Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1863-12-11

chise 10 whom the Constitution mas granted the
right II he has lived in the State me whole year
next before the election, unless ne has resided in
some town three months. The Constitution does
not determine in what a man residence consists,
nor does it declare how long freeman must
reside in n town, in order TO have a right to vote
there, whether il shall be a ,oonth or day. The
Legislature mas assumed the right to supply the
omission by affirming that d" the town, IN which
the family of any person shall reside, If he has
one, shall be deemed the place Of residence Of
such person, " and requires that his residence IN
a town must be Of three months duration in
order that he may ENJOY the privilege Of voting.
Why do not those who are SO nice about allowing
soldiers to vote, labor bring the State law into
exact conformity with the Constitution Why
supply those important omissions Msnifestly
because right and common sense demand it.
Again; the Constitution requires that the
State officers shall he elected by the " freemen Of
each town. - &c The LG.ss say that, for State
officers the vote may be given " in shy town
within the State, - and nobody complains Of the
provision.
Again; the Constitution requires that the bal
lot " shall have the name fairly trriften" The
law says j; shall be written or printed" What
right had the Legislature TO allow priatei votes
presume that our lawmakers supposed II to
be In harmony with the SPIRIT Of the Consutu-
ton, though not In accordance with the letter
No doubt the fathers would have inserted the
words " or printed - if they had thought Of il,
or if they mad supposed printing presses would
be SO numerous and accessible. At all events
the Legislature supplied al important omission.
Was this action constitutional
Once more; the Constitution requires the voter
to " bring in hrs vote to the 4" Constable" The
Legislature mas EXTENDED the privilege The vote
may be handed to the Sc presiding officer who
may be one Of the " selectmen."
The Constitution allows any resident OF the
State Of a. quie, and peaceabe behavior" who
shall take the prescribed oath, all the priv ilcres
Of freeman, bu; the Lar puts the case Of such
freeman into the hands Of the sell tmcu and
Justices, who may refuse the freeman permis
sion to AXE the oath. The constitution 0mifiiAg
to declare by whom the fitness Of the candidate
for the oath shall he determined, the Legisl4
ture mas supplied the omission
II citizen removes from the State, and re-
turns to II, after years absence. he must no,
only take the oath, called the " freeman oath Sc
but also " the oath to support the constitution
Of the United States-" A person refusing to
take the latter oath, notwithstanding our Con
stitution says he may, cannot, by the Law, be
permitted to enjoy the privileges Of freeman
Now if the Legislature can supply omissions,
and multiply the conditions OF full citizenship,
beyond the requirements OF the Constitution,
why cannot the same power provide for the tax
ing Of the votes Of absent citizens
From what I have already quoted from the
constitution. it is evident that its trainers did
intend that all the citizens OF the State should
be permitted to enjoy the full rights Of freemen,
AlA t4u-4AN AAH CAdNt tGAAc t4llt AloloiLu-
Of her noblest and purest freemen beyond lis
borders 70 defend the imperilied Government
The men are enlisted under its authority, Off
cered. and controlled to 3 great extent, by the
Governor, not only while here, but while absent
il the field To al legal intents these soldiers
are still resident Their families are here, and
they are here, legally and practically. They
have no right OF suffrage but as citizens resident
in this State. If the Legislature IL competent
to declare that where y mans family lives, there
is his residence, is ii competent to declsre-if it
were necessary, which II is not-thAt our soldiers
are residents Of the State, and Of the
towns, and as such, TO offer them an op-
portunity to vote, by " bringing in" their votes
to special constables, appointed for that pur-
pose Whose rights are infringed by the Law
The Constitution describes, in part, the time
and method of elections in toigas. The
law cannot deprive q fol0R Of its constitutional
rights, but because the constitution neglected to
prescribe method Of taking tn. votes Of absent
citizens, does it therefore follow that the Legs
lAture cannot supply the deficiency. especially
since it has done this in other respects, Does
making provision for taking the votes of soldiers
in any way, or to any extent, affect the rights
Of iorns7 Does not the constitution intend
that all should vote who are qualified, and is it
not socordant with lite whole spirit that its bes,
citizens should be allowed the freeman's priv
leges,
do not forget that the Committee on Eec-
tons reported against the consututionality Of q
Bill providing for soldiers voting, nor that
leading member Of the HOUSE, the only man
who spoke against the Bill, took the bold pos
ton that any man Of " common sense might
know that the BIZ was Unconstitutional, appa-
rently forgetting that our accomplished Cover
nor had recommended the matter to the Lecisla-
ture. l AN not unaware that the editor Of the
leading Democratic journal Of the State has been
"i4tormea tina; the Judges viii no; decHie the
Law constitutional" the Law which finally
passed. presume that the Editor referred TO,
did not regard that information as very bad
neirs. Some Of the Judges are Of Democratic
antecedents, and do not know what their pres
ent sympsthies are, but have been in The habit
Of regarding our Judges as men of enlarged and
liberal spirit, Of no narrow contracted views, or
cold sympathies- Should they, unfortunately,
deprive by their decision, our brave citizen SOL
diers Of the right Of suffrage which no sane man
can believes our fathers intended to deny them,I
hope they will furnish such reasons for their de-
cision as will satisfy the judgment. if not the
hearts of all of US. Judges are men. They
may err. They often do. We have little res
pect for the opinions of Messrs- Woodward &
Co., of Penn, nor have we forgotten the infa-
nous dicts Of Judge fancy and his confreres,
upon the bred Scott case, but the opinions Of
our able Judges Will be entitled to great weight,
because Of the really great weight Of character
which they have 50 richly earned.
am surprised that the Republican Pres Of