The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1867-04-03
ing rcmuncratcd except through this Cor
fsression,.l 1epislati0if Neither of them ca

SSUU,UUU,UUU VIII pay them. Ccrtallliy IL
would be a great yslicf. need not cnuner-
ate the sort of damages to which reier.--
Southern loyalists who have suffered arc
everywhere to be seen. The valley of. Yir-
ginia and the course of Sheridan's operations
arc full of them Tile smoking ruins of Law
renee and Chambersburg, almost every coun-
ty of Missouri and Maryland, and the from
tier portions of Ohio are samples of the lat
ter. If the war had been between two rcgll-
lar governments both Of which survived the
war, the victor in the treaty of peace would
require the yanqnished 10 pay allsuch dam
ages as well rs all the expenses of.the war
If neither had conquered the other they
would probably be silent, and each bear
his own loss. Congress is debating the
terms of peace Ii she does not provide for
these mcritorious claimants, she will be
bound in honor to pay them out of the Ma
tional Treasury. If she does not, indivitlu
ais will be wrongcd and the the Nation dis
honored. This bill is very merciful toward
a cruel, outlawcd bclligcrent who, when their
armies were dispersed, would gladly have
compromised their lives were saved. Those
who will be affected by this bin viii not cx-
coed 10000 out Of a population OF 6,o00. coo
of whites, for this is a people of aristocrats
and subjccts-of a proud nobility and a
cringing, poor peasantry. Those 10000 per-
sons own about 390,000,000 acres of land
out of the 500 000,000 in the Confederate
States. This, together with the town prop
erty, cannot bc.worth less than $10,000,000,-
900. This estimate includes no mans prop
erty who was worth less than $4,000 nor
n nal "
which may perhaps swell it to $12 ,000,0 00,-
coo. The fine proposed would be but one
twentieth of their estates. Were ever such
great maefactors SD gently dealt with 1t
were well if all their large. estates could be
subdivided and sold in small tracts. No
people will ever be republican in spirit and
practice where few own immense manors,
and the masses are landiess Small indie
pendent land-holdcrs are the support and
guardians OF republican liberty. But it is
said that very many of these men have been
par'loned by the President, and their forfeit
ed estates restored to them. | must take
the liberty to deny that any pardon, or any
other power vested in the President, can
withdraw these forfeited estates from the
conliscation decreed by Congress. Nothing
ieoo tii.ii 6i act vi SouSiGSS Cdli uiNCSt tiCiil
from the Unitc,i S;.;ys and bestow them up
ON the pardoned belligercnts No one de-
MES that the President possesses the pardon
ing power. This power is conferred on the
Chief Executive for wise purposes, to cor
rect the errors and mistakes of courts, and
imperlections of human laws Bacon says,
"The power of pardoning olfenscs is insc-
parably incident to the Crown, and this
high prerogative the King is entrusted with
upon special confidence that he will spare
those only whose case, could it he forcsecn,
the law itself may be presumed willing to
have expected out of the general rules
which the wisdom of man cannot posi-
bly, make SO perfect as to suit every
particular case" &c BAG, 1882 How well
the President has adhered to the object of
this high prerogative Others must judge
The special rardons granted cannot indeed
be over Loco OF the subjects of confscation.
The pardons are granted for the crime of
treason. shall not question that such par
dons may be pleaded in bar of any prosccu-
ton for treason, and save the traitors prop
erty from the forfeiture which results from
the conviction of that crime. But the act
of July II, 1862, under which these forfeit
urcs arise,Iias no reference to treason Except
the four first sections, under which we do
not ask the action of the Executive) 1t de-
clares the property of certain belligcrents,
enemies of the United States, subject to seiz-
ure, and orders it to be appropriated, as enc
mics property, to the service of the United
States Government; In perfecting the for
fixture, it does not pretend to prosecute the
owners for crime, but treats their property
as that Of any enemy who was captured as
lawful prize. How can the President by
pardon restore the property thus vested in
the United Statesa Suppose the delinquent
were an alien enemy. and as such his prop
crty or land was ordered to be seized by act
of Congress Could the President dispense
with that law by his sovereign power and
arrest the forfeiture in its transit to the
Treasury! The belligerent has been guilty
of no crime as belligerent of which the Elk
ccutivc could absolve him. Neither the war
making power nor the power to make peace
is in the President The power to declare
war is vested in Congress alone. The pow
er to make peace rests with the President
and the Senate. The power to dispose of
the property ola conquered people is vested
III Liz JONCE liic HI
ton, which in this republic is Congress. A
King of England once claimed and exercised
the right to dispense with an act of Pariia-
ment. But the Parliament vindicated its
rights, and by an act q VS., I'D declared
all such pardons and charters void, and that
no "dispensation by non abstante of or to
any statute or any part thereof be allowed"
Have we the courage and the virtue of our
British ancestors But at the most the par
dons extend to but 1900 out of 10000
wealthy belligerents. While there is not the
least pretence in,law that the President, by
pardon or otherwise, can wrest this property
from the Government, yet it is melancholy
that the Executive should confederate with
traitors, and by his own act and on his own
individual responsibility attempt to take
billions out OF the Treasury ofthe United
States to enrich bloody traitors to impose
burdens on the loyal men who risked life
and property to save the nation, that fawn-
ing rebels might live in afiluence and glorify
him. But even if all those now pardoned
were beyond our. reach, there are still sever
al thousands who were not shielded by these
potential charters. That will suffice for the
small sum which this bill requires While
all must mourn over the melancholy specta-
Gle OF the attempted robbery of loyal men
and the suffering relations of the martyrs of
liberty, by one who should be their guard
ian, let us deal fairly, and place tie respon-
sibility where it justly belongs. Andrew
johnson, before he was President, held, rs
we have seen, the following language In a
speech already referred to, made in the sum
mer Of 1864, he said: - q .asfa
"Why all this carnage and devastation? 1t was
that treason might be put down and traitors