The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1866-10-03

EFrom the Lexington Gazette. j


CFrom the Lexington Gazette
Eating the bitter bread of banishment.n
There is no condition in life in which
Won. can place a man more unfortunate
than that of exile. If he is prisoner, the
time of his confinement is definite, and
iope cheers him with more or less speedy
leliverance; if he is poor necessary toll
>rings refreshing sleep, to which the nam.
'nrnd SONS of ease. are stran~ers-hnt han.
ish him from his country and mark line
beyond which he may not come, and it en-
bitters every enjoyment which the most
favored circumstances are calculated to az
ford. Argyle in safety upon the shores of
/: Holland, pined for the mists of his HIGH
and home, and embarked mon desper-
ate enterprise only to escape from the
veariness of his Punishment So the bril-
liant and gifted Bollinebroke found no
satisfaction in the splendors of Versailles,
nor in the CONCENTRATIONS of the phloso-
her, to compensate him for Punishment
fIoma country of which he was one of the
brightest ornaments. The love Of home is
so deeply impl inted in the human breast
that an enforced absence from it is a sOr-
row which g1aws into the heart and en-
bitters every prospect of the exile. Many
men who have escaped into foreign coun-
tries from the hands Of their prosecutors
have preferred to return and endure the
extreme punishment to which tyranny
could subject them, rather than pine away
with an initiate longing which nothing
could satisfy. Nor is the exile always for
gotten; the Jacobite would drink health
to his prince over the waterethough to do
50 was treason, aud punishable is such
the peasantry in the western sllires Of
England longed ffr the return Of Mon
mouth, and confidently expected it longaf-
ter Monmouth had been lain in his bloody
shroud in the little cemetery of the Tower
of London. And we, too, have friends in
exile which no prosperity can cause us to
forget, but the very brightness of That
prosperity, causes us the more to regret
their abSf1l'e. Unite again the severed
links OF tbs Union, and we but the more
remember those who. We're the most vigi
ant guardians Of the former Union, so long
Us Union was possible. Point once more
10 well-filled Senate chamber, and we
miss some whose voices we were accus-
toned to hearken to with reverence and
respect. Not those who have gone to their
graves full of honors and full OF years, but
those who are wandering in exile amongst
strangers, and which no Punishment can
Danish from the hearts of this people.
If the people of Kentucky look with in
tense longing for the return of an exile
from his Canadian wanderings, it is be.
cause he had won upon them by an exhi.
bition Of every manly quality and by a
faithful service in many places of trust,
every one OF which he filled with credit to
himself and with reflected honor upon
those lie represented. So long as he filed
positions under til, government our peo-
pie felt pride in his success and in the
estimation in which he was held through
out the country, and when he was driven
by al INSCRIPTIONS military desptoism to
side with those upon whom the govern
ment was waging war, he bore himself
with ahero;sm and an ability which tasten
ed their affection, where before they had
only given respect and admiration. We
doubt if any more private individual who
mad no honors to confer or wealth to dis
tribute, ever before engaged the affections
of any people, as John G. Breckenridge has
the hearts of the people of Kentucky As
vice president and senator, they may have
felt pride in his ability and advancement,
but as an exile for his services in the lost
cause" and a service which was neither
ign0Dle nor mercenary, he has become an
object of interest to our people such as no
man ever was before. This they testify in
manner which must be gratifying and
soothing to the feelings of the subject Of
tit is not done with ostentation and
parade, but it is no rare thing for Ken
lucky men and women too, to make pill
grimages to the place of his exile merely
to testify their respect and admiration for
him. Norsdo they go empty handed, but
treighted down with messages of good will
from all who know of their Journey.
Now that the executive of this nation,
in whose hands lies the power, is journey
ing to do honor to the exile's great rival,
it would be a fitting accompaniment to the
pious duty in which heis engaged, if he
were to bring back the illustrious exile to
those who loved him So IF he hopes to
gain favor with those who revere the
memory of Douglas, by honoring Douglas
dead, by this. one act of unity he
can bind those who loved the living Breck-
inridge with the strongest ties af gratitude
Nor could the most envenomened partisan,
though his heart were as hard as! the
neither milestone and as foul as corruption
itself, find in it anything to gainsay or
reprove.
If President Johnson wishes to show to
his countrymen and the world that he has
sunk the partisanin the president, and that
heis equalin heart and mind to the high
office which he fills, inn other way can
lie so conspicuously show itasby removing
all political disability from the man whom
he ut one time preferred before all others
for the position lie now occupies. If guilt
attaches to Breckenridge, it is guilt nigh
akin to the highest virtue-itis guilt OBJ
tanned in stricken fields and with manly
daring-it is guilt which success would
have elevated into the most heroic pa
tridtism, andit is q gniltwhich magnanimi-
ty would honor itself by wiping. away.