Daily Davenport Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1864-1874, 1866-12-28
lie " VDylfI65 TIE Age Adverse 10
PunasDssmc mt for Political O0en.
~~a- u -

xEe VDvISI 81 ne Age Aaverse 10
PanisDsm~ sent for Political Oasa.
ces. II
Ever since the day bf Rockingham and
Edmund Burke. the htimen.yf the civi-
lized world has been Saving rn9re anS mots
adverse 10 the miiiction Of punishment for
mere political offences. Imbued with lofty
and expended. ideas respecting the privile-
gcs o. tho people who. form the body polite
Of State. they fund the way TO mike
them snoHn to the court Of George The
Third. Considering the times in whicA
they lived, the atmosphere in which they
moved, and the pr,udices they had to en-
counter; il Isl marvel they were enabled to
accomplish 30 much toward overcoming the
notions Of governmental severity which
therefore prevailed. Tor their efforts in be-
half of struggling humanity their names, rs
ever, body knows, have gone into history
Respondent with political glory. Would
that some e our American statesmen. who
are so implacable in their feelings toward
the late re )els, IN ght learn something from
those illustrious examples.
Burke saw the end from the beginning Of
the American Revolutionary Wa'. and coun-
seled moderation in the treatment Of the
rebels throughout the protracted strugg'e.
lie vas one Of Americas most effective e0d
disiinehed friends on that eide OF the Auan-
tic Il was Of him that the elder Adams
wrote such virtues O. his are the salt OF
the earth. without which no healthy, popu'
lar constitution can exist" They nos only
greatly assisted the American cause BY un
folding and indicating the rights OF man.
bu, ali historians admit that they contribu-
ted greatly to the exaltation OF the British
nation itself. lie supported Rockingham
throughout all that great sfatssaan's ON.
ciai lie. with = fidelity not plcntifuliy found
anywhere in our own remarkable country,
even in this enlightened age.
Burke fully understood in his time that
Which the radicals find it so difficult TO COM
pr,hend, namely First, that there exists
no way for furnishing large organized COM
mnni,icS OF people FOR any otiensc whatever,
much less for those which are political and,
secondly, that efforts TO punish individuals
for political oilrrses where the who.c ccm>
munity in which they dwell are implicated,
is TO he partial in the administration Of jus
,icc. II lis ideas were sound, rs the world
admits they were; why are they not apple
able 10 tho people Of the South Every
body II sense knows that there IS no way to
punish the whole people Of the ten unrepre.
>cntcd States, and that it is exceedingly diff
cult to designate individuals who are more
guilty than the rest.
| II wo were 10 AttesnPt ~ designate indl
y,iuais we should name those who we're ed
uca,cd 1t our military aud naval schools at
the public expense, aud al officers who had
there toforc sworn 10 support the COnstitu-
ion Of the United States, including Senators
and Representatives in Congress. But 9TH
,rs would disagree with us upon this point,
nnI We should have no unanimity Of opinion
upon the subject. We have been satisfied
from the first that no exactly pepper criteri-
on Tor discriminating among them can bs
invented or found.
Coupling this idea with the probable fact
thu, no jury can 10 found in the lately reb.
States to convict any Of them Of treason, il
seems to us that amnesty for the past ha.
become public necessity. Il may CRAFTY
the popular prejudice in the North t. have
them left unorgiven while longer, but VI
src morally certain that the postponemen
Of amnesty will effect no public good. WI
instinc,ively fall back, therefore upon tho''
humane considerations which Undue thu
spirit of the age and rcstlirm the prophet
OF acting upon the principles advanced b.
Rockingham and Burke ono hundred year
n,o.- Washington National Republican.