Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1876-01-25
The full reasons given by the Nation for the e1-

The full reasons given by the Nation for the e1-
ception of JEFF Davis from amnesty are worthy Of
consideration The subject it thinks will bear
discussion even in the centennial year. Itsays:
But then, there is no practical end that we snow
of TO be served by making Jefferson Davis again
competent to hold Office, for t1ls is all that his in
clusion in the amnesty would amount TO. His
present disabilities in no way damage him in body
or estate. He holds property, can sue and be
sued, come q, d 20, like other men. II he suffers
at all for taking his share in the rebellion, he suf
fers only in mind, and that he suffers IN mind
there is no good believing. If he were amnesed,
however, there can be little doubt that an ear ly
opportunity would be taken 10 send him back to
the House or the Senate; and the question now i,
whether the North can really even by fair minded
Southerners, be expected to expose il elf to con-
lingency Of this kind, and whether it would be
well for it to do The South can, after com-
plcte defeat in wal-and such a war hardly call
on the ylcto,s for the suppression of every species
of susceptibility and the placement of every trace
of ordinsry human ptide. There some signs
of indignation The past, which people who
have won, after fighting hard and losing half
million of men may surely be allowed to display,
and tt ere could hardly be smaller or milder
sign than the RELOCATION of Mr.. jeff rson Davis to
private life for the rest Of his days Then, too,
The potion the North took during The war, and
has taken since its close, IN its relations to foreign
opinion, must not be forgotten. 1t distinguished
the latc Iettilou from hH otteF pIeNioHs re-
bellions ON two gIounds-hat its object was the
preservation and perpetuation of slavery, and that
1t bad broken out under q constitution which gave
perfectly free play to all peaceful efforts to effect
constitutional changes. On these grounds it
called for the sympathy Of the hest men of other
countries in terms such as no State before when
engaged in civil war has felt sfed in using, and
On these grounds, too, ii described the moral guilt
Of the promoters of The insl rrection in terms Of
unpiec dented vehemence. Now, it will not do to
act ss ii this talk all buncombe rs if all the
moral heat and wrath of that period were due to
the passions of The battle field, and had no root in
cold aud settled principle 1t will not do, after
describing J, tfrlson Davis all MOI aists as
well as politicians described him, to treat him As
if he were simply mistaken politician who had
outlived his A decent regard for the opin
of mai kind, even If we are not buideued with
self respect requires us to exclude him al least
fire. partlc patton in the councils Ct the nation he
tried to destroy. There is point in leg islaion
in social intercourse, at which charity and mei-
cy become wees dangerous to the social order
The successful cultivation of the virtue of good
nature has IN the opinion cf many, aried US to
this point already, that onr penite ntiaries begin
to be regarded by large cla.s of the community
as merely refuge of the unlucky, in which any
of us might any day find himself Nevertheless
it would not be difficult TO show that evil soceiy
rests on Il c assumption that some men are better
than Others; thai people who have led fCcent
lives are en- tiled TO sit in Judgment on criminals
and that right and wrong are not mere couven-
tons which may be eslaNl lshed one wear and may
be changed the next We owe il to ourselves, IN
short, TO say that there at least one man whose
political career was closed by his share in "thc
greatest rebellion the world ever saw"