The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1863-03-27
The Conscription Law.

The CONSUMPTION Law
Let us meet this business squarely. The
word CONSUMPTION is said to be odious. 1t is
on that account studiously employed by the
opposition, in referring to the militia law pass
ed by the late Congressman be it remember
ed, the party of the opposition in these days
Of national peril does not withstand the Adj
ministration on questions of mere policy. 1t
will be handed down TO immortal infamy, as a
party which vainly and for selfish or traitorous
ends strove TO weaken the Government when
most it needed strength. The Government
needed credit-no war debt is paid as it ac-
crues; and this party would have restricted
all its transactions by requiring instant and
impossible payments in specie. The Govern
nent needs men, and the nation which has
given ample credit gives men too, freely, and
against this gift the voice of the opposition is
once more raised in protest.
Let us see what lies at the bottom Of all this
foolish talk about arbitrary power and con-
scription and dictatorship. Consumption
means simply enroilment-no more and no
less. Ask any Latin scholar, or any school
boy, and he will tell you so. That is its ORR
ginal meaning; but it has acquired new sig
nifcance since 1I9S, when a law OF the French
Directory required all Frenchmen between
the ages of 20 and 80 to be enrolled for militia
ry service in the regular army, providing that
the necessary number of recruits should from
time to time be drawn from this national re-
serve by lot. Prussia and other German
states have since adopted a modified system OF
CONSUMPTION, In this modern sense-a general
enrolment for military service. The law,
which has just been passed by the American
Congress, is properly CONSUMPTION law. We
have no disposition TO evade this statement
There it stands: a law has been passed for a
general enrolment of the citizens of the Re-
public for military service in her just quarrel.
What churl dares deny her right?
Not only the name but the thing is Roman.
as well as French. 1t would have been sub
lime spectacle TO have seen the citizen soldiers
OF the United States voluntarily filling up the
thinned ranks Of our armies to the end. 1t
would be silly sentimentality, if it were not
something worse, to insist that our battles
shall be fought by volunteers and by no 9th
ers. In the name of the Republic, what will
these men hayel They discouraged volun-
teers, they opposed the enlistment of negroes,
and now they seek TO obstrnct the very meas
ure which has been adopted by the two great
military nations of ancient and modern times,
the source Of their strength, the secret Of their
glory. In the palmy days of Rome, her le-
ri, du,t,x laA roll bar rif
liens, who had reached the age Of II, were
compelled to appear at the Capitol, or in the
Field of Mars, for enrolment; and annually,
for thirty years they were liable to be drafted
for active service. Only the holders of high
official appointments and persons laboring I'M
der physical disabilities were exempt, and not
even these in moments of sudden danger.
The term of service was twenty years for in
fantry and ten for cavalry, unless sooner dis
charged, which rarely happened. This was
the law, when Rome was Rome; but towards
the end of her existence as a republic, her de-
generate citizens were released from compul-
sorry military service, and under the emperors
the Roman army was in large proportion
made up of mercenary foreigners. If we are
to fght-and we must-then must we have
the means of recruiting surely and without
delay our wasting armies. If we are to re-
main free, we must pay the heavy price of
freedom ourselves. God gives away nothing.
The choicest blessings are not for idlers and
towards. Through toll and danger they must
be sought and found.
1t is no new doctrine, that the state has
right to command the military service of the
citizen. Every government has claimed and
maintained the right. at is a singular fact"
says Democratic journal of the day, that no
transcription has ever taken place in Eng
"land." 1t is very singular fact! How far
is inpressment preferable TO CONSUMPTION?
and how long is it, since the press-gang has
become defunct institution in England?
Who does not know that the last war between
this country and England grew out Of the OBJ
stinate and arrogant claim of the English Gov
eminent TO search American vessels for Brit
ish subjects and leave questions of nationality
to be decided on the quarterback of a British
man-of-war? England's greatest victories
have been gained on the ocean, and she has
exacted the service of her subjects on that ell
ement without even the poor formality Of an
enrolment.
The CONSUMPTION act is constitutional.
While the bill was yet pending in the House
of Representatives, Judge Thomas, of Massa-
chnsetts, a sound lawyer and conservative
Republican, said: 81 do not res: the power of
Congress 10 pass this bill upon the provisions
"of the Constitution in relation to the militia
"Iput it upon the simple and clear provision,
(which gives TO Congress the porer to raise
"d1ad support armies, and upon the absence of
"any provision of the Constitution which linn
''its or restricts that power" The people, act
ing through their representatives, have passed
this law. That is the feature, which dstin-
guishes American CONSUMPTION from any other.
The nation has voluntarily imposed this bur-