Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1866-08-15

One of the things which made Mr.. johnson Vics
Presid mt and By the death of Mr.. Lincoln, Presi.
dent of the United States, was his celebrated say.
ing, Treason must be made odious, and traitors
try saw safety in that speech. They adhered, to q
man, to that programme. They felt-and feel
that if the leading traitors brought to punish
ment for their monstrousl crime and if treason is
made odious, the country is safe, for we may hope
10 gain all else by argument and By the help of
| time.
| Somehow traitors have not yet been punished
Many of the vilest and most pernicious have been
pardoned, and the chief of all still lies in prison.
Nevertheless, treason is daily becoming more obi
GUS there is no doubt about it. II was more obi Gus
the day of the Memphis riots than it was before
it was more odious when the colored Unionists of
Georgia were driven away from the Union soldiers
graves they wished to decorate than before It be-
came still more odious yesterday morning, as peo-
pie read the account of the New Orleans riot; and
the New York DAILY Ne.cs, the Richmond Enquirer
and half dozen journals conducted in similar
spirit make it more and more odious, from day to
day.
Not only is the spirit of treason becoming odious
by the lawless and defiant course of the men who
lately were engaged in an attempt to overthrow the
Government and Union, snd who have been so
freely forgiven for their crime; traitors as we'll as
treason are becoming odious. The process by which
this is brought about is not precisely that which
was in peoples minds when they applauded Mr..
johnson for his famous phrase But it is just as
etfectual-it may turn out to De more SO.
For the condemnation which the Southern lead
ers are bringing upon themselves is more severe
and will bring with it severer penalties than any
the courts would have decreed. The Union loving
people are quietly watching these men; they see
them everywhere the abettors Of violence of I'M
righteousness stirring up sediton; the Industrious
sewers of hatred and unchartableness; turbulent
lawlesS, defiant. They draw their own conclusions
from all that has passed in the last year in the
South; and those conclusions are not favorable to
the continued rule of the class which boas.fully
pretends that it alone can and ought to rule in the
Southern States
If there is any man of influence and of common
sense in those States he would do we'll to warn
those who were lately engaged in rebellion that they
will be wise to act somewhat more cautiously and
prudently than they are doing. They ought to IN
derstand that though the twenty millions who
fought for the Union are patient and long-sufer-
ing, they not fools. They would do well to re-
mem Der that by about twenty -four millions of
population treason and rebellion are regarded as
crimes deserving of the heaviest punishment; and
that every lawless act, every reckless defiance
every boastful assumption on the part Of the men
who were rebels and traitors, only strengthens the
sentiment, which is growing rapidly in the North
ern States that concilistion of traitors is huge
blunder free pardon deadly mistake and severi-
ty and the strict enforcement of the laws against
treason and rebellion the only wholesome or safe
course.
It should be remembered that it is not yet too
late to revise and reverse all that has been done in
the way of reconstruction. Already the very name
of pardon has become hateful to the Union loving
people, and every rebel pardoned excites new alarm
and dissatisfaction. Already people begin to feel,
and to say that the rebel leaders ought not to be
pardoned, that the chief movers in every State
ought to be treated the criminals they are, or at
best as aliens and if they are permitted to stay in
the country at ALL should have this permission only
on condition that they refrain from all part in pol
office
Public sentiment is more set now upon combining
office to the original Unionsts than it was six or
three months ago. the people more universally de-
mand the execution of the laws against treason
than they have ever done since Lees surrender If
Congress had chosen - adopt constitutional amend
ment guaran teeing IN the name of the nation, not
only equal rights but equal suffrage it would need
only another New Orleans riot to gain the vote of
every Northern State for such a measure.
The lawess class in the Southern States seem to
be engaged in q deliberate attempt to make free
government impossible there. Let them not go too
far let them remember that the patience of those
who supported the Union when they were in arms
to destroy it has limit and that there is only one
thing sure-whatever may happen to rebels and
put to, or whatever severity of punishment may be
required to hold them in awe, the American people
are determined justice shall de done, liberty-equal
and impartial iberty-shall be maintained, and
equal rights shall be enforced on every foot of our
territory. Pardoned traitors like this Monroe May
or of New Orleans, and hundreds of Others are ma
king treason SO odious here, by their outrageous
misconduct, that they will presently find themselves
fatally the losers byit