THE 
 
 OATH OF ALLEGIANCE 
 
 :o ike 
 
 UNITED STATES, 
 
 DISCUSSED IX J[TS 
 
 MORAL AND POLITICAL BEARINGS. 
 
 By Rev'. B. M. PALMER, D. D. 
 
 LATE OF NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE SOLDIERS' TRACT ASSOCIATION 
 CHURCH, SOUTH. 
 
 r M. E. I 
 
 RICdMONP: * 
 
 Macsarlak-e & Fergusson, 
 • 1868 
 
 r#2B 
 
 I 
 
The Duties o.nd Obligations of those Cftizens of the Confederate 
 States falling within the lines of the enemy discussed, in their Mo- 
 ral and Political Bearings, with particular reference to the atroci- 
 ties-practiced by Gen. Butler in New Orleans, in a lettej: addrdfesed 
 to the Hon. John Perkins, of Louisiana, upon the introduction of 
 the following resolutions in the Confederate Congress, commending 
 those persons who refused to take the oath. By Rev*. B. M. Palmer, 
 D. D., late of New Orleans. 
 
 Joint Resolutions in commendation of the eonduct of those citi» 
 aens of Louisiana and other States who, falling within the lines 
 of the enemy, have refused to take the oath of allegiance to the 
 
 # United States. 
 
 Resolved, That Congress views with pride the course pursued by 
 the true men and women of the Confederacy, who, falling within 
 the lines of the enemy, have resisted all appeals to their pecuniary 
 interest and refused, in spite of pains and penalties, to foreswear 
 their o vn government by taking an oath of allegiance to support 
 that o( the United States, and regards with peculiar satisfaction the 
 conduct of those citizens of Louisiana, who, by refusing the oath 
 and openly registering themselves enemies to the United States in 
 the immediate presence and in defiance of General Butler's mili- 
 tary authorities, have borne most nob^ testimony by their martyr- 
 like courage to the patriotic spirit and Christian faith of oiu people. 
 
 • Resolved, That while such conduct has secured them the present 
 respect and sympathy of all good people, it will be esteemed, in 
 the future, a most honorable claim upon the gratitude of their coun- 
 try, and the highest evidence of their devotion to truth and princi- 
 ple. 
 
The Oath of Allegiance to the United Stales, 
 
 Columbia, S % C./Feby 10, 1863. 
 
 Hon. JOHN PERKINS: 
 
 Mij Tbear Sir— -The joint resolutions submitted by 
 you on the 13th of January, for die consideration of Con- 
 gress, "in commendation t>f. certain citizens of Louisiana and 
 of other States within the lines of the enemy in refusing- to 
 take the oath of allegiance" to the United States," have re- 
 cently passed under my -eye. The impulse eannot be resisted 
 of addressing to you some reflections which have long been 
 maturing in my own mind, and which you are at liberty to 
 use in any wa} T you may think conducive to the public good. 
 Permit me, in the outset, to express my approval, not only, 
 of the matter, but also of the form of j 7 our resolutions. It 
 appears- to me eminently proper that Congress should signa- 
 lize the fidelity of our fellow-citizens who have withstood all 
 appeals to self interest and to fear, in their country's darkest 
 trial. But I specially commend the moderation which pre- 
 termits in the resolutions any mention of those who have been 
 caught in the snares of the enemy, and duped into conces- 
 sions which have filled the land with sorrow. So long as these 
 unfortunate parties are debarred the privilege of a hearing — 
 the government, from paternal. "lenjty, if not from a sense of 
 rigid justice, may well -feel itself restrained from open and 
 direct censure. From the language of your paper, the world 
 is not to know that a solitary individual is excepted from the 
 encomium pronounced by Congress. Those familiar with nil 
 
the facts cannot fail, indeed, to perceive a discrimination in 
 favor of some, which, by implication, contains a censure of 
 others. This, however, is unavoidable, and those who may 
 writhe beneath the torture of this implied censure, will yet 
 be compelled to admire the generosity which forebore. to stig- 
 matize them in the legislative records of the country. Nev- 
 ertheless, from some quarter, and precisely at this juncture, 
 a protest should be uttered against the weakness of those who 
 have succumbed beneath the tyranny of Gen. Butler, and 
 sworn allegiance to the government of the "United States. It 
 may not be too late to rouse those who are involved in this 
 *dire calamity to retrieVe their lost position, and to wipe off 
 ' the dishonor which must else cleave to ^hem forever. Or, 
 iailing in this, it is still a duty to attempt the arrest of prin- 
 ciples whkh, I fear, are secretly sapping in Louisiana, the 
 foundations of pubJio morality, and destroying the basis on 
 which rest at last the permanence and security of all govern- 
 ment. ' I undertake, therefore, in this letter, to present the 
 reverse of your. medal, and assume the painful responsibility 
 of giving utterance to strictures, from which, as a legislator, 
 you have wisely refrained. Should apology be needed for 
 this obtrusion of private criticism, let it be found in the rela- 
 tion I have long sustained as a religious teacher to the people 
 of Louisiana, and my common participation as a citizen in 
 any approach which may tarnish the fame of that gallant 
 State. 
 
 . We should clearly distinguish betwixt two classes of our 
 fellow-citizens, who have submitted to the oath exacted by 
 Gen. Butler. The first class, inconsiderable both as to num- . 
 bers and influence, embraces those who were never 'true' to 
 our cause. * Some of them, from misconception of the rela- 
 tion between the States and the general 'government, secretly 
 
denied the right of secession, and simply drifted -with the 
 popular current which they felt it fdle to oppose. Of course, ■ 
 upon the first appearance of the enemy, they ranged them, 
 selves, without solicitation, upon the side of the Union, to 
 which they were borne by their political affinities. Others 
 destitute of all principle, alike political and moral, having no 
 eye but to present gain, and only intent upon opening the ob- 
 structed channels of trade, chose to make interest with those 
 who had blocked their ports. Both these are simply traitors 
 to the South— they went out from us because they were not # 
 of us — and it is "to be hoped, upon the recovery of our terri- 
 tory, they will find' it convenient to leave with their new allies 
 and purge our society of their presence. The other classes 
 embraces those who, in their secret hearts, are still loyal* to 
 the Confederacy, and have taken the oath under constraint, 
 regarding it as one of the necessities of war. The universal 
 compaseion felt for their distress has almost extinguished cen- 
 sure of the act- -Avhilst the conviction entertained of their 
 substantial loyalty retains them within the embrace of our 
 affection's. The general integrity of many in this class af- 
 fords a guarantee that conscience has been snared through 
 the sophistry of the understanding; and that by subtlety of 
 argument they have been persuaded into the belief that the 
 rjafh could be taken salra fide. In adjudicating this ques- 
 tion, I caunot but think some considerations were overlooked, 
 which should have formed an element ifi the decision to be 
 rendered, and, which, if entertained must have wholly chang- 
 ed its complexion. • » 
 
 Before canvassing, however, the grounds upon which this 
 oath-taking has been justified, that we may make due allow- 
 ance for rruinan infirmity, let us look at the peculiar pressure 
 under which these parties were put. Tn the first place, the 
 
demand made upon tlieni xvoa a novelty.; and we all know how 
 men flounder in uncertainty without acknowledged precedents 
 for their guidance. 1 liave .in vain Searched the records of 
 modern history for its -parallel. The famous contest between 
 Philip of Spain and the States pf Holland presents some fea- 
 tures of resemblance to the conflict now waging between the 
 North and ourselves. -The Spanish power then, as the North 
 does now, branded the attempt of a brave people to frame 
 their own- constitution and laws as flagrant rebellion;- and 
 condrfecl a long and bitter war to reduce, as they alleged, a 
 revolted province to allegiance. But in no instance "did the 
 cruel Alva — fitting tool though he was of a treacherous and 
 bigoted despot, force a reluctant oath upon the cit.ies-which 
 he conquered. They were held, indeed, by military garrisons 
 until such time as the State of which they formed a constitu- 
 ent part should in like manner be reduced. JNe attempt was 
 made to cancel. their tics of allegiance but through the con- 
 stituted authorities to whom that allegiance had been sworn. 
 It has been reserved to our time and to our foes to, invent the 
 shameful and cowardly device of dealing with single cojnmu- 
 nhies, and even with individual- persons, as if they were in- 
 dependent of higher authority. A- magnanimous enemy 
 .might have held New Orleans oy right of capture; but would 
 Jiave refrained from the' imposition of oaths until the Stat<! 
 of Louisiana had bejm reduced to submission, and as an or- 
 ganic whole, had carried over all the parts of which' it is com- 
 posed. But the refined despotism of the Lincoln government 
 adopts the policy of grinding. individuals between conflicting: 
 jurisdictions as between the upper and nether millstones. 
 Conscious of its impotence to subjugate, it has been satisfied 
 with disgracing those whom it cannot conquer, and with de- 
 moralizing those ; over whom it cannot rule. The satanic 
 
boast of GerK Butler has been in parfc* achieved of holding 
 up what he is pleased to term a perjured people to the deri- 
 sion of mankind. I shall recur to this thought in another 
 connection, and present it as a reason why the oath should 
 have been sternly refused. It is mentioned here only to show 
 how our people were surprised in the historic novelty of their 
 position; and how they were subjected to a rigor of treat- 
 ment unknown to the worst despotisms of the past. 
 
 • In the next place the craft by which this nefarious design 
 was accomplished, does full credi#to the subtlety ami malice 
 in which it was conceived. Butler's tyranny opened with a 
 prohibition against more than three persons speftkme: together 
 upon the- streets, wider the penalty ef being dispersed as a 
 mob; the effect of whicX.was to insulate individuals* and to 
 prevent that interchange of views necessary to concert of ac- 
 tion. A system of espionage, most comprehensive in its 
 sweep, was moreover immediately instituted; so that you could 
 not look your fellow in the face, lest the flash of the eye 
 should betray to a paid informer, the secret resentment of the 
 goul. Even slaves of the household were suborned under 
 promises of personal freedom^ to invent charges against the 
 nssteiywhicli subjected him fb examination and search, ac- 
 companied with brutal and insulting threats.* With the poi- - 
 son of suspicion thus universally diffused, the infirmity of 
 many yielded to external -pressure, as- single-handed and 
 alone, they were either bullied or cajoled into a form of sub- 
 n denied by tfie heart as often as it was sworn by the 
 But the catalogue of wrongs is only begun. Placing his 
 mailed hand next upon the separate guilds into which society 
 is classiiied, and resorting at once to the arts of special plead- 
 ing-and to the display of irresponsible power, he' extorted mi- 
 from each of these — yielded in the vain hope 
 
10 
 
 that this would be the end of their humiliation*— but which, 
 though small, were sufficient to break the tone of a" spirited 
 people. " C est le premier pas qui coute;" when the veil of 
 delusion was rent by th« imposition of further 'tests, they m 
 found themselves upon an inclined plane, wliich had no rest- 
 ing place but in abject submission. Nothing was left but 
 consistency in error and the melancholy confession at the last, 
 "pas a pas on va Men loin." Thus craftily were our unhap- 
 py fellow-citizens decoyed into the oath from which, at the 
 beginning, they recoiled w%h the indignant exclamation of 
 Hazael, "What! is thy servant a dog, that he should do this 
 great thing^" 
 
 The darkest feature, however, in .'this oppression, is found 
 in the mdefined terrors which hung like a portentuous cloud 
 over this devoted people; terrors, too, of such, a nature as 
 gloomily to impress the imagination and freeze the soul with 
 horror. The infamous order, No. 28, was not, as usually in- 
 terpreted, the outburst of a brutal and savage nature in a 
 moment of resentment; but part of a premeditated system to 
 strike, universal terror into the heart of the community. The 
 blow was threatened just where the affections are most sensi- 
 tive; and the violation of the* sweetest sanctities of home x#is 
 set forth as i\fb penalty of resistance to the tyrant's will. 
 Though directed in form against the women of Louisiana, its 
 ' evident design was to reach through them their intractable 
 guardians of the other sex. The husband and the father 
 were called to look upon their imprisoned households, and 
 then to survey the hounds of the despot by whom they were 
 held at bay. A licentious soldiery drawn from the scum of 
 Northern society, the agragrian element always to be found 
 in the mixed population of a large city, and the drunken he- 
 lots just emancipated from bondage and tricked out in the 
 
11 
 
 toggery of their new associates — these were held in the leash 
 to be let loose- to sack and plunder at their will, and to gratify 
 the worst passions of the human heart. Doubtlesaihese fears 
 were, to a large extent imaginary; for they were never real- 
 ized by those who openly defied the tyrant's power, who seem-, 
 ed rather to amuse himself with playing upon the fears of 
 and with imposing tests of their moral courage, and with 
 mocking those w^o faltered and trembled under nis frown. 
 But though imaginary, they were nevertheless effective. Our 
 people* appeared to feel as though the earth was heaving be- 
 neath their tread, and that, in a single moment, they might 
 go down together through the parted crust. These nameless, 
 formless horrors, presented by a morbid fancy, with the desire 
 to preserve their property from confiscation, combined to crush 
 the spirit of a people as noble as any beneath the sun. My 
 heart, sir, alternately burns with auger and bleeds in sympa- 
 thy as I contemplate these accumulated wrongs, which are 
 recited with no design to apologize for the^oath, but to show 
 that the censure levelled against it proceeds from no insensi- 
 bility to the distress by which it was coerced. The same ten- 
 derness which weeps over the sorrows of our friends, pleads 
 with themlo retrieve the still heavier disaster of a dishonor- 
 ed name. 
 
 It is not to be presumed that all were conducted to this fa- 
 tal step by precisely the same line of argument. According- 
 ly, we find it justified upon two grounds which are not only 
 distinct from, but even exclusive of each, as the attention 
 happened to be fixed upon one or the other horn of a com- 
 mon dilemma. The difficulty was how to take the oath with- 
 out surrendering, on the one hand, a conscious loyalty to the 
 Confederacy, and retaining, on the other hand, something like 
 integrity of conscience. The path wai; too narrow to allow 
 
the slightest deflection- without plunging into one- or the other 
 of these two quicksands. . Some determined to preserve their 
 interest in the country which they loved, even at the expense 
 • of truth; others, to maintain veracity at the hazard of cloud- 
 ing with suspicion their civil fidelity. Let us examine both 
 expedients in detail. 
 
 I It is alleged, then, by the first of these two glasses, that 
 'being without liberty of choice, in the hands of an unscru- 
 pulous and barbarous enemy, it was lawful to swear an oath 
 With the lips' to which the heart gave no response ; that no 
 faith was to be placed in an oath exacted upon compulsion, 
 and .accordingly it might be taken with a mental reservation 
 to break it so soon as opportunity should be. afforded of doing- 
 it with safety. The case . is considered parallel with an oath 
 of secresy exacted by a footpad with his stiletto at our throat 
 which it is alleged might be given with the firm but secret 
 purpose of bringing the outlaw to justice as soon as we should 
 be once more within the protection of society and law. I be- 
 lieve I have stated the argument in its utmost strength. The 
 oath, say they, was taken, but under, circumstances, which 
 2;ave ^he imposer no confidence in the fidelity of the party 
 sworn, and absolved the latter from all obligation to abide by 
 his pledge.* It were far better, to -let this oath pass Without 
 defence than to justify it by u doctrine so desolating. in its 
 consequences. The apparent, or even the real apostacy of 
 many thousands from our ranks, cannot inflict so severe ov 
 lasting. a shock upon the .Confederacy as the promulgation of 
 principles like these. We are all willing, in a superabundant 
 charity, to forgive, the weakness, of those who have fallen un- 
 der the cruel oppressions which I have already described ; 
 but we cannot permit that weakness to be extolled into a vir- 
 tue, nor to be extenuated uj.on grounds subversive alike of 
 
lo 
 
 morality ami religion. What is an oath, but au appeal to the 
 omniscient God as a witi he truth "whereof we affirm? 
 
 In this consists the essence of the sin of perjury; that "the 
 juror has the thought of (Tod and religion upon his mind at 
 the time, so that -if he offeitds, it is in defiance of th-c sanc- 
 tions of religion, and implies a disbelief or contempt of God*s 
 knowledge, power and justice." Since human society cannot 
 exist without mutual confidence, and this in- turn depends 
 upon truth, the oath has been ordained by God for the attain- 
 ment of both these ends. To guard as far as possible against 
 the temptations to falsehood, the religious sentiment in man 
 is brought into exercise, and the conscience is surrounded by 
 all those motives which can be drawn from a consideration of 
 God and of His retributive justice. The juror (the term be- 
 ing taken in its etymological, not its technical signification) is 
 cited immediately before the Di/ine tribunal, thut in view of 
 Him who reads the secrets of all hearts, and is pledged to' 
 punish fraud as an offence against His authority, he may have* 
 the. strongest inducement to utter the truth. This* of course, 
 is founded upon the idea that human government itself is not 
 only an ordinance of God, but that it is a dim reflection of 
 the Divine. . We could not, indeed, be- subjects of human 
 law, if we were not antecedently under the jurisdiction of the 
 Supreme Ruler of the world. Hence lftmiaif government is 
 not only divinely ordained, but its e and preservation 
 
 depend upon those religious convictions which are recognized 
 in the divine law. With all l-he temporal*: auction.-- by which 
 it strives to enforce obedience, its control over human conduct 
 is not effectual until it. invokes the aid of conscience, and 
 thus places a police in every human breast. Its strongest 
 protection is found m the oath which takes hold of the reli- 
 gious natm n. It can rise no D 
 
14 
 
 summons us into the presence of the infinite God, and sways 
 His awful sceptre over the soul as it compels our testimony in 
 sight of those tremendous judgments which fence around the 
 prerogatives t>f that august being. Hence moralists have not 
 hesitated to describe the oath as a twofold covenant made 
 both vith society and with God; and in this latter aspect it 
 rises into the solemnity of an act of religious worship. Thus 
 it is that "men swear by the greater, and ah oath for confir- 
 mation is to them an end of all strife." The pledge of ve- 
 racity is deposited with the Judge of all the earth, and upon 
 its forfeiture are suspended the fearful retributions of eternity* 
 If this does not bind* the conscience, nothing can bind, and 
 society is without a guarantee for that truthfulness upon which 
 human intercourse must at last hinge. 
 
 To trifle, therefore, with the sanctity of the oath, is to 
 strike a fatal blow both at religion and at law. It destroys' 
 religion by weakening the sense of God's presence in the 
 feoul, and by debauching the very faculty to which ail her 
 sanctions are addressed: "he that cometh unto God must be- 
 lieve that He is, and that He js.the rewarder of them that 
 diligently seek Him." It also undermines the foundation on 
 which civil government is built whiph cannot lose its hold 
 upon the conscience without destroying the very source of its 
 authority. No increase of civil penalties can compensate for 
 the loss of this moral control ; for, besides the fact that every 
 addition to the criminal legislation of a country only increases 
 the friction and wears out the machinery of government, 
 there are many offences which' cannot be reached by it; and 
 in any case it is but a collateral ^security which it affords. I 
 freely confess my alarm at the ventilation of a doctrine which 
 thus summarily dispenses with the obligation of the oath. If 
 it be. not arrested, the most complete demoralization of our 
 
15 
 
 people must ensue, which will render all government impossi- 
 ble save*lhat of brute physical •force. The prevalence, in- 
 deed, of this corrupt sentiment is the remote cause of all the 
 troubles in which we are now involved." Covenants and trea- 
 ties solemnly instituted by our* fore fathers were no longer in- 
 terpreted in their simple and obvious meaning. Ingenuity 
 itself was put to- the torture to devise expositions which should 
 eviscerate them of the principles which they were ordained' 
 to conserve until at length our modern alchemists found in 
 the doctrine of "a higher law," the mighty solvent which de- 
 stroyed the power of oaths and covenants at once. Men 
 swore with due solemnity to uphold the constitution and the 
 laws, but with a mental reservation to. uproot these very in- 
 stitutions which that constitution had been framed to defend $ 
 until the universal perfidy of the North suddenly burst every 
 ligature by which the States were held together in the Fede- 
 ral Union. Are our people willing to walk in the footsteps 
 or our foes? And is it a suitable preparation for a new his- 
 toric career to inoculate this young nation with the virus of 
 that perfidy which has already destroyed before our eyes one 
 of the most colossal governments upon earth? Nor is it dif- 
 ficult to trace the practical operation of this secret poison as 
 it diffuses itself through the body politic. If the juror may 
 swear no longer u hi+ani'mum ~imponenti$y but according to a 
 secret intention of his own, then he alone can judge when or 
 how far. he is bound. The magistrate may, by this sweeping 
 dispensation, absolve himself from* the guilt of malfeasance 
 in office; the juryman upon the panel -and the witness upon 
 the stand may combine to defeat all the ends of justice 
 through an oath which open- and shuts conveniently at the 
 bidding of caprice, until, in the total overfhrow. of morality, 
 society itself shall crumble through universal distrust. The 
 
« 
 
 application may bo ma<U- to the very parties- whose plea we 
 are now. considering. They swear allegiance to thc*govern- 
 n#ent at Washington, raising the hand to heaven in attestation 
 of their sincerity; yet, at the. same moment, they require us 
 to Delieve .their affirmation of loyalty to the government at 
 Richmond. Which of these opposing declarations is to be. 
 received ? Plainly, this cannot be determined without weigh- 
 ing both in the balance of probabilities; but as far as their 
 naked word is concerned, how can it challenge confidence 
 when, even under the awful .sanction of an oath, it confesses 
 to wilful falsehood? Can it ever be lawful for men to place 
 themselves in that condition of disability where their simple 
 word can never be. accepted as the guage of truth? This 
 might be* enforced by' adverting to the peril* incurred by sub-' 
 scription pf the Lincoln oath. . Being, registered citizci 
 the United Stajtes, suppose it had been required of them to 
 bear arms against their brethren of the South, who are now 
 battling- for the restoration of that birthright which, in an <#il 
 hour, they have bartered away ? And what hinders it but the 
 conviction in the tyrant's mind that they cannot be trusted 
 with the very duties which their oath of fealty implies? A 
 conviction, by the way, which. involves him in the still greater 
 disgrace of compelling an oath in which he does not confide, 
 but which also shows the guilt of subscribing it, since this 
 alone saves from the most fearful crime. of lilting the. hand 
 against the mother that bore them. 
 
 I come now to the secoftd and. entirely distinct line of de- 
 fence raised by some who have been entangled' in the snare; 
 among whom arc many' far too conscientious to assume a posi- 
 tion "known. to fee fulse, or to subscribe an oath with anything 
 approaching to mental reservation. I cannot refrain, in pars- 
 ing, from the remark (hat; upon nil questions of .honor"" and 
 
principle, the first thought of an honest and pure mind is fhe 
 
 tefestj *for in' this the instinct. of manliness and truth usually 
 
 in. The second i. J udence is 
 
 prom ' tion and 
 
 tin n out i > he subterfuges for the evasion of duty. It is al- 
 ii d class, that the control and protec- 
 tion of the Confederacy being, through the fortunes of war, 
 wholly Buspenc^ecl, upon the principle of submitting to the 
 powers th;:f lie, they took the* oath to the only authority which 
 1, and which made this the only condition upon 
 which it protection coujd be enjoyed. 1 hey took it moie- 
 over in good faith, intending to keey^jt so long as the Fede- 
 ral rule should . but in the hope that this rule would, 
 in elite season, terminate and restore them^o the civil connec- 
 tions from which their hearts were never estranged. This 
 ion Is impregnable so far as a < Lod to mil- 
 itary force its concerned.. Neither the laws of war nor those 
 of reason oblige men 'to continue a factious and unavailing 
 opposition againfet overwhelming and crushing force; and no 
 blame could attach to them for dimply yielding to the ri 
 warfare, which con?. rets with ion of ac- 
 tive hostility. But it is an immense ic^p from this to the 
 making of "a solemn covenant, transforming into a govern- 
 ment of law what was before only a government of force; for 
 the oath of allegiance t. I with the citizenship all its* 
 moral -obligations, and invested the authority of Butfer, with 
 the sanctions of a recognized and legal government. Had 
 the«e pa;\ >a€hed the Federal commander with lan- 
 ;tially this: "as a . o, wholly 
 within ydffc .. \\uiry 
 force, and without conceding this submission to be obedic: 
 no censure could attfUb to them; amt they would then be 
 
. 18 
 
 embraced within the terms of the eulogy conveyed in the 
 resolutions you have presented before Congress. If it be said 
 that allegiance was the only condition upon which protection 
 would be afforded to property and life, my answer is that the 
 hazard should have been incurred along with the thousands 
 who chose to be registered as alien enemies to the United 
 States father than forfeit their loyalty to the South. Actual 
 submission to military supremacy was all that could be de- 
 manded of them by the rules of civilized warfare; and it was 
 their privilege to stand upon the assertion of this right before 
 the nations of the earth. Notwithstanding the ghos% terrors 
 by which they were s^rounded, the government at Washing- 
 ton dared not, under the eyes of mankind, to exact more. A 
 few victims mighty perhaps, be selected from the mass, upon 
 whom to vent disappointment and spleen, and a firief persis- 
 tence in tyranny might have tested the endurance of , 'the com- 
 munity; but a little firmness w T ould have carried them over 
 the trial, and won for the sufferers an immortality of glory; 
 in proof of which I adduce the fact, y that wherever else in 
 the Confederacy the enemy has been stoutly defied, with all 
 his bluster, he has been compelled to yield a reluctant acqui- 
 esence in the moral pode established by civilized' nations for 
 the regulation of war. 
 
 But suppose the reverse ,of this, and a long dispensation of 
 'suffering to ensue, are we to avow the doctrine that the most 
 cherished convictions of the soul must be surrendered upon 
 the pleaof coercive necessity. I will put the argument in a. 
 form most likely to be appreciated by tne Christian men who 
 have taken refuge under this plea^ Should the days of reli- « 
 gious persecutions again appear, would it be right, ?h order to .. 
 save property and life, to abjure Christianity and to offer sac-, 
 rifices upon the altar %f Jupiter, as w& done in the second 
 
19 
 
 century? The frailty of human nature might yield now, as 
 it did then, under the fiery ordeal; and knowing that we are 
 men, we might weep tears of compassion, nay, almost *of for- 
 gftenesS* over an apostacy thus extorted. But what judgment 
 would we pronounce upon a cool argument framed to justify 
 this defection ? If we could be brought to pardon the one, 
 we could not tolerate the other. Yet, after all, why is not 
 the argument of coercive necessity as conclusive in this case, 
 as in that we are now considering? I freely admit the dis- 
 parity between the two; in that one relates to the ^duties 
 which. we owe to man; but I see not why the obligation may 
 not be as imperative to abide by our principles in the one 
 sphere as well as in the other — why duty to our country may 
 not be is paramount in the earthly kingdom as duty to our 
 God is in the spiritual and heavenly. 1 have been educated, 
 sir, in a school which regards the obligations we owe to coun- 
 try as only next to those which we owe to God. Our coun- 
 try! what doea not the # terni embrace? It means ouf homes 
 and the cheerful firesides, and the prattling babes that gather 
 jound the paternal knee; it means swe*ei neighborhood and 
 friendship, and the tender charities which -solace life from 
 the cradle to the tomb; it means the memories of our youth 
 as they grow fresh again in the twilight of age; it means an- 
 cestry and the proud recollection of honored sires, who be- 
 queathed their blessing with the names we inherit; it means 
 our altars and sanctuaries where we have worshipped God and 
 held communion with his saints on earth ; it means the graves 
 where our loved ones are lying, consecrated by the tears of a 
 bitter parting when they were laid out of sight forever ; it 
 means all that the human heart can remember and love ; all 
 the associations which sprea'd their secret network over human 
 life ; all tho scattered leaves on which are written the sorrows 
 
• ' 2fi • # 
 
 and the joys through which man travels onward to" lfcs rest 
 above: Our country and our God! 'The two l>l£hd evermore 
 iirthe*Ohristian patriot's thought, and shall it be said there 
 arc no martyrdoms for the one, when the gibbet- and *he m#ie 
 are welcomed for the other ? . 
 
 True heroism may be displayed in endurance not less than 
 in action; and our fellow-citizens in Louisiana enjoyed a most 
 distinguished opportunity of rendering a service to the Con- 
 federacy quite as valuable as that of the army in the field. 
 Can any good reason be assigned why they should not run the 
 hazard of confiscation, of* imprisonment and of death, equally 
 with those who encountered the risk of capture, of wounds, 
 and of death upon the field of slaughter? If those may be 
 justified in their apostacy because of the perils by wind* they 
 were surrounded, why may not these be justified on precisely 
 the same grounds for declining the guage of battle in the 
 presence of the foe? In short, the plea now under discus- 
 sion serins to resolve patriotism into an affair of simple con- 
 track The inability of the Confederacy for thc^ time being 
 to protect them, is ^'iewed as dissalymg the'bond between 
 them and it; and, like traders in the market, they bargain 
 with another party, purchasing protection with loyalty. Upon 
 this pri-nciple patriotism is a word without moaning, and alla- 
 gianco becomes the sport oT accident and chance. I have not 
 the heart to pursue the discussion under this aspect. I can- 
 not believe that our friends have deliberately brought them- 
 selves to rest in this bleak and desolate conclusion. By the 
 instin t which recoils from it let them detect the sophistry of 
 the whole plea frcmi which it is deduced by the rigor of a re- 
 morseless logic. 
 
 I close this long- letter by suggesting two . considerations 
 which alone should have deterred these iurors from subscribe 
 
-i 
 
 m" tJie oath in question, la tlie Ihvt place ite,iiBpdsition 
 in contravention of aright whicli ought never to have been 
 conceded. I have already -stated that the acknowledged !. 
 o£ warfare required the .subjugation of 'the whole, before tests 
 of loyalty should be exacted of the constituent parts. V\'hy . 
 was not the attempt to establish a contrary precedent, full of 
 mischief to the world at large, promptly met with a manly 
 protest and with an appeal to the verdict of mankind? Duty, 
 not to their country alone but to the race of man, forbade the 
 concession of such a claim. In the second place, the distinc- 
 tive ground on which this war is waged by the North is, that 
 the South has embarked in a wicked rebellion, upon crushing 
 which the very life of the aation depends. It totally ignores 
 the authority of sovereign States intervening between tl>e cit- 
 izen .and the central power, and simply for this reason an oath 
 of allegiance is exacted of individuals. A monstrous despo- 
 tism has grown up whicli swallows up all the States alive, and 
 treats their jurisdiction as no morS than that of a municipal 
 corporation. Are the jurors in Louisiana willing to lend the 
 "sanction of their names to a doctrine which has already con- 
 verted'the freest government on earth into the most corrupt 
 and reckless despotism upon which the sun ever slione? And • 
 are they prepared to brand with the infamy of rebellion that 
 sacred cause for which their own brothers and their own sons 
 arc perilling life and limb upon many a fjpld of battle? Yet , 
 the oath they have sworn sanctions this foul calumny pro- 
 nounced against the heroes and the martyis of their own 
 blood. 
 
 Could my voice, sir, be heard in Louisiana, I would s&y to 
 those who once listened to me with affection and respect, can- 
 cel this dreadful oath. Before it is too late, retrieve your po- 
 sition by a bold and manly retraction. Before, this war rushes