Martinsburgh gazette. [volume] (Martinsburgh, Va. [W. Va.]) 1810-1825, 1815-01-19

militia than over the armies OF foreign
nation.
Bnt if the declaration Of the President
should be admitted to be an unerrlng test
Of the existence of these cases, this lmPor-
tant power would depend, not upon the
truth of the fact, but upon executive lnian- /
bility. And the limitation OF the power |
would consequently be nothing more than
merely nominal, as itmight always DE eiu-
ded. It follows, therefore that the decision
of the President in this particular, cannot
be conclusive 1t is as much the duty OF
the state authorities to watch over the
rights reserved, as of the y, states 10
exercise the powers which are deteg dted:
The arrangement of the U: states INTO
military districts, with a small portion q
the regular force under an officer ct high
rank of the standing army, with power 10
call for the militia, as circumstances IN ms
Judgment may require; and TO assume tne
command ofthem is not warranted oy the
Constitution or any law Of the U. States
1t is not denied that Congress may delegate
to the President of the u. States the power
to call forth the militia in the cases which
are within her jurisdiction but he has no
authority TO substitute military projects
throughout the Union, to use their own
discretion in such instances. To station an
officer of the army in military district
without troops corresponding to his rank.
for the purpose of taking command of the
militia that may be called into service, is
a manifest evasion of that provision OF the
Constitution which expressly reserves to
the States the appointment of the officers
of the militia; and the object of detachlng
such officer cannot be we'll conceived to be
any other than that of superseding the
Governor or other officers of the militia in
their right to command.
The power of dividing the militia of the
states into classes and oblging such classes
to furnish by contract or draft, able bodied
men. to serve for enc or more years for the
defence of the frontier, is not delegated to
Congress liza claim to draft the militia
for one year for such general object be ad-
missa BILE, no limitation can be assigned to
it. bat the discretion of those who make
the law Thus with power in Congress TO
authorize such draft or eonscriphon, and
in the Executive to decide conclusiyely up
on the existence and continuance OF the
emergency, the whole militia may be con
verted into standing army disposable at
the will of the President of the United
States
Tie power of compelling the militia and
other citizens of the U. States by a forcible
draft or CONSUMPTION, to serve in the regular
armies, as proposed in late official letter
1ofthe Secretary of War, is not delegated
to Congress by the Constitution, and the ex-
ercise Of it would be'not less dangerous to
their liberties than hostile to the sovereign
ty of the states. The effort to deduce this
power from the right of raising armies, is a
fragrant attempt to pervert the sense of the
clause in the constitution which confers
that right, and is incom patibe with other
provisions in that instrument. The armies
of the u. S have always been raised by
contract, never by CONSUMPTION, and moth,
ing more eanbe wanting to a government
possessing the power thus claimed, to ena-
BILE it to usurp the entire control of the mi
litia. in derogation of the authority of the
state, and to convert it by impresstnent into
a standing arm,
1t may be here remarked as circu1l-
stance illostrati of the determination OF
the Executive to establish an absolute con.
troll over all description of citizens, that
the right of impressiDg seameh into the ma,
val service is expressly asserted by the Sc
cretary of The Navy in late report Thus
a practice which in a foreign government
has been regarded with great adherence
by the people, finds advocates among those
who have been the loudest to condemn it,
The law authorising the enlistment of
minors and apprentices, into the armies oje
the u. States, without the consent of pa
rents and guardians, is also repugnant to
the spirit of the constitution. By a con-
s.ruction of the power to Use armies, as
applied BY our present rulers, not only
persons capable of contracting are liable to
be impressed into TIE army, but those who
are under legal disabilities to make con
tracts are to be invested with this capacity,
In order to enable them to annul at plea,
sure contracts made in their behalf by legal
guardians. Such an interference with the
municipal laws and rights of the several
states cOuld payar kaya ham \