203 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. (REPEAL OF THE TEST- OATH.) 



of three officers of the Army. This board was not 

 created in pursuance of any statutory authority, and 

 was powerless to compel the attendance of witnesses 

 or to pronounce a judgment which could have been 

 lawfully enforced. The officers who constituted it, 

 in their report to the Secretary of War, dated March 

 19, 1379, state that in their opinion " justice requires 

 . . . such action as may be necessary to annul and 

 set aside the findings and sentence of the court-mar- 

 tial in the case of Major-General Fitz- John Porter, and 

 to restore him to the positions of which that sentence 

 deprived him, such restoration to take effect from the 

 date of his dismissal from the service." 



The provisions of the bill now under consideration 

 are avowedly based on the assumption that the find- 

 ings of the court-martial have been discovered to be 

 erroneous. But it will be borne in mind that the in- 

 vestigation which is claimed to have resulted in this 

 discovery was made many years after the events to 

 which that evidence related, and under circumstances 

 that made it impossible to reproduce the evidence on 

 which they were based. 



It seems to me that the proposed legislation would 

 establish a dangerous precedent, calculated to imperil 

 in no small measure the binding force and effect of the 

 judgments of the various tribunals established under 

 our Constitution and laws. 



I have already, in the exercise of the pardoning 

 power with which the President is vested by the Con- 

 stitutipnj remitted the continuing penalty which had 

 made it impossible for Fitz- John Porter to hold any 

 office of trust or profit under the Government of the 

 United States. But I am unwilling to give my sanc- 

 tion to any legislation which shall practically annul 

 and set at naught the solemn and deliberate conclu- 

 sions of the tribunal by which he was convicted, and 

 of the President by whom its findings were examined 

 and approved. CHESTER A. AETHUK. 



EXECUTIVE MANSION, July 2, 1884. 



The House, on reconsideration, passed the 

 bill over the veto by the following vote : 



YEAS J. J. Adams, Aiken, Alexander, Arnot, 

 Bagley, Barbour, Bayne, Belford, Belmont, Blan- 

 chard, Blount, Breckinridge, Broadhead, Buchanan, 

 Budd, Burleigh, Burnes. Caldwell, J. E. Campbell, 

 Candlcr, Carleton, Cassidy, Clay, Clements, Cob b, 

 Cosgrove, Covington, W. R. Cox, Crisp, D. B. Cul- 

 berson, Curtin, Dargan, Deuster, Dibble, Dibrell, 

 Dorsheimer, Dowd, Dunn, Eaton, Eldredge, Elliott, 

 Ellis, English, Ermentrout, Ferrell, Follett. Forney, 

 Garrison, Gibson, Glascock, Graves, Greenleaf, Hal- 

 sell, Hammond. Hancock, Hardeman, Hardy, W. H. 

 Hatch, Hemnhill, Henley, Herbert, A. S. Hewitt, G. 

 W. Hewitt, Hill Hoblitzell, Holman, Hopkins, House- 

 man, Hunt, Jeffords, B. W. Jones, J. II. Jones, Jor- 

 dan, Kean, Kleiner, Laird, Lamb, Lanham, LeFevre, 

 Lewis, Loni;, Lore, Lovering, Lowry, Lyman, Mc- 

 Adoo, McMillin, Matson, Maybury. J. F. Miller, 

 Mills, Mitchell, Morgan, Morse, Muldrow, Murphy, 



ney, G. W. Ray, Ossian Ray, Reese, Riggs, Robert- 

 son, Rockwell, J. H. Rogers, Rosecrans, Scales. Se- 

 ney ; Seymour, Shelley, Slocum, Smith, Spnggs, 

 Springer, Charles Stewart, Stockslager, Storm, C. A. 

 Sumner, D. II. Sumner, Talbott, J. M. Taylor, 

 Thompson, Throckmorton, Tillman, Townshend, 

 Tucker, Tully, H. G. Turner, Osear Turner, Van 

 Alatyne, Vance, Van Eaton, Wallace, Ward, Richard 

 Warner. Wellborn, Weller, Wemple, Wilkins, Will- 

 iams, Willis, W. L. Wilson, E. B. Winans, John 

 Winans, G. D. Wise, Wolford, Wood, Woodward, 

 Yaple, York, Young 168. 



NAYS G. E. Adams, Anderson, Boutelle, Brainerd, 

 F. B. Brewer, T. M. Browne, W. W. Brown, Brumm 

 Calkins, J. M. Campbell, Cannon, Chalmers, W. W. 

 Culbertson, Cullen, Cutcheon, G. R. Davis, R. T. 

 Davis, Dingley, Dunham, I. N. Evans, Everhart, 



Funston, Goff, Guenther,H. H. Hatch, D. B. Hender- 

 son, T. J. Henderson, Hiscock, Hitt, Holmes, Holton, 

 Hooper, Horr, Howey, Johnson, Kasson, Keifer, 

 Lacey, McCoid, McComas, McConnick, Millard, S. 

 H. Miller, Milliken, Morrill, Nelson, Charles O'Neill, 

 Parker, Payne, Payson, Perkins, Peters, Price, Reed, 

 Rice, J. S. Robinson, Rowell, Ryan, C. R. Skinner, 

 Smalls, Spooner, Steele, Stephenson, Stone, Strait, 

 Struble, J. D. Taylor, Thomas, Valentine, Wads- 

 worth, Wait, Wakefield, Washburn, Weaver, J. D. 

 White, Milo White. Whiting, James Wilson 78. 



NOT VOTING Atkinson, Ballentine, Barksdale, 

 Barr, Beach, Bennett, Bingham, Bisbee, Blackburn, 

 Bland, Bowen, Boyle, Breitung, J. II. Brewer. Buck- 

 ner, Cabell, Felix Campbell, Chace, Clardy, Collins, 

 Connolly, Converse, Cook, S. S. Cox, Davidson, L. 

 H. Davis, Dockery, Duncan, Ell wood, J. H. Evins, 

 Fiedler, Findlay, Finerty, Foran, Fyan, Geddes, 

 George, Green, Hanback, Harmer, Hart, Haynes, 

 Hepburn, Houk, Kurd, Hutchins, James, J. K. Jones, 

 J. T. Jones, Kelley, Kellogg^ Ketcham. King, Law- 

 rence, Libbey, Money, Morrison, Moulton, Muller, 

 Nicholls, Nutting, Ochiltree, O'Hara, Petti bone, Rea- 

 gan, W. E. Robinson. W. F. Rogers, Russell, Shaw, 

 Singleton, T. G. Skinner, Snyder, Stevens, J. W. 

 Stewart, E. B. Taylor, A. J. Warner, J. S. Wise, 

 Worthington 78. 



In the Senate, on reconsideration, the meas- 

 ure did not receive the requisite two-thirds 

 majority, and failed to become a law. The fol- 

 io wing was the vote : 



YEAS Bayard, Beck, Brown, Butler, Call, Cameron 

 of Pennsylvania, Cockrell, Coke, Fair, Farley, Gar- 

 land, George, Groome, Hampton, Harris, Hoar, Jonas, 

 Jones of Florida, Maxey, Morgan, Pike, Pugh, Ran- 

 som, Sewell, Vance. Vest, Voorhees 27. 



NAYS Aldrich, Allison, Blair, Bowen, Cameron of 

 Wisconsin, Conger, Dawes, Dolph, Edmunds, Hale, 

 Harrison, Hawley, Hill, Ingalls, Lapham, Logan, 

 McMillin, Miller of New York. Mitchell, Morrill, 

 Palmer, Platt, Plumb, Sawyer, Sherman, Van Wyck, 

 Wilson 27. 



ABSENT Anthony, Camden, Colquitt, Cullom, 

 Frye, Gibson, Gorman, Jackson, Jones of Nevada, 

 Kenna, Lamar, McPherson, Mahone, Manderson, 

 Miller of California, Pendleton, Riddleberger, Sabin, 

 Saulsbury, Slater, Walker, Williams 22. 



Repeal of the Test-Oath. Jan. 21, 1884, Mr. 

 Cox, of New York, moved in the House to sus- 

 pend the rules, and pass the bill to repeal the 

 act of July 2, 1862, and such sections of the 

 Revised Statutes as perpetuate the oath pre- 

 scribed in said act. The following is the bill : 



Be it enacted, etc.. That the act of Congress entitled 

 " An act to prescribe an oath of office, and for other 

 purposes," and so much of the provisions of section 

 1756 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, and 

 all other sections thereof which provide for the en- 

 forcement of the provisions of said act of July 2, 1862, 

 be and the same are hereby repealed ; and that no 

 person hereafter shall be required to take the oath 

 therein prescribed as a condition precedent to the 

 holding of any office, or to serving as a juror, or to 

 the acquirement of any right under the 'laws of the 

 United States. 



In support of the measure, Mr. Cox said: 

 " When we stand in a semicircle before you, 

 Mr. Speaker, to be sworn, there are two classes 

 of members sworn. One class takes the oath 

 prescribed by the Constitution with a short 

 addendum. The other takes the oath known 

 as iron-clad. The latter is the disqualifying or 

 test oath. It tests the fidelity of the affiant 

 during the civil war, as to aiding, abetting, or 



