ced in the house by the late General Jeff Jones, of
Callaway county, where my brothers and myself had many friends, and was,
in the main, as follows:

"Whereas, by the 4th section of the 11th article of the Constitution of
Missouri, all persons in the military service of the United States or who
acted under the authority thereof in this state, are relieved from all
civil liability and all criminal punishment for all acts done by them
since the 1st day of January, A.D. 1861; and,"

"Whereas, By the 12th section of the said 11th article of said
constitution provision is made by which, under certain circumstances, may
be seized, transported to, indicted, tried and punished in distant
counties, any confederate under ban of despotic displeasure, thereby
contravening the Constitution of the United States and every principle of
enlightened humanity; and,"

"Whereas, Such discrimination evinces a want of manly generosity and
statesmanship on the part of the party imposing, and of courage and
manhood on the part of the party submitting tamely thereto; and,"

"Whereas, Under the outlawry pronounced against Jesse W. James, Frank
James, Coleman Younger, James Younger and others, who gallantly periled
their lives and their all in defense of their principles, they are of
necessity made desperate, driven as they are from the fields of honest
industry, from their friends, their families, their homes and their
country, they can know no law but the law of self-preservation, nor can
have no respect for and feel no allegiance to a government which forces
them to the very acts it professes to deprecate, and then offers a bounty
for their apprehension, and arms foreign mercenaries with power to capture
and kill them; and,"

"Whereas, Believing these men too brave to be mean, too generous to be
revengeful, and too gallant and honorable to betray a friend or break a
promise; and believing further that most, if not all of the offenses with
which they are charged have been committed by others, and perhaps by those
pretending to hunt them, or by their confederates; that their names are
and have been used to divert suspicion from and thereby relieve the actual
perpetrators; that the return of these men to their homes and friends
would have the effect of greatly lessening crime in our state by turning
public attention to the real criminals, and that common justice, sound
policy and true statesmanship alike demand that amnesty should be extended