American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1864-02-03
Pleading for it's Old Masters.

Pleading Tor Its Old Masters.
The adherents of the old Locofoco De
mocraey, now called Copperheads, who 70
many years followed with spaniel-like do
cility the lead of the ruling class of th'
South, now rebels, are bitterly opposed t.
the oath Of allegiance prescribed in the
Presidents Proclamation of Amnesty
See what the Pittsburgh Post says on the
subject:
"With here and there an individual ex
ception. the men who would take the oatf
and be allowed to vote would be the weak
est and least energetic portion of the pop
ulation. The portion of the Southern
people uho haze the most character, ana
are the best fit to govern and look ofte,
the Interests Of the State or the Union, ar,
precisely those Vho could be excluded bs
the test OATH"
If the editors object had been to ex
press his sympathy for traitors and armed
rebels; if he had sat down to write out ;
full confession of all that we ever charged
upon his party of base subserviency t.
the men whom it invested with the power
to tear the Union to pieces; if he had
set about to make an expose of that cring
ing sycophancy which inflated those AFRO
giant wretches with pride and ambition
so boundless that they went mad, he could
not have succeeded better than he has
done in the above paragraph. See how
contemptuously he talks of the loyal men
of the South-the men who own few OF
no slaves, but who earn their bread by
honest industry, by the labor of their own
hands He calls them "the weakest and
least enegetic portion of the population =
and then see what he says of the slave.
holding, ruling class, that class who re.
gard labor as dishonorable, and who call
the working men of the North "mud.
sills." Yet this man calls himself DEM
ocrat!
But to say that the non-slaveholdcrs of
the South--such, for example as the no.
BILE loyalists of East Tennessee, who have
suffered and dared more for the Union
than any other community in the country
"a class of whom Gov. johnson, of that
State, and Parson Brownlow, are repre-
sentative men-are the weakest and least
energetic portion of the population" is
simply lie. That they have long been
wronged and abused, and deprived of their
just rights, and privileges, and weight in
social and political life, is very true, but
they are, nevertheless, brave, hardy, and
energetic class; and now they are begin
ming to assert their just power; and when
they do become the ruling class, as they
soon will, goodbye to slavery, treason and
copperhead democracy. This the Post
knows, and hence its rage.
Does the Post wish to take back the
rebels into the Unicn with all their enmi-
ty to our Union, Constitution and Flag,
without even an oath of fidelity? We
freely admit that they would make very
good members of its party, and we doubt
not that but the poor copperheads would
be overjoyed to have their old masters
back again but would they make good
or safe citizens Think Of JEFF. Davis
or Toombs returning, just as they are, to
the Senate; and think of the life that
such Southern men as have stood true to
the flag of their country through all this
terrible rebellion would have under the
restored rule of secessionists and rebels.
But will the Post tell us why any man
in the South except few officers Of high
grade, need be excluded by the test
oath ?" Is there anything in that oath
of which any honest man need be either
afraid or ashamed ? If so, what is it p
If any man who takes it has at any time
favored the rebellion in any way, it is a
confession that he was wrong in so doing,
and it is promise that he will do wrong
in that way no more. Perhaps the Post
regards such conditions as too humiliating
to its naughty old masters. Well, well,
if that be so, let them stay out The
country can do very well without them,
even if the copperhead democracy cannot.
We know very veil that that party will
die unless those choice old democrats, who
are now at the head of the rebel govern
ment and its armies, can be got back
again, with their old principles and their
niggers." We know that it is impossi-
BILE for the Democracy" to survive the
death of Slavery; and it is equally impos-
sible for those men who I" are the best fit
ted to govern" to do so after they shall
have been deprived Of the only thing that
ever gave them any Importance. The
country, it is true, can and will be gov
erned very well after slavery and aristoc-
racy shall have ceased to exist; but alas
for copperheadism in those days! This is
what troubles the Post.-Piitsbrgh' Ga
zette