New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1866-01-25
POsTmAsTRRY OATHs.

We print elsewhere few very brlef out IN
structive reports from certain agents ofthe Post
Office Department who were sent through the
Rebel States to set the post-ofice machinery
going. If anybody has doubted the fact Of a
great popular revolution at the South. let him
doubt no longer. Nothing less than conyui;
sion of society could have produced the phe'
nomena of which we here have credible ac-
counts. A prophet who few years ago had
ventured to predict the time would come when
the race of Southern office-seekers should die
out, would himsa have died without honor IN
bis own or any other country. Yet we live TO
see that anomalous condition of affairs. The
natural order of things Is reversed. 1t is no
longer the ofHce.seekers but the offices that are
hungry, and there are. it would appear, no
seekers at all, at least Of post-ofhces. The
world has turned round, and the iron age reap
pears. No heroism during the war was equal to
this Confederate virtue and no self'sacrifice CON-
parable to that which bites its own nose OF by
refusing to take Office, or to permit the reestab'
lishment of postal system in the South-to be
paid for, as heretofore, by the North.
The particular obstacle In the way OF these
patriots is the Test Oath. Such reason for re-
fusing an Office is even more surprising than the
refusal itself. We had supposed if there was
anything which Rebel swallowed more easily
than another, it was an oath-unless an excep'
ton be made in favor Of whisky. If there be an
oath they hesitate to take, it certainly ought TO
be preserved, as curiosity, If for no other
reason. Gov. Humphreys of Mississippi assured
Mr.. Kelly, Special Agent Of the Post Office De-
partment, that no citizen "fit to handle the
mails" could be found in Mississippi who could
or would take the oath. Whether the Governor
reasoned backwards or forwards does not seem
clear. Would his citizen be unfit to handle the
mails because be took the oath, or would he DO
fit to take the oath because he was unit to
handle the mailsl In the language Of Artemus
Ward, "why is this thusi" Mr.. Kelly suggests
reason. The Governor sees things as he would
thew were. not as they are. "Tbis opinion Is a
part of the programme Of the makers of political
opinions South to keep every man in line, and
to attach to the acceptance Of Office under the
United States NTH the present oath. something o.
dishonor."
But for this "pestilent spirit" Mr. Kelly Il
satisfied two.thirds Of the offices would easily
have been filed. At present, Gov. Humphreys
/ little scheme to get the Test Oath repealed is
partially successful. The virtue Of his confed'
crates, unlike their brandy, is fourth proof; that
Is, it is proof against the temptation of fourth.
rate Offices. Mr.. Kelly--the sly dog remarks
that nobody could be safely recommended for
offices which had small salaries attached We
should infer that Gov. Humphreys and his clique
were seeking not the repeal Of the Test Oath,
but of the acts regulating the pay Of pOstmasters.
The " dishonor" in their view, does not consist
in taking the oath, but in taking too little pay.
The testimony of other agents is much tho
same as to the difficulty of getting men to ac-
cept these offices. Mr.. Woodward writes from
Atlanta, Ga, that even "Union men decline,
because unwilling to acknowledge to their
neighbors the unpopular fact that they gave no
aid to the Rebellion" Mr.. Parker writes from
Richmond that there are persons in nearly every
neighborhood who could take the oath, but they
are so "scorned and despised for their senti-
ments" that they are not recommended"
That being the case, we think the South can
afford to wait for postal facilities till they have
learned to want them, and that the Department
might with dignity suspend Its efforts to in
duce" Rebels to accept favors and Offices which
they reject with contempt.
A law goes into effect In Alabama this week