New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-01-15
no st. HELENA.

l nv Ga 0AAA00s
The Republican party having establish
ed its construction of the constitution &C.
cording to the recorded admission OF ell
the States, of q majority of the people,
and according to the decisions OF all the
courts, crowned its great achievement oy
an act of amnesty, oblivion and settlement
Under itsterms, the whole American Peo
ple-with the exception subjoined-were
placed upon the broad plane Of political
equality, with regard to their previous
condition, and without disability fol
opinions in opposition to the declared
will of the American people. The excep'
tons were Of some who were deemed tc
have violated the consistency Of their per
sonal obligations, or to be especially
dangerous for the renewal or dissemina'
ton of their opinions. 1t was moi
deemed proper to restore the first
to their commands in the army
| or navy of the Union, nor to
open to the latter immediate opportuni.
ties for renewed agitation. Directly after
the war special pardons we're granted to
almost all who applied, and oaths SC
worded as to secure pledge Of personal
fidelity we're prescribed. These may be
regarded as measures Of prudence designed
to secure the constitutional results OF the
war and to prevent its renewal. The
stringent form Of oath was guarantee
against intrusion and surprise from those
who preferred the defeated principle. The
list Of active leaders excluded were in
some sort hostages for the general
amnesty. As the nation has become con-
WINGED Of the sincerity of those who &C
cepted the decision of the war, or of the
impotence of those who were still discon-
tented, it has released its stringent condi-
tons. Confscations have been RENTED,
claims of loyal citizens in the South have
been allowed, and in series of years it
has come that the list of those excluded
from the rights Of American citizens has
been so reduced that when contrasted
with the general sincerity with which am
nesty has been accepted and kept, it is
as utterly Insignificant in numbers as it is
futile in influence.
It then becomes question whether this
great act of grace, unexampled in human
history, shall be marred by a single quail
fication, or whether a great government
shall, at the beginning of centennial Of
human liberty, exhibit a single citizen
disqualified from equality for political
offenses.
History has its Bajazet carried captive
in an iron cage. The Bastile held in its
dungeons prisoners Of State who died un-
needed and forgotten, while England sig
nalized her fears and her injustice by
guarding Napoleon on an island until his
enraged and restless spirit fretted away
the vital thread and he was free.
We condemn all such examples. They
are unworthy the great principles which
underlie Republican freedom. If q ma
jority of the American people want
leader in sedition or secession they will
find him. He will not be an old, gray,
halt blind representative of an obsolete
sentiment but young bold, able, I'M
scrupulous leader of million of spirits
like himself.
There are two objec tons to admitting
Mr.. Jefferson Davis to the rights Of all
American citizens, not connected with
felony or of mental incompetency. The
one is his opinions. Whatever these
opinions may be, they are those of the
people he represented. If these people
have been restored to equal rights, why
should he whom they elected to represent
their opinions be subjected to disability?
It is Republican doctrine that the con-
stituent elects the representative. The
can not elect himself. To
punish the representative and exonerate
the constituency would be to acquit the
principal and punish the agent for having
disobeyed his command. This would be
neither logical nor Republican. 1t would
be an act of abject fear or of injustice.
The objection that Mr.. Davis should be
excepted for acts Ct cruelty committed
under his authority constitutes no reason
for the exception. The shameful barbara
ties attributed to Napoleon in his mas
sacre of Turkish prisoners at Jaffa, or the
alleged poisoning of his own wounded in
hospitals, afforded no justification for his
at st. Helena. If guilty of
such violation of the laws of humanity
md civilized warfare, he should have been
pisited with the adherence of all civilized
people, and he might have been subjected
10 the retaliation of personal punishment
oy the nation he had thus outraged; but
he notority of the offense give no right to
England to imprison him as captive who
aad surrendered himself to ''the most con-
slant and the most generous Of his en-
smies."
If Mr.. Davis be held morally response
bic for the acts of his agents, in the one
case, or of his principals, in the other, it
IS to be remembered that he is either a |
citizen Of the United States or an alien |
enemy, after the war is closed. 1t is, thus
lar, the boast of this republic, that it has |
never banished citizen. If Mr.. Davis
be, however, this anomalous creature,