Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1865-05-30
From the Chicago Post, sd inst.
A DISTINCTION WORTH CONSIDER
INC

In cases Of treason the law makes an ex-
ception that is not made in any other class
OF cases. There are no accessories in trea-
son; all are principals. There is but one
grade of crime, and that is treason. The
man who is guilty at all, is guilty Of the
whole crime. But in treason, as in all other
cases, the guilt Of the party depends exclu-
Siyely upon his intention. If soldier Of
the Rebel army who has made war against
the United States, and adhered to its ene-
mics, giving them aid and comfort, and
therefore, so far as overt acts 20 10 make up
the crime, has filed the legal definition of
treason, can prove that he was not a free
agent in his conduct that he opposed, as
far as his voice and actions were available,
the commencement OF the rebellion, and
that these being pOweTless TO resist the force
used % compel him TO take up arms, he be-
came a Rebel soldier only as an escape from
death or bodily injury, that mans defence
would be complete as we'll Sgainst the legal
rs the moral charge OF treason. We have
no doubt that IN the Rebel army there were
thousands Of men who entered il against
their will, against their judgment as to their
duty TO the country, and entered il only
when TO longer refuse 70 do so would subject
them to personal cruelties and injuries to
which the law does not require a man TO sub
init.
Ii must always be borne in mind that ale
glance and protection are compromising con-
ditions. In Virginia, beyond the lines of
our army, and throughout the whole South
ern States, except where the Federal forces
were in actual possession, the people, high
as we'll as low, the statesman as well as the
laborer, were wholly unprotected by the uni
ted States, and as wholly at the mercy Of the
surgent forces and authorities. For the law
and the protection OF the United States, was
substituted the irresponsible commands of a
military government. To be loyal, to re-
main true in act and deed TO the United
States, was to expose the life, certainly the
personal liberty of the man who would do
so, TO the merciless authority Of the rebel
commanders. Loyalty At the North, with
the courts and the power of the nation
aud the whole force Of public opinion TO
sustain it, was matter OF great ease. But
10 be loyal at the South was . surrender of
life or liberty, of property and Of family
was TO expose ones self and family to every
act OF violence and contumely that mAlignity
could suggest or cruelty invent. To be y
traitor at the North required an evil heart,
a shameless want OF love Of country, and an
with the most deprayed nature. To be =
traitor at the South required nothing Of this
kind. There was no choice left; the cup of
treason was presented TO all lips, and the
only escape from the fearful draught was
death by one Of a dozen cruel moies. The
difference between the men at the North
aud those within the rebel lines, was that
here if a man was a traitor OF Vas loyal he
WAS so from choice while South every man
had 10 be a traitor in act, no matter what
nav have been the feelings of his heart.
We cannot pretend TO say how universal
would have been the treason in the Confed.
crate States had there been any power there
10 proteet those who would have been true to
their al egiance but We can safely estim ate
that had there been the protecting arm Of the
limited States, to which an appeal could have
been successfully made, the number of those
actually engaged in the rebellion would have
been greatly less than the whole population.
We do not believe, either, that the number
Of persons at the South who entered the war
against their wishes, and remained hostile, at
heart, 10 the rebellion until its close, was so
very great when the whole number engaged
in il is considered. Resistance to il for
one or two years was finally overcome by
that necessity which induced men to be-
lieye that the success Of the rebel cause or
ANYTHING else that would stop the war would
be a relief. The repeated reyerseS which
attended the Union arms, and the apparent
sloWness of approach to a reduction Of the
instruction, may we'll have caused hope TO
die out Of hearts at the South, when even
at the North despair was fast gaining an in
huence upon the public mind.
Mr.. Andrew johnson has already given no
ties that he will regard treason as one of the
crimes to be punished as vigilAntly as any
other violation Of the laws, but he has also
given notice that, in so doing, a careful dis
elimination shall be made between those
who were guilty Tor the sake Of treason, aud
those who were guilty because the eireum-