Chap. IV.]

OATHS.

197

infallibly diminish the power of those principles upon which themoral character is founded.” *

We may well believe, that the quotation from the last authorpartakes very much of overstatement, and that many of the com-plaints respecting oaths are made without good reason. Still theconviction, that oaths are very greatly abused, is so strong andgeneral, as not to permit us to conclude, that all or the greaterpart of these complaints are without just foundation. In manythings where form is concerned, quite as much depends on themanner in which the form is administered as on the matter whichthe form contains. And in no case, perhaps, does this remarkmore forcibly apply, than to an oath. If all oaths were adminis-tered under suitable circumstances of solemnity, with distinctnessof utterance and a gravity of tone and manner befitting the occa-sion, it is probable, that objections against them would be verymuch diminished. Very just objections however, in truth, seemto me to lie against our system of oaths, for their number andtheir use on trifling occasions; but a still stronger objection liesagainst the levity of manner and almost total want of reverencewith which they are too often administered.

The subject of voluntary and extra-judicial oaths has beenmuch discussed in some parts of this country within a few years ;and, in some of the States, Masonic oaths have been prohibited,on the ground, that they have sometimes interfered, and mayagain interfere with the duty of the citizen to his country.

My sentiments on this subject may be summed up and classifiedthus ; (1.) Oaths ought not to be used, where other means existof attaining the end for which they have been accustomed to beadministered. The case of the election laws in this State(South Carolina) may be used to illustrate this, where, insteadof putting the elector to his oath, amidst the haste, agitation, andsometimes turmoil of the polls, — “ that he has the qualificationsrequired by law, and that he has not voted elsewhere,” the quali-fications of all the electors, within particular districts, might bepreviously ascertained, and their names entered in registers keptfor the purpose, and used at the time of the election, by which

Essays on Morality, p. 157.