The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-10-04

! White male citizens of the State shall be
e1ltItted to pote,n DC, provided they shall
have been residents Of the State one year
and OF the county thirty days merit be-
lJore o1eTIng to V0te, with exception of
certain persons not necessary to mem
tion here. They then stop, and set to
denouncing and cursing the test oath
and Registration laws as gross viola.
lions OF these parts of the Constitution,
because they require, they say, some-
thing more than the Constitution itself
required 10 constitute a'legal voter, viz :
| shat they have not voluntarily particle
pated in the recent rebellion Such of
our present opponents aswere members
of the Convention that framed the Com
sututlonI i have always been aware,
intended to have It fixed so that their
friends In the rebellion should; in
case the rebellion proved unsuccessful,
return and resume at once the privilege
otvottug, and for securing them this
privilege they expected their votes to
elect themselves to Office, and to the
control and management the govern
ment. Their disappointment in this
particular, Is the cause of the rage and
| desperation they have since exhibited
4 They did not consider that a citizen of
the United States, whether residing in
ourS State, and therebya a citizen thereof,
or elseWheres the moment he committed
an overt act of treason became thereby
a public enemy" and forfeited his CIT
ise1lshtp ofthe United States, and, as a
consequence, of our State. The legal
effect of snch overt acts upon their citi-
zeIlShfp had not at that time, been con-
sidered and defined, as was soon afler
done by the highest courts of the nation.
The test oath passed by the Legislature,
the 10Th OF February, 1865, was intend
ed as mode OF means of finding out
whether persons Offering to vote had in
fact committed any overt acts OF treason,
and thereby lost their citizenship, and,
as consequence, their right of voting,
by appealing directly to their con-
science in the form of an affidavit,
signed and sworn to in a manner to be
filed away and preserved for security in
future. That was all. 1t neither added
to, nor took from, the qualifications the
Consultation had prescribed, but was
only mode or means of determining
an Important prescribed qualification,
viz, citiSeHShip.
This test oath was also material and
proper1n determining another impor-
tant prescribed qualification of a right
70 vote, viz: q gears residence IN Mc
State merit before C9e1in0 to 1Ote. An act
of the Legislature of the re.organized
government, passed February 10Th,
1862, expressly declares that all personS
in sympathy with the rebellion who
had or who should thereafter volunta-
r1ly leave their usual places of abode
/ NAN ~ OOAb 0AiLu6 ESdUQ Oh PERSONAL SER
vice, of civil process issuing from the
courts of the county in which they last
resided and remaining ninety days,
should be non-reSidents for all purposes.
rms act sttllremains in full force, as it
has never been repealed and is not in
conflict with any provisions OF our Tom
sutution. The test oath therefore, was
also pertinent and proper, as a mode or
mems Tor ascertaining whether the per-
son ouer1ng to vote had in fact another
tmportant qualification prescribed by
the Const1tution, viz: a gears TeSideHce
IN N re STATE 71eTt before Offering to Vote.
| For If he had committed any acts of
dIsloyalty that brought him within the
dlsqualifytng provisions of this act, he
became 9lOTI-TeSident of the State and
IN contemplation of oflawremainS nom
resident to this day though he NAV
now live or sojourn in it. +i.F. s;.fs,
rms then was the constitutional
foundation. upon which the test oath
was enacted Feb. 25, 1866, and on which
It stood unshaken, until repealed May
10th, 1866, by the 10Th section of the reg
tstratton act and the net supplemental
thereto, and after the first registration
OIL voters under said act was
completed. trust no ono will
bo fool hardy enough to contend
that "the war, " 'sthe insurrection! -
''the public danger" ;" had so far ceased
ms to make Unnecessary or unlawful
the ordinary oath of allegiance at The
close of the test oath. A mere re-
1lOuHceInent, without committing overt
acts OF treason would require a renewal
OF this oath before exercising political
| rights again.
The I'd section. of the 18th article of
the Constitution, provides that amend
ments to that instrument may be pro-
posed at any time by the Legislature.
| and when published in the manner pre-.
scr1bed, and ''agreed to" by the sue
ceeding Legislature, this Legislature
$ltdu 'provide by laW'' for "submitting
the same to the V0teTs Of the State for
ratification or rejecion.n Our Inst
LegIslature agreed to the amendment,
the 18TH OF last February, and on the
2Sth of the same month, aud day before
1t adjourned, 1t provided by law, in
obedience to the express command OF
the Constitution, for submitting it to
'.the voters Of the State for ratification
or rejection" February 18th, two days
previous to this act of submission, it
passed the Registration Act in pnfsu-
ance of the 18th section, third article, of
the Constitution, viz: "The LeEislature
may provide for a registry of voters.
They shall prescribe the manner of ma
king and conducting returns of cleo
tions and of determining contested
may De De neceSSdTyG aud proper to preVeht
flltiDttdGtioH, disorder or VtOLence at The
polls and corruption or fraud IN
Uott1lg." Section sth of the same
article reads thus: "The Legisla-
ture, in cases not provided for in this
general laws the terms Of Office, potDerS,
duties, and compensation Of al public
| officers and agents, and the manner In
which they shall be elected, appointed
and removed. !" 1t was in pursuance of
these constitutional provisions, the