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Show ( ' ,i ! POLITICAL DISABILITIES. S ! i The Senate bill to remove the political I disabilities of General Alex. R. Lawton, I of Georgia, has passed the House, and I ,' . now awaits the President's signature. ,' ' " This it will certainly receive, as the Pres- I i . . ident nominated General Lawton for j - Minister to St. Petersburg, but his name was withdrawn on account of his political I " disabilities. The political disabilities of .: General Lawton were a natural conse- j quence of the war, but the war is so long passed and the passions which raged in those unhappy days are now so soothed j that to continue political disabilities . against some of those who fought for' the Confederacy, after v the extension of . almost "universal :; amnesty, is bad policj', as it can only tend to keep alive memories that are better dead. By some it is maintained that the removal of the political disabili-' disabili-' j ties of all who fought against the Union is an insult and an outrage upon tliose j who fought for it. We cannot so see it. Those , who fought for and saved the ':( Union fought in a gallant and noble j cause, and they fought to save the cause and not to crush those who were against I it, and when they had won they wished to welcome back into the Union those who through error had sought to destroy i it. The nation which had conquered all ...;' foes could afford to be magnanimous. Had the nation hot been magnanimous, those who had been leaders in the rebellion would have been hung as j . traitors, and when once begun the hang- ing would necessarily have been wide- ! .; ppread. But the magnanimity of the nation did not stop here. It restored to those who had been in arms against , it their political rights, and this was wise and proper, and it is wise and proper that they should be restored to each and every 1 one, no matter how high or how low they I were in the Confederacy. The United ; States are too great to hold petty spites, j t and they cannot afford to be less power-. I I (ul and magnanimous than the Republic ; of France, and the Republic of France granted universal amnesty, and this in- eluded the Communards without exception. excep-tion. What if France had excepted Hi Henri Rochefort from the operations of the amnesty act, would she not have conferred upon him a greatness which is now totally wanting to him? Since the surrender at Appomatox Court House the importance and fame of Jefferson Davis have lain in the fact that the grace of amnesty has been denied him. Robert Toombs, who has died within a week, is another instance. Who cared whether he gave his allegiance to the United States or not ? His persistent endeavor to be irreconcilable made him far more ridiculous than dangerous. And the same was the case with Judah P. Benjamin, Ben-jamin, although he was entitled to far more respect than Toombs, because he removed to London and there succeeded in acquiring fortune and additional fame. The political disabilities of every ex-rebel ought to be removed, and if such ex-rebels do not ehoose to take advantage of the politicar rights bestowed upon them let them go without them and continue to fight windmills until death relieves them from their foolishness and self-imposed political disabilities. |