Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1866-11-23
GENERAL AAENESTY FOR UETPER-
SILL SUFFRAGE.

urdaV night. At Is supposed Sue COM
mitted suicide by taking laudanum-
GENERAL A1ENESTY ron UNEFER-
SAL SUFFRAGE
Such. it IL rumored from Washing
ton, will be the basis of reconstruction
proposed by the President in his forth
coming annual message Whatever
may be the authority for the statement,
it is exciting very general attention
and meets considerable favor South
ern men now IN Washington we are
told prefer it to the Constitutional
Amendment, and the friends Of the
President seem sanguiue that it will be
agreed upon by men of all parties-a
good substitute for that measure If
Mr.. johnson proposes it, he will, of
course, haze abandoned his former
policy so far as 1t insisted upon the
restoration of the insurgent States
without condition. If he requires the
South to bestow the franchise upon
the freedmen he will ask more than is
demanded by the second section of
the Constitutional Amendment, while
on the other hand, in offering them
unlimited amnesty he would tender a
remittal of the penalties imposed by
the third section on the rebel leaders
Whether the great Union party which
has just spoken such an emphatic ap-
proval Of the amendment would be
willing to accept the substitute pro-
posed, is a problem the solution of
/ of which will doubtless be held in
abeyance of the action of the coming
Congress.
/ One of the consequences of a gene
raj amnesty would Of course be to
| permit every rebel not only to vote
but be elected to Office The rebels
of Kentucky would hasten to return
John G. Breckinridge to Congress,
and it is not improbable that those of
Mississippi would do the same for
JEFF. Davis. Louisiana might return
/ Slidell, Virginia. Mason and Wise,
Georgia, Toombs and Stephens, Ala
bama, @. c. Clay, and South Carolina,
| Chestnut and Keitt Gen. r. E. Lee
has already been spoken of by South
ern papers as a candidate for the Pres
idency, and as he is the most popular
man in the South it IS not unlikely
chat he would be the next nominee of
the Southern States for that office.
Failing in this, Virginia might make
him her Governor, or send him to
Congress. A general amnesty would
moreover have the same application to
military as to political offenders It
would remove from those who, at the
outbreak of the rebellion deserted our
army and went over to the enemy, all
penalties and disabilities on account of
their crime. They would become not
only capable of holding civil Office
but legally qualified for restoration to
their commissions in the army And
who believes a Democratic President
would hesitate, when popularity might
be gained IN the South, to place the
names of fBeauregard, Johnston, Long
street, Lee and Hood again on the
army roster (? But even ifthis scheme
| should fail in default of a Democratic
/ President who doubts That the menwho
| fought the battles of the COnfederacy
and led the rebel armies would be the
first choice of the Southern people for
every civil Office? Ex-rebel officers
and soldiers would soon fill almost ev-
cry place in the legislative, executive
and judicial departments of their State
governments. Gallantry in the rebel
service would be made test of civil
promotion, and nothing could with
stand the claim to popular support of
having lost a limb or received scar
in fighting the battles of the rebel
lion.
With the advice and consent of the
Democratic party in the North there
is little doubt that the Southern peo-
pie would gladly give universal suffrage
in exchange for general amnesty
But would such au exchange be fair
The Democratic press Acknowledges
that universal suffrage Is inevitable
and it is not therefore necessary for US
to pay anything to secure it. Besides,
it is a measure grounded on natural
right and Justice, and ought to be con
ceded on such grounds alone. There
is no reason why we should remit to
the Southern conspirators all penalties
for their treason in order to secure TO
the freedmen what belongs to them as
a God-given heritage. The enfran-
chisement of the cOlored race is one
thing aud the punishment of traitors
is quite another thing, and tLere is no
logical or legal sequence between re-
hitting the one IN order to secure a I
concession of the other. The loyal
element which is the only one proper
ly authorized to make such IA conces-
sion already offers it freely. Nor do +
they consider it concession but
boon which they would be glad to get
If, therefore, we grant a general am
nesty to the Southern rebels it must