"It is advisable to exceed in lenity rather than in severity; to banish but few rather than many; and to leave them their estates, instead of making a vast number of confiscations. Under pretence of avenging the republic's cause, the avengers would establish tyranny. The business is not to destroy the rebel, but the rebellion. They ought to return as quickly as possible into the usual track of government, in which every one is protected by the laws, and no one injured."-Montesquieu. NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 448 & 445 BROADWAY, 1865. |