The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1876-01-15
AMNESTY.

The Amnesty bill before the House of Rep
resentatives, on its third reading, is as fol
lows:
! A bill to remove the disabilities imposed by thu
third section Of the fourteenth article of the
| amendments ofthe Constitution OF the United
| States.
Be 1t enacted by the Senate and House of Rep
resentatiUes Of the United States in Congress- as
sembled Qaoo thirds of each House concurin3
Herein), That all the disabilities imposed and
remaining upon any person, by virtue of the
third section OF the fourteenth article of the
amendments of the Constitution of the
United States, be, and the same are hereby
removed and each and every person is hereby
forever relieved therefrom.
| Sec. z. That whenever any person from
whom disabilities are removed by this act
shall be elected or appointed to any post or
| office of honor or trust under the government
of the United States, he shall take the oath
prescribed by section 1857 of title 10, of the
Revised Statutes of the United States, or such
other official oath as may be hereafter pre-
scribed ia such cases by any future act Of
Congress.
Section of the fourteenth amendment
reads:
No person shall be Senator or Represent
alive in Congress, or elsctor Of President and
Vice President, or hold any Office, civil or
military, under the United States or any
State, who, having previously taken an oath
as member of Congress, or as an officer of
the United States, or as member of any
State Legisatu or as an executive or judi
cial officer Of any State. to support the Con-
stitution of the United States, shall have en-
gagged in instruction or rebellion against the
same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies
thereof But Congress may by vote of two
thirds of each house, remove such disability.
Whether the bill before the House shall
pass in that body and in the Senate by the
required vote of two-thirds is really matter
of very little moment Strictly speaking, it
is rather bill for the removal Of disabilities
than q bill of amnesty. Among the surviving
adherents of The Confederacy there are now
but few who ever took as officers an oath to
support the Constitution of the United States
Among those few there are not large pro-
portion who desire to hold Office again, either
civil or military, under the United STATES or
under any State.
The disability was imposed more through
spleen and spite than from any supposed JUS
tice or policy. If intended for punishment,
it was strangely uneven in its bearing, and
affected but small class of citizens. Very
many of the leading men in the Confederate
cause never held or sought offics of any kind
until they gathered their neighbors around
them and took the fed as soldiers. To single
out for special disability those Confederates
alone, who, as officers, had taken an oath to
support the Constitution Of the United States,
was to except from disability great majority
Of the men who gave vitality, strength and en-
thusiasm to the cause of secession. The bill
Of general amnesty will nullify the third
section Of the fourteenth amendment,
leaving it mere memento Of partisan malice.
But if the bill fails to receive the requisite |
two-thirds vote in each house, there will be
few who will have cause to lament the result.
Ii the bill prevails, the Radicals will deserve
little ere lit for receding from their Intellectual
attempt to cast odium upon the names of a
few eminent Southern patriots. If there was |
40 reason at any time for imposing the disa-
bility, there is no merit in removing it now;
f there was reason for imposing it once, it is
not easy to see when the reason ceased. Its
removal can only be construed as an admis-
sion of its injustice; its retention can amount |
10 little else than an attempt to perpetuate
monument of partisan folly.