588 LETTERS TO DARWIN AND OTHERS. (1865, 
I see you explain and illustrate at length the double 
turn of a caught tendril. Is it not enough to say that, 
with both ends fixed, if it shortens, say by the contrac- 
tion of one side, it must by mechanical necessity turn 
its coil different ways from a neutral point? 
Ere this, Mrs. Wedgewood should be back from 
Canada, but I have not yet learned that she is so. 
She was to let me know, and we would have a day on 
the shore, where Mr. Loring lives in summer,—a 
pretty bit of country. But it is now too late. 
I wish she could have been here on Friday, when we 
welcomed back our Harvard men who had been in 
the war, — over five hundred of them, — and remem- 
bered those who had died for their country. What 
a day we had! : 
Jefferson Davis richly deserves to be hanged. We 
are willing to leave the case in the hands of the gov- 
ernment, who must take the responsibility. If I were 
responsible, I would have him tried for treason (the 
worst of crimes in a republic), convicted, sentenced to 
death; and then I think I should commute the penalty, 
not out of any consideration for him, but from 
policy, and for his more complete humiliation. The 
only letters I have received expressing a desire to 
hang him are from rebeldom itself, — from Alabama. 
You see slavery is dead, dead, — an absolute unanimity 
as to this. The revolted States will behave as badly 
as they can, but they are so thoroughly whipped that 
they can’t stir, hand or foot, and we are disbanding 
all our armies, — a corporal’s guard is enough to hold 
South Carolina. Seriously, there are difficult ques- 
tions before us, but only one result is possible: the 
South must be renovated, and Yankeefied. 
Well, take good care of yourself, and let me know 
that you are again in comfortable condition. 
