None
but a coward kicks a fallen foe; a brave people is generous, and
the victors in the late war can afford to be generous generously.
They fought for the Union, and the Union has no longer an enemy;
their late enemies are willing and proud to be their countrymen,
fellow-citizens, and friends; and they should look to it that
small politicians do not rob them in the eyes of the world, by
unnecessary and ill-timed severity to the submissive, of the
glory of being, as they are, a great, noble, chivalric, generous,
and magnanimous people.
The government and the small politicians, who usually are the
most influential with all governments, should remember that none
of the secessionists, however much in error they have been, have
committed the moral crime of treason. They held, with the
majority of the American people, the doctrine of State
sovereignty, and on that doctrine they had a right to secede, and
have committed no treason, been guilty of no rebellion. That
was, indeed, no reason why the government should not use all its
force, if necessary, to preserve the national unity and the
integrity of the national domain; but it is a reason, and a
sufficient reason, why no penalty of treason should be inflicted
on secessionists or their leaders, after their submission, and
recognition of the sovereignty of the United States as that to
which they owe allegiance.
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