Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1864-10-13


to appoint inspectors or judges Of election and there
sheriff or other civil ocer the county qualified by law
TO open and hold said election the regstratng agents.
hereto appended act n his stead and all respects
discharge the duties imposed n such cases upon shers
like manner, it is declared the duty Of the military
otcers commanding Tennessee regiments, batalions
detached slusds and surgeons in charge of the hospitals
ei Tennessee soldiers to open and hold elections the
day aforesaid under the rules and regulations here
nbeors prescribed and at such suitable places will be
convenient TO the soldiers who are hereby declared
Titled 10 vote without oath or registration.
In thus placing these proceedings before our
readers we have little disposition to axe them the
subject of comment. They defy all comment, IN
less We were willing to draw from the vocabulary
of denunciation so violently hurled at the head Of
the President by Messrs. Wade and Davis
a thing we are unwilling to do, lest it might
bcget in some minds the suspicion that we intend
ed, like them, to support the man we denounced
But we will venture to say that, in the eyes of
loyal citizens who are faithful to the Constitu-
tion and obedisnt to the laws, these proceedings
must seem utterly anomalous and revolution
ary, while, if we consider the authority by
which they are taken, they must seem to infct
shock equally on public decency and on public
law for these measures are authorized by the Pre-
sident, who is candidate for reelection and they
are executed by Mr.. johnson, his military agent,
who is candidate for the Vice Presidency-both
hoping doubtless to receive the electoral votes of
the State which they thus reconstruct and manage
according to their own will and pleasure.
The reader will easily perceive from the test
oath which the Military Governor prescribes as the
condition precedent of exercising the elective fran
chise, that it is ingeniously designed to insult the
supporters of Gen. Mcclellan, if not to deter them
from the polls. As many among his supporters are
known to be willing at any time to transfer the
dispute between the Government and the insur-
gents from the field Of battle to the forum Of peace
full negotiation, provided the basis Of Union andeT
the Constitution te accepted By the latter as con-
dition precedent it would seem that this test-oath
is now proposed to tho people of Tennessee with
the intention of making it impossible for any friend
of Gen. Mcclellan to vote in that State for elec-
tors-an arrangement by which Mr.. Andrew John
son will easily secure the vote of the State for him
self and Mr.. Lincoln in the electoral college
But, as often happens in the devices Of tyranny,
from the day when Phalaris was roasted alive in
the brazen bull which he had contrived for the
torture Of his subjects, this artificial oath, if
administered in its present form, will make i i'm
possible for any conscientious supporter OF the
President to cast his ballot in Tennessee at the
ensuing election. For it will be remembered that
Mr.. Lincoln, in his celebrated Niagara manifesto,
" to whom it may concern" made it part of the
conditions on which he would receive any PROPOSE
ton looking to peace tho restoration Of the Union,
and the abandonment of slavery, that such propo-
sition should "con,e by and ,oiH authority
that can control The armies nop at acar against
n, United States" Mr. Lincoln is not only
willing to treat with rebels in arms, but he
i, not willing to treat with any body but the
"head. r. bel" in all the Southern States" the
authority that controls tho armies against the
United States"-that is, Gen. Jefferson Da-
Wis, the so-called President Of the Confederate
States Now, with what face (to say nothing of
conscence) can any supporter of Mr. Lincoln IN
Tennessee take and subscribe oath that he
!" acM cordially oppose all armisttces or negot'a-
hons TOR peace pi rebels IN arms" when he
knows that the President has publicly declared to
all the world that "any proposition which embraces
the restoration of peace, the integrity Of the whole
Union, aud the abandonment OF slavery, 7chich
comes tn and aciM an authority that can control
hc.srnlies ao,o at aoar against The United States,
WILL BE RECEIVED AND CONSIDERED BY THE Ex-
EcUTIvE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES,
AND WILL BE MET BY LIBERAL TERMS ON OTHER
SUBSTANTIAL AND COLLATERAL POINTS" Can
any body who shall swear to oppose all negotiations
with rebels in arms give his vote for President
who is ,olcmnly and publicly pledged to consider
any proposition of the kind specified, provided it
comes from the rebel chief himself, and who in.
vites such negotiations by the promise of liberal
terms on other substantial and collateral pointsT'
To ask the question is to answer it. No homes
man can vote for Mr.. Lincoln in Tennessee under
the test oath prescribed by his Military Governor.
That testoath is an eectual bar to the votes Of all
who in the very act of voting arc not ready to put
themselves in an attitude Of sworn opposition to
Mr. Lincoln. The trainers of the oath have over,
done the thing, SO true is it that the Shakspoarean
saying about the @
Vaultng ambition which o'slleaps itself
And falls on the other"
perpetually finds illustration and confirmation IN
the affairs Of men.
We do not protest against this usurpatlon be-
ILL