The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1872-11-07
Amnesty and the South.

| The burden of the song Of the supporters of
Greeley is cannes and reconciliation" His
vapid out givings IN shess subjects hsvel Been
necessarily ringingin the peoples cars. They
know all that he has said and how little he could
do, or has done. Now let US, have Grants views
upon the same subject. From very able and
interesting paper, giving brief outline of Grants
history. written by an able and distinguished
virginian. we take the following extracts
FIRST WORD FOR AMNESTY. fHa
How General Grants heart longed for recon-
cliation and peace between the sections, and how
ready he always was to stand between the ex
tremists of the North and the disheartened peo
pie of the South, and say to the former: be mag
unanimous, and 10 the latter, take courage, is
manifest upon every proper occasion. During
the excitement which swept the North at the as,
sassination of Lincoln, General Grant, in let
ter to General Halleck. made the first great plea
for amnesty and thus set the example for others
at the North who like Mr.. Greeley. have ss;;aace,
! as his enemies CLAIMED the parentage of that
forgiving and fraternal movement. He said:
s.although it would meet with opposition in the
North to allow Lee the benefit If AMNESTY l
think it would have the best possible effect to-
ward restoring good feeling and peace in the
South to have him CORE in. All the people. ex-
cept few political leaders in the South, will ac-
cept whatever he does as right, and will be guild
ed to great extent by his example. "
3' GEN. LEE INDICTED.
GensLee afterwards (June. 1861 indicted for
treason by Virginia grand jury. Gen.. Grant in
terceded for him, urging as follows: 'ln my
opinion the officers and men paroled at Apo
mattox Court House and since, upon the same
terms given to Lee, cannot be tried for treason
SO long as they observe the terms of their parole
This is my understanding Good faith as well
as true policy dictate that we should observe the
conditions of that convention On this point he
sometime later, in an examination before the Ju-
dietary Committee of Congress, revealed the
ceaseess activity with which he had plead for
charity and forgiveness, while Andrew Johnson
was ROWLING AND RAGING FOB VENGEANCE upon
Lee and the Confederate leaders. The official
report furnishes these extracts, Eldridge Dem
ocratic member of the committee) -.Have you
had interviews with the President about grant
ing amnesty and pardon to rebel officers and peo-
ple?' Grant--s.I have occasional lXarecommend-
ed person for amnesty. thought there was no
reason why, because person had risen to the
rank of general he should be excluded from am
nesty any more than one who had failed to reach
that rank. l don't see any reason why the VOL
unteer who happened to rise to the rank of gen.
eral should be excluded any more than colonel.
I frequently had to inter-
ceQe LOT UeHeFdl Lee IIu otutt pareleu oMCeFS
on the ground that their parole protected them
from arrest and trial. The President at that time
occupied exactly the reverse grounds, viz: that
they should be tried and punished. He wanted
to know when the time would come that they
should be punished. l told him not so long as
they obeyed the law and complied with the stipu-
lation."
Eldridge-"Did the President insist that Gem
eral Lee should be tried for treason ~ Grant
s.He commended FOR it. X
insisted ON it that General Lee would not have
surrendered his army aud giveuup all their arms,
if he had supposed that after surrendering he
was going to be tried for treason and hanged"