Star.
London, England, 1816-01-13 00:00:00

AMIVESI'I

The following article is extracted from the Gaulle
& France : •

" The -present Law of Amnesty is the most. serious
and important which can be submitted to a public
deliberation, inasmuch as it • affects the fortune; ho-
nour, and even life of a class of citizens. We may
even rise to higher considerations, and discern in the
measure an object which essentially regards the con-
firmation of the throne, and consequently the.safety
of the country, from Which it is inseparable.'
46 Opinions• are unanimous on the necessity of an
Amnesty: it is the natural effect of this principle";
equally avowed by policy and humanity, that after
long dissentions, after terrific convulsions which have
given birth to a crowd of guilt and crime, it would
be dangerous, nay impossible, to punish all; and that
the supreme authority, whose most sacred duty is to
consolidate the...social edifice, violently shaken by re-
volution, should hasten to impose silence on the spirit
oflictions by throwing the veil of forgetfulness over
the past, and restricting itself zo the punishment of
the great culprits.
.64 But in proportion aslthere exists an uniformity
of - sentiment respecting the necessity of the measure
in itself, there may also be remarked a disagreement
on the manner of applying it. Nothing is less sur-
prising. The question may be viewed under diffe-
rent aspects, without our ceasing to be good citizens,
real friends of the King and Country. it is this that
encourages us to express our sentiments freely upon
this subject.
66 it is keyond a doubt that a Law of Amnesty
ought to be a mixture of indulgence and severity:
without this happy combination, it would be at once
a source of disgrace and danger ; it would become a
warrant of universal impunity, which could never
enter into the thoughts of any legislator, or a monu
ment of rigorous justice, absolutely coatrary to the
essence of an Amnesty, and fit only for Penal Laws.
We are at first struck with the extraordinary clemen-
cy manifested in the Projet presented by the Ministers.
66 The pardon is gen:ral : all the rnanceuvres, all
the criminal actions which preceded and toilowed the
enterprize, the success of which has been so fatal to
the country, are buried in oblivion by a paternal
hand. Amnesty, full and entire, is granted to all
those who, directly or indirectly, took part iu the
rebellion.
" However, if the Monarch be too noble to retain
the memory of offences committed against his per-
son and his authority, he is also too just to present
with a disgraceful impunity those men who, by their
rank in society, by the eminent stations they occu-
pied, by the favours that were heaped on them, by
the destructive talents they have so constantly deve-
loped to the ruin of the State, are a thousand times
more guilty than the obscure crowd, whom they pos.
semi so many means to seduce.
66 The King has declared, he desired • every thing
emit will save France :' he ought necessarily to avenge
bey of those conspirators and traitors who have en-
dangered her existence. To pardon such crimes,
would be to reward them ; and it is not when jus-
tice the most pure is seated on the throne, that the
friends of justice should have to dread a scandal so
revolting.
66 It must be acknowledged, when we mount to
the origin of this faction, the enemy of every thing
moral, which, under different denominations, for so
ling a time wielded the ensanguined sceptre f crime,
and wished not long since again to assume it, when we
remark among the most servile accomplices of the late
tyranny the chiefs of the Rey( lutionai y Government,
wh is we see the unpropitious meteors of 1793 renew
their terrific appearance in 181 i, we are tempted to
yield to the opinion of those who, reasonably dread-
ing the return of those disastrous scenes which we
have witnessed, and desiring, like all friends of the
Monarchy, that the factions thus incorrigible should,
at length, be reduced to absolute inability to injure,
can discern no other means of obtaining this object
but exemplary vigour.
66 But the involuntary and natural horror expo-.
rienced at the sight of these cruel authors ca-
lamities might, it too much listened to, exercise a
dangerous influence over the measures (.1 public
safety„ which alone should dictate a wise and moderate
policy. This powerful consideration ought to affect
the King's Ministers, who, partaking the sentiments
that animate good Frenchmen, placed in a different
sphere from the rest of the nation, the immediate or.
gaps of the best of Princes, confident of his ineffable
goodness, they ought to view men and things ; they
ought to draw from an august source the wisdom fit
th enlighten their progress in circumstances the most
difficult that can be presented. . .
o A Royal Ordinance had been published—this'
Ordinance began to be executed—it was necessary
that the new Projet should he in unison with it; there
was nothing to oppose it, since it had already conse-
crated the great principle of a law of Amnesty, and
by designating Vine great criminals, tacitly promise
oblivion to- the rest. This, then, is the ;lose why'
the live of Amnesty is founded on the Ordinance of
the 24th of.4tily, of which it becomes the completion,
The sem e reservations subsist t. the sending a certain
I:amber of individuals before the Councils of Wai is
eepeated ; the exile of many In* is pronounced, as
also the exclusion from the kingdomi in perpetuity,
of the family of the Vsurper; the. continuance of the
Prollet,utiOne that had commenced,' an 4 the execution
of judgments delivered before the Amnesty, and the
exciptiou of crimes and rniadennannara con initt.ed
aping. Private persons. 4t aPPes4l Oa; thelt9A4
4114. go >awch faFt.heS.,49lg TRumof -41 e *4 age.

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