xcepted. This writer, "by authority," shows how
this oath of allegiance is evaded by a mental reservation:

"It is lawful to use ambiguous terms to give the impression a
different sense from that which you understand yourself. A
person may take an oath that he has not done such a thing,
though in fact he has, by saying to himself it was not done on
a certain day, or before he was born, or by any other similar
circumstances, which gives another meaning to it. This is
extremely convenient, and always very just, when necessary to
your health, honor or prosperity."

Here, then, we have it from the highest Catholic authority, that
Catholics are absolved from all allegiance to this government, because
they take the oath of allegiance without committing perjury, by the holy
process of a mental reservation--the use of "ambiguous terms," setting
forth one thing while they swear another! We have no doubt that Chief
Justice TANEY, a devoted Catholic of Baltimore, and now at the head of
the Supreme Court of the United States, took his oath of office
requiring him to support the Constitution, with this same mental
reservation. We have no doubt that those Catholic Judges upon the
Federal Bench in several States in the Union, and those Catholic
Attorney Generals, appointed to office by Mr. Pierce, so understood
their oaths of office, and of allegiance! And the practice of
Post-Master General Campbell, a bigoted Catholic, and a member of the
order of Jesuits, proves that he so understood his oath to support the
Constitution. As true Catholics, they are bound to swear with this
mental reservation, because they could not owe allegiance to a
government of "heretics," such as they believe ours to be. As Catholics,
they are bound to overthrow our Constitution, and aid in the destruction
of our government.

It is a matter of history that when the Legislature of North Carolina
elected Judge GASTON to the Supreme Bench in that State, he hesitated as
to whether he would take the oath or not. And why? He was, although an
able man, and in all the private relations of life a most excellent man,
a decided and devoted Roman Catholic. This is not all. The oath of a
Judge in that State, which is not common in other States, requires the
man taking it to avow his belief in the Protestant religion. Judge
Gaston asked for a few days to consider--he went instantly to Baltimore,
as was believed, to consult the Cath