Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-04-20
The Law under which the MilI,la Of tho

The Law Under Which the Militia OF the
Country is Called Out.
We give below the section of the act Of
1906 under which the President of the
United States has called forth the militia Of
the States in his proclamation. That law
was passed in reference to the insurrection
10 Pennsylvania, when many thousands Of
insurgents were in arms against the Federal
authority. That formidable outbreak being
happily quelled, no further action was had
under this statute till 1914, when, war with
Great Britain existing, its provisions were
found effective in bringing the forces of the
country under the control of the Federal
Government. Congress, however, in that
year extended the time Of service to six
months, it being limited by act Of 1895 to
three months. The amendstory act of 1914
was restricted as to its period Of operation
to the duration Of the then existing war, and
by its own terms expired at its close, leaving
the provisions Of the act of 1895 in force. II
will be observed that the President has in
his proclamation quoted the exact text of
the statute; the section referred to being as
follows:
"SEo. 2. And be IL further enacted: That
whenever the laws of the United States shall
be opposed, or the execution thereof OBJ
stIucted in any State by combinations too
powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary
course of judicial proceedings, or by the
powers vested in the marshRls by this act, it
shall belawful for the President Of the United
States to csh forth the militia ofspch State or
of any other State orStates, as may be neces-
sary TO suppress such combinations, and to
cause the laws to be duly executed, and the use
Of militia to be called forth may be continued,
if necessary, until the expiration of thirty
days after the commencement of the next
session of Congress- .ra D.
The power of the President to determine
the existence of the facts which establish the
necessity of calling upon the militia has been
settled by judicial determination. In the case
of Martin Us. Mott, reported in the twelfth
of Wheaton, p. 10, the court says:
"The authority to decide whether the exi-
gencies contemplated in the Constitution of
the United States and the act of Congress
of 1895, chapter l0l, in which the President
has authority TO call forth the militia to 'exe-
cute the laws Of the Union, suppress insur-
rections and repel invasions,' have arisen, is
exclusively vested in the President, and his
decision is conclusive on all other persons"
The clause which limits the term of service
of troops called out under this act is found
in the fourth section, and is as follows:
"And no officer nom commissioned officer
or private, shall be compelled to serve more
than three months after his arrival at the
place of rendezvous in any one year,
clause of the second section quoted above
makes the term of service expire thirty days
after the assembling of Congress. 1t is no.
ticeable that it was in the power of the Pres
ident, by declining to call an extra session
of Congress, to have provided a longer
period of hostilities, inasmuch as the troops
ordered into the field upon the first requisi-
ton could, at the expiration of their term of
service, have been replaced by new levy,
and TINS a Sufficient army have been kept
under arms till the first of January next IL
is not doubted that the spirit of the States
furnishing the troops would have promptly
advanced the money necessary to maintain
their. several quota in active operations,
relying on the General Government for re-
payment. The Administration, however,
have prudently put it beyond the power
of the Executive to continue troops in the
field beyond the first of August. In calling
Congress together, the Government will
have deferred to the Senators of the States
and the Representatives of the people the
responsibility of the measures and the policy
which, sitter the date of their assemblage,
may be held requisite to preserve the public