The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1865-1866, 1866-04-20

Alter stating reasons at large why The
oath should be modified, the Secretary
says the rebellion grew out of antag-
onisn of opinion between the people Of
the free and slave-the legitimate re-
suit of a difference of institutions.
With the abolishion of slavery all real
difference of opinion and all serious
causes of estrangement ought rapidly
to disappear. It will be a calamity,
the extent of which cannot now be es-
timatcd, both to this nation and to the
cause ef civil liberty throughout the
world, if instead of looking to recon-
ciliation and harmony, the action of the
Government shall tend to harden and
tensify O sectionalism between the
Northern and Southern States. It is
difficult to conceive of a more unfortu-
nate course for the United States to
pursue than to make tax gatherers at
the South of men who are strangers to
the people. It needs no reference to
history, elthough it is full Of lessons
upon this subject, to illustrate the fatal
consequences of such policy.
Appended to this letter of the Secre-
tary Of the Treasury are the names of
forty-nine persons acting as Assessors
and Collectors in the Southern States
who have not taken the oath Of Office
without qualification. It is added that
there are undoubtedly others whose
names have not been received. It ap-
pears from a letter Of the Commissioner
of Customs that the following named
persons are the only custom officers
who have taken the oath in modified
form james n. Mathews, Collector,
Rappahannock, Virginia; William S.
Graft, Collector, Georgetown, South
Carolina; Gordon Forbes, Collector,
Yecomo, Virginia; William Y. Leitch,
Surveyor, Charleston, South Carolina;
F. NJ. Robertson, Special examiner of
Drugs; and Edgar NJ. Lazarus and J.
F. Walker, Appraisers, Charleston
South Carolina.
The Postmaster General, in his COM
munication, says, as means Of restor-
ing the business interests in the South
ern States, and of aiding in the re-es-
adjustment Of their constitutional rela-
tions with the Government, it was
deemed important by the President and
Cabinet that the mails should be intro
duced and postoAices be re-opened in
those States as rapidly as possible; to
which end the energies of the Depart
ment were promptly and have been con-
tinuously directed. Various causes have
doubtless contributed to the failure in
accomplishing all that was hoped for;
but that resulting from the oath pre-
scribed by the Act Of July 2, 1862, and
March 5, 1863, has not been the least,
while it has been the one to which his
attention has been most frequently
called. This, as he is inclined to believe
was not owing exclusively to their not
being loyal persons who could take the
oath, but to the limited compensation,
most of the Offices offering insufficient
inducements to persons to act as post
masters, and to the unwillingness Of
many who might otherwise act, to do
so on account of the inconvenience and
compromise of their positions, which
they fear would result from taking the
oath, when the majority Of their neigh
bors consist Of those who had in some
form aided the rebellion. 10 obviate
these difficulties in part, recourse has
been had to the appointment of women
as postmistresses, which has proved to
be of doubtful utility to the service.
And necessity has also compelled the
Of very many ignorant
persons, incompetent to discharge the
duties Of their Offices. As remedy
for the future, the Postmaster General
suggests a modification of the oath by
the word voluntarily i'm
mediately preceding the word sought
so that the clause would read, "lhat [
have neither voluntarily 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" This
would enlarge the class of persons who
could qualify as posmasters and mail,
contractors, and be in harmony, it seems
to him, with the general provisions and
purposes of the oath, and thus facilitate
the speedy re-establishment Of the post.
al service to the common benefit Of all
the sections Of the country for it must
be borne in mind that while the people
of the Southern States are more direct
ly interested in the restoration, other
States are also largely interested. It
may be, he says, interesting to know
that of the 2258 mail routes in opera
ton in the disloyal States at the break
ing out Of the rebellion, the service of
757 only has been restored, and that of
1902 postofices in those States only
2042 appointments of postmasters have
heen made of whom TIT on1u hauo