New-York tribune., 1869-04-03
TIE OUALITY or MERCY.

The opinions of Mr.. Senator Cameron on most
questions are entitled to great respect. He is
the oldest Senator in Congress, and, as the
War Secretary who first saw the necessity of
accepting the aid of the negro in crushing the
Rebellion, his judgment has greater weight
than that of most of the men
in our National Legislature We regret
to see, however, that he ranges himself on the
side of the policy of vengeance. His speech in
the secret session the other day on the ques-
ton of confirming the nomination of Gen.
Longstreet will, no doubt, be acceptable
to great many of our people. We have the
merest abstract of that speech, which comes
through the whispers of Senators who were
present; and though it is hardly fair to make
any discussion upon what may. after all,
turn out to be the gossip of the Washington
lobby, it seems pretty certain that Senator
Cameron has taken ground against the contrma-
ton, and that he bases his action on certain
doings and sayings of the General while he
was commander of an army corps in Pennsyl.
vania.
We echo all that Senator Cameron may say
about the sins of the Rebellion. There is no
censure too severe to be passed upon
men who took up arms against the
Government but of all the members of
that mighty conspiracy, those who deserved
the least were the men who commanded its
armies. We do not remember an instance In
which a prominent leader of the Secession
movement, rose to eminence in the military
service of the Confederacy. They were
speedily swept away by the advent of men
more gifted in war; and possessed of higher
and lOftier courage. What remains of the South
ern Confederacy as a historic recollection is dis
tributed among the names of Lee, and Jackson,
and Beauregard, and Johnston, and Longstrect.
With the exception perhaps of General Lee, all
these men were dragged into the rebellion,
they had nothing to do with planning it, and
we believe if they had been permitted to express
their opinion in the councils of the Rebel
leaders during the Winter of Secession, they
would gladly have remained with the Old
Flag 1t was the political pan ties, the desperate
endeavor of gamblers in politics. of men like
Wise, and Davis, and Wigf4l, and Benjamin,
that overcame the chivalrous impulses of
soldiers like James Lof Igstreet and StOnewall
Jackson.
These men went INTO the Rebellion as SOL
diers. Ihey fought us with the bravery of
gallant men Hey rsked their lives for the
struggle ana 'stoOd by it until the last mo-
ment while the real conspirators hurried
to Europe 0f shrank into bomb-proofs. When
the cause of the Rebellion was really lost
cause, Trey were the first TO acknowledge
that t@;t, and since the war they have, as a
class, been better citizens, more thoroughly
reconciled to the Government, more anxious
for peace and union. The real malcontents
of the South are the men who planned Seces-
sion during the peaceful days Of Buchanan,
and who avoided war when war came upon
them. Gen. Lopgstreet was Jealous soldier /;
he fought for his cause with the conscience
Of man who believed in it, and
who carried his life in his hands.
He was the second in command when Lee sur
rendered. He might have followed the example
Of Lee, crept into sort of retirement looking
upon Reconstruction with apathy, and saying
nothing toward pacifcation and reunion, and SO
retained in the South commanding popularity.
Re took higher ground. Although he knew
that the step would bring Odium upon himself,
he promptly embraced the principles Of