The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1866-01-12
T ON The Baltimore Sun.
A GENERAL AMNESTY,

+ ON The Baltimore Sun.
A GENERAL AMNESTY.
In measuring the degrees of moral re-
sponsibility, it is essential to consider the
motives which have prompted the ucsi Ii
to the performance Of which guilt is i'm
puted No one is guilty unless his mind
Is guilty, is the maxim of the moralist
and the lawmaker. If man honestly
believes that he has right to do that
which he dues, if he honestly believes that
be is promoting the happiness of society,
II he thinhs that Injury has been done to
himself or to the community Of which he
Is a member, and that he is called upon to
redress it and adopts means to that eud,
whether the means be the best or not,
whether his object be attained or not, he
must be judged by the motive which i'm
PEELED bin, aud not by the cons quence
of his act, however, fatal to others Dr pre-
judicial In fact it may prove to society
SHOULD one suddenly reused from his
sleep in place infested by burglars at
midnight, find q man climbing into his
house aud forthwith kill hun, he would
not be cassed amoug murderers although
the slain might prove to have been harm
less somnambulist, wondering unconscious
ly. Should the slain man turn out 10
have been one Of the most dangerous and
desperate Of villains, all men would justi
fy the action Of the ,layer as necessary
act OF scl!-defense. Yet, in each case the
"a tho oil. IA H., a
and his justification would rest upon his
honest convictions Of the facts as they an.
Feared to him, and not upon the facts as
they really existed
The movements Of DO lies Of wen and
organized communities, like those Of indi-
viduals, are also to be measured by the
truth of things as it appears to them, and
not as it really is. Hence it is, that the
moral sense of mankind has always refus-
ed to characterize with the name of crime,
the actions of those who take common
part /" great political revolutions. Large
masses of mankind are not aroused into
revolution by the sudden Impulses of pas
sion. C4uses long operating, discontents
loug felt, grievances, real or suppos, d,
long endur' d, preceie the upheaviu rs Of
society, and when these pass Into action,
and being resisted by other masses, as
sume the lurid hue Of war, the movem ent
Is always accompanied by claim of right,
by declarason vt purpose TO vindicate
soc'ey against oppression, or to rescue
liberty from actual iIjuIy or threatened
danger. Ium lltuous assem- blages of mobs,
sedltions, commotlois, having their origin
In some transltory or local prejudice, OF
even partial Instructions growing out of
The oneIous operation Of general laws in
particular exceptional localities, or upon
isolated intercsts--'the whiskey insurrec-
ton OF Pennsylvania for instance or any
o the numerous emeues against the laws
OF excise--do not come within the case
we are considering They have their
manifest origin in passion, or injustice,
and the wan. Of the ordinary VIII, lrsomo
restraints of society. But when discon-
tents or differences of opinion have ripen-
en- into a public sentimeut--have become
the subjects of protrac,ed political discus
sion, have given form and character to DO.
lltlcal parties, and have assumed the dig
nifty of schools Of political opinion, and ar.
gunent has been supplied with all the
weapons which reason eau furnish, and
the passions of opposing parties have
grown out Of, instead of originating the
contest, until, fiually, the arbitrament of
arms has come, aud all the solemn and
fearful proportions Of civil war or Ievolu-
tionary struggle have gathered in angry
array for the dread solution-when that
point has been reached" it is vain to say,
and the moral seuse Of mankind rejects
the imputatioD, that those engaged on
either side are to be regarded as crimi.
mails.
The inner consciousness of every man
teaches him that the participants iu strug.
gle, whom history may d gnify with its
proudest epithets, if successful, are not to
be classed with the common, degraded
felnD, II the argument uf arms b. decided
against them. These sentiments have
found universal expression and have
assumed the formula of public law
amongst the most dispute governments,
not ,xcrpting Russia and Turkey, in that
principle which iorbids the surrender of
p"itlcal refugees or participants in sue
ce 'sful revolution as criminals. They
aud further and public manifestation III
tie fact that leading men of unsuccessful
revolutionary struggles not only tnd asy-
lum, but honorable reception and vel.
come place In the most POLISHED circles of
society. kosSuth was an honored guest,
and his progress through this country was
An oyation The polish ev;lao and I.;.h