The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-01-21
The Fourteenth Amendment Oath
A correspondent writes Us rs follows:

,;cc funler the head of News from Wash
inrton y unon the new rcconatruct'on bill
YOU sav. in reference to the members OF
tho legislature, there are several, We
.mnk., who cannot take the oath, but so
few that no harm will result from thelr OK
clusion.' Ii this bill the Paine blil II So
has your attention been called to the 1851
clause Of the OATH nor held any othce unaer
or given env support to any Government OF
any kind organized or acting in hostility 10
tbo United States in levvinr war against
tho United Statcs'9 1t seems to me there
ore very many members Of the Legislature
who we're officers in tho Confederate army
and Who held Office under the State during
the var. They, surely, cannot take the
Doth of the Paine bill. Your explanation
and comments arc respectfully requested
.Januqru15, 1870. a SUBSCRIBER"
VIC discussed this point at length some
two weeks ago. We have heard Of nobody
else that understands the oath as our cor
respondent does except the editor OF the
Enqn;rer. The members of the Georgia
LEGISLATURE do not so understand it. Gene
raj TERRY does not nor does General SHFR'
MAN, nor General GRANT, nor anybody else
so far as our knowledge extends. a com
mission was appointed by General TERRY tc
inquire into the qualifications of the mem
bcrs of the Georgia Legislature. This com
mission consists of three army officers. They
ore Br,I1oCK's friends, and BULLOCK has
done all that any man, honest or dishonest,
loval or disloyal, scrupulous or unscrupn-
lous. could do to secure majority OF MS
friends in the Legislature; yet neither bull
LOCK nor his commission has ever go much
ns claimed that the oath bears the
construction put upon it by our cor
respondent. The Conservatives complain
Of him. however, because he has got from
t;s ,itornev-Gcneral nm opinion under
which some persons who held insignificant
Offices before the war are excluded. There
is no rrctcnce by anybody that the holding
nf Office under the Confederate Govern
,acnt excludes any person who had not pc
yiouslv held office. The debates in Congress
during the last two weeks show that the
oath is understood in that body to mean
lust what we have always maintained that
il does. OF course it may be tortured into
n meaning that would prescribe o good
many members of our Legislature; and
there NAV be some of these members who
will elect to put such construction upon
il. That is their own affair. We arc GER
tain that there will not be dozen such
members.
Tie oath in question is intended for no
other purpose than to enforce the fourteenth
amendment; and any person who can swear
that lie is not disqualified by the fourteenth
amendment ought to be able to take it. II
may be possible that it would exclude q
mc.nl CT or two not IN terms disqualified by
the fourteenth amendment-those,f for in
stance, who were officers before the war
but did not las such" take the oath to
support the Constitution of the United
States; but it certainly does not exclude
any person not intended by Congress to be
excluded, as may be seen by reference to
the reconstruction acts, which provided that
such persons should not vote in this State
ct the last election "whcthcr they had
taken that oath or not" The oath is to be
read as whole. OF course, there are not
Il dozen members of our Legislature who
could take the last quarter, or the last half,
CT it. unless that half or quarter were
qualified by the first half of it. The
substance OF the oath is that the party
taking it did not hold any Office previously to
engaging in rebellion, &C., and preu'ouS'yto
boiling Office under and giving support
to Il Government organized or acting in hos
tility to the United States, &c. The word
afterwards" qualities oil Of the oath that
follows it. 81 did not hold office under the
United States or any State and afterwards
"hold Office under Government hostile to
"thc United Statcs.' The logic Of the
oath shows its meaning. 1t is, in the Ian
guagc of OruELLo, Never more be officer
Of mine" or, 81 trusted you once; I'll
not trust you again" The oath does not
operate upon, and was not and is not in
tended to operate upon, men who had not
once (from loyal" point of view dis
regarded an oath of office. That is the
whole story.
We have no idea of turning out all the
members of our Legislature. Congress has
no such idea. 1t wishes our ratification of
the fifteenth amendment to stand. 1t
wishes al the members to take their seats
except those who have no business in the
body, and whc wronged their constituents
when they became candidates. We are
confident that our correspondent will not
insist unon q construction Of the oath which
would damage the State beyond measure.
- ------------------------
Mr.. DRAKE, of Missouri, was no doubt
sincere when he expressed his belief {as he
did few days since) that if Virginia were
admitted without conditions her Legislature
would at once proceed to withdraw its rati-
fication of the fifteenth amendment. This
declaration shows the force of prejudice
and passion. 1t is utterly without founda-
ton. There is not one member of the Le-
gisature, we sincerely believe, who has
ever entertained the remotest idea of doing
what Mr.. DRAKE supposes they are all anx-
ious to do. The Dispatch can speak for as
1nany people in Virginia as any other jour-
nol IN COW tha loo md Ua rapaof that