The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1866-01-18
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cArpinset AID persschtips tho helpless
sOsth, shan las been manifested fby
" Oh, for the rarity
OF Christian charity
Under the sun ~

ences as best they may, we are more par
ticularly interested in the legislation ne
recommends concerning the citizens OF
this State " ho have been engaged in the
recent rebellion And here let us re-
mark that the sole cause of complaint
which the Governor urges against this
class is that in the recent elections they
disregarded the test oath act and consid-
cred it null and void. The message
STYLES this Act a Law" and brings
against many of our citizens the accusa-
ton of disobedience to law, when its
writer well knows that no lawyer OF fair
standing in the State has dared to risk
his legal reputation by affirming his
opinion of its constitutionality On the
contrary, every attorney whose learning
and talents have. entitled MIN
to a place in the front rank
IN his profession and who has
vet spoken upon the subject, has
clearly and unequivocally declared that
the act is not in such accordance with
the constitution of the State as is neces-
sary to make it Law or worthy of the
obedience Of the people. These were
facts we'll known to all the citizens OF
this State at the time of the October
election, and since that time judicial
opinion has been expressed in one OF the
State courts confirming tha,popular be-
lief in the unconstitutionality of the
Act, and forbidding the indictment Of
parties who had disregarded its provis-
ions. Is it any wonder, then, that those
at whom this unconstitutional edict was
aimed, and from whom 1t was intended
to take their dearest right, should treat
it as nullity, and exercise the privi-
ileges guaranteed to them in the consti-
tuition Of the State Certainly not and
knowing, as he mast know, that the best
legal minds in West Virginia declar-
ed that the test oath law had no binding
force, we cannot but regard the COM
plant made by the Governor as captious
and unreasonable in the extreme. 1t
proceeds from that same spirit of fault
finding and distrust which in our ma
tional councils is preventing the restora-
ton of the Union and thwartiDg the
wishes of all those who desire peace.
There is one paragraph in the message
which we are at loss to understand. 1t
says The results of these Elections
are due mainly to the teachings OF lead
ing and intelligent men who have been
actively engaged in the rebellion, and
who were yell aware of the ineligibility
of the candidates if successful. They
taught that the oath of Office prescribed
BIZ the Act of November 1863, would not
be exacted, and that therefore partici-
pants would he allowed to execute the
duties of offices to which they might be
elected They advised further that the
officers of elections were not required to
take said oath, aud that the law of Feb
ruary IS, 1865, prescribing an oath for
challenged voters was unconstitutional
and void, and should therefore be
disregarded 1t will be news to this
community to learn that DANIEL LAMB
and United States attorney SMITH, who
were among the first to call inquestion the
constitutionality of the Act Of
February 1865, and to advise officers of
elections to treat it as a nudity
have been actively engaged in
the rebellion" If the Governor has any
information as to the particular time
when these gentlemen were actively
engaged" and under whose command
they served, he will greatly oblige an
astonished community by communica-
ting it to the public at once Probably
they were actively engaged in the re-
bellion" about the same time that Judge
LOOMS and u g. Senator VAN WINKLE,
who have also pronounced the Act of
February, 1865 to be unconstitutional
and void, were actively engaged" in
exposing the folly and wrong committed
at the last session of the legislature To
thoseQfus who know that the unanswer-
able arguments and judicious advice
given by the first two gentlemen named
were the chief cause of the disregard
manifested for the void act of February,
1865, the assumption that this was done
by men who had been actively engaged
in the rebellion is ludicrous and absurd
in the extreme.
The Governor recommends that the
test oath law be amended so as to make
it more stringent and that registry of
voters he made We trust the legislature
viii have too much good sense TO COM
ply with the recommendation No meas
ure more ruinous to the welfare Of the
State could possibly be devised We
say this in ali sincerity and unbiased By
partisan feeling, The registry law will
prove detrimental TO the interests of the
State so long as it remains in force,
Take Maryland for example. Her regis
tration law, just such one as Governor
FOREMAN wants enacted here, has only
been in operation about eighteen months