Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1865-10-17
From the New York Commercial Advertiser
The Congressional Oath.

The Congressional Oath.
In July, 1862, during the very heat of the re
bellion, Congress passed an act requiring strin
gent oath of all who should hereafter hold any
office under the United States Government. The
oath required tb party to swear that he had vol
.untrrily given no ad countenance, counsel o,
encouragement to persons engaged in armed hos
tlhty to the United States; that he had never
voluntarily borne arms against the United States
and that he had held no office and yielded.no SUP
port to any pretended Government within the
United States and hostile thereto. Theoath was
intended to exclude all participants in the rebel
lion, and as such has been taken Ky all Office
holders since its passage.
This oath now stares in the face every candi-
cate for Congress in the South and narrows the
opportunity for selecting down to very close linn
its. In his appointment of officers, the President,
it is charged has disregarded this oath and given
positions to sorue who could not take it, while he
has given his opinion unoffcially, in answer to-
eager inquirers from Virginia, that he had no
means of knowing what Congress would do in re-
gard to the test, while he wished that true and
loyal men might be elected. This seems to inti-
mate his belief that the exaction of such an oath
is within the power Of Congress, and that Con-
gress alone can dispense withit.
The whole question becomes Of the greatest i'm
portance, in view of the Executive pardons, and
th cir effect and scope. The Constitution declares
that each house is the sole judge of the selection
returns and qualifications Of its own MEMBERS
provision which, Kent says, is to spreserve pure
and genuine representation, and to control the
evils of irregular, corrupt, and tumultuous elec-
tions" and this decision, he says, should be sreg-
ulated by known principles Of law" The qudt;fca-
tions of members of Congress are made known in
arti Gle L. section g of the Constitution, and be-
yond this Congress cannot go on in determining
what these s'qualif cations" shall be. They are
defined and cannot be changed. The National
Lstellgencer, in discussing this question very
tiously, says:
"Doubtless there are powers of expulsion inhe-
rent in Congress, for whose abuse the represen-
tative has ready appeal to his constituents
and it is undeniably competent, as we suppose,
for Congress to adopt what may fairly be called
rules for the government of members and per-
haps, in cases of fragrant, imminent necessity,
such rules, having the forms and sanctions of the
law, might be constitutionally carried to such a
point would authorize the sine qua non of
special oath of allegiance
1t then asks the following questions:
Under such concession this. has Congress
the power to annul the amnesty acts of the Presi-
dent of the United States to vitate and nulfy
the pardoning power, by arbitrarily consigning
those to distranchisement whom the President has
enfranchised and thus red to all the rig hts of
citizenship Can Congress rightfully go so far as
to embrace-under our Constituton-in an inter-
dict, persons whose in the past have been
legally efaced by the seal of citizenship stamped
on them by the pardoning power of the President
of the United States 2"
These are questions that viii vex the people ere
long, and which must be decided upon correct
principles. What, then, is the effect of pardon
The American Cyclopedia, in treating of the sub
ject, says Complete pardon involves remission
of all the penalties which the law has inflicted
the offender. Not the fine or Imprisonment only,
or whatever else may have been the hysical form
of punishment, but also all the iafamy and all the
incapacty which infamy imposes. Full pardon
completely restores the cvi} status of the criminal.
The observations apply especially to the case of
convicted criminals but they are still more for
cible when applied to the pardons by the Pres-
dent which are full and ample, and made before
trial and even before arrest.
The oath imposed by Congress was military
necessity in time of war, when it was necessary
and even vital to know who were sound and loyal,
and to keep out of off ce all who would use their
position to thwart the legitimate purposes of the
Government, embarrass its action, or give en-
couragement to its enemies. The oath belongs to
war legislation Its day has passed. The laws
rendered necessary by the great struggle in
which we were engaged are among the curiosities
of the past. They have served their purpose,
and they find no place III the era of peace. The
duty of this is to repair VIII 1T has been wasted,
to recognize the end of hostilites by break
ing down the barriers that were erected be-
tween North and South, between the loyal aud
and the traitor. There is no more place or rea-
son for the test oath and for the suspension Of
habeas corpus, than for trade restrictions already
brushed away, or, passports across the border,
North or South. All alike belong to different
order of things, to an effete legislation. Will
Congress be wise enough to recognize the new
situation, and show by its acts that harmony is
restored and that the Unirn exists with all its
privileges accorded to all its citizens, who are
acknowledged to be loyal and not criminal, wheth-
er by their own acts or by that of the President
SIaughterad CaCtIe, Swine and Sheen