The Shasta courier., 1872-11-23
UNIVERSAL AMNESTY.

Tn late telegiapLic dispatches it is stat
ed upon the authority Of a member Ct the
Cabinet, that President Grant, will recon-
mend Universal Amnesty, by having the
disabilities imposed by the Third Section
of the Fourtco nth Amendu ent removed
In this the President should be sustained
by the action Of the Republican Congress.
] he Southern States, with few exceptions
have shown by their vote in the last Presi-
Dental election, that they do not approve
of the sentiments which Mr. Greeley enun
ciatcd at Pittsburgh, which, if carried out
in practice, would reopen the scenes of de-
ISOLATION and death of a few years since, and
kindle anew the flames of civil war through
o1t the length and breath of the land
1t is meet and proper that this feeling on
the part of the Southern people should
meet with fitting response from the
North; that the last ban laid upon men
for their completely with the late rebellion
be swept away and that so far as legisla-
ton can effect it, no invidious distinctions
be made between those who were the friends
and those who were the enemies of the
| Union.
Practically, this has been already done.
With the surrender of the Southern armies
there came the desire upon the part of the
people, that the reunited nation should for
get, as soon as possible, the bloody strug
gle through which it had so lately passed
The apostacy of Andrew johnson, who
sought to fashion reconstruction after his
own ideas, and in opposition to the senti-
ment Of the party which elected him, for
time delayed the des sired consummation.
The North was. forced, as it were to the
adoption of harsher measures than the
South deemed justifable, though the just-
ice of those acts is now undoubted.
But for several years the tone of
Southern sentiment was not such as prom
ised speedy restoration of amicable feel
ing. Led on by selfish politicians who had
built up hopes OF high political preferment
under the new form of government, and
believing that with the assistance of An
drew johnson they could accomplish by
strategy some of the objects sought to be
achieved by the rebellion, there was intense
opposition to the reconstruction policy of
the party in power, which resulted in bring
ing on real evil Gin the form of the carpet
bag governments), in place of the imaginary
ones of which they had complained.
In the seven years which have passed
since the war was brought to close, much
has been done to re-establish friendly feel
ing between the sections, and the late elec-
tion shows that it has been attended with
good results. freedom Of speech, of
thought, of action, and of the press, is uni
versal throughout the land, and that
is all the advocates of Republican princi-
Piles ask. In that seven years the disabil-
tiles imposed upon the seeding States, and
upon the leaders of the rebellion have been,
from time to time removed, and at this pres
ent writing each State has resumed Federal
relations and the only relic of the penal
ties imposed for participation in the rebel
I -AOA >SAe3 40 ehS NASi VI y CuCiSOu
Davis and two or three hundred others,
from being eligible to any office of trust or
profit under the government of the United
States, or of the States in which they re-
side. These men were placed under the
ban for the reason that they had once
taken an oath to support the Constitu-
tion of the United States, which they had
violated by taking sides with the South.
Whatever may be said of the crime of
these men, there can be no shadow of
doubt but they acted in accordance with
the wishes of a majority of the Southern
people. To punish them for their acts is, in
effect, to punish all who sympathized with
their course. The Republican party,
which is the Nation, can afford in its
strength to be magnanimous, end we hope
that another session of Congress will not
pass, until every man, in the South as we'll
as IN the North shall stand upon an equal
footing so far as the privileges of citizenship
are concerned.