The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-02-17
The Test.Oath.


The Test-Oath.
The acts OF the Federal Government upon
the snb;ect of the test-oath are another
:. Comedy of Errors" The first phase was
the general application Of that oath TO al
officers. No man could enter upon the d"'
ties Of Federal Office without taxing tina.
oath. The only persons who could take !. !.
were the so-called Union or truly ioyai
men. Indeed, MIR. TRuxsuLL very wi'tiiy
vo;a IN the Tinted States Senate on Monday
lost that "the test-oath Of 1852 was never
prescribed for anybody but Union men,"
and being categorically Intercepted by Mr.
NyR thus:
..Does the honorable Senator mean 10
claim that the test-oath. as 1t is caiieo'
- the iron-clad oath, was made Tor Union
"men aloner"
Mfr. Tsunsurl replied: eyes, sir; for
"nobody else could ever take 1t. NO reoel
"could ever take that OATH
The sarcasm wrapped up In the ,nevita-
BILE deduction from the premises was so
pithy that it excited many grave Senators
to laughter. The oath was intended for
none but Union men--the truly loyal-and
Republicans at that. 1t was intended that
they alone should hold all the offices, and
the oath was the gate that was to open the
bright fields and rich pastures Of the pub
lie offices to them only. They had fallen
heir to all tl& offices formerly held by
southern men-the places in the army, the
navy, and on the civil list. But greed was
only whetted by inernasn Of emoluments,
and the strategy of the test-oath was
adopted to rule out the South alto.
gethes from participation In the public no.
nors and compensations.
But this exclusiveness was more than
could be maintained. 1t became evident
that the party must provide some way to
win over the men whose consciences were
more compromising than their love of Office,
and so the means Of accommodating
these were provided. The process of par.
don was resorted to under the belief that
it would be exercised with such discretion
that none but "truly repentant loyalists"
would get its benefits. This was the Trojan
horse. Men got its benefits for whom it was
never intended. 1t was found impossible
to work the machine as it was intended to
operate. The whole thing became muddle,
and thousands who had been declared by
the laws Of Congress to be the chief offend
ers-those who had held Federal Offices, or
had taken the oath to support the Federal
Constitution before the war, and afterwards
aided er sympathized with the Confede.
racy-were rendered capable of holding
Office under the Federal Government.
For the purpose of completing the OBJ
jects of this pardoning process modified
oath was provided, and so we found that
the greatest offenders were in this way en-.
abled to hold Government offices, while the
rest Of the rebels were deprived OF any
such opportunity. They were considered
as having no disabilities to be relieved
from, and the modified oath was only for
those who had had such disabilities and
been relieved therefrom. This was pretty
state of things, and caused not little vexa-
ton among the trainers OF the machine
whose working was so contrary to eXpecta-
tions.
Now, then, the present Congress pro-
ceeded to relieve the great body of rebels
who, having no disabilities under the 14th
amendment, could not be relieved and
could not be allowed to take the m odited
oath and could not take the test-oath,
which, as Mr.. TRUMBULL said, was made
"only for Union men," And the bill
abolishing tho test-oath for "persons who
participated in the late rebellion, but who
are not disqualified from holding office by
the 18th amendment,' was passed, and has
become a law by lapse Of the time within
which it might have been vetoed by the
President.
Thus is the test-oath abolished, save for
those who are disqualified by the fourteenth
amendment and have not been relieved
from their disabilities by Congress, and for
the "Union men," So the attitude OF the
test-oath ia still absurd and comical. If we
think of the men who came under the ban
OF the fourteenth amendment whose dis
abilities have been removed, we shall see
that great part of those who were most
prominent in resisting the Federal
Government have been so relieved, and
that those who are not so relieved consist
in great part Of persons who were not
among the most offensive to the Federal
Government, who are quiet and indepen-
dent gentlemen, who seek no office and
who feel no consciousness OF being more
fifty the objects of the persecution Of the
Federal Government than their fellow citi.
zens generally. When the Government is
ready to change its mistaken policy, they
expect to be relieved from the ban along
with their people generally; but they are
not likely to ask for special grace.
Butth poor Union men, who are expected
to continue their bitter oath-their renun'
citation of all sympathy with the dead Con
federacy-can nothing be done for them
We heartily concur with General GRANT il
his appeal against the injustice OF requiring
them to continue this "cussing," so incom
patible with the national harmony, which
all avow it to be their object to cultivate
and restore.
The lesson taught by the history of thi:
test-oath, the purpose it was intended tc
gubserve, and the ridiculous attitude in
which it has placed the Republican party
is that it is in the last degree impolitic tt
continue policy of penalties and punish
ments after civil war, and that the true
course to restore to nation the harmony
aud the strength that have been impaired