The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1866-04-12
The Test Oath.

=
requiring very stringent test oath Of all
who took Office. However useful or essen
tial such an oath might have been during
the rebellion, when the rebellion had end
ed and q new order of things wss establish
ed, the oath was in the way Of a perfect
restoration of harmony. A test oath afts T
the granting Of 8 pardon was a cOntradic-
tion in terms, and the South has been go
fully committed to hostility to the Union
that il was found impossible to select suit
able officials there, who could take an oath
that they had voluntarily given no aid,
coUntensnce, counsel or encouragement TO
persons engaged in armed hostility thereto;
that they had neither sought nor accepted,
nor attempted to exercise the functions OF
any Office whatever, under any authority or
pretended authority in hostility TO the
United States; that they had cot yielded a
voluntary support 70 any pretended gov
ernment, authority, power, or constitution
within the United States, hostile or mimi
cal thereto, for such were the terms of the
test.
This difficulty has been q very serious
matter with the members of the Cabinet,
who had hosts of minor Offices TO fill, which
must be filled with residents of the locality.
The Cabinet have brought the subject to
the knowledge Of the President, who has
subject. He says:
"Theletter OF the Secretary Of the Treas
ury contains the names Of Collectors of In
ternal Revenue, Assessors, Assistant As
SCISSORS, Collectors and Surveyors of Gus
toms, &c, appointed since the overthrow of
the rebellion IN the Southern States, who
have not been able to take literally the oath
of office prescribed by the act approved Ju-
ly 2, 1862. Besides these officers a consid .
cradle number, perhaps the larger propor-
tion of those holding subordinate positions
in the Revenue Departments, have been
also unable to comply with the require
ments of the statute. AS a consequence,
they have served without compensation, as
their accounts could not be audited by the
accounting officers Of the Government.
Many of these officers have performed very
important duties with fidelity, and not a
few must be in great distress by reason Of
their liabilities.
30 important did it seem TO the Presi-
dent and the Cabinet, for the porpose OF
equalizing the public burdens, that the
Revenue system should be established
throughout the recently rebellious States
with as little delay as practicable, aud that
the unpleasant duty Of collecting taxes from
an exhausted and lately rebellIous people
should be performed by her own citizens,
that the Secretary of the Treasury did not
hesitate to recommend for appointment, and
to appoint men of whose present loyalty
there was no question, but who might,
either willingly or unwillingly, during the
progress of the rebellion, be so connected
with the insurgent State and Confederate
Government as TO be unable to take the oath
Of Office. This was not done from any dis
position to disregard the law, but with an
honest and sincere purpose of collecting the
revenues with as little trouble TO the tax
payers as possible.
No one could have regretted more than
the President and the members of the Cabi-
net the necessity which existed for this
course, but there seemed to be no alterna-
tive, and it was confidently hoped that un-
der the circumstances of the case it would
be approved by Congress. Among those
whose names are presented TO the President,
the Secretary has no reason TO suppose that
there is one who can be justly charged with
being instrumental in instigaJing the rebel
| lion, although few may have contributed
| to its support and continuance.
Not one is known TO have been q dis
unionst or upfrieDdly TO the Government at
the commencement Of the war"
The President suggests that very slight
change in the oath, q change that would
not cover a particle Of present disloyalty
would enable the most Of them TO hold the
Offices they are now so aeceptably filling,
and he adds that great loss to the vern-
ment and great inconvenience 10 the De-
partments must result from the discontinue
ance of their services,
We have heard it said that the Depart
ments have passed over loyal men al the
South, in their search for suitable officials,
and that they have not endeavored to find
| Union men for these offices. The reports
| from the Department deny this allegation.
They say they have found the test oath in
their way, and that loyal persons have OBJ
| iected 10 take the offices owing to the limit
| ed compensation, and TO Inconvenience
which might arise from holding office in
neighborhOods, where there was a hostile
element. The Postmaster General says that
| Of 2,25S mail routes in operation in the dis
| loyal States at the breaking out of the re-
| bellion, the service of 757 only has been re-
stored; and that Of $500 post offices in those
| States, only 2,042 appointments Of postmas-
ters have been made, Of whom LII only
| have qualified for Office, 747 Of them being
males and 420 females; of the S65 who have
not qualified, it is believed that quite all OF
them have not done so because Of the oath.
The President in view Of all the circum-
| stances, asks for a modification of the oath.
| We trust Congress viii grant it at once, and
so help in setting the wheels Of Government
in operation in the Territories" subjugated
| by the national arms. The words cf the
! President-"It is difficult to conceive Of a
more unfortunate course for the Govern
ment Of the United States to pursue than
to make taxgatherers at the South Of men
who are strangers to the people. Il needs
no reference TO history, although it is full Of
lessons upon this subject, to illustrate the
fatal consequences Of such a policy" de-
serve TO be needed. The past is full Of les
sons that should have weight with Con-
| gress.-N. !. CommeTeiaf Advertiser.