The Disloyal States

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 1, 1867

The Disloyal States.

In regard to the terms upon which these States shall be re-admitted to the Union, and the leaders of the rebellion be permitted to again take part in our national deliberations, “The Methodist” says:—

As to the proposal of “impartial suffrage and universal amnesty,” we most seriously hesitate before any measure which shall re-admit to power the leaders of the rebellion. What a spectacle it will be to see these men again in Congress, with their fiery resentments, their (at heart disloyal) violent passions, their unmitigated arrogance, their souls stained with the darkest political crime of all time, and their hands stained with the blood of half a million of their fellow-citizens! Can a people prosper, can they maintain a wholesome respect for justice (which more than mercy is the basis of a State), a popular dread of crime, with such an example in the highest places of the land? These are reflections to be entertained in view of such a possibility; but there may be other reflections, we admit, hardly less relevant, and we hope Congress will, with more than its wonted self-possession, proceed with all deliberation and dignity to settle thoroughly and finally this question, and give the country rest. Whatever it decides, in accordance with the late expression of the popular will, will be inexorably maintained by the people.