Year: 1866




privcd Of it without due process of law.
If Congress has the power to deprive
him Of his property on his refusal to
take a test oath, the tender of which it
will be pretended is due process of law,
it has the same power to deprive him Of
his liberty, his dwelling house chooses in
action, and any and all other property
he may possess, TIL he takes the oath,
and if he can never take it, the confisca-
ton Of his whole property may become
complete and perpetual, without indct
mcnt, trial by jury, or conviction Of any
offence whatever.


Again, il Congress has power to de.
prive a lawyer Of his property in his
Office till he takes the test oath, it has
the same power to prohibit any citizen
from following any other profession or
avocation till he has done the same
If IL had the power TO enact this law, it
has the same power to vary, alter, or
amend it at pleasure. If it may con
stitntionally do what it has done; as the
freedom Of religion has no higher guar
anty IN the Constitution than the protec
ton of property; it may pass Il law that
no one shall preach the Gospel till he
has sworn that he believes baptism by
immersion the only mode; or it may
enact that no one shall practice medicine
till he takes an oath that he never did
and never will use opium in his practice;
or that no one shall plow till he has filed
his affidavit that he will never usc IA
turning plow, rs the Creator placed the
soil on top Of the ground where it should
remain; or the party in power in Con.
grcss, no matter which it may be, may
prescribe Il test oath that no person shall
ever vote again who does not make oath
that he never voted for the other purity !;
and may justify it upoa the ground at
least sa tislactory to itself, that its priE.
ciples are the only true principles OF the
Government, and that the public good
imperitively requires that they be carried
o0t in practice, which might not be done
without the aid of the oath.


Let the judiciary sustain this assump.
ton of :he pow'r Of Congress, and it
may close the courts in the South mdef
iinitely; shut the doors of the churches;
stop every spindle of the manufacturer;
quench the fires OF every furnace in
blast Jock the doors Of the merchant.
and drive the plowman from his honest
labor-all by the simple appliance of a
test oath.


And as nineteen twentieths Of the
people of Georgia could not probably
take 1t, Congress by test oath declar.
ing that no one shall hold property who
cannot take it, may conIiscate nineteen.
twentieths Of the property of G. eorgia.
and indeed Of the South, by the cxer.
else of this power to forfeit the property
lawyer has in his profession, by this
means it has as mach power TO confs.
cate any and all other property Of all
who refuse to take any test oath it may
prescribe to any or all the people of the
United States. Establish the principle
that Congress can exclude all men from
office, or the practice Of any profession
| or ayocation, who do not swear that
they never bore arms against the Gov.
ernmcnt, and it follows that it may en-.
act law that 10 man shall hold Office
who fails to swear that he did bear arms
in defence OF the Government. If the en-.
actment OF test oaths become the settled
and approved policy of the Government,
the people of other sections of the
Union will soon find chat the Southern
people arc are not the only sufferers.


may be told that the British Parlia.
ment centuries ago, enacted test oaths,
and that no man was allowed to bold
Office until he had taken the sacraments
of the Church Of England, and the
oaths Of abjuration, sc. This is true;
and it IS also true, that the enlight.
enment of the ago, and the triumph Of
reason, have long since swept these
oa.hs from the statute book, and the Jew
and the Dissenter sit today by the side
of the Churchman, in the Parliament OF
the realm. ......, =.
| Bit it does not follow. from this his.
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