The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-11-05

ciliate--to restore to union and friendship
to bring back to harmony-to propitiate
men or parties that have been at variance.
1t implies that there are two parties to the
arrangement, and that both are to take the
proper steps to effect a reconciliation. One
party carnot force it against the grain of
the other, nor demand that all the antece-
dent conditions of compliance shall be OBJ
served upon one side only. There must be
a reciprocity of differences to be yielded,
and Of arrangements to be p%acified, other
wise there can be no congruence or consis-
tency to the. harmony that is sought. A
reconciliation hat reconciles only n side,
is only a fostering discord that may
break out at any time into greater rancor.
This is not what is wanted, nor is it what
either Of the two great political parties Of
the country should seek.
In Republic, where all political differ
ences are quadrennially settled by the ballot,
the true patriot submits his personal grew
ances, if he has any, to the popular arbi-
trament, and as a majority of the sovereign
people decides so must his acquiescence be.
Not to do this is to intensity e~strangement
and render reconciliation impossible. The
people of the South, by submitting their
differences to this high court Of arbitra-
ment-the popular voice of the American
people-are bound by its decision to bury
all existing differences till the next quad
rennial court, when they may have an ar
r.st Of judgment, or q new trial, with pos
siblya more satisfactory adjustment of
their complaints, and q better deliverance
from the supreme judge they invoke. They
make their appeal to the sovereign people ;
Let them be content then with the dec:-
sion.
As to the Qualification of the parties in
the country, the issue is badly made up by
the Democracy of New York, and John
Cochrane is the last man to act as their spe.
cial pleader in the premises. The interpo.
sition of such a plea by him smacks too
much of the DEVILS rebuking sin, and SIM
ply makes the issue ridiculous. The
cleansing ceremonial is suggested from the
wrong quarter, and the court is one which
requires the pollution and defilement of
Tammany to be wiped out before any of its
members shall raise the question of
" purification" in that august tribunal.
But the plea Of special Amnesty is worse
still. The court has already entered a
general decree Of amnesty in which all
may participate who will. 1t does not pro-
pose to force amnesty upon anybody any
more than it would force reconciliation.
Amnesty is an act of oblivion, in which
the government forgets all past offences.
The man who refuses to be amnestied-who
insists that his rebellion shall not go into
o~blivion--that a proclamation Of pardon by
the government shall not wipe it out-that
he was right and the government wrong in
the war which made amnesty a necessity
is a hopeless subject to deal with in
the way Of a general pardon.
Perhaps he would take the ground that
the government should be amnestied by
him, and not he by the government |; that
the government has no right to be oblivious
Of his offences, as he has committed none,
and that the few unrepentant rebels "a
bakers dozen Of them at best, who
have not been pardoned by the govern
ment, should undo all that has been done
towards reconciliation, and generously al
low the Republican party to escape the
halter, SC meritoriously its due, for putting
down the rebellion as it did. This is really
the attitude of those who repudiate am
nesty except as oblivion of past offences
may be dispensed entirely by themselves.