The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-03-23


ing out the Reconstruction bill of the last Con
gress has just passed the House, with an
amendment touching the proportion of the
registered electors which shall be necessary TO
elect the conventions, and unless the Senate
should agree, the final passage of tie hin will
be delayed by conference. Its provisions are
such as we described in our last nun,ber and
no debate of importance took place on anv of
them in either the House or Senate NJ
Howard made strong effort to make imnroyo-
ments on the oath to be administered 70 nor
sons voting for the delegates to the constitu-
tional conventions, by requiring them to
swear that they were "sincerely attached 70
the Constitution of the United States"-a nro-
vision which of course would simply have fur-
nished one more temptation to commit per-
jury, without making the least addition to the
security of the Constitution.
As a general and sound rule, no IN an sbopld
ever be legally required to swear or affirm
anything as a test of fitness for any office. or
for the exercise of any franchise, unless tbere
exists some means of proving him guilty of
perjury in case he breaks his oath. or rather
of knowing whether he ever breaks his oath
or not If man promises, on oath. to sun
fulfils his promise by being a decent citizen
and letting the Constitution alone. Support
ing' a constitution consists in living quietly
under it, and refusing to join in or actively
opposing attempts to overthrow it, There
fore, when man has sworn true allegiance TO
one, all his neighbors have the means of de-
tecting him at once in case he breaks his oath
But when, as Mr.. Sumner proposed the other
day, you make man swear to Support the
diffusion of knowledge" you have no means
Of knowing whether he has kept his oath or
not, because no definition of Support to the
diffusion of knowledge could possibly be
fixed upon that would be satisfactory.
A person may support" the diffusion of
knowledge by giving small boy a primer, or
by saying occasionally in his family circle that
education improves the mind, and that know
ledge is power; but it would always be impos-
sible to ind out whether he had even done
this or not So also, when you ask man to
swear that he is sincerely attached" to the
| Constitution, you exact an affirmation of
which you cannot either detect or punish the
4 talsehood. If he is loyal man, he may take
I the oath as often as he chooses and cannot be
punished for taking it falsely. In the Middle
| Ages oaths were administered very lavishly,
| because it was generally believed that some
| thing dreadful would happen by a special act
| OF Providence to people who swore falsely.
| We do not expect anything of the kind. We
| rely, it is true for the sanctity of an oath on
\ the dread OF future punishment on the part OF
the person taking it, but only in a very small
| degree, because we know, as a matter of fact
that mems conduct is influenced only very
slightly, as regards the grOsser ofTenses against
| morality, by the fear OF penalties to be in
| ticted i'll the next world. Our main reliance
| is on the penalties inflicted by the Courts in
| this world, and we owe it to the cause of pub
| lie morality not to administer oaths, on a
| L., -, 1, II
them know that they are, if they commit per-
| jury, safe from human justice at least.
1t may be suggested that we are wasting
words on this matter, inasmnch as the amend
ment was not adopted but nobody who sees
the extent to which some of our radical
friends in Congress are disposed to rely on
test oaths for the safety of this Government
at the South, can help feeling that attention
ought to be called by somebody to the teach
| ings of experience and of common sense on
this point. Many attempts have been made
in the Old World to bolster up institutions of
all kinds, political, ecclesiastical, and social.
by oaths, and they have all failed. In all
countries i'll which this plan of securing sta
blllty or safety has been resOrted to- it is being
abandoned in despair, after having caused an
enormous amount Of perjury, and made the
| otiense seem mere peccadillO in the eyes of
the public. For us to resort to it at this day is
worse than ridiculous.
! As we have said before it may be, and we
believe it is, proper to exclude at present from
participation in the Government all those who
have, during the last five years, borne a pro-
minent part in the attempt to overthrow it;
but it is not desirable to exclude those who
are not sincerely attached to it, Our duty
and interest are to make them sincerely at
tached to it by every means in our power to
convince them Of its benefits, to interest them
in its preservation. Oaths will not do this; but
oaths wantonly and unnecessarily imposed
may make men hate it and want to get rid of
it. The oath is a capital instrument for the
exclusion from a share in the Government at
present, or always, of persons who have taken
a certain part in the Rebellion, but as a guar
antee for anybody's future good behavior, or
for the present state Of anybOdy's heart, it is
worse than worthless.
Mr. Sumner moved one amendment, towards
the close of the debate in the Senate, which
was lost by tie vote, that the Constitution
of each State shall require the establishment
and maintenance of a system of common
schools, open to all without regard to color"
No debate appears to have taken place on this,
so that we are left in ignorance of the obec-
tions of those who voted against it, But,
whatever they were, we cannot but regard its
failure as great misfortune. No other OPP
portunity may ever offer itself of overcoming
that dislike or want of appreciation of popular
education which has all along been the curse
OF the South, and which, like other Southern
defects, will not, in our opinion, disappear for
many day, without some pressure or inter
ference from without
There may be objections to insisting that
the public schools shall admit children of both
colors Unfortunately, for this would proba-
| bly, result either in the forcible exclusion OF