Year: 1868

VatlVe convention WHICH deScmuSu q
Grafton on the 10th of July last hat


nominated candidates for the Executive


offices of the State, candidates for Con
: gress and Presidential Electors, that the
delegates from the several counties o


this district collected together and Sc


leeted me as a candidate for the Senate


The mark of confidence thus manifest
cd is a matter of much qualification to
me, coming as it did, from body ol


men SO respectable as to standing and
number, and the more SO, as 1t was not
of my seeking, and because, as pre-
sumo, that confidence had been
strengthened by the fact, that had
acted independent of party; and had
taken the Constitution as my guide


which clearly directed me to oppose
the test oath laws, registry laws and
kindred measures. AS my name has
been brought before the people, 1t Is
right and proper that should assign
the reason and motives by which L was
governed in my opposition to those
measures which had intended to OPP
pose whether a candidate or not. As
my opposition to those measures has
givcn rise to erroneous opinions and
unfavorable reports against me, and as
evil reports, like the ''cry of mad dog"
fly in all directions, and can only be
met at very few points; therefore,
for the purpose of meeting those re.
ports at as many points as 1t my, |
will state the reasons which governed
me in opposing those measures. ne
li.ve them to be contrary to the let
ter and spirit of the Constitution


of the United States, and
that of our own State.
still continue to believe so. My
opinion is strengthened and confirmed
by two decisions of the Supreme Court
of the United States, which is the high
est judicial tribunal of the nation. One
of them was a case from the State OF Ar
kansas, under an act of Congress, re-
quiring attorneys to take the test
oath prescribed for all civil officers, be-
fore they should be permitted to pract,,
ice in any of the Courts OF the United
States. This law they declared to be
unconstitutional and since that decl-
sion they practice in our Federal Courts,
and have not been required to take the
oath, as by that decision the law became
null and void. The test oath which our
officers and lawyers are required to take
is precisely the same in substance and,
very near the same in words; and
therefore stands precisely upon the same
ground. The other was case from
Missouri under their new Constitution
which required Preachers to take test
oath, which the court declared to be
unconstitutional. And as this whole
family of test oaths stand so onearly upon
the same level their fate will be the
same when brought to the proper test
And the Supreme Court of Missouri has
recently decided the test law In thelr
Constitution to be null and void. In
delivering the opinion, the Judge said:
"a Government so preceding may be
good dcspotism, bat certainly very
bad Republic" There is a principle
ef the very highest Importance IN
volvcd in such legislation which,
| in tho strife of the times, seems
| to have been overlooked or forgotten,
and feel we'll assured that the perpet-
uation of our free institutions depends
more upon strict observance and ad-
herence to that principle than upon all
and everything else beside. This prin-
ciple is based upon the undisputable
fact, that there never has been Il gov
ernment of any shape or form that was
wo' thy of being called free govern
ment, unless it was SO shaped as to
guard against Executive or Legislative
encroachmentS upon the rights and lib
critics of the people. And under such
governments, without such checks,
their people have always been at the
mercy of their rulers, and UNIV orthy OF
being called free men. The difference
between such governments and ours is
as wide rs the ocean.


| have read and heard many argu-
ments in favor of the test oath laws,
but have never yet seen or heard one
single section OF the Constitution quoted
or referred to which justliics or sane
tiOns the enactment OF such laws.
The Constitution of the United States
is far from being the kind of book to
furnish anything at ali to justify such
legislation. And any search therein
for that purpose would prove as
fruitless as IA search under water
for a blaze of fire. Aud there is the


best reason that can possibly be i'm


arincd why it is SO. a reason which
has caused the wisdom of our Constitu-
tion 10 deserve and to have received
the praises OF our people throughout
the land, for framing the best aud most
free Government that the world has
ever seen; which great aud noble OBJ


icCt could not have been accomplished
IN any other possible manner than by


so shaping it as to guard against such


legislation, and all and every kind of


Legislative interference with the rights


and liberties of the people. They knew


by experience, by tradition and his
tory, that many of the lives OF their an
cestors had been sacrificed, or them
selves deprived of their rights or hber-
ties, or their property, on account OF


their religious creed or other pretexts
in former times. That the prescriptions
under their religious test laws, and the
prosecutions which always accompany
such party devices, has caused thous-
apds upon thousands of their ancestors
TO remove to this country; and that
thew and the people of their time had
eyaded, through the series of
blood and carnage of a seven years
war. to free themselves from such legis-
lation. They had general knowledge
of the history of the Governments of The
civilized nations in all ages of the world,
from which they know, that whether
the authority to make tho laws had
been vested in the hands of Monarch,
an Aristocracy, or any kind OF mixed
or Republican Government, in which
there was no fixed safeguards or cheeks
to prevent oppressive legislation; that
the dominant parties had in thousands
of instances enacted oppressive and ty-
rannical laws; had sacrificed the lives
of thousands of their citizens for very
small or pretended crimes, or deprived
them of their rights and privileges OF
of their property. Therefore, their OBJ
ject being to guard against an Execu'
tive or Legislative interference with the
rights and liberties of the people, they
shaped the Constitution so that the
people, with whom all power resides,
would, under its operation, be the rulers
Of their agents, selected by them for the
} nurpose of making such laws as would