Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1863-04-01

tria1bf altfenoeo committed witAihs the |
suite Iee enaotment does not implg or |
assume that it was Impossible to punish |
any ofenees not e6mmitted in any couhty |
orfistricsln the State. 1t is silent on |
thu snbjeet, and is not inconsistent viii.
Tho poveeto infict such punishment. If
su1h power existed by the general pria
ciplee o law applicable to nations, the |
enactment of q general provision regarding
crimes committed within the state, saying
nothing about others, ought not to be held
an abdication of it. '
l am unable to say, therefore, that the
'provlstOns of This law providing for the
punishment of illegal voting under it,
might not be enforced against the citizens
OF this State who should violate it abroad,
if they should afterwards be found here.
Possibly further legislation may be necss-
sary, providing more particularly as to the
mode OF trial and wha. court should have
larlsdlctlop. But if SO, that may still be
enacted, and the want of it does not effect
the validity Of. the provision already
adopted establishing the offence and the
liability of punishment. Ii the citizens
or other States should violate it, perhaps
it could not be enforced against them even
though they should come here. But con-
ceding hat it could not, l should not for
that reason hold the lay invalid. The
military organization of companies, affords
security equal and perhaps superior to
that OF a registry law against any Illegal
voting by citizens of other States. The
probability of any successful attempt on
their part to vote under this law, wss too
slight to warrant the assumption that the
Legislature would not have passed it, ex-
cept upon the supposition that they had
power to punish citizens of other States
who might violate it.
l must therefore hold this law to be
valid. have examined only as to the
power of the legislature to pass it. II the
power exists, the policy and expediency of
it are for the legislature and not the courts
to determine. Upon this question what
ever arguments may be urged against the
policy OF such law, there are also GER
tainly very strong considerations in its
| favor, as adapted to the present extraor,
binary conditions { affairs, when more
than brty thousand of the citizens of this
State nave left it in the service of their
| country. But whatever else may be said
| upon the subject this at least is trae, that
! history bias furnished no better example
illustrating the capacity of the people for
self government, than that furnished under
this law of the citizen soldiers pausing
amid the horrors of war, to discharge their
duties as the primary legislators of the
republic, and to guard by an intelligent
use of their ballots, to be forwarded to
their homes, the welfare of that country
and those principles of civil liberty, for
which they are ready at any moment to
| lay down their lives upon the field of
battle.
Judgment must be entered in favor of
the respondent.
In the matter of the application of CARL wrHIrrz
for q writ OF habeas corpus, &c.
| This matter was decided by court
/ commissioner of Milwaukee county, who
made an order discharging the petitioner
and it has been brought here by a writ OF
certiordri
We have already decided, in the appli
cation of Frederick Greiner and others, fol
e writ Of ha6eas corpus, that the act OF
Congress of July II, 1862, authorizing the
President to make the necessary rules and
regulations for drafting the militia, in cases
where the laws of the States had not made
sufficient provision for that purpose, was
valid. Thesonly question left then to be
determined in this case, is whether resi-
0Ohe VI lbio obotO wiz W 10 q AdtlSO VI q
foreign country, but who had declared bis
intention to become citizen of the United
States and taken out his first papers in
accordance with the law of Congress, and
had exercised the right of voting under
the constitution and laws of this State
all of which was true Of the petitioner
was liable to be drafted The decision OF
this question depends upon the meaning
of the several acts of Congress and the
laws of this State, in regard to the militia
For it has been the policy of the general
government in all its legislation hitherto
upon this subject, to trust SO much to the
action of the States, that it becomes nee.
essary to consider the entire system of leg
islation both State and Federal, to have
a correct understanding of the laws OF
either.
The act of Congress providing for the
organization of the militia, approved May
9Th, 1892, designated as the persons to be
enrolled, every free able-b bodied white
male citizen Of the respective States, resi-
dent therein, &C." Prior to 1858, the law
of this State provided that ''every free
able.boded white male person, who has
resided within this State one month, and
is between the ages OF eighteen and forty
five, shall be enrolled in the militia &c.
Sec. 8, Chap. 81, R. S. 1858. But section
one of chapter 81 of the General Laws OF
! 1868, which is found as part of the chap.
ter just referred to, designated as those
who should be liable to military duty,
all able-bodie white male citizens" &c.
The act of Congress of July II, 1862, be-
fore referred to, provided that in all cases
the enrolment should "include all able.
bodied male citizens" Sc. 1t thus appears
that in the laws both OF this State and of
/ the United States, now in force, the word
"citizen" is used as descriptive of the per-
sons liable to enrolment in the militia
The decision, therefore, must depend upon
the meaning of that word
| The commissioner decided that it meant
only those who were full citizens Of the
| United States. But before that conclu-
sion can be adopted, it will be necessary
| to inquire whether the word has any
other we'll recognized meaning, not neces
sarily including the full rights of citizen
| ship of the United States, and if SO, then
| to determine IN which sense it was used
| in these laws. That it has such another
| meaning must be admitted. Under our
| complex system of Government, there
| may be q citizen of a State who is not g
citizen of the United States, in the full