Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-11-22
THE WILMINGTON JOURNAL.
WILMINGTON, N. c.,
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER az, 1866.
Acts Committed During the War.

close of the late struggle between the NORTH
and South, is the enmity and bitterness
left behind, consequent upon the genera
lawIessness and violence produced by the
decentralization of society. The war moi
only excited the worst passions of the peo
pie. but the restraints upon crime were
withdrawn, and violence and outrage raj
riot. The inability of civil officers to exc
cute the laws and the universal carelessnes:
into which their observance fell, even with
the better class of citizens, caused the res
pect our people felt for the majesty OF the
law, and the regard for the rights OF others,
which constitute the foundations OF social
harmony, and form the dividing line be-
tween order and discord, to be entirely lost
sight of or totally disregarded. The for
mer character of our people and their pres
ent conduct are evidence that these irreg
ularities and outrages were the result OF
the widespread decentralization and de-
structive influences of the terrible convul-
sion through which we were passing, than
caused by any pre-dispositicn to injure in
dividuals OF certain classes of people.
In certain portions of our State, espe-
cially in the extreme Western counties,
where communities and districts were di-
vided in their support of the State and
Confederate Government, we are sorry to
see that the enmities and ill-feeings, en-
gendered then, are still ranking in the
hearts of many, and in some neighbor-
II. 4 Ill 0f Of
fairs exist The criminal and civil dockets
of their courts are crowded with indict-
ments and suits for offences or injuries
committed upon one another during the
war The efforts of their best citizens and
the advice of friends have failed in many
instances of stopping these prosecutions,
and in not q few cases, violence, even to
the taking of human life, has attended
these unhappy affairs. Those who have
been offended and wronged OH either side,
not being willing to relinquish their claims
to reparation or vengeance, and compromise
in spirit of harmony and good feeling,
the establishment of which should be
the honorable aspiration of every patriotic
citizen, but insisting upon the rigors of the
law being visited upon their neighbors,
have caused others to retaliate, the conse
quence of which has been that neighbor-
hood feuds and personal quarrels, disturb
ing the general peace and prosperity, have
become rife in many counties.
How much better would it have been to
have met together in mutual harmony and
forgiveness, and by general consent to have
declared universalamnesty,c conditioned only
upon the future good behavior of the often
ding parties The Convention, by all
means, should have passed the ordinance
discussed by that body, declaring pardon
from all criminal responsibility for acts
committed during the war, and under the
influence Of causes then operating upon
our people. We trust, they having failed
to do SO, that the Governor will, in every
instance, extend the clemency of his par
dOning power, to all thus convicted. Or,
better still, the example set by his Honor,
Judge Fowle and Mr.. Solicitor Settle, at
the late term of Rockingham Superior
Court, in the case of Capt. r. E. Wilson,
which we publish elsewhere, will, we trust,
be accepted as the just compromise between
the law and the feU-spirit of vengeance
now eXtant. BY this means, we know MT
ny violent and lawless men, who have just
ly forfeited their lives, will escape righteous
judgment, but, as in the instance we have
cited, good men will be saved from the
prosecutions of enemies, for acts, in strict
conformity, at the time of committal, with
orders and laws in force, but made crimi-
nal, if so, by the result of the war. Wei
can approach the General Government with
appeals for universal pardon and amnesty
with but poor grace when our own peo-
pie, yes, neighbors, are seeking the blood
of neighbors, for these same offences.
The case of Captain Wilson came under
our attention during last fail and winter, |
while he was held a prisoner by the militia
~ commandment at Raleigh, for acts COM
mitted under the orders of mis- superior Of
ficers and by virtue of his commission as
Captain in the Confederate army. He was
especially, IN object of the tenderest COM
passion of any one, in his cruel and wick
ed confinement, as he was then an invalid,
by reason of the recent amputation of q leg,
made necessary from woand received in
one of the final engagements around Pc
tersburg. General Grant, upon the occa-
sion of his visit to Raleigh, on an investi-
cation of the matter, summarily discharged
him, but he was thrown into prison i'm
mediately upon his return home, by the
same .parties who had occasioned his
first arrest and Imprisonment, and was
saved from lengthy and loathsome in
generation by means of writ of habeas
corpus tried before Judge Fowle last Spring.
We are confident the conduct of this officer,
as well as that of MIR. Settle, in the mat
ter, will meet the appreciation of the entire
State, and we trust the result of this case
will be the harbinger of the re-establish-
ment of good feeling, and that indictments
now pending against some OF the best men
in thatsection of heStatemay be dismissed,
or that the same judgment and good sense,
which so happily and properly adjusted