Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1863-12-11
woRCE S TER:
FRIDAY, pEoEMmEn II. 1903.
rno proclamation of Amnesty

The PrOGIHnauttoh VI
There were few people whom the presi-
dents proclamation OF amnesty did not take
by surprise. They were expecting some
practicaf scheme of restoration would be sug- |
g.sted-but not that he would be bold enough |
TO give the rebels specific offer OF amnesty
and pardon. 1t was interesting to see how at
first men looked at each other doubtfully,
waiting for some one TO give the key to the !
response, and then altogether expressing |
unqualified and almost universal appreciation.
And now-the second day after the amnesty !
was offered-there are very few who Will not |
declare their admiration either for the policy
of it. the excellence of it, the unshadowed
kindness of it-either for one or for all.
l. 1t removes the grand objection of the
opponents of the administration, that the ct-
feet of its policy is to embitter and exasperate
the rebellion. Everybody knows with what
persistent malice it has been charged from the
beginning that the war measures of the gov
eminent furnished the fuel upon which the
rebellion lived that the south had nothing to
expect but contiscation and social revolution
if they submitted, and that nothing worse
than that could happen to them if they fought
on and failed. OF course, it was lie. But
there is no longer hook for the lie to hang
upon. Every hour the rebellion is prolonged
is a witness against it. The amnesty is not
an iron hand under a silk glove, but warm
human hand carrying reconciliation and
pace to an enemy whose crimes have been
tlwarted, and whose treason has been over
thrown. If he accepts it, the war is at an
end; and the proportions of the war diminish
just in the degree that it is accepted. If he
declines it, why, then, the war goes on. The
rebellion is brought to an end by subjugation
if not by submission; and the universal judg
ment of the world will be that it is right.
2. This, however, is only an incidental vir-
tue of the proclamation. That it is a stroke
of good policy is the least of its merits. That
it insists upon the recognition of the rights of
men as condition precedent to peace, ele-
Yates it to rank among the triumphs Of Chris
tian craftsmanship. .Other plans have been
proposed, contemplating the same result
the ultimate emancipation end reunion, under
a system of laws not ignoring but forbddng
slavery, in common with all crimes. The
presidents plan, while it is more simple ex-
Guiding everything irrelevant and superfu-
Gus, is strong in the essential point, that it re-
quires the best attainable guarantees for free
dom, before a single offending state can re-
cross the Threshold it has once betrayed.
I ~ r.I..
the least elaborate and least complicated are
the best. Many will think it wiser to have
required a larger proportion than one tenth Of
the voters of a disloyal state, to be trusted
with its sovereignty. But with larger expert
ence comes clearer light; and the president is
doubtless correct in estimating the relative
power of one tenth who are loyal, and have
the government behind them. Sodom itself
would have been saved, only ten righteous
men could have been found there, with God
on their side
8. But while the president insists that the
constitution and laws of the land shall be the
test of allegiance, he does it out of the abound
ing kindness of heart incapable of conceiv-
ing or of cherishing malice. There is not i"
the proclamation, or in the message wherein
he justifes it, one word of unkindness for the
rebellous people who have filed the country
with sorrow, and covered all its affairs with
blood. Representing the whole nation against
which the rebellion is still waging its guilty
war, he yet extends the olive branch with the
sword and though the cry comes up to him
from hundreds of battle fields, and from the
graves of nameless heroes and martyrs, to
avenge their deaths against the treason for
which they were slain, he yet holds out the
offer of full pardon upon the simple condition
that the rebels acknowledge the authority of
the government that spares them, and forsake
the iniquitous system that has been the spring
of their woes and ours. Is this hard con-
dition? But the end is not yet. The clouds
are breaking, and the sun is out; hut the
storm is not over. War reigns; and we must
bend to its exigencies. The army is still our
defence and our hope. Peace will come but
from the field of battle. That is their field
for diplomacy, their true court OF appeal The
field waits for brave men to enter it. The
cause waits for brave men to uphold it, The
country waits with its jewels for the brave
men who will come and take them-the reward
of service rendered when service could avail
to bring back its long lost supremacy with
peace and freedom in its train.