Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-09-07
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AMNESTY AND PARDON.
What the Terms Imply-The Differ
ence Between Them, and what They
Secure
From the Chicago Time.

OF the OnlteQ states possesses the authority
to proclaim amnesty to political offenders
Also, whether such an act, granting that hC
possesses the authority, would restore t.
disfranchised Rebels the electoral privi
lege. 1t is strange that there should bs
any doubt on this subject--or it would be
strange, if it were not true, that men, under
the influence Of strong exciting causes, ara
prone to be guided by their passions rather
than by their sober judgment.
Amnesty is can act Of oblivion of past
offenses." This is its legal definition, az
given in Bouvier's Law Dictionary. The
same standard authority continues:
go. An amnesty is either express or i'm
piled; it is express, when 50 declared in
direct terms and it is implied when a
treaty of peace is made between contending
parties. Vide Vattel, liv. 4, C. 2, z 20, q,
%; Encyclopedia Americana h. t.
3. Amnesty and pardon are very diff
ferent. The former is an act of the sove-
reign FoWer, the object Of which is to efface
and cause 10 be forgotten a crime or misde-
meanor the latter is an act OF the same
authority, which exempts the individual
upon whom it is bestowed from the punish
committed. Amnesty is the abolition and
forgetfulness Of the offense; pardon is for
giveness. A pardon is given to one who is
certainly guilty, or has been convicted /;
amnesty TO those who may have been so.
~. Their effects are also different. That
Of pardon is the remission Of the whole or
part Of the punishment awarded by the
law; the conviction remaining unaffected
when only partial pardon is granted an
amnesty, on the contrary, has the effect of
destroying the criminal act, SO that it is as
if 1t had not been committed as far as the
public interests are concerned.
IS. Their application also differs. Pardon
is always given to individuals, and properly
only after Judgment or conviction amnesty
may be granted either before judgment, on
qfte7y9ard, and it is in general given to
whole classes Of criminals, or supposed
criminals, for the purpose Of restoring tran
quillity in the State"
1t is seen that both pardon and amnesty
are acts Of the sovereign power, and that
one is exercised by the same authority
which exercises the other. Both are acts
Of executiOn-ot Of legislation, or Of ad-
iudication-and both are exercised BY the
authority which executes the laws. The
function Of the Legislature is to make
laws; Of the judiciary to adjudicate upon
them Of the President to execute them.
The word amnesty does not occur in the
constitution. But the Executive by that
supreme law Of the people, is invested with
power to grant reprieves and pardons for
ofienses against the United States, except
10 cases of Impeachment" The greater
power to grant pardon to offenders who
have been convicted and adjudged to suffer
the highest penalty of the law includes the
lesser power to grant forgetfulness of the
offense Of a less wicked offender, who, but
for this act Of grace, might be convicted
and adiudged to suffer a lesser penalty.
"An amnesty" says the Encyclopaedia
americana, Tan authority cited by Mr..
Bouvierl us often declared in the case of
rebellion Of whole districts or countries
because it is not possible TO exercise On
them che severity Of the law, and il Is
often considered sufficient 20 punish the
leaders" That the Executive may award
pardon to the leaders, who are the greater
criminals, is provided by the letter of the
constitution. The power Of pardon, az to
the greater offender, includes, upon a we'll
known principle of law, the power of
amnesty as 10 the lesser.
But the power of the President to award
amnesty does not rest upon mere legal inn
plication. 1t is a power which has been
exercised repeatedly by American execu-
tiyes since the foundation of the govern
ment; and not until now has the rightful-
.,F a.. hvrt l.
of the government ever been questioned.
Washington exercised it towards those
who participated in the "whisky rebeI-
lion :" Mr.. Lincoln exercised it on num-
Der Of occasions towards participants in the
recent shareholders rebellion The long
line of precedents thus established furnish
authority which no political party, and no
branch Of government, can repudiate.
Even more absurd than TO deny to the
President the power to exercise this act of
executive grace, is the assumption that its
exercise would not enfranchise those whom
Congress has assumed to disfranchise.
Amnesty has the effect of destroying the
criminal act, so that it is as ifit had not been
committed" 1t is conceded that pardon
restores the offender to all the rights of
which conviction and sentence deprived
him. If such be the effect Of pardon,
which is forgiveness Of an ofiense that has
been proven, will not such be the effect of
amnesty, which blots ont the ofense before
il has been proven?
But Congress has assumed the guilt of
certain persons, without judicial proof and
on that assumption has proceeded to act
iudicially by declaring the penalty of dis
franchisement. If Congress had any au-
thority so to do, (which it had not, then the
persons so disfranchised stand in the at;i-
tude of persons convicted and under ildg-
ment for crime against the United States
and the President, by the strict letter OF
the constitution, has the power to pardon
them. He may issue his pardon to each
separate individual, or he may issue
it to whole classes; for amnesty may be
granted either before judgment or after
ward" and the effect of amnesty, which
blois out the ofense, is the same as pardon
which forgives the individual that ha;
committed II,
Amnesty differs from pardon in that the
pledge of forgetfulness is more easily vio-
lated than the act Of forgiveness. "Of all
the instances Of amnesty which history af
fords, there have been few in which tbs
promise Of forgiveness has been strictly
kept by the ruling party, when seated il
:. the secure possession Of power" The course
of TIE ruling party in the American Con
gress furnishes only another instance o
''history repeating itself" For the stipula
tion by General Grant in the surrender o.
the rebellion ct Appomattox was an act o
amnesty towards all Rebels who accepted
and abided thereby and the approval o
that stipulation by President Lincoln made
the act Of Grant the act Of the executiy,
head Of the nation. A Jacohin Congress
inspired by hate and thirsting for revenge
found means 10 violate the nations pledg'
of forgetfulncss, as JaCobins have done
before. But in doing 50, they have no
found a way to deprive the Executive o
the power 10 proclaim and the right t,
maintain the nations forgiveness an,
forgetfulness.
THIRTY WOMEN STARVING.
Thirty vonoen in Mort-or,orv Ala.