Abraham Lincoln | Page 7

and sobs are coming up from a smitten household and bereaved people, before the Lord do we solemnly demand that justice be done in the land upon evil-doers, that blood-guiltiness may be taken away, and that men shall not dare repeat such crimes.
When treason slew Abraham Lincoln, it slew the pardoning power, and by its own act placed authority in the hands of one of sterner mold and fiery soul--one deeply wronged by its atrocities. Now let it receive the reward of its own hands! This is the demand of mercy as well as justice, that after generations may see the expiation of treason is too costly for its commission. Mercy to the many demands the punishment of the guilty.
The assassin of the Chief Magistrate must be found. Though all seas must be crossed, all mountains ascended, all valleys traversed, he must be found! If he hide him under the mane of the British lion, beneath the paw of the Russian bear or among the lilies of France, he must be found and plucked thence for punishment! If there be no extradition treaty, then the strong hands of our power must make one. He was a tragedian. Had he never read--
"If the assassination Could trammel up the consequences and catch With this surcease, success; that but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
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"We'd jump the life to come. But in these cases We still have judgment here. We but teach Bloody inventions, which, being taught, return To plague the inventors. Thus even-handed justice Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice To our own lips."
We are told that he excelled in the part of Richard III. Did he not remember the tent scene--
"My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, And every tongue brings in a several tale, And every tale condemns me for a villain-- Perjury, perjury, in the highest degree, Murder, stern murder, in the darkest degree; All several sins, all used in each degree, Throng to the bar, crying all--Guilty! guilty! I shall despair. There is no creature loves me; And, if I die, no soul will pity me."
He has murdered the Lord's Anointed, and vengeance shall pursue him. Tell me not, in deprecation of this sentiment "Vengeance is mine, I will repay saith the Lord." Human justice has its work and must follow the assassin, if need be, to the very gates of hell! It is God's edict that he who causelessly takes any human life, "By men shall his blood be shed"--how much more when it is such a life! [FN#1]
[FN#1] Since the MS. of this discourse was given the printer, the assassin has met his retribution. Hunted like a wild beast to his lair, he was surrounded by his pursuers, forsaken by his accomplice, the barn to which he had fled fired, then shot to death, lingering several hours in intense suffering and his remains consigned to impenetrable obscurity. Retribution came to him before his victim was buried. So be it ever! His accomplices are known and must be punished.
A morning journal, which has been somehow retained in the interest of wrong, of home-traitors, of misrule, has already impliedly put in the plea of insanity for the assassin. The same journal runs a parallel between him and John Brown. Well, Virginia executed John Brown--its own precedent is fatal to its own client!
Let justice be done on the leaders of rebellion. Have done with the miserable cant of curing those perjured conspirators with kindness. Libby Prison mined under Federal captives, the starved skeletons of our slowly murdered kinsmen, the grave of Lincoln, and the gaping wounds of Seward are your answer. It must be taught men for all time that treason is, in this life, unpardonable! It is all crimes in one. In this case it is without the glitter of seeming chivalry for its relief. It has had nothing knightly. It has conspired to starve prisoners, has plotted conflagrations which were to consume, in one dread holocaust, the venerable matron, the gray-haired sire and the mother with her babe; has resorted to poison, the knife of the cut- throat and the pistol of the assassin. No treason was ever so repulsively foul, so reekingly corrupt. For its great leaders, the block and the halter; for its chieftains, military and civic, of the second class, perpetual banishment with confiscation of their goods, for all who have volunteered to fight against the Union perpetual disfranchisement--these are the demands of a long-suffering people.
The case of treason-sympathizers among us is one of grave moment. It is hard to bear their sneers and patiently to listen to their covert treason. It is a question whether the limit of toleration has not been passed. The era of assassination has been