The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1867-04-03


Legislature, nor held any executive or judi
cial office in any State, and afterwards en-
gagged in instruction or rebellion agains
the United States and given aid or com
! fort to the enemies thereof that | have
never taken an oath, as member of Con
gress Of the United States. oras a member
of any State Legislature, or as an executive
or judicial officer of any State, to suppor
the constitution of the United States, anl
afterwards engaged in Instruction or re
belIion against the United States, or givel
aid or comfort to the enemies thereof; tina
I will faithfully support the constitutio,
and obey the laws of the United States
and will, to the best Of my ability, en-
courage others so to do. So help me God
Which oath or affirmation may be admins
tered by any registering officer,
There is nothing in this oath, no
even the allegiance part OF it, which
any good citizen need object to, The
! whole Of it can be readily understood
except that portion of it which says, ~
have not been DISTINGUISHED for partici.
patton in any rebellion OF civil wal
against the United States" which, as
the President says in his veto message
is vague and indefinite. 1t evidently
does not refer to the disabilities Of
holding office, because these same
things are repeated in the oath. We
believe that every one in this State,
who can take the non-otfice- holding
oath, can take this, because we know
of none who have been disfranchised,
in any other manner, for participation
in the late war.
The registry must be completed be-
fore the first Of September, and thirty
days public notice of such completion
must be given. An election shall then
be ordered by the commanding General
for members of a Convention to form a
State government. This Convention
shall consist Of as many members as
the House of Representatives in 1860
and the delegates shall be apportioned
by the commanding General according
to the ratio Of registered uoters. All
who are entitled to vote can be elected
as delegates to this Convention.
At the same election a vote shall be
taken whether or not the people will
have a Convention, and if a majority
of the votes cast shall be in favor of
a Convention, then one shall be held !;
if majority shall be against it then
it shall not be held; provided that the
Convention shall not be held unless a
majority OF all the registered Uoters shall
haoe eUted on the question Of holding
such Conrention. The registers of vo-
tiers and superintendent of election are
to be appointed by the commanding
General, to whom the returns are to be
made. Within sixty days after the
election, if a Convention is decided to
be held, the commanding General shall
notify the delegates to meet in Conyen-
ton and form a civil government in ac-
cordanee with the provisions of the
Act. The Convention shall submit the
Constitution framed by it, to a vote of
the registered Voters, for ratification or
rejection, at an election, of which thir-
ty days notice shall he given. If the
Constitution be ratified by q majority
of voters cast at said election (if at least
one half Of the registered voters shall
vote) the President of the Convention
shall transmit 1t to the President of the
United States to be laid before Con-
gress fot its approval.
1t will be remembered that the mill
tary bill requires that the Constitution
shall adopt the same qualifications of
electors and office-holders as those we
have stated above to be the qualifca-
tons OF voters for delegates to the Con-
vention, and that, at all elections under
the present provisional government the
same qualifications are required. I'm
der the State government all such are
eligible to the State Offices. But it is
required of members of Congress, on
their admission, to take the test oath.
Until that oath shall be repealed,
therefore, no one except an original
Union man, who was faithful to the
Union cause throughout the war, can
become a member Of Congress.
We have thus thoroughly analysed
5he reconstruction bills and stated eve
'ything that can contribute to their
proper understanding. In themselves
hey are SO obscure as not to be readily
understood on cursory perusal.
~~~>o-e--sNe-~o~~
W Mr.. Drake, the new Senator from
Missouri, recently made speech in
which he proclaimed himselfa ssradical
and shows a disposition to go
urther i'll extreme legislation than Mr..
summer himself, who is acknowledged
o he the leader of the Radical Sena-
ors. Of the Radical party in the SEN
tie Massachusetts furnishes the dur and
lissouri the Drake, land a rara ais
!. ferris he is too.)
The Late Reconstruction Bill.
Senator Sherman, of Ohio, has written
le following letter to WIN. K. Graffenreid, I
Georgia: {
UNITED STATES SENATE CHAMBER, J q
Washington, March II, 1867.
Dear Si,-Your letter of the sth inst, ;
received: The bill you referred to was
issed In the earnest hope that it would