The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-08-31

the offence has been committed. That
must be done, says the Constitution
beforehand, and this is because expert
ence has taught US that it is the habit
of those welding power under such cir.
cumstanees, to use it for political pro,
scription, and not for the advancement
of public justice; and this has
been again illustrated in the
course of the Radicals in the suppression
of the rebellion. They have not sought
to punish any one in conformity to pre-
existing laws. Ordinarily, the leaders
in rebellion are brought to judgment
for examples, while the masses are un,
disturbed. But whilst affecting to bt
furious with the rebellion, and execrat
ing the rebels as the authors ofthe most
unnatural crimes, they are coolly study
ing only to make party capital out o.
the rebellion. From the beginning Il
the end of the armed contest they de
nouuced the Democratic party as allies
of the rebellion, although it is Dotori
Gus that the great body of the Demo
cratic party were as much opposed tC
the rebellion as they were, and rallied
to the flag as enthusiastically as any
portion of our people, although by do
ing so they sustained an administration
to which they were opposed.
Every man who adhered or was sup
posed to adhere to the Democracy
whether in arms to support the flag
like Mcclellan, or like the illustrious
Seymour, now our honored standard
bearer, organizing aud marshaling
troops by the hundred Thousand to
maintain the Union, was denounced as
traitor. Even General Grant, after
he began to loom up as a victor, fell
under their anathemas and was de-
nonnced N the open Senate by Mr..
Harlan as n drunken sot and his re NOV
al demanded. This, l believed at the
time, was because he had been DEM
ocrat and was supposed to adhere TO
that party. / was, as you all know, a
member of the Republican party at
that time, but thought the contest
was for the national life, and deplored
the narrow partisan spirit which ami
mated the Radical chiefs. | therefore
sustained Mcclellan and Grant against
the attempts made to remove them from
command and recognized the patriot
ism which animated Horatio Seymour,
and know that Abraham Lincoln also
sincerely felt the confidence and re-
gard for him, which his published dis
patches authentically attest. And it
was only because Lincoln himself had
no sympathy with the objects of the
Radical party, but aimed only to main
tain the Union, that the people retain
ed their confidence in him and re-elect-
ed him to the Presidency.
| Since the close of the war the same
policy of making its results available
for party power has continued. The
entire power of the Government has
fallen into the hands of the Radicals.
They have not sought to punish the
leaders of the rebellion according to
law. Not a man of them has been
brought to trial. Mr.. Davis fingered in
prison for years in violation of the
principle that every accused person
Shall have a speedy trial. In vain he
has demanded O trial before the courts
of the country. This was refused upon
calculation. They knew that if he was
convicted and sentenced his expiation
would appease all bitter feeling, and it
was their policy to avail themselves OF
that feeling and to cultivate it to sus'
tain them in their prescription of the
whole people of the South, as means
of appropriating the political power OF
that section. Their object was not to
punish in order to vindicate the law
| They do not punish for the crime of re-
belling against the law. They punish
only for refusing adhesion to their own
criminal schemes to subvert the Govern
ment. BY tho Reconstruction act they
have assumed the paruouing power to
themselves, and at their recent session
they removed the disabilities from
twelve hundred rebels upon the certi
ticates of their agents that they had
Joined their league, and refused amnes
ty to George Houston and George w
Jones, two of the most conspicuous op'
poneuts of secession in the VIII ole
| South.
To Mr.. Stanton, Mr.. Hall, and Govern
or Brown, of Georgia, they have moi
only granted amnesty, although they
have been as effective conspirators il
secession as jeff Davis himself, but they
have maintained two of them in tn,
highest places in the Government, ant
given the whole power of the army t.
make the other Senator.
JEFF Davis himself woald have Ions
since received amnesty and prefer
ment if he had joined the traitorouI
league to abolish the Constitution. L
Mr.. Greeley's becoming his bail had con
Quoted him to this point he would no
have been threatened with expulsion
by the leaguers. Joe Brown, who seizeC
Fort Pulaski before Georgia seeded
and who is said to have been tho con
dnctor of the Andersonville prison, ant
more responsible for its horrors thar
any one else, unless it be our own mill
tary authorities, who refused to ex
change prisoners and even refused Col
Guilds proposition to send our own sur
geons and supplies to provide for them
IS now the favorite speaker at the grea
Radical Convention at Chicago.
| could multiply examples to illns
trate the fact that participation in the
rebellion is really no crime in the eye
of the Radical rulers. 1t is no bar K
advancement and honor under Radica
banners. 1t is, in fact, rather a grOunC
of preference. Renegades have ten
times the zeal, according to the Ole
adage. All retreat is cut OFF from them
and the examples have cited certainly
illustrate the truth Of the maxim.
The Radical managers hoped to MAKE
the rebellion inure to their revolution
airy scheme by Offering power to tn
rebels and disfrsnchising them for re
fnsing to enlist. Like every other cor
ruption which has emauated from than
it is an appeal to the basest motive
which influence men.
1t is honorable to the rebels that 5
few of the multitude they have disfrau
chised have dishonored themselves b
accepting the terms. They have pre-
ferred to struggle on in poverty an,
outlawry rather than be associated il
power with men bent on overthrowinI
the popular government. They hay
spurned the bribe offered by the Rad
Gals, and this shows that whilst we ma
believe they have erred in attenptin
TO separate from us, they did not er
from the base motive of seeking person
al ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. This the Radical