The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-10-14
The Pardoned AIabamians.

Loyal men at the North have regarded with
anxiety not unmixed with fear for, the result,
the looseness with which the pardoning pow
er has been used in the South, but they have
been assured that these pardons generally ap-
piled to men excluded from the general am
nesty under the $4,000 clause, and had very
little if any political significance. But facts
are coming to light which show that this is
not SO; that the men generally who are made
the subjects Of special pardon, have been
among the most active, the most influential
and therefore the most dangerous and guilty
agents Of the rebellion. In Mississippi an I'M
pardoned rebel has been elected Governor, and
hen, ifreports are to be believed, pmdoned
so as to make him eligible. In South Carroll
ma the entire Constitutional Convention has
been pardoned. We don't understand under
what particular provision of the Constitution
die President finds his authority to pardon
criminals and violaters of the law, before con
;icttos. The Constitution says ~He shall have
power to grant reprieyes and pardons for of
enses against the U. S., except in cases of inn
parchment" but how, in the absence of ar
rest and trial, is he to know who has COM
nitted an offence, and therefore has become
legitimate object of such pardon ?? Neeessi-
y may have been sufficient warrant for a
general amnesty, but what necessity can de
nand a special pardon of all great Offenders
excepted from the general act, does not seem
so clear to our mind.
BY the following extractfrom the Montgom-
cry correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette,
it seems that in that State--which is doubtless
= sample in this respect of others-the Presi-
lential pardon-net has been very successful
in taking up the big fishes, who are now the
controlling spirits in the reconstruction move
ment. The correspondent referred to says:
4 at may be interesting, if not instructive, to
glance over the record of some of the promi-
aent men of this State who have been recon-
nended by Governor Parsons for pardon.
Most of them have already received it, and are
now looking out for lucrative positions, either
in the State or under the general government
Ex-Governor A. j. Moore, recommended
Tor pardon, was governor of Alabama at the
time the State seeded. He ordered the seiz-
ure OF Forts Morgan and Gaines, the arsenal at
Mount Vernon, with all their arms and equip
nents-aiso recommended the taking of Forts
Pickens, McCra and Bafancas in Florida, and
Ill upon his own responsibility, before the act
| Of secession had passed. iii s1Fit19f
John Gill Shorter, successor to Governor
Moore, recommended for pardon, was COM
missioner to Georgia and deputy to the rebel
Congress. He was an active secessionist, a
prosecutor of Union men, arresting AMI throw
ing them into prisons. He was the Governor
whose proclamations made him proyerbial.
HThomas Hill Watts, successor to Shorter
in 1868, recommended for pardon, was promi-
aent lawyer, as were also his two predecessors
He was colonel in the rebel army, and alter
wards Attorney General Of the Confcderacy.
Leroy Pope Walker, recommended for par
don, was a prominen. lawyer He was COM
missioner to Tennessee, and afterwards major
general in the rebel army. He ordered the
firing OF the first gun on Fort Sumter, and on
The same evening declared he would plant the
rebel tag on Fanuei Hall in Boston.
benlamin Fitzpatrick, pardoned, and a
plominent candidate for the United States
oen li was lawyer. He abandoned his seat
I. = elie senate, together with G. G.. Clay, (who
p "a Inv tSa cnaIged with conspiracy and endors-
~ .ne eenIlnents expressed in that memoEa
PIE iafeWeli speech of Clay's in which he de-
clared himself to be absolved frnn all obl;ua
ions to support the Constitutions Of tlo IT,;t-
ed States. Fitzpatrick was also one ~ tI,ot
caucus in which southern senators agreed to.
md did, advise their States to secede' Sou w.
~. L. Pugh, recommended for pardon. anil a
candidate for Congress, is a layer of consid'
cradle note He also abandoned his seat in
Congress, and advised the Convention in Ala
5ama to pass the ordinance Of secession. He
declared he would raise a regiment TO go to
Washington and set the Capitol in flames.
'@Jabez DE. Curry, recommended for par
don, is a lawyer, and was one of the Con
yressmen who abandoned their seats in 1860.
With Pugh he wrote r, letter to the Ala
oama Convention urging them to pass the,
ordinance of secession-was Commissioners to
Maryland and Deputy to the rebel Congrss;
m original proseylyte of Calhoun and a VIC
Sent prosecutor Of loyal men. ~
VIM. Chiffon, pardoned, is a lawyer He
i ;ss deputy to the rebel Congress, and an ac-
ador lent TO procure subscriptions to the con-
cotton loan, lent all his influence and
ne5gles e the cause Of secession. and was a
eration.' TT oAiely Sonieo-
Frank 8, Lyon, pardoned, lawyer and
L.. A. 40