The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1850-09-12


his place of residence, his occupation,
the iashien or quality of his wearing APP
parel. she cut Of his hair or the length
OF his whiskers. All are prescribed "by
xhe officers appointed over him, '--even
the lime and place he must take his meals,
and the hour he shall retire to rest, or
rise from his couch, are preremptorily
prescribed, and he dare not disobey, un-
der the penalty "oi' such punishment as
may be inflicted by the sentence of a
Court Mutual.
Not ony~ioes the soldier suspend his
powers Of action, but he also suspends
the dearest right Of a freeman, the right
Of thai by Jury, and a failure to an
swer 10 MS name at stated hour,
o. to appear on parade sat the time
fixed" or If he absents himself from the
Fort or { amp, at any lime without per-
.rissior. from his officer, may be pun
ished by fine and Imprisonment, by the
,eais.see Of a Court Martial, on the testi-
7nony Of one officer, testifying on his
tsord anu from this sentence there is no
appeal.
Can a man thus bound be considered
free? or can he exercise the high pre-
rogative of free aud independent
voter admit soldier TO vote, and
must he at vote according to the ''or-
dcrs Of Inc officers appointed over" him.
or subject himself to 'such punishment
as NAV be inflicted by the sentence of
Court Martial:"
Certainly this is not the freedom con-
,empiate4 by the Statute Of our Terrific
~.
Again the voters must not only be
free, but no must be an "inhabliant' OF
the Territory.
Webster defines an "inhabtant" to
be Zone who dwcIls or resides perma-
aea.lg IA place, or has fired resi-
dence Is this the case with soldier
Certainly not, He is bound by his con-
tract. ard his oath, to obey ''all orders"
Of his superior officers, and he may at
any moment be ordered to change his
location from Maine to Georgia, or from
the Mississippi, to tire Sacramento, and
he mist obcy,--at no time can soldier
or officer bc secure of IA permanent To-
cation at any one place, for two days at
d time. 1t is ridiculous therefore, to
call a soldier an "inhabitant, or fixed"
or permanent" resident, even ofthe
fort he occupies, for either the compa-
ny 20 which he belongs, or himself in
dyiduaiy may be removed ut any
time, By The "order" of his SUPERIOR
The soldier is u member of the Army,
en- integral part of the Military Machine
ry Of our country, "and nothing else.
II IS true soldier may be stationed
at one Of the forts in our Territory for
years, bot while he is so stationed, he
- unknown to our laws, and is indepen-
dent Of political organization, is not sub
jec. to road or other tax, nor can he be
reached by writ from our courts for
debt, ur breach of contract He is
amcnoblc to our laws it is true, if he
comints 4 crime against our citizens,
bat this IS not 40 much the privilege OF
the soldiers as it Is right pertaining to
the citizen. The personal rights and
property e our citizens are secured by
our institutions, it is the band which
binds and secures our union, and the
aruly 4. Imported as one ofthe means
at tnat so curity but all violations of the
articles # War, or orders of the War
Department, and offences committed by
one soldier against another may be sum
marily punished by the sentence Of a
Court Martial.
Tins l. ali correct. Soldiers should
be under the control of the officers Of
government, and in the formation of our
constitution, the right of Congress to
lcgislaic tor the government Of the Mill
tary posts was recognized. The soldier
aud the citizen cannot be governed by
the same code of laws; the genius of our
people forbids it. The government ofthe
army is i despotism, into which men en-
ter Voluntarily. and are in duty bound
to submit to its rigid discipline, during
their term of service. The troops are
SO completely separated from the citi-
zens Of a state, that II is no uncommon
thing for men to be imprisoned, tried,
sentenced, and most severely punished,
independent of all judicial tribunals of
the local governments, and the soldier,
when ha enlists, suspends by his own
act, the operation Of all his rights and
pfifttS CO as u c'tiZen, re CEASES fOF the
time being, TO ne member Of the polit-
zeal family, and cannot. with propriety,
exercise any Of the functions Of cit-
zen. ,-,;s- +,.e< fgf
How ridiculous it is then to suppose
that he can demapd any participation in
the civil policy of our government, when
bis interests and obligatiers are in no
wise identified with ours. He is neither
>''iree, nor an ''inhabitant" Of our Ter
Eitory. in the sense contemplated by the
Statute How can the soldier swear
that be came into the Territory with
bona fde intention TO remain, when he
feels that he probably never would have
seen the Territory, had he not met the
recruiting sergeant, and knows that he
may be ordered to California within the
next ten days! And YET, such an oath
may be required of any person before he
can be allowed to vote. . 1fkH =
The question is so perfectly absurd
that the Judges of election at three pre-