Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-11-29

pointed Auditing Committee for the ensuing year.
Dr. B. T. Arlington offered resolution to the
effect that during the absence of the President
from the State, the Engineer and Superintendent
SHALL with the aid and instruction of the Execu-
tive Committee, attend to and conduct the duties
of the President so far as said duties be del
GRATED, Laid on the table till next annual meet
ing.
Pending warm discussion, the meeting adj
journed.-DaHy Journal, 22d.
From the n. Y. World.
Ought the President to Publish a Complete
! Amnesty!
The small bubbles which the Times
brings to the defence of an untenable posi-
ton (quibbles which we will explode before
we get through have no value as argu-
ments but they are of some Importance as
! Givulging the determination of the Repub-
licans to dispute, in the approaching SEES
sion of Congress, the authority Of the Pre-
sident to dispense any further relief to per-
sons liable under the Confiscation act
When journal, affecting SO much modera-
ton as the Times, has the hardihoOd to
claim for Congress one of the most unques-
tionable prerogatives of the President, and
to expend all the cavilling ingenuity it pos
sesses in arguing against q ftct, we are JUS
titled in inferring that there is a fOregone
purpose on the part of Congress to usurp
the pardoning power, or at least, to arrest
it's further exercise.
The disclosure of this purpose is Il new
reason why the President should immedi-
ately complete the work of grace begun in
his first proclamation of amnesty. If he
makes clean work before the beginning of
the session, Congress is excluded, by It's
own act, from raising the question Of re-
gularity. But if the President waits until
the permissive section of the Confiscation
act is repealed, lie will give his enemies an
advantage, in enabling them to bewilder
the popular Judgment. The permission of
Congress to exercise power with which he
is explicitly clothed by the Constitution, is
indeed a piece of ofticious impertinence,
and he will be Invested of no authority by
its withdrawal. But he should bear in mind
that the mass of the people are not exact
reasoners on such subjects, and that it is
just as easy to act before Congress meets, as
to leave loop for the cavaliers by needless
delay.
The most fitting time for general am
nesty was when he published his final pro-
clamation declaring the war at an end and
disseminating martial law. There was, in
deed, at that time, a prudential reason for
delay, since the Republicans would have
made great handle of the Presidents
lenity, in the elections. But now that the
elections are past, there is no longer any
reason for postponement, and many for
prompt action. The twenty thousand dol
lar limitation rests on no solid ground. A
rebel worth twenty thousand dollars vas
not more guilty than one worth nineteen
! thousand or ten thousand; the guilt of
rebel being measured by his Virulence and
activity, not by the amount of his property.
Men of wealth had perhaps more power to
rekindle the rebellion, and it was there
fore wise precautiOn to keep them under
restraint until the President deemed it safe
to proclaim to the country that all danger
was finally pest. When he declared this in
his proclamation of peace, there was no
reason (beyond the prudential one connect
ed with the elections) why an amnesty
should not have Immediately followed, eX-
cepting by name such malignant rebels Us
it might be expedient to punish
! The most solid reason for general am
nesty does not rest on any sentimental no.
lions of magnaninity, but as u business
like regard for the general welfare The
capital, which the South SO much needs for
the revival OF its prosperity, will not go in
to that section in small driblets. Wealthy
individuals associations must borrow in
as reservoirs for distribution among weaker
men whose credit is known only in their
own localities. The class excluded from
the first amnesty comprises all the men with
credit enough to make loans outside of the
Southern States; but until their titles are
restored to them by an amnesty, they can
give no solid security, and are as badly off
as distant borrowers as If they were not
worth q dollar. Moreover, the men of
wealth possess the business talent, the en-
ergy, the enterprise of the South. They
are the men to set the wheels of the arrest
ed machine in motion by their activity, sa-
gacity, and force Of character, as well as by
their pecuniary means. Bnt until they are
amnestied, they are bound hand and foot.
| The shock which has tumbled the old indus
trial system Of the south into ruins, makes it
eXpedlent that many enterprising men
should change the rpursuits that they should
take their capital out of a former busine SIS, to
seek n more profitable investment in anoth-
Ell. The facility of such transfers is one of
the most important conditions Of recuper-
alton after general wreck. But while u
mans property is liable to confiscatiOn he
cannot sell it, because he can give no title.
The consequence of Withholding pardon
from the wealthy class is, that the business
OF the South is kept in Il state of stagna-
ton.
Congress-, as means of cxtorting sub
mission to their demands, have determined
to wrench the amnesty power from the Pre-
sident Even SO moderate Il member as Mr..
Raymond is ready to support them We
cannot suppose that he is advocating in his
paper what he does not mean to stand by
in Congress. Forcwamed, let the Presi-
dent be forearmed. Congress intcndto hu-
initiate him to undo his work in the South;
to upset the State governments formed I'm
der his encouragement; to keep the South
in poverty and under the harrow of the
Confiscation act, until they can coerce its
assent to degrading conditions True, the