St. Mary's gazette., 1866-02-15

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plenty of oceii&fion in trying many
whom the sword has spared" See his
letter to you of Tie 18th of january, 1866. |
But does not that officer forget that trea-
son is made up Of acts of war: The Con-
stitution of The United States. which the
Attorney tssssar.l says he loves even bet
ter than blxad, declares, in words that
treason against the [ Unlted States shall CON
siss only in levying war against them, or
in adhcring to Their enemies, giving them
aid and comfort-all Of which adher "nce,
giving Of aid and comfort. &c.. are cqual-
" acts of war. There is no constructive
<reason in this country. Thus | can ncth-
er be tried By military tribunal during
the war, nor civil tribunal after the war
for any act Of war. or for treason which
consists only Of acts of war.
But il may be further said that this
convention, of which am claiming the
protection is not acpntinuing convention.
and will expire with the war, when IS
Mr.. Speed thinks, you may LAM me over
to the civil tribunals Whence can such
a conclusion be drawn? Not from the
terms of the convention, for these contra
dict the conclls not ly Implication
merely. but III t,tjtrm rerbts. The terms
are mot to be disturbed, SO long as they
Shall observe their obli cation and the laws
in force where they may reside. y ms
use of terms, Mr.. President, sometimes
mislcadS very clever minds. And pre-
sumo it is bv y misuse Of terms that the
Attorney General has fallen into this error.
See his letter to your EHcr.l"ncy before
referred to. That officer while he admits
that parole protects the party par"lr'l from
trial during war. Vet contends that 1t docs
not protect him from trial by Il civil trlhu-
nal, for treason. after the war. AS have
shown that treason can only consist OF acts
Of war. and that the military convention Is
an oblivion of AL acts Of war, the Attorney
General, when he saws that 4 rarolcd par
ty NAV be tried for treason at the end Of
the war, (t}rc parole being no LONGER =
protection To him} mist mean that the pa
role will have died with the war. Tins
is entirely true of a mere parole, for pa
role is only promise. cnthe part Of Z
prisoner Of war, that. if released from inn
prisonmcnt he will not take uparm- again
nu|rss br7is exfh;n eed. This parole is aS
fr.uuentl,- giycn bv prisoners of war. who
have surrendered uncondltonally. as by
those Who have surrendered upon terms mi
There cannot be any parole then. without
a prisoner -of war, and the status OF prison.
err If war cea-ing. the parole ceases--for
,,x<eynt, rofioae. cessls 1t ipsn ler Thus
far the Attorney General is quite logical
but bv cont"unlIug IN his mind the certi-
fica,es given II the officers aud men OF
General .Johnstons army, stating the
terms of the Greeshor9' convention, and
guarantecing those officers and men against
ulolr,tat1n. in accordance with those
terms. with paroles. it is easy to see how
the mistake ain exposing can have been
made But the convention n;tdc between
General Johnston and General Sherman
wa. MOI. mere releasing of prisoners on
parole; nor. indeed had 1t nythlug to do
with prisoners tor none OF the othcers ah|
men of General john,tpn $ army ever were
prisoners may be seen at l gi'tnce ov
an inspection Of The terms "i the r"nVen-
ton Il w;.S a treaty between t"mln"hl-
ing Generals in the field, IN winch the
word parole is not once used, or could be
used With propriaty; treaty in which mu-
tnal ~tipulations are made one III consider
alton Of another, and there Is no hInl' a' To
time st to this treaty On the contrary,
il wa, expressly stated that the guarantees
contained III i were to continue ana pc IN
force 50 long a. the parties to whom the
guarantees were given sh"uid perform
their part OF the treaty stipulatlons 1t
was made not IN contemplation "l CON
tlnuaton of tie war. but WITH We" 10 l'u'
an end Ia the war, and the guarantees were
demanded by Us n peace guarantees 1t
did. in effect put an end to the war and
pacify the whole country. ten. IAyi"r III
Alabama and Mississippi, ana Hen. buck
ncr and others in Texas, following tue lead
Of Cen. Johnston Are we to ne '"ld no"
by an Attorney 'ene'1i ~ ,'.e ,''', =
~, h9r "a