THE TWO REPUBLICS
WILL IT SUCCEED?
EVIDENCE has been given showing the strength of the
religious combination for the political object of making the civil power
subordinate to the ecclesiastical in this government. This evidence also
shows that just as soon as their design can be made a political issue
dependent upon votes, the question will be decided in their favor,
because the combination can easily cast enough votes to carry any
election in their favor. It is important next to inquire, What, if any,
encouragement has this movement already received from the national
government ? It is too bad that it should be so, but it must be
confessed that there is abundance of evidence to show that the
encouragement which the movement has received is so extensive and of
such a material character as to render the situation at the present
moment actually alarming to every person who has respect for
Christianity, or the principles of the United States Constitution, or
the rights of his fellow-men.
As a matter of fact, it is certain unconstitutional
practices of the national government that have established a precedent
which has been made a coign of vantage to the religious movement from
the date of its organization. Contrary to the Constitution and to the
intent of its makers, the United States government almost, if not quite,
from the beginning has employed chaplains in the army, the navy, and in
Congress; and has thus retained that relic of the union of Church and
State, and perpetuated the imposture begun by Constantine and the
political ecclesiastics. That it is contrary to the intent of the
founders of the national government, is made clear by the following
words of Madison, written in a letter to Edward Livingston , July 10,
1822 : --
"I observe with particular pleasure the view you have
taken of the immunity of religion from civil jurisdiction, in every case
where it does not trespass on private rights or the public peace. This
has always been a favorite principle with me ; and it was not with my
approbation that the deviation from it took place in Congress, when they
appointed chaplains, to be paid from the national treasury. It would
have been a much better proof to their constituents, of their pious
feelings if the members had contributed for the purpose a pittance from
their own pockets."
He observed likewise that the precedent was " not
likely to be rescinded, " which has not only proven true,
but the
precedent has been made the basis of this loud demand for a religious
government altogether.
That it is contrary both to the letter and the spirit
of the Constitution, is made clear by the qualifications that are
required as essential to an appointment to a chaplaincy.
The following is an official statement received from
the War Department, concerning the rank and pay of chaplains, and the
qualifications required to become a chaplain : --
"The attention of applicants is directed to the
following laws from the Revised Statutes of the United States : --
" SECTION 1121. The President may, by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate, appoint a chaplain for each regiment
of colored troops, and thirty post chaplains . . .
" SECTION 1122. Chaplains shall have the rank of
captain of infantry, without command, and shall be on the same footing
with other officers of the army, as to tenure of office, retirement, and
pensions.
" SECTION 1123. No person shall be appointed as
regimental or post chaplain until he shall furnish proof that he is a
regularly ordained minister of some religious denomination, in good
standing at the time of his appointment, together with a recommendation
for such appointment from some authorized ecclesiastical body, or from
not less than five accredited ministers of said denomination.
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"SECTION 1261. The officers of the army shall be
entitled to the pay herein stated after their respective designations.
"Chaplain : Fifteen hundred dollars a year.
"SECTION 1262. There shall be allowed and paid to each
commissioned officer below the rank of brigadier-general, including
chaplains and others having assimilated rank or pay, ten per centum of
their current yearly pay for each term of five years of service."
Here is a distinctly religious qualification required.
The applicant shall prove that he is a regularly ordained minister of
some religious denomination and must be recommended by some authorized
ecclesiastical body. It is true that he is not required directly by this
law, to declare that he believes in the Trinity, or the communion of
saints, or the resurrection of the dead. It is true he is not required
to pass such a direct test as that. But he is required to be religious
and to belong to a religious denomination. If he is not this, he cannot
be appointed. This is nothing else than a religious test as a
qualification for office under the United States, and is clearly a
violation of that clause of the Constitution which declares that "No
religious test shall ever be required as a qualification of any office
of public trust under the United States."
More than this: although, as stated above, no direct
test as to a belief in the Trinity, etc., is required, the same thing is
done indirectly. For in order to be an ordained minister in good
standing in some religious denomination, he must necessarily pass a
close and searching test upon many religious points. Therefore this
requirement does indirectly what it does not do directly, and is just as
certainly a violation of the Constitution, as though it were done
directly.
That it is contrary to the principles of Christianity,
is evident from the actual situation as it exists. This point is
discussed from actual knowledge gained by experience, as the author of
this book spent five full years in the regular army of the United
States. Army chaplains are supposed to be for the spiritual benefit of
the soldiers; but they are no benefit at all, either spiritually or
otherwise. I have been in different garrisons where chaplains were
stationed and never in the whole five years did a chaplain visit the
quarters where I was, or any of the men in the company to which I
belonged; unless, perhaps, in company with the officers at Sunday
morning inspection. Never was there a visit made by a chaplain to the
company in which I served -- Company I of the 21st Infantry, from
November 2,1870, to same date 1875,-- for any spiritual purpose, or for
any purpose in the due exercise of the duties which he is appointed to
perform.
The fact of the matter is, chaplains cannot work for
the spiritual interests of the soldiers in the regular army. They rank
as commissioned officers, and are to be considered by the enlisted men
with the same deference and military respect that is due to the
officers. The chaplain wears an officer's uniform, and an officer's
insignia of rank. And whenever he appears, the soldier must strike an
attitude of "attention" and salute, as he would any other commissioned
officer. Thus, the very position which he holds, ranking as an officer,
places an insurmountable barrier between him and the soldier. He cannot
maintain the dignity of his rank and meet the common soldier upon the
level where he is, and approach him upon that common level as every
minister of the gospel must do with those whom he is to help
spiritually. He cannot enter into the feelings, the wants, the trials,
the temptations, the besetments, of the common soldier, as one must do
to be able to help spiritually, and as the minister of the gospel must
do in the exercise of his office anywhere, with any person in the wide
world.
Jesus Christ set no such example.
He did not appear in
the glory, the dignity, the rank, and the insignia of office, which he
bore as the King of eternity. He laid this aside; he came amongst men,
meeting humanity upon humanity's level. He though divine, came in human
form ; and made himself subject to all the temptations which humanity
meets. This he did in order that he might be able to help those who are
tempted. The great apostle to the Gentiles, following the way of his
Master, became all things to all men, that by all means he might save
some. To the weak he became as weak, that he might save
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them that are weak; to the tempted and tried, the
same, that he might save them, and bring them to the knowledge of Him
who was tempted and tried for their sakes, that he might deliver them
from temptation and give them strength to overcome in time of trial.
This is the divine method; it is the only right method.
The appointment of chaplaincies in the United States
army, with the rank, the dignity, and the insignia of superior office,
is contrary to the principle illustrated by Jesus Christ in his life and
taught in his word, and frustrates the very purpose for which
professedly they are appointed. The money that is spent by the United
States government in paying chaplains could scarcely be spent in a way
that would do the soldiers less good. In the nature of the case, it is
impossible that chaplains can benefit the men. Besides, having it
devolved upon them to maintain the "dignity" and "respect" that is due
to their rank they do not, in fact, make any very strenuous efforts to
help the men. It is difficult to conceive how any man who has the spirit
of Christ, and who really has the burden to help the enlisted men of the
army, could ever think of accepting such a position; because the
acceptance of the position becomes at once the greatest hinderance to
his helping the men at all.
This much upon the merit of the question. The
principle shows that in the circumstances of their appointment, army
chaplains cannot benefit the men; and practice shows not only that they
do not benefit them, but that they do not try. Madison's statement that
the precedent was not likely to be rescinded, was simply the expression
of a consciousness of the power of precedent in government, however
pernicious the precedent and the practice under it may be. The statement
was prophetic. In the Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth Congresses, 1853 to
1857, there were strong efforts made to abolish government chaplaincies.
The efforts failed, though there was not a valid argument offered to
sustain the practice, but only "precedent;" and "it does not cost enough
to justify complaint," and "there is no danger of union of Church and
State,"etc. If those who so argued then, were only alive now, and could
see what claims are made upon the practice and precedent which they
perpetuated, it is altogether likely they would think there was danger
in it then. To the Thirty-fourth Congress the Baptists sent up a
memorial asking that chaplaincies be abolished, and the argument is good
for all time. We can present only a portion of the document as follows :
--
"The immense increase of the number of chaplains
employed by the government within the past few years, has alarmed us to
apprehend that an extension of the system may ultimately subject us all
to the serious and oppressive features of an unholy union of Church and
State, with which the world has been so grievously burdened in all ages,
and from which we had hoped we were forever delivered by the glorious
epoch of the American Revolution.
"The number of national clergy which the citizens of
our country are annually forced to support, by indirect taxation, is as
follows: Thirty in the army; twenty-four in the navy, and two in
Congress, besides a large number at the various naval and military
schools, stations, and out-posts; and at various missionary stations,
ostensibly as teachers of Indian schools. The aggregate amount which we
are annually compelled to pay for the support of clergymen, as officers
which the Constitution gives Congress no power to create or impose upon
us, but on the contrary, positively prohibits, cannot therefore vary far
from a quarter of a million of dollars annually ! Should the number of
national chaplains continue to increase in the ratio of the past few
years, it will soon equal that of the national clergy in the despotisms
of the Old World, where the Church and State are allies in corruption
and oppression. Indeed, we know of no stopping place or limit that can
be set to arrest its progress, when precedent has overthrown the
protective barriers of the Constitution.
"We cannot perceive why clergymen should be sustained
by government in either house of Congress, at our military and naval
stations, on board our vessels of war, in each regiment of our army, any
more than in each township, parish, district, or village throughout the
land: and to sanction the former could not be regarded otherwise than as
an assent to the extension of the same system that would place us upon a
level with the priest-ridden despotisms of the Old World. Our members of
Congress, military and naval officers, soldiery and seamen, are, or
should be, paid a just compensation for their services,
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and be left, like all other citizens, to support any
clergymen, or none, as their consciences may direct them, without legal
agency or coercion. Neither Christianity nor the genius of our
institutions contemplates any aristocracy predicated upon the clerical
profession, and no special provision therefore is necessary by the
government to admit clergymen to our army and navy, as they may enlist
like other men, and labor like Jesus himself and his apostles among the
poor fishermen on the sea-side. If it be objected that few clergymen
would serve among the troops and marines upon such terms, we can only
say that, if actuated by correct religious motives, no minister would
wait for government gold to lead him to his labors of love among them,
and that none but hypocrites would be debarred by the want of it. We
think the government should not evince more religious zeal than
professed ministers of the gospel themselves, by bribing them to perform
religious service. If the clergymen in the army and navy look for other
compensation then the voluntary contribution of those among whom they
labor, the various religious societies of the country might be more
appropriately appealed to, as their funds are voluntarily contributed
for such purposes; while those of the government are taken for national
purposes, by authority of law, equally from all classes of citizens of
whatever sects, and whether professors or non-professors or religions."
Lest these views should be passed by as only the views
of opponents, respectable though they be, we present the views of an
admirer and defender of the institution, one who from long acquaintance
knew it thoroughly : --
"All these chaplaincies are filled in a way which
renders it possible that it may be done by the managing of political
wire-pullers, with very little, if any, reference to the appropriate
qualifications of those who receive the appointment . . . Let us look at
the manner in which the two chaplains to Congress, and also, we might
add, the chaplain who is appointed to the Penitentiary at Washington,
reach their election. The same course of electioneering which the clerk
of the House, the door keeper or sergeant-at -arms has to pursue;
namely, to scramble for it. Letters are written before-hand soliciting
votes. The successful candidate must be on hand to meet his `friends' as
they alight from the cars at the railroad station, who follow him to his
hotel, and who will not hesitate to stand in a barroom, and talk
distinctly of his devotion to the party ! But the successful candidate
is not usually the man whom his own denomination even, not to say the
Christian Community generally, would wish to see at such a post.
" The confidence and respect of the best men in the
country has lessened in the same ratio as this Congressional usage has
been subjected to wire-pulling and strife. It is now well understood
that modest merit, eminent piety, and that kind of talent which is best
adapted to the position, is no longer sought for in a chaplain to
Congress. But the successful candidate is he who has a face to enter the
ring of competitors; who knows how to lay his hand upon the right wires,
and has strength to pull harder than the others who may be contending
with him for the prize. The men best adapted to fill the office will not
be found managing and scrambling for it. Instead of seeking the office,
they are the very men who will be found at their post in their
appropriate calling until the office seeks them. They are the men whose
conscious merit and becoming modesty will not suffer them to enter the
ring against such odds as they might chance to find striving for the
place."
As stated above, these statements were written by a
defender of government chaplaincies; but no argument that the most
decided opponent could make could more fully or more justly condemn the
whole institution as a living imposition, and a fraud upon the people.
Though this was written so long ago, there has been no
change for the better since, as both facts and practical experience
show. The Christian Statesman of May 8,1891. contains the following : --
"The Rev. James C. Kerr, the most recent appointee to
the post of army chaplain, is familiarly known as `Father Kerr' and
belongs (according to the Army and Navy Register)` to a very church
branch of the Episcopal denomination." The same paper states April 26: `
The newly appointed post chaplain James C. Kerr, gave a banquet to two
hundred of his friends at Slaughter Beach, near Milford, Del.,
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April 24. Three ex-governors were present, and one
prospective governor. The chaplain (the telegraph tells us) received
congratulations in a graceful manner, and everything was free to his
guests, bowling alley, billiard room, and bar room included.' We quote
to emphasize the remark of the National Baptist: `It seems to us that
evangelical Christians cannot reflect with any satisfaction upon this
appointment. We humbly submit that a gentleman who celebrates his
appointment by throwing open the bar-room to his friends, is not the
sort of man who is going to do much good either to officers or men,
among whom drunkenness is a wide-spread calamity and curse.'"
True enough, but it requires "influence" to secure a
position as chaplain, precisely as it does to any other appointive
office, and it is only such characters as that, that can exert the right
kind of "influence" to gain such an appointment. No Christian can do it.
Nor is it surprising that drunkenness should be
widespread among officers and men, for just before this man was
appointed, there was dismissed from the army because of habitual
drunkenness a chaplain who, as a drunkard, had held the office seven
years, and was an habitual drunkard when he was appointed. The facts as
stated by the New York Independent of May 22, 1890, are as follows: --
"A telling example of the evil of intoxicating liquors
is that offered by the dismissal of Post-Chaplain John Vaughan Lewis,
formerly a popular minister of St. John's church, the most fashionable
church in Washington City, who was appointed to a chaplaincy in the army
in 1883. He was compelled to leave his church by his unfortunate, and we
must add, criminal habit of drinking. The habit pursued him after he
left the church, and while a chaplain in the army. A year ago he was
confined in an insane asylum for treatment, after having been
recommended for retirement by a retiring board. It was hoped that the
treatment would result in a partial cure, so that he might be restored
to duty; but such has not been the case, and an order has been issued
directing his retirement with a year's pay."
That is indeed a telling example of more than the evil
of intoxicating liquors. It is a telling example of the evil principle
of State chaplaincies. There was a man dismissed from the church for
drunkenness, and then by some "influence" or other hocus-pocus was made a
chaplain in the army. That is to say, he was not fit any longer to
minister to a church, therefore it was proper for the State to take him
up and give him charge of the spiritual interests and the moral culture
of its soldiers. And this, too, under a rule that required that he
should be "in good standing" in his denomination. Perhaps he was.
Addicted to habitual drinking when he was appointed in
1883, he kept it up all these seven years "while a chaplain in the
army." Meantime he was confined in an asylum for treatment, with the
hope of "a partial cure, so that he might be restored to duty." That is
to say, an habitual drinker is worthy to be appointed a chaplain in the
army, and so long as he is not entirely gone in besotted inebriety, he
is capable of performing "duty" as a chaplain. When, however, it is no
longer possible to keep him even partially sober, then it is proper to
retire him "with a year's pay." Eight years' pay, therefore, -- not less
than twelve thousand dollars of public money, -- has been paid to this
chaplain for doing a drunkard's "duty."
Such a misappropriation of public money, however, is
a very small item in comparison with the standing insult thus imposed
upon every enlisted man in the United States army. For, to assume -- as
the appointment of such a character as that to the office of chaplain,
and as the keeping of him there knowing him to be such, does assume --
that the soldiers of the United States army are so low and degraded that
a confirmed drunkard is a fit instructor in morals and a proper person
to take charge of their spiritual interests, is nothing short of a base
insult imposed upon every enlisted man in the service.
And in the Congress which was in session when this man
was dismissed, and which conferred the appointment of the other one,
there was introduced a bill to increase the number of chaplains from
thirty-four to one hundred! Instead of this, there should have been a
bill not only introduced but passed, totally abolishing the whole system
of chaplaincies under the United States government.
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Legally, they are unconstitutional loafers.
Physically, however, they are strictly constitutional loafers - - when
they are not constitutional drunkards.