Page:Nullification Controversy in South Carolina.djvu/341

322 which might bring suspicion upon their motives and principles.

It was pointed out by the Union men that there were some few members of the legislature of the ruling party who still insisted that the oath was expressly put in its present form to leave open the question of exclusive allegiance, and that it was not intended to proscribe the Union men for adherence to their former faith. These gentlemen were urged to speak through the press, for if they could get the majority of their party to admit that the oath was not intended to exact paramount allegiance to the state, they would prove it to be harmless, remove all ground for excitement, and perhaps dissipate the portentous cloud of civil war. But no such interpretation came from the dominant party.

The Union papers called attention to some of what they regarded as "mean details of the nefarious military bill." The first section of this act revoked the commissions of the major- and brigadier-generals and gave the legislature power to appoint those officers ad interim. This the