Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-03-23

There il not a Malignant In Congress
who has moi, within the last four months.
half a dozen times deliberately violated
his oath to support the Constitution Of
The Uaited States, and in that been guilty
81 wilful and corrupt perjury, by voting
Tor measures which he knew were grossly
violative OF the Constitution. There Is
not one Of them who has not, in that.
lone his best to subvert the Government
Of his country, and been guilty of what
of old deemed, and ought still to be
held, the highest degree Of treason.
There is not one OF them who has not, in
that, proven himself the enemy Of con-
stitutional government.
And yet these men, who care no more
for the Constitution than an old wife's
song, make II ground of disfranchise-
ment Of the best men Of the South,
whether pardoned or not, hat they once
took the oath TO support the Constitution
Of the United States. That they did SO,
as they understood it, and as il had been
understood for seventy years by the
purest patriots and wisest men the oun
try has produced, makes them, in the
of these modern interpreters Of the
Constitution, moi the less to have violated
their oath.
Moreover, it seems that they deem it
to have been less criminal TO violate that
oath, Il taken by the party as a Justice
of the Peace or Militia Captain, than if
it were taken by him as State Legislator
or MemberOf Congress. On what ground
Of distinction they do this, they do
not seem 10 have any distinct idea.
WASHINGTON had sworn allegiance to
the crown Of Great Britain, and was I'M
deniably Q rebel against lawful author
ity and in regard to his criminality the
New York World speaks thus:
Judged from another modern point Of
view, the eulogies lavished upon Wash
ington seem equally misplaced. We
have found out that rebellion also is one
OF the most incapable of all crimes
that the criminality consists in the mere
fact, and can find no eXtenuation in the
proyocation or the motive. 1t has been
reserved to this most virtuOus, reveren-
tial aAe to discover that the circum-
stancSof peculiar atrOcity, that which
renders rebellion quite unforgivable, is a
previous oath Of allegiance to the gov
eminent rebelled against.
Unfortunately for the credit of Wash
ingtOn, he was not only a rebel, but had
this peculiar aggravation of his guilt.
II il be one of the greatest Of all crimes
to break an OATH of allegiance, then Il
of the greatest of all crimes was COM
mitted by Washington. If it be said
that he had good cause, the whole argu-
ment is surrendered, SO far as it rests on
the peculiar and invialable sacFedness of
an oath of allegiance. If, in Washing
toms case, the goodness of the cause
sbsolved him from the oath, it follows
that, in every case, the same plea viii
hold. But this can never be admitted in
this enlightened age, whose deep respect
for religion lays ali the stress of punish
ment on the violated oath Of allegiance.
This upright and pious age cannot sur
render a great principle and foregO the
exercise of q vindictive Justice, on any
such trivial ground as that it would de-
grade q false hero, who has too long
usurped the admiration of mankind,
into a peTjured scoundrel. Nor a it
shake our adherence to the sacred prin-
ciple that most of the colonial leaders
had taken Oaths of allegiance before
they rebelled. So greatly have We i'm
proved upon u INSCRIPTIONS ~forefathers
in placing a due estimate on the invis-
liable obligation of oaths Of allegiance !
Washington's violation of his oath vas
less excusable than that Of the southern
rebels, inasmuch as he had not been ed
ucated in a belief that his first allegiance
was due to his own colony; that MS allie
glance to the crown depended upon the
colony's consent; and that the colony
had a rightful authority to withdraw his
allegiance and cancel the oath. Mems
beliefs on such subjects are generally the
effect of education and no Mussuiman
believes more firmly in Mahomet, no
Catholic more sincerely in the pope,
the southern people did in the dis
reTrfng power and binding authority of
their several states. But this excuse
avails nothing against the violated
solemnity of an oath Of allegiance, and
such impiety towards God must be
strictly punished by nan 1t is not for
US t question this reverent Judgment
but we have no patience with the me
quail distribution of praise which regards
Oath-breaking in so very different a light
in cases in which, so far as they are not
similar, an innocent error of education
would naturally soften the censure which
we visit upon the south.
II there be any distinction in favor of
Washington, it must consist in the good
ness of the in which he broke his
oath and rebelled. But the moment you
admit that any excuse can be good, you
give up the whole justification of vim
dictive measures. For who is to Judge
Of the goodness of the cause.-the rebels,
or the government rebelled against :?
The government must, of course, be, in
ali cases, the sole judge and by this
righteous rule, Washington was just as
inexcusable as Gen. Lee. Governments
are always right, and rebels always
wrong; for on what other theory
can this most virtuous country have
rung so necessarily with cries for
vengeance ? If it were permissible
for dissenters TO have an opinion on such
high questions, it might perhaps be made
to appear that the stamp tax, against
which Washington rebelled, was a trifie
in comparison with the tremendous loss
of property feared by the south. If it be
said that the distinction against them
consists Ia their fears being chimerical,
while Washington's were well founded,
R.ask any candid man to say whether,
IN Inc light of facts, their fears acre
chimerical. But be this as it may, if we
admit the fallacy that the guilt of rebel
lion depends on its motive, we have no
doubt that the southern cause, a
south Uietged Il, seemed just as sacred o
them as that of the revolution did 10
Washington. But the fact that it seeIded
noble and sacred to them, does not alb.
solve them from infamy and punishment.
The only circumstance in which they
differed from Washington is, that he
succeeded, and they failed. Had his
troops been cut to pieces in his gloomy
retreat through New Jersey, he would
have been justly executed as a rebel, in
asmuch as the vengeance of the govern
ment rebelled against, and not the moral
judgment Of mankind, is the true mea-
sure of guilt. The strict logical result of
the views and feelings which now pre-
vail is to strip Washington of his fame
and consign him to intamy. We, OF
course, have no reason to distrust the
soundness Of a view which leads inevita-
bly, to this consequence.