The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1866-02-14
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THE SENTINEL ON LOYALTY. 4

& THE SENTINEL ON LOYALTY
The Raleigh Sentinel of last Friday tak
] us to task fbrour recent comments on G. y
test-oath men. The Sentinel says: "Tl.e
gist OF the articlei is, that the people Of Nort'l
Carolina who will not vote for,those who cat
take the test oath to 60 to Congress, are dis
loyal" Such is not only not the gist Of the
article, but such an idea is in no-wise ded.l
cable from the article. There is no where in
the article an expression of the loyalty or dis
loyalty of the people. We did not then, not
do we now-like some papers we wot Of.
presume to pass judgment in such wholesale
manner upon our fellow citizens.
The Sentinel will, however, oblige us by
4 answering one or two questions. Two years
ago, when the great body of the people of
this State were fighting against the general
government, was that great body of people
loyal or dislo, alto that general government
They must have been one or the other, wo
presume; even the Sentinel will admit this
If they were disloyal, in what consisted their
disloyalty? In what was their conduct at
that time different from what it is now 2-
Probably the Sentinel will frankly admit that
then they were seeking, with force and arms.
to destroy that government; now they pro-
fess to support the same government There
fore we infer that their disloyalty consisted
in opposing and resisting and making war
upon the general government. Than this
there is no greater act of disloyalty written
in the books But there were some who did
not countenance this disloyalty, even during
the time it was SO prevalent and popular
There were a few people in the State during
all the time of the war in opposition to the
general government who took no part or lot
in the matter. AT least there are men who
are now willing to make solemn affidavit
that they in no manner willingly countenan-
ced or assisted the resistance to the general
government Therefore they were not dis
loyal in the sense that the majority of the
people were disloyal. But everybody snow
loyal At least so the governor and the press
affirm. Then if everybody is loyal everybody
agrees that these men who were never any
thing but loyal were right all the time, and
these men are now the fittest representatives
of Southern sentiment, because they have al
ways steadily stood upon tile platform upon
which the great body of the people have so
recently taken position. They are better ac-
pied it so much longer than others. We IL
Illustrated this point in our former article by
cases of conversion to the Christian religion.
Let the illustration be extended: The, new
convert to Christianityis is not at once made a
bishop of the church, nor yet priest In
deed, he must remain long time in the more
humble and private walks before be can rea-
sonably aspire to the higher callings and Of
fees, which are given to- those most deeply
rooted and grounded in the faith. ai
The iSeatinel in the article to which we
refer, illustrates itsloyalty by questioning the
legality of an act of Congress and advising
| to its resistance. Perhaps such course is
not tfisloyal; but if not disloyal, then the
! people of the South were not disloyal during
| all the time they were resisting and opposing
| the general government. 1t is moi the pro-
vince of the citizen to select from the laws of
! his land those he admires and obey them,
| and disobey and resist those he does not ad-
inire. Neither is it the province of any citi-
zen to pass upon the constitutionality or leg
atty of laws duly made That is the duty
OF the courts. Every law must be presumed
to be valid and faithfully obeyed, until set
aside by judicial decision. Here is what the
Sentinel says of the l.w in question::
"1'hepeople of North Carolina believe that
the test oath is unconstitutional. 1t is al
most positively certain that the President and
Mr.. Seward both SO regard it, and it is now
very generally understood in Washington,
that the Supreme Court are of the same opin-
ion. Now these facts very strongly justify
the people of North Carolina in voting for
men whom they can trust, who cannot take
tue OATH" "a sfsu-
Ourcontemporary is very much mistaken on
this point. So far have the president and
Mr. Seward been from regarding this law as
unconstitutional, that they have been earnest
in executing it, as it has been executed for
several years at the North. And there has
never been any opinion rendered as yet by
the Supreme Court setting ii aside The case
now before that tribunal. and upon which
runor makes an adverse decision, is simply
one involving the applicability of the law to
lawyers practicing before the United States
Courts And here there are strong grounds
| for believing the law unconstitutional which
do not affect the general validity of the law.
For every criminal placed at the bar OF
| Court of Justice in this land is allowed coun
sci. No law can prevent him. however, adj
| vocating his own cause But were person
! brought before that tribunal who had engag-
| ed in the rebellion he could not even be his
own advocate. which is manifestly an in
fringemcnt of the constitutional rights of the
citizen. To that extent, therefore, there Is
scarcely a reasonable doubt that the Supreme
| Court will determine the law invalid.
| But whatever may be the decision OF that
tribunal in any particular respect or on the
general validity of she law, it can have no
effect upon the qualification Of Congrcssmen.
Congress is the Judge Of the qualification Of
its own members and may make those quaii-
fications as stringent as it pleases. Enough
has been seen of the temper and disposition
of the present Congress to justify the opinion
that it win in no wise modify, much less re-
peal, this test oath. Therefore, if it is not
modified or repealed, it must be respected
and Obeyed
The Sentinel characterizes our argument as
piece of special pleading We will put
this from its columns beside the statement
s.The HeralI win admit that loyalty tc
the government embraces not only the ides
of obedience to the support of the govern
ment, but an observance and support OF th<
constitution. A man can not be loyal when
lie obeys the authority and laws of the gov.
ernment, ON the one hand. and violates the
constitution on the other" ..ss-
| Such special pleading" is unsurpassed -
But it illustrates very forcibly the charactel
of the loyalty of the Sentinel and its satte
litcs. They fought manfhlly to the end, and
now presume to sit in Judgment upon tn
Iovaltv If tho Government they failed to d