The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1867-07-25
DO shocked and humanity made ashar'

my A""Su ouUWit 10 the declared will
OF the conqueror, and ought to fight ia
determination. IN eas such demands
are usually cruel, they ought to be
made known before the surrender, with
@ unusual distinctness, lest the weaker
party, relying or the law of nature and
humanity, to save something by not
lighting to determination, should be en-
/ trapped into a surrender which accom-
e plishes what they intended by surren.
, dering to escape.
l repeat, the only demand made by
the United States in the beginning was,
; that the people Of the Confederate
States should 'lay down their arms, re-
tire to their homes and obey the laws"
because thereby the United States
sought accomplish the only purpose
OF the war, to-wit:
The question is, did the United States,
/, during the war and before the surren,
der, make other demands or avow ad,
ditional purposes and make them known
to the Confederatcs?
l have been unable to find any 9th
er, and believe no other man is able to
find any other, legitimate or official de.
mands or declared purposes.
find many individual threats, and /
find also acts OF confiscation, suspen-
sion OF habeas corpus and such like acts,
but then they are declared to be, what
indeed their very natures make them,
wor measures-to end with the war, and
to make no part of the terms or law of
peace. They were adopted as means to
accomplish the II great original pur-
pose, TO force us to lay down our arms,
and thus preserve the Union. Mr.. Lin
coin did promise liberal exercise ofthe
pardoning power, from which it may
be claimed to imply that he would ex.
cept some from the amnesty, but he
could only except them for a legal trial,
and l suppose even Mr.. Lincoln did not
doubt the result Of a,tair trial, unless
Of some one who made wal on the Uni
Ted States before the secession of his
State. For though the result of the
war did decide that secession was void,
yet, as intent is the essence of crime, It
did not and could not decide, that one
honestly believed that secession was lc-
gal, wos bound to know it was void
before the decision made it so. And,
though the result establishes secession
is and was and must remain void; vet
she who honestly believed, at the time,
that secession was either q Constitu.
tional or revolutionary right, or that
his allegiance was due to his State when
secession was asserted, or who beliey-
eel the coercion of q State was a crime.
could not become a criminal by act
ing on his honest belief. But if a man,
before the secession Of his State, made
war on the United States by Selling her
forts or otherwise or, if while holding
an office under on oath to support the !
Constitution Of the United States, he f.,
used the, functions of that very office,
by over acts, to destroy the Union, such h
a man was a traitor and might, with I
some show of reason, have been excep- ,
ted from the amnesty and reserved for !
trial. l think, however, true wisdom
and a peaceful future required entire !
amnesty for all the past, and careful !
abstinence from all oppressive acts in /
all the future. a
During the war, Mr.. Lincoln, as Pres .
ident of the United States, issued Ills
proclamation, emancipated slaves in
States and parts of States. But =
this, itself, was declared to be q war
measure only. Afterward the Con -
gross had proposed to the States an !
amendment to the Constitution, abol Il
.shing slavery everywhere. But the !
had not ratified it. 1t was, d.
therefore, only Il proposition undetcr, =
mined at the time ofthc surrender. Al
,cr the surrender the slave States &C. a
'epted and ratified this proposed AZ
amendment, and thus, by the act of the j,
lave States after the surrender, this
amendment became a portion of the
Constitution. Therefore, the abolition =
ii slavery may, in fact, though not in
gal strictness, be counted as one of
he things decided by the war, and as is.
part of the laws of peace. 1t is lii
noticeable fact, also, that although "
ar. Lincoln included the acceptance of ~; y,
Emancipation as part of the terms at
he conference in Hampton Roads, vet =,
either he nor Gen. Grant, nor any of
tI'er power, alluded to this as part of re
he terms during the negotiations for, pr
or ut the time Of the acceptance of, the q"
lrrender. The only condition of the /,
lrrender were to submit to the laws, -
not take up arms again against the ot'
nited States. S.
What, then, did the war decide, and 8.
hat, by that decision, is the law of {
Here it is, and here is all: pes
Secession is void; the Constitution is fen
aintained; the Union is preserved, la lG
tn all the dignity, equality and rights um
the several States unimpaired, with /
t single exception of the abolition of bel
,very through the consent of the aiol
ieinal slave States. hpi
And when our people, after the sur swe
nder, took an oath to support the be
institution of the United States and eX
e union ofthe States Hereunder, thew y
ore to support the above decision, =,
d nothing more. e!
The meeting of the Convention in =
use States, to conform their Consti- q
ion and laws to the change brought p
the abolition of slavery, was proper -
1 a result of the agreement to cman. ~
ate. The appointment of Provisional
IL officers by the President to enable a
Conventions to be called and to e
{, was proper machinery to accom- =
the end. Further than this no re
lstruction was ever needed or was
al or proper. But for the abolition
slavery the States would have been
to their old Constitution and h
na,sNp rH 1rk - Al