Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-08-29

should refuse to take the oath, should be
outlawed or hung,-could not the same
thing be said ? Would it not be exscted
alike from the loyal and disloyal? Would
any one be compelled to take it? Yes:
one who had committed an act Of trea-
son, though acquitted or %pardoned,
would be compelled to take the oath or
be outiawed or hung. Would it not be q
hideous moekery to say to him, Loyal
men also have to take the oath. II you
do not take it, you shall be hung; but
you are not compelled to take it. You
may refuse and be hung"
"Neither," said the minority OF the
Court. "does the act declare any COLI
vietion of persons or classes. If so, who
are they, and of what crime are they de-
elsred to be guilty?" For what it pur-
poses to effect, deprivation of the right
to vote, the act does declare a convic-
ton. 1t provides that every one who
cannot take the osth,-(who can not, we
saw. because the presumption is that
every one giU take it who odn,)-shsll
not be permitted to vote,-thst is, shall
be deemed guilty Of the offence which
works the forfeiture Of the right. Sup
nose the law were that every n who
vould not or could not take the oath,
sbould be hung. That would only be to
deprive him OF his right to live. When
the rope was adjusted round the neck OF
one Of these unfortunates, and he was
about to be swung off, would 1t be any
comfort to him or satisfaction to the
lovers of law and justice, to be told that
the law under which he was about to be
strangled had " declared no conviction,
either of persons or classes" ia man
can be deprived of one right in this infa-
nous mode, he can in the same way and
as lawfully be deprived Of any and every
other.
"Nor does it, said the minority, " pro-
nounce any sentence or infict any pun
/ ishment." False {? 1t sentences the par
ty who will not swear, to lose his right
to vote. 1t inficts upon him, not for
( his contumacy in not swearing, butupen
the Judgment and conclusion of the law
that he has been guilty Of treason or re-
bellion, the punishment OF disqualified
ton to vote. II this is not punishment,
what is it? 1t is not reward. A loss or
deprivation, imposed as the consequence
of an act reprobsted by the law, is pun
ishment, or language has lost its mean
ing.
"If by n possibility it can be said
to provide for conviction and sentence,
though not found ia the act Itself, it
leaves the party himself to determine his
V guilt or innocence, and pronounce
his olCn sentence" So did the rack.
SO, under Domitisn, did the refusal OF
Christians to sacrifice TO the heather
Gods. They too, by refusal, "deter-
mined their own guilt and pronounced
their own sentence" at is not, them"
said the minority, +" the act OF Congress,
but the party interested, hat tries and
condemns" 1t was not the rescript Of
the Roman Emperor, but the Christian
himself, refusing to sacrifice, and so or
Tossing himself a Christian, that tried
and condemned.
Aud yet it was coolly proposed to make
Chief Justice Chase, who sssented to this
infamous enunciation, the Democratic
candidate for the Presidency. Incom-
prehensible how four Judges, supposed
to be above the malign Influences of
party, could unite in uttering what is at
onee infamous and ridiculous.
When Nebuchadnezzar the King made
his image Of gold, and a herald cried
aloud: "To you it is commanded, o
people, nations and languages, that at
what time ye hear the sound of the cor
net, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulci-
mer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down
and worship the golden image that Ne
buchadnezzsr the King hath set up: and
whose falleth not down and w~orshipeth
shall the same hour be cast into the
midst OF 3 burning fiery furnace" GER
tain Jews whose faith did not permit
them TO bow down to idols and serve the
Babylouian Gods, refused to worship the
golden image, and were flung into the
burning fiery furnace. According to the
execrable and detestable logic Of Chase
and his three associates, it was "the
party interested, that tried and con-
demned."
There have been such " trials and cOn-
victions" in all ages Of the world,-used
by tyrants and prosecutors to compel the
confession Of acts or 8 faith which tyTan-
ny could not establish by proof and
which yet it wss bent on furnishing by
martyrdom. 1t is incredible that the
resort to such impious, sbominable and
Infamous practices should be to-day JUS
titled by grave and learned Judges, to
whose hands is committed the sacred
trust of preserving constitutional liberty
and the rights Of the citizen guaranteed
by Magma Charta and the Constitution.