YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 9002 06126 6640 I Z^IISTOLN L I n c ol IT. £)iri-kpl^Ce Td •'• irryii i|i)ijiiiniiii>iiriiitii The Punishment of Treason. A DISCOURSE PREACHED APRIL 23d, 1865, SOUTH PRESBYTERIAI CHURCH, BROOKLYN, Rev. SAMUEL T. SPEAR, D. D., Pastor. Pn'blished. by Keq.tiest. BBOOKLYN : 'THE UNION" STEAM PRESSES 10 FRONT STREET. 1865. SERMON. '3-USTICE ABTD JUDGMENT ABE THE HABITATION OP THY THKONB."— Ps. 89, 14. FUNDAMENTAL PEUfCIPLES. The term, " tbrone," in tMs passage means government ; , and here it means the moral government of God. The word, "habitation,!' means establishment, institution, or fixed appointment. In God's government jastice and Judgment are then declared to have an abiding place. They belong to it. : , It has been made a speculative question among theo logians whether justice be a distinct, elementary, and primitive attribute of God, or simply a modification of his love acting under the government of supreme wis dom. We cannot, decide this question to a positive cer tainty. It is possible that to intelligenees much more intimate with God than man now is or can be, what we call his just'ice.,' is simply his benevolence displaying itself in a special form. Be this as it may, the fact is never theless clear that God is manifested to the children of men, not simply as the God of love, but also as the God of justice. The two attributes though not in collision, are yet distinct in their relation to moral beings ; the one having reference primarily to the question of hap piness ; and the other just as primarily to that of con duct and character. 1. If we take the Bible description of God and his gov ernment, we . cannot hesitate a moment as to the truth stated in the text. In that Book appears the distinction between right and wrong, sin and holiness, innocence and gailt, the wicked and the good, as the foundation upon which God proceeds in dealing out the..awa,rds of his government to moral beings. In that Book he is declared to be the just God, visiting ttansgression with its merited penalty. In that Book promises of divine protection and favor are made to the good, and the most dreadful evils threal;ened against the wicked. In that Book you have a record of providences, national and personal, na tural and supernatural, which clearly shows that the God of all the earth distinguishes between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not. In that same Book you have the^ doc trine of future and immortal existence, 'vsdth its judg ment-day in the wjiich God will judge and deal with every man according to his works, whether they be good or bad. You thus find justice and judgment to be the habitation of God's throne. Whatever else is there, jus tice is there. It is an attribute of the divine character, and a quality of the divine government. It is stamped on the history of this world, and written in fearful letters on the experience of those who are lost in hell. The plan of salvation by Jesus Christ does not compli cate, impair, or vacate this truth, but rather illusWates its meaning and intensifies its sanctity. True, in this plan pardon is offered to the guilty ; but the offer alike in its basis and its condition, shows the God of jvistice^ of law and order, as well as the God of mercy. You have the stupendous scene of an atonement wrought in the person of its dying and sacred Victim, as the antecedent ground and the lindispensablfe prerequisite to the exercise of mercy towards the guilty. You have the vicarvmsm- fliction upon the Saviour of men as the moral demand that must be met before mercy can reach out its hand. Mystery and marvel you may call it ; but fact of the Bible it is. Then, again, the offer is not indiscriininate. It is made to those, and those only, who -penitently re trace their steps, and receive the boon by faith in him through whom it comes. All others are left to perish in their sins,' and sink under the legal wrath of offended Heaven. The Gospel does not so open the door of life as to leave the justice of God in debate, or fill paradise with rebels. 2. If now we look, secondly, at the constitution of man, we there find a transcript of this attribute of God imprint ed on every human soul. It is very true, that men are capable of sympathy, of tender compassions, and benevo lent feelings ; yet this is but one side of our mental na ture, and by no means the whole. There is another class of sentiments of much sterner type fixed in the breast of man; aind these are called forth by the exhibitions of moral character. There is such a thing as the sentiment of justice planted by God in our nature, and having its occasion, its vocation, and its utility. We are not to ig nore it in this world or any other. It is a part of the im age of God in man. A mawkish sentimentality that over looks it, or seeks to repeal its mandates, is as false to hu man nature as it is destructive to the best interest of human society- God has placed it in the soul for a pur pose ; and when serving that purpose, it works out the end designed in the counsels of Heaven. It leads us to abhor crime and seek its proper punishment, not by the slow calculation of a prudential logic, but by the intui tive flashing of a divine impulse. It converts human na ture into a general police for the arrest of criminals, the protection of the innocent, and the vindication of right eous law. It makes the world of men a universal judg ment-seat. God meant that it should act in this way. Take the scene which has so terribly thrilled this na tion ; and what are the feelings of all men unperverted by the malignity of treason and the depravity of hell ! When we think of our late President so lovely, and so useful in. life; assassinated at an unsuspecting moment, without any opportunity to say a single word or leave a parting legacy to the country he loved so tenderly ; taken away in the midst of his usefulness and his glory, and borne to his resting place with a lacerated brain ; when we thus look at the President as a viclmn, all the tender- est elements of our nature gather roundThiin.i_ We haye almost died for him, and with him.. Never did a people before in the same space of time shed so many tears. Lovely in death the beauteous ruin lies. Our President dead is to us all a moral rpse with not a, leaflet faded o^ fallen, destined ,to, be s^t, in the garden of history,.^n!a, there emit its sweet fragrance till the trump of God shall close the scenes of time. ; And when we turn from the victim to the perpep?ator or perpeti^ators, when the other side of our humanity comes into action,, how then do we feel? Talk about being cool, and calm, and pas sionless at such a moment ! Talk about confining the movements of your spul merely to the emqtion of grief ! Away with the miserable slander upon human nature ! We do well to be angry at such a , time. There is a righteousness in the anger. It is the voice of God -coming out through the soul of man — the voice of justice., that clamors for retribution. He .that does not hear the deep tones of this mighty moijal impulse ringing through his soul, is not more than half made. I do not want to speak to such a being. I do not recognize him as a man. He is either a brute r or a demon. Yes, my hearers, justice cri§s for vengeance. Justice demands the. death of the assassin ; and more than twenty millions of human beings are at this moment burning with this gense of justice. It is not a false sense. , It is not untrue to the principles of government, the sanctity of law, or the honor of God. Under the deep inspirations of this sense you can read the imprecatory Psalms with some understanding of their nature., That shallow philanthropism which is too tender to punish a traitor or hailg a foul murderer, is a detest able infidelity to truth. It is a, good time to submit to the moral s,§nse pf .this natipn the question, whether capi tal punishineut, be just, and whether God made "a mistake when he .declared that he that sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. I apprehend that the op ponents, of the death-penalty would not choose to. argue this question with the public mind just now. Is the public mind wrong? ¦ No, Unless the sense of jitstice be wrong; and if this be wrong, then the moral order of the' universe is gone, from the throne to the footstool. 3. If we now lo6k, thirdly, at the constitution, purpo ses;' and functions of civil society, we there see a divinely appointed"' agency for that justice and judgment which are the habitaticin of God's throne. Civil society is hu-- nianity aggregated and organized under latD. Law, with its authority and proper attendants, is the grand charac teristic of civil societv, whatever may be the spe'cial form or agency thereof. Law does not submit an argument or an exhortation. It subpaits a commMnd.! arid arms that command with ' k penalty. Law is not a disquisition about the sublime, or a romance over the beauties of na ture. Law is not a picture-gallery of fine ideas. Law is authority -I whether it be divine or human. Upon law God has built this world, and' by it means that it shall be governed. Law A-wmare, is the legal expression of the moral sense of civil sodety ; and its authority consists not in its reasons, but in the *fact that it is^ law — an au thority positive, obligatory, and absolute except iri those cases in which the higher law of God directly intervenes to jepeal and reverse its mandate. The officer of law is the minister of God for the punishment of evil doers and the ;^'aise of them that do well. The breaker of law is am enable to its penalty. The interests which hang upon law^ require that he should be suitably punished. The power that enforces law, in its last analysis is the power that exists in ' the b)ody politic. . This power moving in the fonn of authority, is one' of God's agencies for keej)- irig this world in order. Through this power thus mov ing, God in part administers his moral government over the children of men. It is in fact a branch of that gov ernment; and hence the authority which commands us not to blaspheme the name of God, also requires us to yield ourselves in all due sulijeCtion to the powers that be. He who resists the civil law, resists the ordinance of God. He Ht^ho slays the officer of law, slays the ordained mln- ister of God. And hence he, the habitation of whose throne is justice and judgment, has appointed that trie men who do these things, shall receive damnation, it is required by the justice of God, that civil law should be maintained and civil order preserved, that law should speak as Ioa^o, and act on human nature as such, and that men should live together in the unity and fellowship, concord and co-operation of apolitical brotherhood. Togain these ends he has committed to civil society its duties, delega ted to it its rights, and armed it with its authoritative powers. Be the form of the goverftment what it may, its business is to administer justice in the name of God, and in accordance' with his wiU, Upon a people that fail to do this, he will ultimately bring his own wrath, and by dire calamity teach them the value of justice un der the forms of law. How then shall we maintain law against the disorders arid depravities of the lawless ? Btow shall we make such men feel the force of authority? How shall we make the fruits of disobedience in their experience an example and warning to others ? How shall we bring to bear upon them that justice which is the habitation of God's throne, and of which he has made civil society an executive agent on earth? Can we do it by regarding transgre.ssors simply as unfortunate invalids, the mere objects of pity, to be treated in a hospital, medicated with governmental emollients, and never punished ex cept for their own benefit, and hence never hung ? Shall we do it by gentle arguments, conciliatory compromises, soft phraseologies, easy and good-natured laxities ? Shall we do it by being exceedingly careful not to exasperate criminals, lest perchance they take it into their heads to do something worse? Shall we do it by sending to them a political tailor with scissors in hand to cut a gov ernmental coat that will just suit their fancy ? Shall we get up a concert of music to tone down theiy asperities. by the fascinating tenderness and sweetness of song ? Shall we resolve society into a general herd of Fourier- ites and^ee lovers^ magnetized spiritualists and clairvoy ants, m the sovereign balm of Gilead for all the ills to which flesh is heir? Is this the way to administer the justice of God, and maintain the dignity and authority of law? You know but little of this world, if you do not know that government in resorting to such expedients simply befools itself, loses it power, alienates its own position; and virtually subverts the very foundation on which it rests. It ceases to be government and to act as government, and becomes merely a logician, and a very poor one at that. Let government speak as such, act as such, making itself felt as a real living ^owe?', enacting just and irighteous laws, and then inflicting the penalty of law upon those who defy iifcs authority. Let the severity of the penalty be justly graduated to the crime, and its infliction be made as certain as human powers can make anything. This is the way in which God administers his law when directly in his own hands : and civil socie ty surely can follow no better example. It is the way to make government a terror to evil doejs. It is the way to preserve public order, to keep the peace, and guard the safety of men. True, it is severity to the wicked, — it ought to be— justice requires that it should be ; but it is clemency and mercy to the many. Hell is a place of severity to the devil and his angels ; but it protects God's legal honor, asserts his sovereignty, and makes him felt throughout the universe as the God of Law and moral order. FALSE OBJECTIONS. 1. But should not civil government be merciful to criminals? I answer -h^ — a thousand times wo-s-never as its leading characteristic, and never at the expense of public: justice. "A God all mercy," says Dr. Young, "is a God unjust." God himself does not show mercy to sinners without fil-st supplying--what civil government cannot supply — in the atonement of Christ, an equmalent for penalty. It is not in the power of civil society to de- 10 vise a system of salvation and proffer it to criminals without an utter destruction. of law, and with law^ of all the interests which it guardsi " ¦' ^ 2. Does not the Bible tell us that vengeance belongeth unto the Lord? Yes, it does, and forbids _^Wwfe: ven geance as the expression of personal malignity;-, yet the same Bible tells us that the powers that be are ordained of God, that the civil magistrate does not beiar the sword in vain, indeed that God has instituted civil society as one of' his earthly methods in executing his own ven geance upon the wicked. When a traitor or a murderer ' dies on the gallows under the sentence of, a civil tribunal, he as really dies by the hand of God, as if he had been smitten by a thunder-bolt from the skies. 3. Does not the Bible commend and command m^cy? Yes, as an individual^vivtne, but never as a virtue in ci/vil government when exercising its just authority over those who have violated the law. It is according to the Bible that such persons .should suffer the penalty which they have incurred. To quote for their relief the .pas sages that refer to mercy as a private virtue, is to misap ply them, 4. Are we not required to cherish the spirit offot'give- Tzess toward the irijurious ? Yes, as individvMls-, but for giveness as exercised between ;man ;and man simply, and forgiveness as a governmental act extended to criminals and releasing them from merited punishment, are entirely distinct tilings, not grounded at all upon the same.Mws or reasons. You do me a personal injury; and I am re quired by the law of love to forgive you, having no au thority to punish you. That is one case. You commit a crirnie against the legal majesty of civil society, whose only protection consists in the execution of law ; of that society I am the^ agent, the public officer, the minister of God for .the purpose of justice ; and now however amia ble or tender may be my affections, however kindly I may be disposed towards you personally, it. is my duty in the premises not to forgive you, but; to execute the law 11 upon you. If Iifeil to do so,1;he failure wdll be an offi cial crime, and not a virtue. There surely is no objection to tenderness of feeling in the breast of a magistrate, but that tenderness is no rule of his duty as the officer of law. If he makes it a rule, he is not fit for the place he occu pies. 5. But is not the gospel a system of clemency and grace towards sinriers ? ' Irideed it is; and when you can insti tute a' similar gospel in civil government, upon like prin ciples, with like securities for law and justice, and resting upon like authority — when you can thus imitate the gos pel of God iri the administration of civil government, I shall be prepared to recast 'this sennon, and somewhat modify its thoughts. Give me an atoning altar in civil society, that answers all the ends of penalty, that sustains law as perfectly as penalty sustains it ; and then I will not clamor for penalty merely . for its owri sake. Such ari atoning altar with its all-sffiucient victim man cannot rear ; and hence man cannot .^uj)ply the, equivalent for penalty, or -dispense with its just inflctiori without peril and ruin to the State. A dispensation, of leniency against justice and law is the destruction of human so ciety. 6. But, once .more, is not the power of granting ^(3W^<;^ to offenders in this country placed in the hands of the Chief Executive Magistrate ? This is true ; yet what is the object of the grant ? Is it to defeat justice and give a general impunity- to crime. ? Far, very far from this. Its object is to increase the certainty that simple justice, and nothing more, will be done. The Governor or the President who should exercise this power indiscrirai- liately, releasing all offenders from the sentence pf courts, would himself be the patron of crime and the enemy of the State. The Executive has no right to abuse the par- dPnirig power, and' no moral right to use it in a way to subvert the demands of justice. It is not a power to be regulated by his tenderness of feeling or his partiality of frieridship. It is a trrisi committed to him to add to the 13 certainty that none but thS guilty shall suffer the penalty of the law. Its object is not to put the State in peril, or prostrate the arm of justice on a false plea of mercy. In the recently uttered words of President Johnson, "we must not forget that what may .be mercy to the individ ual, is cruelty to the State. In the exercise of mercy, there should be no, doubt left that the high prerogative is not used to relieve a few at the expense of the many." The executive of a nation with this power in his hands, must see to it that the nation suffers no harm by his man ner of using it. He may forgive as a man, and y-et se verely punish as a magistrate. The public safety^ as resting upon "the sure and iaflexible principles of jus tice," and not his p&isonal feelings, must be his rule of action, THE PRESENT CEISIS. Thus far, as you perceive, I have spoken in general terms, designing, to lay the basis for a more definite and specific discussion which is yet to come. This line qf thought, if I n^iistake not, is exceedingly pertinent to the crisis and the hour : and because I so judge, I intend not to leave the subject till I have given a very free utterance to my own reflections. After a most desperate struggle lasting for four years, we have now reached the. point when no one questions the military ascendency of this Government oyer the rebels. We , have proved that we could conquer them by having done so. ,The croakers of course are now dead. The nation's power is beyond cavil. . i As was naturally to be expected, the victories which in blasting* the military arm of the rebellion, gave such cheering prospects of speedy peace, filled the nation with joy. We were happy, exceedingly happy. Perhaps no nation was ever in a happier mood of feeling.. All but traitors and their sympathizers were in a rapture of joy. We are not, a fighting people by choice: war is not our profession,; yet we can fight, and when our country as in 13 peril, we will fight. Northihen may start rather slowly ; but when they get once fairly started, they do not stop short of the mark aimed at. Apparently so near the end of the struggle, and re joicing over our successes, we were in a temper of mind and heart to extend the most liberal terms of amnesty and peace towards the rebels. Many were exhorting the people and the government not to inflict the penalty for treason upon a single traitor. Even General Lee and Jefferson Davis were to be welcomed back as in good standing, prov^ided they would consent hereafter to live under a Government which they had done their best to destroy. It was the era of good feeling. Some of the newspapers were Ur^ng the President to run before providence, and expressing not a little dissatisfaction that he did not at once comply with the exhortation. Magnanimity was the watchword ; and never were a people in a better mood of feeling to carry this idea to its utmost, possible limits. Many who had yielded a very doubtful support to the Government, were now pleading for mercy to the rebels. Many earnest and sincerely loyal men' thought this the true course. I heard a gentle man of this class say, that he would make General Lee a Major General in the United States Army as a matter of policy, thinking that it would relieve the mortification of defeat, and help to conciliate the Southern mind. Pub lic feeling was drifting in this direction. Many of us were forgetting that treason is a crime of the highest grade. Many of us were taking but a one-sided view, being altogether too happy to think profoundly or think safely. The question of what is called reconstruction, was launched upon us so suddenly that, amid the excite ments of the moment, we had not time to form a deliber ate opinion upon it as a practical question. The Presi dent showed his accustomed wisdom in his reticence — in waiting first to know what the facts were with which he had to deal, and then to know his own mind in view of them. The same wisdom which had guided that great u and good, man thus far. in the^ contest^ rioW led , him to pause. He saw, li^s I doubt, not, that what to some- extent seemed to be the fk-st opinion of the American _ people, was not likely to, bej their Iftst opinion. He waited /for the public judgment, to, mature, and to ascertain mo}?e fully the temper of the Southern mind in the new status. of affairs. , ,. ¦ , -i .i.- .', .,,!,¦¦_ ' ' i ' And now, my hearers,, while the President was; thus waiting, the shot of a traitorous assassin prostrates him in death ; takes him away in the fullness of his glory ; andirobs, the people of the man whom, they loved and trusted- i as they have loved and trusted, no., other man since, the days of Washington. Agony of, the deepest eharac-i ter has pierced the heart of the nation ;, and thoughts that burn, are on the lips of men. -A: tr3,itoroU^ com spiracy is revealed to murder .the President, to mur der the y ice -President, to murder the Cabinet, arid if possible, leave the nation unofficered at this time. This conspiracy comes from the ,same source, the same generic and hellish impulses,; that havekindled.the flamed i of this civil war. The threats of assassination which have been floating in Southerji air, which have been repeatedly pub lished m Southern, papers,, and in at least one paper with a large promise of reward, and of which the President had received private intimations and forewarni}tgs,,have at length been put into pyactiee. , He has falleri ; he now lies in death : his body is now being borne with . all the honor and solemnity which a grateful nation can bestow upon the service, to its, final resting-plaqe iu the gra.ve ; an4 how, has he fal,len ? . Not by the ordinary providence of God, not in the perils of actual battle, but by a etuel and horrid assassination — a victim to ithe same, spirit which has sought the, life of this nation.- Hear it, my fellow countrymen ! Hear it, ye .nations of the Old World ! Hear it, ye lovers of law and order ! Hear it, yC; coming lages ! Hear it, ye .angels, in heaven ! The P.resident -of these United States,, in an age of treason, and in an righteous conflict of authority with ¦ treason, Bas been murdered by a traitor's hand ! The bullet of 15 death has been shot into the brain of the Lord's an- nointed ! 1 submit, to you in all candor, whether this be not a good time for the American people to pause ; soberly to inquire into.' thei nature, duties, and sanctity of govern ment ; to estimate treason according to its true character; and deal with traitors in a way to vindicate the honor of law and protect the present and future weal of this na tion, I. so judge, and 'hence- 1 am discussing this now in tensely practical subject in your hearing, . I am endeav oring to comply with the request of President Johnson, that the ministers of our holy religion should teach . the people "to believe that treason is the highest crime known to the law, and that the perpetrator should be visi ted' with the punishment which he deserves," God is my witness, that I am not a man of blood, I have no desire to hang men^ or see them hung. Yet now, in this secorid and closing stage of the struggle, we are called to settle great principles. The purely military part of the con test is nearly finished: and now comes the great law- question, whether this Government in the name of God by the people and for the people, can and will adminis ter civil justice in the inflction of the punishment due to treason, ¦ Shall we content' ourselves with merely con quering the Rebellion in the niilitary sense, or shall we add to the conquest that act of .national sovereignty which consists in suitably punishing the traitor ? What shall we do with the Rebels ? How shall we deal With them ? This is the point to which! now call your special atten tion, r',:' •/¦'• .THE DEATH-PENALTY ASSUMED! , Let me say in the outset,' that I believe in the doctrine of capital punishment. + I believe in the death-penalty for certain 'Crimes. ¦¦¦ As I understand the Bible, God has bestowed upo"n man organized under the forms, and vnth the sanction of government, the right to take human life as a punishment for given crimes. I shall not discuss this question; because I do not suppose; it necessary. 16 THE REBEL STATUES. The Rebels conquered, present themselves before the Goyernment under two aspects: the one is that of politi cal bodies called States ; and the other is that of inddvid- ual persons. It is manifest upon the very face of the statement, that no penalty for treason can be inflicted upon a State as such. What then shall we do with the Southern people considered a& political bodies? We certainly do not pro pose to exterminate them indiscriminately ; and we should not, in my judgment, seek to obliterate their State boundaries or remit them back to the territorial con dition. This is not required by any law of justice or ex pediency. Our desire is that the Southern States that have 'been in rebellion, should resume their proper, or ganic and practical relation to the Union on the follow ing • terms : first, that State Governments should be organized in all these States on the basis of absolute alle giance, by the action of loyal people in the selection of loyal State officers; — secondly, that these State Governments should accept and ratify the destruc tion of Slavery as the iriilitary sequel of this war ; — ^thirdly, that the people should choose loyal persons to represent them in both Houses of Congress. These are the terms which I propose for the Southern people, con sidered as political bodies, and to which I would hold them with the grasp of death. I would not recognize their present treasonable Legislatures and treasonable Governors as forming the legitimate governments of the States. Neither would I do anything either to imply or give the least legal validity to the State-debts which traitors have contracted in the interests of the Rebellion.- I would not thus impose a tax upon loyal people to pay the expenses of treason. In restoring constitutional vi tality to the State, I would be sure to locate that vital ity in the breasts of loyal men, the friends and not the enemies of the Union — securing to the State a Republi- 17 can Government, and defending that Government against traitors till the machinery thereof should be able to run by -its own power. No other terms are safe for the Union. No others will dispossess treason of its local power. If the people decline to act in concert with these principles, I would then give them the benefits of a mili." tary government till their experience should make them wiser. Such, is my prescription for the Southern people as politiical bodies. I would not so present it to them as to make the manner offensive and irritating. I would do nothing to add to the mortification of defeat : yet I would have them distinctly understand, that the National Gov ernment having conquered the Rebellion,- mafes and ex pects to make, the terms of peace, conceding to them all the rights to which as political bodies, being loyal, they are entitled, LNDIVrDtrAL PEKSOiiTS. Coming now to the Southern people as imMvidnial-^eit' sons, we raise this question : — Who are the Southern people, or rather who were they when this Rebellion broke out? They were divided into three classes: — the laboring class or the slaves — ^the middle class of white people — and the ruling or aristocratic class of slavehold ers. Such is the true classification of Southern society, as it existed when this war began. Which then of these classes inaugurated this treason ? Who are its leaders and responsible authors? Nobody charges it upon the hlaxik people, free or enslaved. They have committed no crime for which they deserve to be punished, . So far as they have shared in the Rebellion, it has been to them a matter of stern necessity, I sup pose the same to be true, to a very large extent, of the middle class of white people. They have been drawn into this Rebellion by treacherous leaders, and terribly have they paid for it. So far as they have participated in it, if now repentant and loyal, it seems to me that they 18 might safely receive the plemency of the Government. : I know that technically they are chargeable with the crime of treason.; they have taken up arms against- their coun; try ; yet when all the circumstances are duly considered, there are large abatements to be made dn their favor, making, as I judge, a fair case for a generous governmental amnesty for offenses jpast, on condition of repentance and loyalty present. I do not see that the interests of the Government or of public justice would suffer by such; an amnesty. This war is not primarily a contest between the common massesi of the Southern people and th^ Gov ernment. The; former though deeply > involved in it, and deeply cursed by it, did not deliberately inaugurate this foul treason. They were hurried into it, and cheated into it upon false pretenses, and ,to a large extent forced into it by the machinations of Others ; and hence if they are now repentant and loyal, the Government, as I think, can safely forgive them. • I come then to the third class — the aristocratic class of slaveholders — the :men who have governed the South, who have been its political leaders, and who, to a large extent, in other days shaped the general policy of the nation; and -here in this comparatively small body of men, I find — ^what history will report and the. world uriderstand— .the roots and guilty sources of this Rebel lion. The facts of the struggle alike in its inceptiori and its progress prove this. The true Union men of the South so uiiderstand it. This Rebellion in their* view is the slaveholder's Rebellion. I do not say that every individ ual slaveholder has jA-oved himself a traitor ;« but upon the class as such I charge the primary guilt of inciting, procuring, and perpetrating this enormous treason. It is' their work in the first instance. This remark applies with special force to the educated, cunning, plotting, am bitious, political leaders of Southern opinibn. They can be called by name too. Their deeds hme not been done in a corner. You can go .from State to State, and pick them out with perfect distinctness. They have been the 19 leaders of the Rebellion — -the high officers in the Army and the Statei They have given to the Rebellion its des perate and pepsisteBt character. They have furnished its brains. These me the men who have filled the land with blood and i woe^ who have plundered, ofppressed and ruined their! owri people, and sent thousands and tens of thousanids <©f ^ our brare . heroes to the grave. With these men mainly we have been fighting : and to nothing have they yielded, and to nothing would they yield^ ; but the military powerof this Government. We have therefore, as we suppose^ found the crimvrials — ^the chief traitors — not the Brigadier or Major-Generals, not the President, not the members of his Cabinet and his Congress, not their -Excellencies, the Governors of the several States, or the members of the State Legislatures,but the political and militafl-y 'crmmnGDis of whose crime and treason these titles of rhonor are but the evidence, THE PENALTY FOE, TRAITORS, The question then is : — What shall we do witl* these criminals, these traitors, these guiltiest men that ever 'saw the light of day?- This Government has fought theiri on the- battle-field, arid beaten them ; and cam, this Govern ment TKbw punish these criminals, and will it do Bo, and will the pepple sustain it in the due and proper execution of law? Or shall we treat' the case as merely a collision ¦of ideas between gentlemen who have unfortunately disa greed,- and concluded to settle their differences by a gene ral fight, both classes fighting till both were mutually satisfied with this kind of logic ? Shall we thus seek to humbug ourselves, and humbug the world, with the sense less incantations of a ¦philosophy that has no foundation in the moral nature of 'man, a'U-d none in the gpvernnlent" of God ? This Government is strong as &7HiUt&/ry power ; woei to the men and woe to the armies that meet such officers as General Grant, Sheridan, and Sherman, with their brave soldiers^ 'on the field of battle ; but is this same Government strong as a, judicial -^owei:, and can it deal with crime as well as with an armed host ? 20 iMy manner of putting this whole subject before you suggests my theory as to- the proper treatment of these traitorous criminals ; and if it does not, you shall not go away in any! doubt as to the general nature of that theoi?y. Upon a certain class, large enough to meet the demands of public justice, including high officers in the State and the Army, and by no means exempting Jefferson Davis or General Lee, I would, having first indicted, tried^ and con victed them under IsLW, and also confiscated their prop erty, visit the extreme penalty of law ; — that is to say, I would hang them by the neck till -they are dead ; and keep hanging the leading rebels till justice in this form had fully met the demands and wants of the public safety. Simultaneously with this work, I would turn to another class less conspicuous and in some respects less criminal, yet deeply guilty and very dangerous to the public peace; and these men I would eaipel from, the country, and confiscate their property for the benefit of the State. They should not live, here. This was .the doctrine of General Dix as stated last fall.- I thought well of it then ; and I think well - of it now, A third class I would disfranchise, making them iricapable .of wielding j any political power or discharging any official duty under the Government of these United States. 'By these several methods I would punish treason according to the gradation of its guilt : an^- by combining them I would make an utter end of the leading rebel-traitors, Iri this way I would vindicate the majesty of the law, and protect the masses of the common people, alike Northern arid Southern. I would show the world; that this is a Goyernment iov the people, and not for traitors. • Personally I do not know one of these traitors ; per sonally I have no malice against any of them ; but if I rep resented) the authority of this nation, and it were mine to administer it,- I should not treat them with rose-water a,nd soothing syrup, but with the just severities of right eous law.' 21 ¦ - ' REASONS EOR PTENTSHMENT. You now see what my opinions are ; and yet these opin ions will have no more weight with' you than is due to the reasoris which I can assign for them. Will you then give me your careful attention to the particular argument which I proceed to offer for these opinibris ? ' ' 1. Treason is a, crime, the highest, civil crime kriown to man, not- made innocent by the number of the traitors, or respectable by the social standing and culture of the per sons who commit it. The vCon&titution of the country defines the nature of treason, and the-la^vs of CorigreSsN Jpirovide for its punishment. Treasori I'esi^ts the officers of law, seeks to subvert government, and aims the blow of death at the life of the ' State. Treason makes wair upon the State, upon its authority arid its prerogatives. Treason involves the people in war, arid sacrifices human life on a vast scale; ¦ Treason is the sjfirit of disorder and hell. It is hence justly regarded as the highest offence which a man can commit against the majesty of law. All governments arm themselves with penal thunder against traitors. They must do so. ' And now, my friends,: if you will not punish traitors, tell me, if you please, what class of cririiinals you will punish. Will you punish theft,' arson, and murder, and let traitors go with a gentle exhort atiori ? Will you harig a plain common man who in a fit of passion kills his neighbor, and leave sUch a gentleman as Jefferson Davis or General Lee, whose offense consists in ti"ying to kill the State, unscathed by the righteous penalty of law ? Will you hang the foul wretch who shot the Pi-esident, arid leave that dark, broad back-ground of treason whence he came, and in concert with whose spirit he committed the crime, untouched by the hand of jJublic justice? Will you consign to death the assassin who strikes down the officer of law,, and then welcome and excuse the 'greater assassin who hurls the shaft of destruction at the 'State?' Wiir you' march armies 'inttl the field to put down tre'asori aiid cheer On your soldiers as they fight. 32 laud them for their deeds, ajad teU them that they are fighting for their country ;,ftn4 when, at the price of treas ure,, and blood, Yictory perches. on their baijner,; will yoti ,^hen turn rpund to j|;r^itorS; an-d , politely say. to, them,— "Gentlemen, we have had a .little difference of opinion; we have said a great many hard things about you; we have ^ill^d, a g?:'eat , many of , your men, a;^ you have killed a great many of pu;;s ; but since ypu qanupt fight any longer, we have come tp ,the. conclusion that trpa^on is ei1;her innocent, or the ve:?y next thing to. ijt V ,^ill you adopt this cre^?. If so, then-jl shall take itk& liberty of dissenting .from your opinipn,+ Through .pill this struggle I have gone upon the, supposition that the Government was actually putting down fomfej-s / : on .tihis theory I: have preached, and I h#ye prayed ; andifil am mistaken here, thep, I have greatly iiaisappr^Jijended the whol^ quesfipn. , If I am not mistaken, then I claim tljiat the Governm€5nti,^hall punish traitors, if rilji publish any -crime. ,, I i;eafon: from , the crime duffectly to the punish- ment,^ , ; ,,,,',, , i ,, „.• ,. v-y/ ,.. , ,,.-., .,-,;,¦,/-'• 2, This treason vras delil^erate an^ long pl^aaried- Mcft, sometimes in, the^Ji^ajt of paissiori do tl^Big^, which though very bad, perhaps jexposingv them -to severe, pun ishment, nevertheless, fin^- some e;£euse, in the infirmities of humeri nature at sucji , a ' moment. Great public excite ments ^sometimes so craze the l^^a^sof men, that they do not really know what rthey ariC about. They are bdrne along by a .torrent, witjiout knowing w.hither they are drifting. As I doubt .not, the commpn people . of tjje Soifth were by tljousands, and t,en§,pf thousands led into this, treason in this, way. They were carried by. intrigue land stprw. No such explanatipn or apology can apply tp th^. educated, cunning, ambitious, , calculating, political plotters, of this work, who , for years have been nursii^g the ^p^rit of treason, g^nd waiting only for an ppportunity , tp fire t% Southern heart. Starting with the days pf John C. Calhoup, the great patroUf^int ! of Southern traitors, who ought ;tp hp,ve ])een hung by Geijer^l Jack- 23 son, and thence reading the pages of Southern history down to the time of this Rebellion, you find a class of men increasing in numbers with time, who have 'been' steadily at the work of' breaking the ties of affectiori and confidence which^bound the Southern mind to the gener al Government— all of- them ideritical in' kind, and many of th*!m identically the same men,' 'who finally rushed the pePple into this dreadful treason. These men have been the preachers of disunion at the SPUth, the pro-slavery propagandists in the country, the bi^aggadocios arid bul lies in Washington. These men took charge of the .Re bellion in the outset, and ' have managed it ever since, acting the part of lying hypocrites, deceiving the common people, and bringirig the most terrible evils upon their country. These Southern gentlemen, understanding their work, arid meaning' to do it, when engaged in overt acts of ' treason, form an excellent class of men to hang. The nation's gibbet is their proper destiny. A grdat mafly of fhem have already gone to their last account; j&t they remain in' sufficient' numbers to make great trouble in this country unless we now take gopd care of them. I propose to take good care of ¦them, and es pecially see 'to it that these consciously ^Mnnirig; and deliberate traitors have no opportunity to try' their' experiment a second time, I do not say that I would visit upon them all- the extreme penalty of the law; yet for the sake of the couiitry I would be very sure to take care of' 'them. I charge upori' them delibera tion, forethought, design; with all the treacheries and cruelties that have marked' their history in this war. As estimated by a correct moral standard, they are simply chivalrous barbarians. I see that a daily paper in New- York whose cqgnomen is borrowed- from a very large ob ject, hasi suggested that Secretary Sewaird should retii-e from Mr. Johnson's Cabinet in order to 6oriciliate these , SPuthem traitors, he being to them a very offensive object. This, I may remark, seems to have been the opinion Pf the eolvardly assassin who sought to kill' Mr, Seward. 24 That monster agrees exactly with the New York Editor in the fact pf retirement,: though not in the way. In my plan of conciliation this wiU not be necessary. J propose to leave the Government just as it is, officered just as it is, and judicially set things right with these Southern Reb els whp^e S]6nsibilitie8 might perhaps be offended with Mr. Seward's presence, in, the, Cabinet, I propose tp wPrk at the other end of the problem, to execute upon and against these men the penalty for treason in some form, and hence to givethem other questions to consider than the trifling one to them whether Mr, Seward is in-or out of the Cabinet, I. do not. propose, to regulate the administration of government so as to suit culprits, I do not understand, this to be compatible with either the dignity or the author ity of law, I do not propose- to make deliberate, unrepent ant, though unsuccessful, traitors parties to .the coujaselsof State. Before trying such an experiment I should want to quarantine them in a foreign land for at least half a Century. The shprter, and safer way is to punish them, 3, This treason was planned and projected upon the country for a foul and wicked purpose. The purpose was foul and wicked in a two-fold sense ; — -first, it was armed resistance against a popular government; secondly, it was designed to strengthen and perpetuate the despotic and cruel system of slavery. This Government rests on the; fundamental principle, that the legally expressed vdll of the majority is the law of the land; wjfciether in the choice of a public officer,the en actment of a specific statute, or the infliction of penalty. Such is the great doctrine of -American Democracy, Against such a Government there can be no treasonable cpnspiracy, which, does not in its very essence -seek to si^bvert popular rights. Rebellion here is open_war upon the majesty of the people, and is hence treason in its blackest form, deserving the most condign punishment. The people having conquered the military power of the Rebellion, ought to ; make such an example of the traitprs as will settle the questiop once for , all and forever, that 2.5 this Republican Government is a government of law, and that whoever resists its authority, will be deemed a crimi nal and treated accordingly. The public safety requires it. K here we fail ; if we consent to a compromise with these traitors; if on the theory of making peace we meet them with a full and free pardon, thus virtually conceding that they have not committed a very heinous crime, then our military success will be comparatively to little purpose. Such a failure would leave the question of Republican Government still in doubt. It would, by a most danger ous precedent, say to the factious and the disorderly that the American people want either the power or the virtue to punish treason. It would undermine the very founda- tipns of government in this country. It would be an out rage to public justice. I cannot think that we shall be left to so great a folly — yea, such a positive cruelty to the high interests of State and the urgent requirements of the future. And so, too, when you look to the other element, that of slavery, as involved in the purpose of the Rebellion, the case for the traitors does not. appear any better. They went into this work of death for the sake of slavery ; this was their declared purpose ; they proclaimed this doctrine to the world ; they flred the Southern heart with this ap peal; they proposed to build, and they did build, their Confederacy upon slavery as its " chief cornerstone ;" sla very, was their golden calf; as I have rio doubt, they in tended in the end to subvert the whole system of populai* government at the South, and rear a war-like oligarchy up on its ruins : — and now when I think of this feature of the case, I pronounce the traitors the most infamous criminals in their design that you can find in history. If law will not lay its hand upon such criminals and punish them, then I do not see much use in havirig law at all. Let justice be done. Inflict its righteous penalty upon the Davises, the Lees, the Johnstons, the Longstreets, the Ewells, the Braggs, the Beauregards, the Breckenridges, the Benjaimins, the Hunters, the Slidells, the Wigfalls — 26 the men who, in such a cause and for such a purpose, have sought to assassinate a nation. Punish these men and save the State, Hang the chief principals, and deal out a suitable measure of justice to their accessaries. Not'to do so will be cruelty to the many. The time has fully come when the American people should take afirin stand in respfect to the punishment of crime, and especially the crime of ti*ea^on, 4. The guilt of this treason is erihanced by the fact that it had no ju^t 'provocation, ^his was the ground explicitly takfen by Alexander H. 'Stephens of Georgia, in January, 18'61j in an exceedingly able speech made to save the -State x>f Georgia- fi-om this terrible crime. He showed cotaclusively by the facts of history, that the South had no jUst occasion to complain of the General Government. The Southern people had felt it only in its blessings. It had never' intaded a single one of their rights, or declined to comply with the requirenients of the Constitutibn in their bejhalf. Indeed the SoUthfern people had f6r a long time controlled its policy, and filled far iriore than their due .prpportibn of ' Federal offices. The election of Mr. Lincoln in 1860 was no cause fiar Re bellion. The discussion of slavery at the North was not suqh a caUSe. The pretended right of State: secession did not justify it, for np Such right exists 'in the Gonstituti-on of the country, and none -can exist without the ruin of the nation. The plain trUth is, there Was no right, justi fication, or excuse for this treason. There never has been any. I hence insist, thkt the men who are its chief and guilty authors arid abettors should be made to feel the power of law. At the bar of impartial history they will appear as convicted felons, lifting up their murder- pus hands against the mildest and most beneficent Gov ernment under Which any people ever lived. Their crime will excite the astonishment of after^ages. And shall we pass them by, and re-invest such organized assassins of a nation's life with their former privueges ? I triist, that no suck enPrnlous fatuity will be welcome to the public 2^7 mirid, .or< b^ftoaae the policy of those who; make, and ad- luiriieteT'the. l^ws. , I. do not believe, that Mr, Lincoln would have adopted, any such creed, if his life had been spared. The. ijecent utterances of President Johnson show, very icleayly tiiat. his mind' is awake to the, demands of public justice. HeiknoWiS . sometl^ing about, this trea son ; he knows, the men whoi planned it : he , knows the system which underlies it ; he has. had some. experience of its tende? merciesi; ,and; it is,- devoutly to be hoped, that being providentially called to the office i of President, he will dp his duty and adminiater the? laws, not in the interests of -traitors, buji i in - those of the, country and the people. This^ trust God has committed to him : and, my prayer, is that he may have -both the , discretion, and the force whichiare neededito meet its requirements, 5. -This treason, by the manner of its active conimence- ment, desiervedly siamps its, authors with the brand of everlasting infftriiy. Who, let me ask^ ,.we:^:e the chief aotprs, the planners, ,and contrivers, during the Fall of 1860 and the Winter and Spring of 1861? Some of thom were / members of the Cabinet. One,, of them was theiVice-Presiden^t , of the Natipn. Mauy of them were members pf both Houses of Congr.ess. Some of them were member? , of the Supreme Court, Sojne of them held Commissions in the Army, and Navy. Arid; all of them were uuderi a splemn oath i of, -office, which, in the name of Gpd,bpuod;them tp yield a -true and faithful allegiance to the government of their country. In that hour of peril aud general agpny, when horiest men weje pale and al^HjOsti breathless with anxiety, — -wheuitheShip of State was trembling amid the breakers, — when civil society aVid all the iuterests which it* guards, aeemedito be foun dering iri the great deep^ — when, an, imbecile President who, had lived tpo long for -hi& fapje, had apparently lost all the. sense .left to his declining years, — yes, my friends, where: were these swpm officials, and what were they about at this time? Where was, there, a; Henry Clay among, theid, or a DauieJ .Webster, or a TJioma,s, Benton, 28 or a General Jackson, or any other true man,_to lift his voice in tones of thunder, and pierce this opening treason with the furious flash of a patriot's eye? There were some true Southern men, a few of them. Andrew Johnson was one of these true Southern men ; but the traitors whom i now have in view, in Washington and out of it, and whom I ask the Government to punish for their treason, were steeped up to their very eyes in -an accursed con spiracy against the supreme authority of the nation, openly insulting the majesty of law, and meaning either to revolutionize the Government or divide the Union, These high-bred Southern gentlemen were then commenc-- ing in an active form what many of them had long planned, and all of them welcomed, and none of them re sisted, and what they continued to pursue just as long as they had power to do so. These men, many of them with the oath of office upon them, and with treason in their hearts, with this history behind them and upon them, are now the clients of that sentimental philanthropy, which would derange the order of God and the harmony- of Earth, in saving culprits from the gallows who richly deserve to die. They must not ask me to plead iheir cause as against the requirements of justice. I cannot do it. I protest against all such philanthropy. ' These men were in a situation to do the Goyernment great good or great harm ; they chose the harm ; they planned the harm; they were themselves -its chief authors ; they have' compelled the nation to fight for its life ; and now in the' name of justice as Well as a comprehensive philanthropy, I say, let them suffer the proper consequence of such deeds, • ; • - . ^ - - 6. The guilt of this treason has been intensified in its enormity by the manner in which the' Rebels have treated our spldiers captured, and by them held as prison ers of war. Modern civilization stands aghast at the spectacle, and Southern barbarism appears in its full di mensions. There is no doubt as to the facts. They are not matters of mere rumor, but of Well-attested evidence. so And in the light of evidence you are presented with a scene of hellish malignity, God-defying depravity, - cruel and vindictive ingenuity^ outrageous and absolutely startling inhumanity, which it is difficult to explain with out assuming the incarnation of the devil in the bodies of men. You have a scene of systematic starvation as well as of the most brutal; treatment in other respects, perpe trated by the Rebel authorities upon our officers and soli- diers held by them as prisoners of war, virtually raising the black flag over these defenseless and helpless men, and that too when their own officers and soldiers cap tured in war, were receiving kind and humane treatment at the hands of the Gpvernment, The United States Sanitary Commission appointed an able committee to taike testimony and examine the facts of the case. The published narrative of that cominittee giving a detailed account of the privations and sufferings 6f our officers and soldiers while held prisoners of war in Rebel hands, it has been my melancholy privilege to read; and I declare to you that the scene there depicted, caused the blood to boil in my veins. It will make the blood boil in the veins of any man uncorrupted by fiendish cruelty. Take Libby Prison, Belle Isle, Salisbury, Andersonville, the Race Course, at Charleston; take these military sta tions, especially- during the year 1864; — travel from the one to the other as the testimony carries you from point to point ; look at the emaciated, starved, arid awful con dition of the men when released from these dens of death and hell,' bearing with them the signs of their tremendous woe ; observe the statistics of their- daily mortality : see the ration, what it was in quantity and quality ; look within that stockade at Andersonvilla where from thirty to thirty-five thousand men were shirc up within a space of twenty-five aci*es, five of which were swamp covered with filthy water ; see these men there rolling in the mud,' eaten up by vermin; starving for food, some of them as naked as when they were -born, with no means of pro tecting themselves against the heat of day or the cold of 30 \ Bigbty/filifehy'in their- bodily condition almost •bey«fflLd)eri- diuinance, lying down- together in the night-season like so many swine, dying, at a -rate of mortality so-feariful that in less than, a year thejf) would all be, dead;— il say look at these men — yes, look! at them, if yourrierves will, bear the -sigh t^-rsee these, heroes sufferiing for a nation's life ; and- in their condition and treatment you will beat no loss to discern the spirit and chwaeter, of this -wicked treason. ! It; stands. before the, worldurevealed. by ite xjwn atrocities. rlA public seatiment that will permit such things, is the public se&timjewb of rbdybaia&Rs. - The Reb.el authorities in Richmond knew alliabout it ; it ->was their work, and done by their authority and! appointment, delib-, erately and persistently done,,and dpne too when they had abundant means to make our, soldiers at least decently comfortablei+*'-n Who protested?. Did, Jefferson- Davis? Did the Rebel ;Congress?>x;Didirthe.i Rebel press? ij.Did General Lee? '; Did the Governoa?s- -of the- States? Did the Ministuyi of- the Word ? -Did , the general public senti ment of the South? J No, my heaiiera. Thig thing. went on -day- after ; day, week; after., weekj ,and- month after month, with, all 1 its; unmitjgate'be exenlpted from the just penalty of the civil law,- any morel than I can pray that the murderer of our late President may be thus exempted,' My religion does not teach me to make prayers against ¦ civil justice. My theology is riot I on the side of traitors and feloris, I wduld nfeverip^ition for 'the pardon of a man who really ought to 'be'hurig; andif I were the offiter' of justice, I never would pardon silbh a man. My opiikioni an the question of punishing traitors, with its reasons; is now before you. You ' see what it is. As' to the questiori of 'giving legal form and e^xecutive reality to this opinion,'! cannot suppose that there is any insur mountable difficulty. There surely is not, if this be a Governraient of law; aridif itibe not, then it is'high tirue that we made iti'sUch, . As to the criminials- themselves; there is no difficulty in finding ont iwho they are, and in respect to a great many of them where they are. Take Jefferson Davis — he certainly is' a very good traitor to begin with; he went into this treason knowingly ; he has been one of its most malignaiit agents; and if he does not make his es cape, 'punish him with the eKtreme' severity of the' laW, Come then- to General I^ee as the next traitor in order. He is one of your high-born and high-bred SPUtbern traitors, ' He was'educafeed by the Governmentj at West Point ; he was an officer ^in; the Army when the RebdliPn 32 broke out — a. member of General Scott's Staff, and as such more or less, privy to the plans and measures proposed by the Government for the suppression of the Rebellion; he. had time to reflect, and was earnestly entreated not- to lift the traitor's hand against his country. He deserted the flag in the time of peril ; he went over to the enemy; and from that moment, down to the day of his surrender, he has done his utmost -to, make this treason successful. He has been the great, man among Southern traitors — their rock of refuge and hope; right under his very eye our officers, and soldiers captured in war, have been, -de liberately starved to death ; he knew the facts ; yet this Christian gentleman did nothing and, said nothing- to abate such enormities. Since his surrender, , this same General Lee has issued an' address to his officers and ' spldiers, in which he blurts out the spirit of the most de. fiant treason. He reminds them of their "arduous ser vice, marked, by unsurpassed courage and fortitude," He assures them that in surrendering to "overwhelming numbers" he desired "to avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose past vigor has endeared them to their Goun- Pi^ymen." He commends to them " the ^satisfaction that proceeds from the consequences of duty faithfully per formed," He bids them farewell " with an increasing ad- miratiori of your constomiy and devotion to yowr Country J'' So writes' General Lee, the parpled prisoner of war, com plimenting his officers and soldiers, virtually encouraging them to : farther insurrection, and conclusively showing that he is, still the same unrepentant traitor at heart that his past acts, prove, wanting nothing but powei" to make this treason a success. General Lee is conquered, -but not cpn verted. Take him then as a fit subject for penal re tribution ; if consistent with the terms of his surrender, terminate .his military parole by declaring him- ex changed, and accompany the declaration with a warrant for hiis arrest ; and thus bring him under the jurisdiction of the civil law. Then indict him, then try him, then convict him, and,, then hang him. This is thi> pro- 33 per disposition of General Lee,- If he does not deserve this penalty, then no man deserves it. If law is afraid to touch & great criminal, theri law is but a system of cowardly hypocrisy, shrinking from the men most to be dreaded,, and most worthy of punishment. Next in order comes that vilest of traitors, John C, Breck inridge ; he was the Vice-President of the United States when this treason was ^eing concocted ; he was a party thereto, himself active in its counsels; he was afterwards a member of the United States Senate, and while holding this position he showed the heart of a traitor; he did what he could to carry the State of ; Kentucky into this treason ; and failing in this effort, he went himself, deserted his -State and deserted the Government, and joined himself to the Rebel army, with no constituency behind him, and no act of Secession on the part of Kentucky, to give the least plausibility to -his course. This John C. Breckin ridge is, in the circumstances, one of the vilest and most infamous monsters pf the whole crew. If he can be ar rested, as I sincerely hope he will be, then I wouldad- minister to him under the forms of law tl;e extreme penalty due to treason. And ' so I would go on, and , keep on, in each case adapting the severity of the penalty to the grade of the offense. All this, I know, will cost some trouble; yet the' American people can better afford to take the trouble than bear the consequences of not taking it. No one surely should glory in the sufferings of. the wicked, even of' that vile wretch who killed the President ; no humane and right-feeling man Will do so ; yet remember that public justice in its retributive action upon criminals, is not cruelty but equity. It is a posi tive duty as well as an indispensable safety. The failure to inflict it is the real cruelty, not indeed to the man himself, but to society. ' OBJECTIONS TO PUNISHMENT. 1. To such an administration of penal law it may be objected, that the Rebellion has lost its character of treason, m and becomie a teiritPrial HwMiwn^' j^iiltm^iRtke tighris- ful institution of a new 'Govemment. . It certainly -was not such in theioulseti;' it- was mot isiioh in respedt-'iboi^thsfe prime moivers of this- work; iahd the military' success cef the Go vernmerit proves that it -is not ^wA in tlseiissue. Neither the tGovernmCnt, ndr the people have ever given their C(jn#ent ' to this do<^trine. Both - hare insisted thiafc the Confederate Government was simply -an usilfpation, having no legitimate 'Existence or legaii'm^is; as ppjpwsed to the authority arid Go vernmerit of these Uriited'iStates. The war, has been conducted 'to '-Vifetoa'y' on this -'basis. We have been'puttirigdowri'arebeHion— an orgiariiied- con spiracy ©fitraitoi'S'assumi/ng 'the rights, and acting tirider the forms of laW; yet tkerG^owelriiii^rithas ne-t^'ei* conceded the legitiin(afc|^>'0f • these- i&raas. It i has beeri '^aikfmi. not to recognize the usur|)ers as [p©d^essii)^)any such Charac ter. It ii true that the people duiringrthe period of thmic subjection to 'th^'. Rebel Goveirmaleiii^, were; compelled- 1 -to take thiogs as they were;; :silence by thestrosi^ arm of despotism, and e^^n forced .to dight against i&eir country; and; in view :of [these circumstaiiiees, the masses of the cPmioion'pePple, if mow loyal;, are 'certainly erilitled to! clemency. TMs argiilment, hoWeveri,. will noit apply to the guiMy authors, the J)lanners, pttetterB; and leaders, of the Rebellion. They were traitors > iti->tiie. outset, oi*garir- izing military resistance dgaiiistr; the Government ; arid neither -the magnitiideiof ,>OT8<;,reSis.tep.de; rior its brief ca reer, has sufficed (tDfoblitetatfe -the ti^eason. , They treason ably committed themidlvra to the issue of war ;' and hav ing failed «f teedess, tbey^aJpe justly amenable to 'todbia penalty for treason as will vindicate' ¦•*herife'so as a military necessity' inevitable to the state of ¦w^ij". Contending armies meet ing each other on the field of "battle, must, for the time being, concede to each other belligerent rights, unless they become downright barbarians* Humanity and modern civilization demand this. There is no other way to miti gate the severities of wan.i This coricession, however, does not relieve the Rebels from the' guilt of Ire^on, or dhange their relation tP the Government. While the war is in progress, they hold two relations to the Govern ment ; — the one that of- simple belligersTicy ,'~^the other that of s^lhjeGts lin tehellion against the supreme author ity of the land. The former relation of course terminates with the'war; and under the latter relation they-beqome' legally amenable for crime. If not thus amenable, then' the' highest crime against the State: can never be punished, jDi-ovided' it- be -committed ; on a great scale. '8.r Is it best' to make-nmrtyrs of these men, and conse crate them; in -the affections of ppsterity by inflicting upon theim the penalty for tpeaebn ? I do npt seeiin this ques tion any argumentative force, that might riot be applied with equal pertinency to the 'case -of any criminaJl, Every criminal is a martyr in the sense of suffering for his crime. It is * by this kind: of martyrdom that civil society main tains itself,! aud preserves public. order. It is simply the mactyirdoBil of justice — the martyrdom to which God re sorts when he punishes sin, and without which it is'ut-' terly impossible for men to conduct government in this worid. The direct effect of such martyrdom is to make law a- terror to evil-doers, ¦ The fate of the suffering vic tim acts as a Warning to others. It teaches law-breakers what they may expect. So, in this case, the penalty for treason "wisely and efficiently administered, will be a le gal advertisement -to ail the people, that this high crime can- expect uo immunity in 'this country. The memory of its infliction will do no harm. The 'martyrs thus suffer ing, will be very important -witnesses to the generation 36 now living, and to all future ones. Their doom will pro claim the nation's judgment upon treason. CONCLUSION, I am rendndedi by the length of this discussion, not to detain you much longer. If I could have done what I deem justice to the theme in a shorter space, I should have done so, I have spoken frankly and fi-eely, possi bly using language which to some may seem too intense. Be this as it iriay, my .words are true to my oWn state of mind. I think and feel just as , 1 have spoken ; and I, moreover, think it to be my duty to speak in this way. We have come to one of the most solemn points in the history of this scountry. Afterfouryearsof hard fighting, the peace which victory, enforces, dawns upon us. The/ Government and the people ^ supporting it, have, during thesC years of blood and death, been engaged in an out rageous and stupendous criminality, if it be not true that treason against, the: State is a crime, in the first in stance to be put down by military force, and in the sec ond instance to he punished in the persons of its guilty authors. by a just administration of penal law. The same reasons that justify the war, demand the punishment. If the argument be good for anything,-^ it demands both. Our late President conducted us with great wisdom through the military part of the struggle, and was then called to resign his trust to other hands, I am not one of those who reason, from his amiableness, his peaceful andiloving.tenderness,; to his incapacity to finish the work- had, he lived, and who therefore in this view see the Provideritial reasori of his death, I adopt no such logic, I do not know the reason of Providence, I do know the public; and.sorriething of the private character of Abraham Lincoln ; I farther know that he was never found wanting in any trust committed to his hands ; and I infer that he w;ould not have been in this case, had it pleased God longer to spare his, life. Be this as it may, the manner of his death, the circumstances attending, the cause direct and remote, have turned the thoughts of- the American people to a question which it is possible they were too much inclined to overlook. They are not nowdiscussing s.iinply the question of peace in the shortest and easiest way, in the way that would be most agreeable to the Rebels.; but they are uniting with this the question of public justice as involved in laying the foundations of a safe&ndi permanent peace. Their thoughts are moving in this direction with unwonted strength. They begin tp see.very distinctly that you fight treason to but little purpose, provided you; welcome the traitors whom you have conquered, and re-invest them with .power to com mit treason a second time. They begin to see that such a- dispensation to traitors, or anything like it, would be a great moral defeat right on the very heels of victory. W hatever may be God's purpose in the death of our late President, the people have associated this lesson with the providence. The lesson has come with the providence, Thgit which has saddened ; them^ has moved the deep' fountains of their moral 'being. They have looked at treason again, and seen it in a stronger light than ever before.. Their dead President falling by a traitor's hand, has taught them what treason means, and what kind of beings traitors are. This I regard as a healthy move ment of; the; public mind. I have great' faith in the.Ameri- can people,, Letthe press, perform its dutyi; let the pul pit utter the oracle of truth; let the people, the educated and the common classes, have time to think as well as . read ; and I have the strongest Confidence that the pub lic sentiment of the land will so influence the Govern ment, that this treason against the people will receive its merited rebuke. The President may be assassinated, but the people cgnnot be. The chief officer of Government may die peacefully, or by violence ; but the Government itself will go on. ' Traitors cannot kill it. Forcible revo lutions cannot change it. It is strong in the affections of an intelligent and earnest people. Its power of life has been wefl proved. Let this Government now punish m eason according to fihe- requirements of jugtio^:' arid 'all lestions of State in th|is country; affecting the suja-ewnacy "i the Constitution, the integrity of, the Union, the one- iss, perpetuity, and glory of our free Republican system, ill be settled for long ages to come.; ; There is no reason iri the mature of the- case why a na^ on should not be immortal. There is no reason why lis nation should ever die till the trum'p of doom sounds lie final fate of all earthly things. This nation was made r growth, for increase of population, for the organization id addition of new States, for an indefinite augmepta- 3n of the Stars that glitter on its ¦flag, but not made for 3cay, disintegration, secession,, taieason, dissolution andi jath. It contains .no provision; for death, ; It has pre- ired for itself no funeral obsequies, no ¦winding- 'sheet, ? J, burial service, : All its arrangements comtemplate fe, It can follow a murdered Presietent 'te the grave' in= :ars ; it- can cover itself .with the drapery of public soi^ •W ; it can pay its tribute of honor to the; living and the 3ad : but so long as the people hold it in their heaiiis, le nation itself will not and cannot die. So- let it be. .ay the great God; of nations add his blessing, and pre- !rve us as one people, strong in our' union, peaceful in ir temper, prosperous; in our industry,- competent in the agency of 'war,ijust<.to the nations of ithe earth — a light and shining example of popular government to all ankind. ' , i 'mmm^ iiiiii!ii!i!ii!iij,!,i!!!!iii, ii.„!-;„i'i„,!,!iii