The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1864-04-09
The Amnesty Proclamation.

The Amnesty Proclamation.
| The presidents proclamation of am
nesty has been assailed by parties of the
most opposite views, and for reasons the
most conflicting. Men of extreme and
implacable radicalism have complained
that the proclamation unwisely gives
, back to the great mass Of the rebels their
forfeited property, which should be con
fiscated, and devoted to the redemption
Of the public debt The opponents of
the Administration whose sympathies
lead them to look with more or less ten
derness upon the rebels, denounce the
proclamation as harsh, and calculated to
exasperate them; the leaders of the revolt,
through their newspapers, affect to be de-
lighted with it, on the ground that it
closes the door to reconciliation.
But, tested by its practical effects, the
President has every reason to be satisfied
with the proclamation, and we cannot
fail to regard it as one of the wiSest and
best measures ofthe Administration. 1t
has done much at home and abroad to
remove the wrong impressions and to re-
flute the false representations set afioat
by the rebels and their sympathizers, in
regard to the direful purpose of revenge,
and wholesale spirit of determination,
which was still to actuate the Govern
ment. 1t has disarmed criticisms, foreign
and domestic, founded upon such misrep
reservations, and at the same time it has
done much to undermine and weak
en- the rebellion. In the States Of Mary
land, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri,
Arkansas, Louisiana, and, in a word,
wherever the Union arms have gained a
foothold, tens of thousands have availed
themselves of the Presidents generous
terms to renew their, allegiance to the
Government. Some of these men had
/ been involuntarily aiders and abettors of
! the rebellion; they had acted from fear or
constraint, and were never willingly in
| hostility to the Government, and they
] gladly availed themselves of the first OPP
portunity to give n new pledge of fealty
/ to the Constitution OF their country.
I Others had weakly yielded to the clamor
of politicians, and had in some sort invol-
UNFAIRLY participated in rebellion, and
these, we may well conclude, have been
| thoroughly purged, by the fiery ordeal
of civil war, of the folly of thinking that
! Secession and rebellion were fraught
with the blessings which ambitious dem
agogues had taught them to believe.
Even original Secessionists, who have
upon their souls the guilt of aiding to
cases been taught by dearbought expert
ence to repent of their wickedness and
earnestly to desire forgiveness and restor-
alton. We know, also that thousands of
rebel soldiers have deserted the standards
of their leaders and come within our lines
in order to avail themselves of the am
nesty proclamation.-Wh States are
being reorganized under the operation of
4 this proclamation. the effect of which is
to strengthen the Union, to weaken and
divide the rebels, and to inspire conf
dence in the final triumph of the Govern
ment at home and abroad
The idea that every man who has in
any way participated in the rebellion
must forfeit his property, if not his life
that the population of whole States
must be tried for treason, and be turned
out OF house and home, and that their
lands and houses must be distributed
among the conquerors-is as inhuman
as it is impolitic. The worst despots, the
most barbarous conquerors. have never
acted on policy of determination. The
Norman conquerors of England, brutal
and barbarous as they were, left the
Saxons in possession of much..of their
lands, and the English race very soon
asserted its superiority by the triumph
Oh ltS laHguttSe aHi itS laws over tuoSe
of the foreigners. The English have fire.
quently overrun Ireland, and have pract-
iced cruelties to the people of that
country, at the contemplation of which
the blood runs cold; but the Irish were
not exterminated, nor their property
quite all confscated. The French, the
Russian, and German Governments have
suppressed many revolts of their subjects,
but their histories furnish no examples
of universal determination, or general
confscation. An amnesty proclamation
always follows the suppression of a rebel
lion. The leaders are punished. but the
people are pardoned and restored TO the
enjoyments of civil rights There are
no passages in history SO revolving, there
are none which make us detest the tvran-
ny and barbarism of governments so
much, as those in which merciless tyrants
have seemed anxious to depopulate and
destroy provinces as punishment for
revolt.
The proclamation of the President is
eminently polite, as well as humane. and
military commanders will be required to
act upon it. in dealing with the people in
the revolted districts as fast as they shall
be brought within our lines The amnes-
ty is offered to all who manifest wish to
return to their allegiance tits not re
quired of them to swear that they have
always been loyal, or that they have never
voluntarily borne arms against the United