The
rebellion is not the work of a few ambitious or reckless leaders,
but of the people, and the responsibility of the crime, whether
civil or military, is not individual, but common to the whole
territorial people engaged in it; and seven millions, or the half
of them, are too many to ban to exile, or even to disfranchise
Their defeat and the failure of their cause must be their
punishment. The interest of the country, as well the sentiment
of the civilized world--it might almost be said the law of
nations--demands their permission to return to their allegiance,
to be treated according to their future merits, as an integral
portion of the American people.
The sentiment of the civilized world has much relaxed from its
former severity toward political offenders. It regards with
horror the savage cruelties of Great Britain to the unfortunate
Jacobites, after their defeat under Charles Edward, at Culloden,
in 1746, their barbarous treatment of the United Irishmen in
1798, and her brutality to the mutinous Hindoos in 1857-'58; the
harshness of Russia toward the insurgent Poles, defeated in their
mad attempts to recover their lost nationality; the severity of
Austria, under Haynau, toward the defeated Magyars. The liberal
press kept up for years, especially in England and the United
States, a perpetual howl against the Papal and Neapolitan
governments for arresting and imprisoning men who conspired to
overthrow them.
Pages:
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307