538 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. 



