The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-12-17

and the Executive, thousands OF negroes -
coerced into voting the ticket Of their per-
secutors or overawed into not voting at all.
In short, we feel and admit that good case
can be made for postponing universal am
nesty, which, without at all shaking our con-,
viction of its Justice and wisdom, would
impel millions to demand and vote for q
postponement of this measure of pacifoation.
II, therefore, Congress shall vote down such
amnesty, we shall regret rather than condemn
the decision.
But, whenever amnesty shall be deemed
timely, we entreat that il be made thorough.
A dozen picayune amnesty bills will do much
to inflame and diffuse Southern discomfort
nothing to allay 10. An act Of amnesty with
large exceptions will offend two classes.
Those whom it relieves of disabilities; 2.
Those whom il leaves under the ban. The
former will feel insulted as by an intimation
that they are of no account; the latter will
complain that they are still prescribed when
thousands less deserving of olemenoy have
been forgiven. And, from their point of
view, each class will be clearly right.
We object to q restricted amnesty that ID
tends to the creation of an aristocraoy at the
South-an aristocracy found not on wisdom,
nor on merit, but on prominence in the late
Rebellion. Those exempted from the gene
raj oblivion of past offenses will plume them
selves upon the fact as tribute to their abb
will be admired, deferred to, and accorded
social distinction and political influence.
The fact that they are not eligible to Office
will enable them to indicate the men to be
chosen. They are in fact neither better nor
worse than many others; but their proscrip-
ton, when they shall have been SO restricted
in number that each of them is known and
marked, will clothe them with peculiar and
unwholesome power.
docs To 10 TINT fha IF Jaffar-
son Davis ought ere this to have commended
it's moral even to the most ordinary compre-
hension. Had he been shot, as, upon the
verdict of court-martial, he lawfully might
have been, within three days of his capture,
he would have been enshrined in a million
hearts forever, and his name and deeds would
have been potent spell for generations. SO
long as he was kept in prison he was the un-
crowned king of millions, to whom his lightest
wish was law, his word the end of contro-
veIsy. A sentiment of honor held every Con-
federate loyal to him SO long as he remained
in duress for an offense common to him and
to them. Had he been kept for ten years
a prisoner of state, he would have been
to the last the chief of a crushed but indomi-
table party whereof fidelity to their suffering
head was the point of honor. But his liberia
ton was also theirs When he walked out OF
that Richmond Courthouse a free man, he
remained. He goes to Europe aud returns,
stops few days in New York or Baltimore,
looks vigilantly after the interests of his life
insurance companies, or neglects them, with
out exciting a ripple of curiosity. few
intense Rebels may still feel constrained tc
| pay him some personal attention, and ever
homage; but he no longer fills the eye of the
public or is regarded by millions with a.
much solicitude as Weston the walker o.
Mace the pugilist.
Shall wisdom still cry and no man regart
her monitions? Do let us comprehend tina
the real question is not whether certain pro
| minent Rebels shall or shall not be furthe
punished for their eauseless war upon tn
Union, but whether we shall or shall no
enable them to strut their little hour as demi
gods, exalted in the views of their public b,
the short sighted though natural resentmen
of Republicans, whose vengeful wrath Wi
not let them see that, if the object were t.
divest these men of capacity to do mischief
it would be secured by amnesty, not proscriI
tion, and that, if the end sought be vengeanc
and just retribution, it is utterly defeated b
policy which exalts its objects not only i
their own estimation, but also in that of the
neighbors and cherished friends.