The daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1863-1864, 1864-02-03

ing or trial, these citizens (bamshed from
their State, beyond the protection of the
laws, into State in which the laws OF the
United States are now neither enforced nor
enforceable. Yet in the State OF Delaware
the courts have been always open, and at
no period has there existed the semblance
of conspiracy or combination to resist the
auth ority Of the United States. Such an
allegation IS a gross calumny, and utterly
groundless, come from what source it may
And now, Mr.. President, the Senate OF
the United States have, by their decision
enforcing an expurgatory and retrospective
test oath, repugnant to both the letter and
spirit of the Constitution, mace precedent
which, in my judgment, is eminently dan
gerous, if not entirely subversive of fan.
damental principle of representative tov-
ernment Under these circumstances, with
my construction of the Constitution, hav.
ing held the seat, am bound to submit to
your judicial decision as to the validity OF
the act Of July, 1862, and have therefore
taken the oath it -.prescribes. cannot
doubt that the precedent now made VIII De
followed, and yet regard all test oaths al
useless and demoralizing acts of tyranny
1t has been as truly as beautifully said by
a brilliant and distinguished advocate:
"They are the first weapons young op--
preston learns to handle; weapons the more
odious, since, though barbed and poisoned,
neither strength nor courage is necessary to
WELD them" ..-7.l ,.z--.-- Ill. g. -.
With firm conviction that your decision
infiicts vital wound upon free representa-
tive government, | cannot, by continuing
to hold the seat now occupy under 1t, give
my personal assent and sanction to its pro
priety. To do SO, must forfeit my own
self respect and sacrifice my clear convie
tion of duty for the sake merely OF retaining
high trust and station with its emolu
ments. That will never do, but, retiring
into private life, shall await, trust with
calmness and frmness, though certainly
with dependence, the further progress of
war which it is apparent to my vision Will,
in its continuance, subvert republican IN
stitutions, and sever this Federal Union
into many arbitrary governments. .
! Among these, wars for dominion will
arise and continue until, from exhaustion,
the different divisions subside into separate
nationaities, leaving not the vestlge OF a
republic remaining. If the lessons of his
tory be not deceptive and valueless, such
will be the inevitable result OF protracted
war; for single centralized government
over so vast a territory, inhabited by SO in
telligent and energetic people, could it be
organized through military genius and
power, and be successful for the hour, would
not outlive the generation in which it was
established.
close these remarks with the language
in which historian of the Constitution SO
eloquently portrays the universal sentiment
of the American people (alas how chang
ed now at the time Of its adoption, and
the great object they intended to accom-
plish in thus csmenting more firmly a
Fedora, Union.
They beheld that republican and constt.
tutionat liberty which with all that it com
prehends and all it bestows was not only
altogether lovely in their eyes, but without
which there could be no peace, no social
order, no tranquility, and no safety for
them and their posterity.
This liberty they knew must be pre-
served. They loved it with passionate
devotion. They had been trained for it
through a long ard exhausting war.
Their habits of thought and action, their
cherished principles, their hopes, their life
as people, were all bound up in it; and
they knew that if they suffered it TO be
lost there would remain for them nothing
but heritage of shame and ages of con-
fusion, strife and sorrow