to tell them that they are freemen, and that they 
 must do the deeds and live the lives of freemen, — that you 
 can stay under our roof no longer, but must depart to build 
 a more friendly house of your own ? Had this been so, my 
 tongue would never have uttered a word of criticism. I 
 would have prayed for you and for your cause. You would 
 have been laboring in the cause of the country, and would 
 have deserved the sympathy of all true men. 
 
 But how different the real picture ! I scarce can bear to 
 look upon it. It is too black to be looked at long. Why, 
 brethren, instead of standing there in the divine attitude of 
 a revolutionary hero, this man, had he but the power, would 
 have destr. yed every good thought, every good law, every 
 fair religion, every philanthropy of the time. He would 
 have hurried us back to the superstition, the despotism, and 
 the immorality of the dark ages. There is scarcely a great 
 thought in the century which he would not have blotted out. 
 For, had he been successful, — ah, thank God that he was 
 not ! — his first act would have been to have razed to the 
 ground every educational institution in the South, on the 
 ground that free schools are an evil, and an educated people 
 are not easily ruled. He would then have divided the com- 
 munity into classes, putting himself and his compeers in 
 guilt in the dominant class ; and so separating the one order 
 from the other, that labor, honest labor, would for ever re- 
 main a disgrace. Then he would have trimmed the religion 
 — I scarce dare use the word in such connection — to suit 
 his base purposes ; and if a man should ever say that 
 bonds were evils, and bondage was wrong, he Avould have 
 committed the unpardonable offence, and be sentenced to die 
 the death. No man could be free, white or black, except the 
 rulwg class ; and that would be free to all evil, but not free to 
 good. 
 
 Then he would have opened the slave-trade ; and all the 
 horrors of those dreadful days which we long since thought 
 
19 
 
 were ended for ever would be renewed. Yes, brethren, if 
 that is the ideal of society and government, Wigfall told the 
 truth, one day, when he said the sailing of the " Mayflower" 
 \7as a great misfortune to the world. 
 
 All this he would have done, had he been successful. Do 
 you doubt it ? Nay : every schoolboy knows that no lan- 
 guage can do justice to the government which this man 
 proposed. My tongue would fail me, should I attempt to 
 give you the fearful details of this plot. Mothers ! you 
 would have prayed that your sons might die, that your pure 
 daughters might never see the light of another day, had not 
 this foul schemer been foiled. 
 
 But, surely, we now know the whole extent of this man's 
 guilt. We will believe no more. Enough has already been 
 told to make us shudder that humanity can be so depraved. 
 It is not credible that worse deeds than these can be done 
 by man. Look again ! for we seek to know the whole 
 truth. There is more to be said, — more that is black and 
 damnable. 
 
 Thirds "We impeach him for using, in the accomplishment 
 of his plans, machinations most abhorrent and abominable. 
 He was not satisfied with the arbitrament of honorable war- 
 fare ; but resorted, as the veriest cowards always do, to the 
 secret use of poisons, and other weapons of the basest men. 
 He entertained at his own table men who were employed to 
 burn the shipping in our harbors, and to set our hotels on 
 fire ; and, as they detailed the probabilities of success, he 
 grimly smiled, like a damned villian as he is. It was he 
 who connived at the importation of clothing which should 
 infect a whole community with an epidemic that might have 
 swept like a prairie-fire through the entii-e North. There 
 are mothers here who lost their sons because that man em- 
 ployed such vile means. And, not satisfied with that, — be 
 still our hearts ! which within the last few weeks have ached 
 so many times, as the thought of our national loss came 
 
20 
 
 over lis : keep down, bitter feelings ! — bitter indeed, too, too 
 bitter for utterance, — be aided in and abetted tbe murder 
 of President Lincoln, Tliere is too mucb reason to believe 
 that this fearful deed emanated from Richmond ; that Booth 
 was but the hired villain of that tragedy, — the weak tool 
 used by the prisoner, who should be made to assume the 
 whole responsibility of the act. 
 
 Lastly, "We impeach him as being in his own person an 
 assassin and a robber. I say, as being in his own person an 
 assassin and a rohher, amenable to the laws of the land. 
 See if it is not so. I do not like this recital : it is the 
 bloodiest record man ever had ; but you are the injured 
 party, and you should know the whole extent of the wrong 
 that has been done you. You are to judge him ; and, if your 
 judgment is to be just, you must read every page of this 
 man's deeds in the last four years. 
 
 From time to time, during the progress of the war, com- 
 panies of our soldiers Avere captured. They were taken by 
 overwhelming numbers of the enemy, and while fighting 
 bravely as true men can fight. By all the rules of civilized 
 warfare known to nations, these men were to be treated in such 
 way that their health should not suffer thereby, — the object 
 of capturing them not being to kill but to confine, and thus 
 decrease the number of our forces. I need not say that the 
 treatment of prisoners is generally a very delicate matter of 
 honor. For the men thus captured are perfectly helpless ; 
 they have no means of defending themselves, and are thrown 
 entirely upon the mercy of the captors. Well, these men, 
 to the number of more than fifty thousand, were transported 
 from the fields of contest to the stockade in Andersonville. 
 Brethren, did you love your soldier-boy, as he came to you 
 one morning, his cheek all flushed with the excitement of 
 patriotism, and said, " Good-by ! my country claims me 
 now"? Did you love him with a love beyond that of a 
 parent, as you put your hand tenderly on his head, and said, 
 
21 
 
 " My boy, your country and your (^od both call ; I dare not 
 say you nay. Go, and may He be unto you a shield " ? Do 
 you remember that hour ? Nay, will you ever forget it ? 
 Well, then, bury your head in your hands and weep as I tell 
 the rest of this story : nay, bury your heart there too, if you 
 can ; for, save in the cause of truth, such fearful things 
 should never find utterance. But to-night I dare not tell 
 you less than the truth. That boy was one of the fifty 
 thousand. And they, his masters, would not let him dig 
 even a hole in the ground in which to shelter himself from 
 the mid-day sun. They gave him no clothing, though you 
 sent it to Washington for him, and our Government held 
 the written guaranty that this man's Confederacy would 
 deliver it to the prisoner-boy. They refused him proper 
 attendance and medicine, when, broken down by their 
 cruelties, he crept away into a corner, that he might dream 
 of home, and sleep himself into immortality, where the 
 wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. 
 If, driven by a thirst that burned into his vitals, he ven- 
 tured to the sluggish, stagnant water, — to drink which was of 
 itself almost sure death, — the sentinel, just to make a little 
 excitement, or, as some of them said, for the fun of the 
 thing, took deliberate aim, and shot the poor child dead. 
 Those fifty thousand did not have a daily ration that would 
 keep a little boy alive. Thinner and thinner they grew 
 every day. They begged ; they got down on their knees ; 
 and, holding up their hands to their masters, they prayed for 
 a single crust of bread. But it was all in vain. Though 
 the stern, hard heart of the commander of the stockade 
 might have melted within him, there were orders in his tent 
 which he dared not disobey. Dare you look at that picture 
 longer ? ' See those vacant eyes, that only three months 
 since were speaking with intelligence ! See that wasted 
 frame, oh, so wan and thin ! See those trembling lips ; they 
 cannot tell you the name of the regiment to which their 
 
owner belongs : they cannot speak the soldier's name even, 
 for it has been forgotten in the cravings of hunger : they 
 cannot lisp the dear words, — mother ^Avife, or child ; for an 
 irremediable idiocy has taken possession of him. Was 
 there any reason for all this ? Did Confederate soldiers 
 have enough to eat ? Was there no food in the South ? 
 Plenty, plenty, alas ! brethren: there was more than could 
 be used piled up everywhere. What, then, shall I say ? 
 That these men were deliberately murdered ? cruelly, wan- 
 tonly, basely murdered ? I do say it : I do say that some- 
 body is deeply dyed in damning guilt ; that fifty thousand 
 men were systematically starved to death, and by some one 
 who should be held by the strong arm of the Government 
 to a strict account. The graves all over the land, the 
 desolate homes, the widowed mothers, the orphaned chil- 
 dren of every Northern village, cry out for justice. We 
 dare not be heedless of their cry. It is the cry of woe, 
 uselessly caused ; and it must be heard in the Supreme 
 Court of the land, or the very heavens will thunder out 
 against us. 
 
 But who is the guilty party ? Where is he Avho is so base- 
 born that he can do this thing ? It is not he who refused the 
 food in Andersonville Avhen the dying soldier knelt and 
 begged for it. He had his orders, — his verbal or his written 
 orders ; orders that did not admit of disobedience. Who 
 gave them ? I will tell you. It was Jefferson Davis, — the 
 man at the bar. He is the guilty party, and he is solely re- 
 sponsible for it all. It could not have been done Avithout 
 his consent. And at any time, in a single moment, by a 
 stroke of his pen, he might have said. Let this thing cease, 
 and it would have euded for ever. He did not say so ; and 
 therefore fifty thousand of the bravest and truest* marched 
 sloAvly and Avith faltering step, a shadoAvy procession, down 
 into the valley of Starvation, and left their bones there. O 
 God ! I Avish this were not true. I have lost those dear to 
 
23 
 
 me in this way, and I can mingle my tears with yours. 
 foul, wicked man, what an array of accusations we make 
 against you ! Is it for this we have raised you, educated you, 
 given you place and honor ? Have we indeed held you to 
 our hearts, and warmed you into life, only to be stung by you 
 at last? It is even so : it is even so. Say all you can for 
 yourself, bring forth every excuse ; for an outraged people are 
 looking at you, and are to be your judges. Yes, plead your 
 cause eloquently ; for here are charges enough to condemn to 
 the severest penalty a whole score of men as vile as men can 
 generally be. 
 
 Now, brethren, what shall we say concerning the penalty 
 for such accumulated and damning guilt ? I would that we 
 might not have been called to answer this question. I M'ish 
 some friendly accident, some stray bullet, had put the whole 
 matter beyond our reach ; but here the question is, and an 
 answer to it we must have. Had the prisoner possessed any 
 atom of that spirit which his bold menaces in times past in- 
 dicated, had he the pluck of a mouse, he would have 
 driven home to his heart the dagger he always carried ; but 
 like a coward he was caught in his villany, hidden beneath a 
 woman's robes, and pleading for his miserable life. 
 
 I argue this question because the opinion of the commu- 
 nity is unformed ; and because there is a cry of magnanimity 
 which is likely, if it prevails, to defeat the ends of justice 
 altogether. We should be magnanimous : we ought to be 
 merciful ; but that is neither the one nor the other, which 
 would overlook the crime and release the criminal- The 
 America that is to be calls to us ; the children in the cradle 
 call to us ; the unborn millions of to-rmorroAV call to us from 
 tlie shadows of their hiding-places ; and with one voice they 
 say. Be just, and fear not. 
 
 We must say one of two things : first, that the Republic 
 knows no penalty for rebellion except the expense of feeding 
 Union h-oops as they march over its territory : or, second, 
 
u 
 
 that America has deci'eed that no rebel leader shall live upon 
 her soil ; that she knows how to repay her friends with 
 gratitude ; but for those who aim at her life she has nothing, 
 absolutely nothing, but the gallows and a grave. These are 
 the two possible verdicts. You can have either, — there is 
 no compromise between them, — impunity, utter and com- 
 plete, or death. 
 
 Now, brethren, society has already fixed the penalty of 
 crime. A slight misdeed she repays with imprisonment : a 
 deeper guilt she repays with confinement for life : a murder 
 she repays with death. This is the code of the civilized 
 world. Philosophers and philanthropists have tried to 
 change it, but still it stands ; and stand it will for ever. 
 Treason against a government, which involves not one life 
 but many, stands pre-eminent as the crime of crimes ; still 
 the penalty is simply death, as there is no worse punishment 
 known to law. Had Booth been caught, what power could 
 have reversed the sentence which would have been passed 
 by the Military Commission ? What power can reverse the 
 sentence to be passed upon the guilty ones in Washington ? 
 Can we say to these men. Go oiF! get you gone to Mexico •' 
 we do not want your miserable lives : never show your 
 faces here again. Can we afford to say that ? Would it 
 not be putting a premium upon murder ? Would it not in- 
 crease the crime of the country a thousand-fold ? Surely 
 there is no doubt upon this point. These men must and 
 will be hanged ; and all America will look sadly on, and say, 
 It is just. Well, if these men are to be killed, will you, 
 can you, let him live ? 
 
 Ah ! but these were common murderers, you say. Fatal, 
 fatal distinction ! Common murderers ! Is it, then, so great 
 a crime to be a common murderer, and so little a fault to be a 
 wholesale murderer ? If I kill one, I am a criminal ; but, 
 if I kill a hundred, I am a hero, and no law can reach me. 
 John Brown slew a few, and did it in the name of Liberty : 
 
25 
 
 him we hanged. Jefferson Davis slew fifty thousand in the 
 name of Slavery; and him we set free, because, forsooth, the 
 Supreme Court can find no indictment against him. Is that 
 iaw ? Is that justice ? Nay, is that safety ? I can con- 
 ceive of no greater wrong we can do ourselves than to hang 
 Harold, and set Davis free. Never hang man again, if he 
 escapes his due. 
 
 But, you say, I admit the justice of the sentence ; I only 
 doubt its policy : we must look to the moral effect to be 
 produced by our action. Assuredly we should. It is a very 
 important point. I should be as sensitive there as any of 
 you. It is for that very reason that I want this greatest 
 criminal executed. I would produce a moral effect upon 
 the world by the act. I would point out to Europe two pic- 
 tures : first, our maimed soldiers well provided for for life, 
 held to our hearts in warmest gratitude ; and, second, the 
 place where this man should meet his end. I am one of 
 those who think that the moral effect of doing right is not to 
 be feared. It cannot be, that, after all these months of woe, 
 we have come to study the policy of evading justice. Is it 
 absolutely necessary to surround our State criminals with 
 impunity, lest Europe should think ill of us ? Whom do 
 we fear ? Of whom or what do we stand in dread at such 
 a time ? Believe me, brethren, there is but one duty that 
 presses down upon us, — to do that and only that ivhich will, 
 show our utter detestation of the crime, and our fixed determi- 
 nation that it shall never be repeated. You remember the 
 conversation of Mr. Davis with one of his officers. " Mr, 
 Davis," the officer said, "our cause must be abandoned." 
 " Yes," was the reply : " it must be abandoned for the pres- 
 ent ; but it will come up again at another time, and in 
 another shape." Memorable and warning words ! They 
 will be prophetic if we prove ourselves weak in this great 
 hour of emergency. What hidden dangers may be lurking 
 in the future we know not. When they come, God will 
 
 3 
 
26 
 
 provide means against them ; but we can and should deter- 
 mine, that this cause shall never re-appear in the shape ot 
 Jefferson Davis. 
 
 Now, there are several ways in which this criminal may 
 be disposed of. Let us look at them, and see what they will 
 avail us. 
 
 First, We might confine him for life, either in some 
 prison-house, or vipon some island in mid-ocean. We might 
 decree in the most solemn way that he shall never again be 
 free ; that, under the surveillance of a guard, he shall live 
 and die at a distance from the haunts, the hatred, and the 
 sympathy of men. This is the appropriate punishment, 
 Avithout a doubt. For my own part, I have an exceeding 
 great repugnance to the taking of life, and I should be glad 
 if such a sentence as this could be carried out. Its moral 
 effect — for that seems to be the point aimed at — would be 
 incalculable. But the scheme is wholly impracticable, and 
 really amounts to a merely temporary imprisonment. Who 
 does not know, that it is not next to impossible, but utterly 
 impossible, to imprison a man for life in America ? The 
 officials change so often, the feelings of the people are so 
 volatile, that in a few years the offence is forgotten, a mor- 
 bid sympathy for the prisoner is created, and he is set at 
 liberty. This scene is enacted every year. A man cannot 
 be kept in prison twenty years, if he has influential friends. 
 
 If an assassin should lift his hand against a European 
 monarch, he could be confined for life, and the sentence would 
 be carried into effects The father whose life was threatened 
 would see that the penalty was inflicted, and his son would 
 see to it that it was not neglected. It would be a family 
 matter, and the outrage would have especial claims upon 
 the memory at all times. Not so in this country. No mat- 
 ter how much the surface is ruffled, it is all smooth again 
 in a moment, and everybody has forgotten the cause of ex- 
 citement. I do say, without fear of contradiction, that it is 
 
2T 
 
 an impossibility to confine this man for life. Scarce ten 
 years would elapse before influential friends would be at 
 work for his release ; and there is no doubt whatever, that, 
 under such circumstances, Davis could spend the latter days 
 of his life upon his own plantation in Louisiana, where he 
 could sit in security, and sneer at our Government, and aid 
 in inciting another rebellion. Are you prepared for that ? 
 For one I am not. And I speak not merely in my own 
 person, but in the name of all the martyred dead of the four 
 bloody years just closed. I am not prepared for that, and 
 will never consent to such a sentence. 
 
 Second, "We can banish him. Banish him? To what 
 place ? Do you propose to tell him simply, that he must 
 not live hereafter on our soil ; that he must go somewhere 
 else ? Do you suppose he will have any particular objec- 
 tions to such a sentence ? Do you think he has in the last 
 two yeai's become so attached to America, that it will be the 
 worst conceivable punishment to send him away ? Why, 
 brethren, the one thing he most desires is to get out of the 
 country. Indeed, he was on his way out when he was cap- 
 tured ; and, if he had only been let alone, — a privilege he has 
 been demanding some time, — he would never have knocked 
 at your door again, my word for it. Well, if you banish 
 him, you do for him what he proposed to do for himself; 
 the only difference being, yes, the 07ily difference being, that, 
 if you had not pursued him, he would have been compelled 
 to pay his own passage-money to some European port, 
 while now you will pay his passage, and offer him an escort. 
 
 This idea is monstrous. Suppose that the leader of a 
 gang of cowardly robbers breaks into a bank whose vault 
 contains a hundred bags of gold. He succeeds in steal- 
 ing one of the bags, and hands it out to his friends, who 
 conceal it in the place of rendezvous. The next night he 
 murders the watchman, in order to accomplish his purpose 
 better, and steals another bag ; the next night another, 
 
28 
 
 and so on. Instead of trying the case, and sentencing the 
 man for murder in the first degree, suppose the judge should 
 say, " Sirrah, you are a bad and dangerous man. You have 
 committed a deed at which Justice frowns, and Mercy turns 
 her head away to weep ; but I cannot punish you, for fear 
 of the moral effect to be produced. You must go beyond 
 our lines : you must leave the town, and at once. That is 
 your sentence." Well, where does the robber go ? Why, 
 to the rendezvous, of course, where his friends are awaiting 
 him with a banquet all prepared, and with the bags of gold 
 he has stolen. How long would the world hold together 
 under such treatment ? I trow not long, friends. 
 
 Well, this is just what you propose to do with Davis. 
 His bags of gold are in the Bank of England, sent from 
 Richmond to London in a British vessel that ran the block- 
 ade. Now he hoped to succeed. But, if that was impos- 
 sible, the neoct best thing to success is banishment to the place 
 where his booty is concealed, and his friends await him. Is 
 it not so? 
 
 But, you say, the remorse. Ah ! brethren, don't depend 
 upon remorse to kill that man. Take my word for it, he 
 will die of some other disease than that. He can go to 
 Europe, buy a splendid villa out of the proceeds of his 
 career, and live respected by all the nobility of France and 
 England, in whose cause he has been fighting, and in whose 
 cause he has been defeated. 
 
 You cannot injure yourselves so much as by passing such 
 a sentence. 
 
 There is, then, but one other course to pursue. We ap- 
 proach it with hesitation, but with firm step, believing it to 
 be the only, yes, the only road to justice. I do not believe 
 in harsh measures, my brethren, any more than do you. I 
 would to God there were no prison-houses in the land, where 
 mortals are shut out from the sweet light of the blessed 
 day ! but, before the hour shall come when we can safely do 
 
29 
 
 away with them, we must make men better than they are 
 now. We are not vindictive when Ave close the cell-door 
 on a bad man, and leave him to linger out his miserable 
 years in darkness. It is the inevitable law and the 
 primary condition of all civilization, that these buildings 
 shall stand in a row, — the church, the schoolhouse, the 
 prison. Nor are we vindictive when we build the gallows for 
 the criminals of deepest dye, — knoioing that no other pun- 
 ishment will insure the safety of society^ — and, in the name of 
 Law, Order, Justice, and the Republic, hang them thereon. 
 If this American Government — which has been a blessing 
 to millions for three generations, and promises to become an 
 equal blessing to larger numbers in the future, nay, promises 
 to modify all the monarchies of Europe to such degree that 
 the imperial will and the people's will must run side by side 
 — has been endangered by the chief leader of a band of po- 
 litical adventurers, and can be secured only on condition of 
 the non-existence of that man, who would hesitate for a mo- 
 ment in his choice between the petty, Avretched life of a base 
 ingrate, and the welfare and the good government of the 
 nineteenth century ? Would you ? If an assassin had struck 
 the life out of your pure girl, and you were morally certain 
 that if he were let go free he would do the same deed again 
 and again and again, you would not be a worthy father if you 
 put yourself between the murderer and justice. Well, then, 
 what will we do with this man ? He is confined at Fortress 
 Monroe. Go into his cell. Do you find him on his knees, 
 Avith hands uplifted, Avith tears streaming doAvn his cheeks, a 
 repentant sinner, begging pardon of God, and the hundreds 
 of thousands of glorious dead Avho would be here to-day but 
 for him ? Is there the least sign of sorroAv visible for what 
 he has done ? No, oh no ! He is dejected and sullen and 
 bent and Avorn. But he is dejected only because he has 
 failed, and does not know the consequence of his enormities, 
 though he fears it. He is Avorn and gray ; but in whose ser- 
 
 3* 
 
30 
 
 vice ? for what cause ? For you, for me, for any good cause 
 known to man ? Nay, but only because he has given all 
 his energies to compass our ruin ; because he has been fight- 
 ing for four years, against the providence of Almighty God, 
 in the endeavor to re-establish feudalism and slavery. That 
 providence has defeated him at every corner, in every 
 scheme, and at last delivered him into our hands. God 
 says, in all the history of the past, in all the successes of the 
 one party, and all the cruelties and defeats of the other, 
 This man I give into your hands. Do justice upon him, nor 
 dare to do one jot or tittle less. I think that is the word 
 of God. But what is that justice ? This, and only this : 
 
 To convene a proper body of men to try him ; to open 
 every session of the court with prayer ; to bring this pris- 
 oner into the solemn presence of the representatives of 
 American institutions and liberty ; to summon witnesses 
 from all quarters of the globe, at whatever expense ; to sift 
 this plan, this base conspiracy, to the bottom, to the very 
 bottom ; to follow any and every channel that can lead to 
 light ; to publish this evidence to the whole civilized world, 
 that they may see who and what these conspirators are. I 
 would arraign this man on a charge of High Treason 
 against the Government and the people of America. We 
 cannot afford to try him on a simple charge of complicity 
 with the recent murder ; that is but a by-play in the tragedy, 
 a side-issue, a natural and necessary sequence of the purpose 
 which prompted the first blow. I would give him as good 
 counsel as could be procured. I would allow eloquence to 
 plead in his behalf. Then, when convicted, — for the bulk of 
 evidence is overwhelming, and no jury could resist the inevi- 
 table verdict of "Guilty," — I would have him removed to 
 the old Bull-Run battle-field, where this dreadful, useless war 
 was inaugurated, and there hang him until he was dead. 
 Over his gallows I would put the State motto of Virginia, 
 which for the first time would have any significance, — 
 " Sic semper Tyrannis." 
 
31 
 
 Thus, brethren, would I deal with Jefferson Davis. Thus 
 would I free the country from the baneful presence of a man 
 who has been plotting our ruin ever since he was a boy, and 
 who, if ever allowed his liberty, will plot our ruin again. 
 The past, which gave us a country, will sustain us in the 
 action. With all its blood and sacrifices, ending gloriously 
 in an independence which meant freedom, the schoolhouse, 
 the church, and the welfare of the humblest as well as of 
 the highest, it calls upon us to insure the security of this 
 Government by our act. The present, with its years of 
 chivalry ; its crimson deeds of daring of which the Sir 
 Knights of ancient times would have been proud ; its sacri- 
 fice of men ; its women's tears and prayers, — demands this 
 thing of us. The future, with all its hopes, whose corner- 
 stones are being built to-day ; with all its prophecies that 
 this country shall yet be the home of patriots, gathered from 
 every part of the world ; with all its assurance, that a people, 
 educated, protected in all their rights by immutable laws, 
 self-governed, may be trusted far beyond the confidence we 
 place in princes and in rulers, all — all, with one voice — 
 demand that this great crime be ended here and now, and 
 buried in the grave the hangman digs for him who perjured 
 himself at the capitol ; who leagued to burn our cities while 
 we slept ; who hired the assassin's arm that robbed us of our 
 President ; who wrote the order by which tens of thousands 
 were starved to death, and who has been caught in the midst 
 of his crimes, plotting more and worse, and is now a prisoner 
 at the bar, awaiting sentence. Remember, there is safety 
 only in one course. 
 
 Stand forth, Jefferson Davis ! There are only two words 
 to tell your story with, — 
 
 • Treason, 
 
 Death ; 
 And may God have mercy on your soul ! 
 
'.«!I^B^ 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS %| 
 
 iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiliiJillilljiJIiliiiiiiiiiii 
 
 013 707 298 1 # 
 
 3?t-