The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-08-20
The Test.Oath.

The RESTRAIN.
This monster has as many heads as 1he e
HYDRA. General GRANT may make himseii
q HERCULES, killing it at once, ana ne
will thus win q renown as great as any ~
has achieved. The rumors of several days,
invented. most of them, to drive the people
Of Virginia to the indiscretion OF passion,
had been pretty well quoted; but they con-
t;nuc to sprout and grow with prolific ra-
n;ditv. 1t is needless to continue the work
of special contradiction. 1t is cheapest to
make broad sweep of the scythc and cut
them all down.
Then, there has taken place nothing posi-
tive to settle the question, while the signs
are that the oath will not be required OF the
Virginia Legislature. Even our special COR
respondent in his yesterdays dispatch under
the head of g The test-oath to be admins
tered" gives information that makes the
administration of that oath doubtful. Ii
there has not been u degree of duplclty
5;srraceful to this nation the President
and General SHERMAN arc so much opposed
tn the oath that neither of them would ad-
minister it if they were in the position oc-
cupicd by General CANDY. Can any man
DENY that? General GRANT is on the re-
cord against the oath, and no further testl-
monv need be asked touching the DISPOSE
tion Of a brave and consistent gentleman.
The Cabinet, we believe, stands four tor to
three against it.
Now. with this array on this important
subiect. and the understood regret Of Gene
-ral CAsBY that he has been forced to his
conclusion or the subject, we may we'll ask
Can the test-oath be fastened upon this Vir-
rinia people, who have literally conformed
toevcry requirement of the Federal Govern
mcnt?
We believe still that the tcst-oath will
not be forced upon us-that 1t Will be
avoided, by the defcrring of the subject
until Congress meets, if not by some other
mode.
Why, look at the situation The Presi-
dent, the General of the Armies, and ma
iorisy of the Administration, are opposed to
the oath; and they are sustained by the
almost unanimous voice Of the most pow
crful Republican journals Of the North
Can We doubt that public opinion is clearly
reflected by those journals? And when we
add to these facts that other important fact
that four-ffths of the white Republicans IN
the southern States are bitterly opposed to
the oath, upon what stands it The opinion
AGAINST it is based upon equity as well as
law. The almost unanimous opinion OF the
lawyers of the nation is that Virginia cannot
he lawfully required to take the oath; and
the sympathy Of humanity, outside OF mere
nartisans and men who are not lawyers,
and who labor under strong prcludlccs,
proclaims that it is great wrong to require
a people to take n tcst-oath which the
Government, by solemn enactment, autho-
rizcd them to vote down-to take out OF the
constitution which they adopted, under
which constitution the Legislature on which
it is proposed to force that oath is elected,
and under which alone it can have exist
cncc, and outside of which the members
arc as completely without Legislative power
here in Virginia as arc the poor coolies OF
Peru who have just startled the world with
their cry.
Now, upon the ground of probabilities,
we say the weight is in favor of the conclu-
sion that we will not have to be brought at
this late day, when Peace is so nearly en-
throncd in her dignity and serenity, to en-
ter upon a new humiliation and to face n
new storm of bitter passions which will
postpone the hour of concord, and yet for a
long time continue the state of distrust and
paralysis of the public energies so fatal to
the local and national prosperity.