Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1862-01-08

the CAsir,nan, Mr.. Rtggs in Support of the ordi-
nance, that the oath is but 40 evidence of patriotism,
and no one bat traitor need Eave any hesitate on
in taking it The prompt response would be, we
c.re but little for the thing proposed tobc swonto
the objection as to being compelled to swear at ALL
az cond,tien to the enjoym ant of our Unborn rights
Of property sad citizenship. We rsrler to the gov
ernment cue loyalty and duty, as VIC cherish and
support cur wives and children, and perform other
Obligations as r.embers Of society but We will take
no oshs upo!, ce.npulsinn, to bind us to those du-
ties, and least Of ALL OATH that is accompanied
with the polite alternatives OF exile or degradation
Nor will thy be any better satisfied with that 9th.
er idea taihed in the re port and which seems 10
oe the fiyorite explanatie of the ordinance that it
is m're measure of detective police, not intended
to do ny harm to patr otto men, but to discover and
.xpel disloyal ones This assumes that it is legti-
mate and proper to hunt through the consciences Of
all good men by an oath Of discovery, in order to
ferret out the bad BY parity of reasoning If a
treasonatIe corrssr ondence were suspected in any
county or neighhJrhood, every man should be re-
qurcd to open his DESK and submit his private cor.
respondent; and papers to the inspection Of mags-
trate. T.is certainly would be no more harsh than
to ask discovery Of his conscience Or to illus.
trate y more strkngly, it is in principle, the same
as IT, case theft had been committed, in order to
be sure Of visiting punishment on the real offender,
yVu every luU4ilIa0I Oh the VlClnaSc
to receive forty stripes save one Your people will
say to you point out the guilty or suspected per-
sons, take the warrant of the law in your hands,
summon us of the posse conitatus if necessary and
we are ready to render Our duty any where but our
homes and cOnScenceS are not to be made hunting
grounds for traitors feons and if we could submit
to make them snch we should not feel ourselves
much elevated above either
But Sir the jealous and sagacious spirit of liberty
which pervs.des our people, will discover in this
process OF test oath something more than an usur-
patton or abuse of power part and an instru-
u,ent Of tyranny, oppression and degradation upon
the Citizen They will perceive at glance, that no
more euectual contrivance could be devised to en-
able faction in the possession of temporary power
to convert the government into an oligarchy expel
thyir opponents from the State, and riot upon the
Substance they had left. Such faction need only
to enact test OATH for patriotic objects of course.
but to take care to infuse into it such ingredients
as they knew would be offensive and inadmissable
by its opponents, and declare that every man who
refused it. should lie banished from the State or
lose his rights citizen with forfeiture of all his
possessions. Carry it ont with the high hand of
free and it makes no difference whether majority
or minority, whether one in fifty will take the oath
the few who do will have the whole government in
their hands, and the spoils of the exes besides
Our theory has been. that majority within the
limitations of our written Constitutions can mould
the government at will-scan make revolutions and
unmake them; but this is an invention by which that
theory is s,brcrtcd, and those who have power may
keep it till the end of time. Whenever they are
about to lose favor with the constituent body they
have but to prescribe new oath, and that no man
shall vote who refuses it, and they will never fail
IN an election. Since the commencement of the
present revolution and the adoption of the Con-
st:tuton of the Confederate States there has been
much speculation as to the facility with which it
may be abrogatc1 by any State, who may become
dis a>iled with its operation or administration. II
there be that virtue in test oaths which this ordi.
nance su?poSes it may be pcrpetua;ed indefinitely.
If there be majority favorable to it in the egisa-
ture as there will be of course in the outset when
ever they suspect opposition or lukewarmneSS, they
may enact oath to suit the case and Danish those
who refuse it before the next election. speak as
if there were no constitutional impednents to such
course as this ordinance considers that there are
none, or proposes to override them, if they exist
Mr.. President, the very mention of test oath
carries back to the bgot nonarchs and the butch
er priests of the days Of the Tulors and Stuarts,
and beyond these, to the InQuiSiton itself 1t is a
device of power in Church and in State, to perpet-
uate itself by force against free discussion and in
qury and in defiance of what in more liberal times
we call public sentiment. In direct contravcntion
of that-most essential principle of criminal justice
that no man shall be compelled to give evidence
against himself it requires of its victim the confess
sion Of creed and his failure refusal it takes as
conclusive evidence of his guilt, and inficts upon
him tortuous penalties or forfeiturcs, such as il
they will not cure him of his heresy may deter
others in like cases offending. Whether the creed
be religious or POLITICAL or the remedy be the thumb
screw, the iron boot the break wheel or the rack or
whether it be banshment deprivation of privilege,
degradation, or forfeiture of estate there is no diff
ference in the odousness of the principle For
sakng every vestgc of Christian charity and toera-
t;or it assumes to control by force that con.
science, which the God who gave it designed to be
free, and avows its purpose to drive men to perjury
or selfaccusation. have somewhere seen or read
of picture Of trembling prisoner of the Inqusi-
tlon who when called to take the religious test OF
that memorable tribunal, replies: IL cannot; III
be damned, if do" To which the stern Inunisitor
replies: You'll be damned, if you don't" 1t will
require no stretch of imagination to picture your
justice under this ordinance, with his prisoner be-
fore him. refusing the oath, with "Ill be perjured
forever, if take it." and the equally stern reply,
you'll be banished, if you don't take it."
The history of our mother country affords us
some instruction on the subject of tests, and the
prosecutions that attended them, religious and po-
Iitlcal. In the Catholic ascendency Protestants
were the victims; in the Protestant regns Catholics
suffered in turn and it is a reprnach to that en-.
lightened and Christian nation, that even down
within our own memories, no man could hold even
military office until he took a test oath against
Catholicism, and received the sacraments according
to the rites of the Church Of England This last
vestige of intolerance and bgotry in that country
was swept away under the enlightened counsels Of
Earl Gray, the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert
Peel, not more than thirty years ago.
But in the worst and most intolerant time neither
in England nor in any civilized nation of which I
have recollection, was there ever such an expert.
ment made as is proposed to lie made here, of pre-.
scribing test, religious or political, and running
muck with it against the whole people, to see il
perchance, some victim may not be found for ban.
. ishment or degradation.
In; this country We have known but little of test
oaths, except as We have read of them under more
arbitrary governments The Legislature Of Vir.
gina, more than fifty years ago, in laudable desire
to suppress the practice Of duelling, directed an
nofh to ho toll htyo