The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1866-01-12

refugees have, throughout our history,
held honorable posts in our armies and in
our civil .,rvice as also the French *
lies Of the successive struggles between
the Bourhons, the Republic, Napoleon
and the Bourbons again. All aud every
one OF these, many more ilusri Us in 9th
err countries and in other periods, We're
condemned 10 the homes whence they fed
as traitors and rebels, their estates coDfs
Gated, andt heir characters attainted the
remorseless military commission and the
grim executioner with whetted axe, thirst
ed in vaia for their blood but mankind
has invariably refused to affx the stigma
of guilt and degradation to their names.
But there is another more Important,
because more generally operative, if not
more striking illustration Of the thought
We have endeavored to present in that re.
cognized practice of civilized natiuns Of
declaring Z, ueral amnesty upon the crS.
satiOn Of those civil wars which result III
the .uhjugaion "f the weak'r party -
According to the definition Of au cnlighI.
eued writer, "Amnesuy. signrf"s rom.
p/ete obEUion of the past, remferi"y Tie
political ond social condition If tie unn
quishcd rquntto M"t ct Mr con4mror-
When an amnesty Is puhlshei, Ii Is not
lawful for any judicial or political author
ity to proceed for any acts VIII Gin would
not have merited punishment if the cause
Of those who are admitted to The amnesty
triumpbed." An Objection to this Illus
tratinn, as II proof .. the sentiment tha,
moral rurp,tudc docs not attach to the un.
successful participants in civil war arts, 5
from the too common practice ut exc. pit
ing from general amnesty certain indi.
vidua's who have played very promiuen'
part IN originating Or conducting the
struggle. Several obvious answers to this
objection may be urged. First there is
no general rule by which the excluded in
dividuals are to be designated. Next,
while the sense of mankind extorts the
amnesty, the personal passions aud indi-
! vidual animosltles of the executive chief
who declares the amnesty. are general,
patent i'll ,he character or Individuality of
the exceptions he makes Again ,xccp-
tons are nude from the mistaken Notion
that striking off 'hc heads of the tai, st
will impDrt Il Wholesome terror of the
future outbreak 10 the lowll !, and t.
act of exception is a measure of lner,
rrutl STATE policy, and not general lule
of justice. But the fact already advert,d
to, that those who are of the excepted
class who escape Into Other lands where
interest or state policy cauuot prejudice
the Judgment in regard TO them, are uni
versalIy receayed as men exempt from The
stain OF morsl turpitude, and to all the
world, except the powers OF the offended
State, stand the unreproached equal, vi
their fellow man, proves that there Is 10
for.e in the Objection rs drawn from the
usual exception from amnesty.
Ii such be the general principle which
certaiL ly ought to receive no harrow quail
lfcalions in n country which boasts the
freedom of the citizens, aud which repu-
dating the ki"gly pretensious to divine
authority, rests upon the consent OF the
governed as the proper corner stone of
government, and recognizes the right OF
the citizen to participate actively III
moulding and changing the structure of
the body polite, it would seem that no
narrow exceptions should prevent the peo-
Pile of the States of. this Union from IA spec.
dy entrance upon complete oJhOion Of
the past, rendering the Political aud social
condition OF brethren who have been di-
vided by the late unhappy struggle equal
the vanqulshed and the victor. live have
in deed as well aSin name, restored Union.
equality Of all ci'lzeus of every S ate
will be its conclusive demonstration aud
its greales blessing. Why should muu
who owned twenty thousand dollars be
kept under ban, when the mau Of slcnd4r
means is exempted ? Does wealth cou-
siitute guilt ? Why should those VIII"
have held evil Offices uuder the late
Confederate oganizati"", be more guilty
'han The soldier who has fought its tar
tiesl Why the general otfiser more than
the fhcer of a platoon &! All these men
occupied the place they held by the judy
ment aud selections Of their fellows, and
we've chosen to them not t their crimes
but for their virtue and usefulness real or
supposed. To prescribe aud exclude from
restored citizenship such men would not
be to punish crime
1t could have no effect upon tu-
ture revolutions it cannot make treason
odious-the on y argument is its favor.
No people prepared for revolution has
ever been deferred from their purpose by
the cruel records of any bygone struggle.
But to exclude such men is to deprive tie
States iu most cases, Of their best citizens,
is to retard theu in their progress to-
wards revived prosperity, to keep society
in dread iuactiou, and to iuhict useless
anguish upon thousands Of warm, true,
pure end generous hearts.
Tafk ho al