Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1863-10-10

villages Are they better and wiser than
our judges and magistrates You know
some of them well. Some are gallant
officers, but many are ignorant partisan
politicians, needing as much as any men
to be held in check by the law from per.
petrating wrongs and falling into errors.
BY the Conscription act all men from the
age of twenty to iorty-fve are made liable
to military duty, and from all who may be
claimed as within this class, as we'll as
from all soldiers, the protection Of civil
justice is now taken away by proclama-
ton; and no citizen is to BE- allowed to
vindcate his right to liberty if ifdeprived of
it by any military authority. Whilst you
were fighting for the Constitution, you and
all Of us, it seems have lost the consiitu.
tional rights and safeguards of liberty
which are our birthright as American
freemen.
Stump orators, some of them political
generals, forbid you to reflect on these
things. They tell you now to think only
of war. There is time and place for all
things. In the field you have thought and
acted as soldiers. Your noble deeds prove
how well you did your military duty, You
will do it again when you return to tho
field. But if you are to be here On elec.
ton day, now is the time for you to think,
as free-born citizens, of the political con-
dition of your country. Wo ask you to
vote with US to maintain, for yourselves
and your children, the free constitutional
Government that your fathers left to ou.
Think of these things now before it i. too
late. The next proclamation may assail
the bal!ot-box. Let us use it wisely while it
is yet left to US.
But you are urged-perhaps you will
be ordercd-not to vote for the candidates
of the Democracy. Why not? We can
not reply with fact or argument to the vile
slang made up Of vulgar abuse and po!iti
cal nicknames, such as "Coppcrheads,'
"trators, "secessionists," and the like.
You learned to despise these long ago,
when they were poured out upon the gal
} liant sons of Pennsy sylvania-upon McUlel-
: Ian, Mccall, Patterson and many others,
, who have been your leaders and your
; comrades in the field A life spent in
honorable service Of our country is no
= protection from partisan abuse, but rather
: seems to provoke it. You will Judge men
/ by their lives aad characters in the past,
if you wish to be sure of them in the fu-
ture. When did our candidate for Gov
, ernor, George W. Woodward, forget his
= duty in order to serve himself or his party,
S in any trust that Pennsylvania gave into
: his keeping! Gle deprived the soldiers
| of vote,' say some of the Republican
G politicians. We are glad TO meet charge
b., that has any meaning in it. We will give
a few words to this.
Il When you come to the polls in your
c proper election districts, you will find that
!, no one has deprived you Of your vote
n There was question whether the Consti
f tuition of Pennsylvania provided any
n means for a citizen to vote when he was
IT absent from his home on the day of ar
G election. Four cases Of camp-voting came
vt about the same time, before the courts, Of
,f rofbor th Eor IN tbo l.,
+ as Shimmel. l.pennich's case it was proved
n and admitted that no votes had been re al )
y given by any one the pretended returns
= were shown to be forgeries made up il
; Philadelphia, and as such the Courts re
lie jscted them.
II The case of most importance was th
d case of Ewing against Thompson, we'll re
is membered in Philadelphia. The election
is was for Sheriff of thut county, a very lu
crative Office, of great political Importance
4. Mr.. Robert Ewing, the Democratic can
h diGate, had a majority, if votes given fo
lie him in the camps in Virginia could b
II counted. To politicians the other case
of were important only because the decision
D n them would decide whether a Democra
is or Republican should be the Sheriff Q
H. Philadelphia. The Republicans opposes
IL the soldiers vote because it was for Ewini
S, the Democratic candidate. Mr.. Mann
III the Republican District Attorney, mad
~ up case by indicting German nance
ID Kunzman for voting fraudulenlly in
III camp in Virginia. In this case Judg
W Allison, of the Court oil Common Pleas,
- Republican, first decided that, under tn
III Constitution of Pennsylvania, votes coul
ee not be given by soldiers who were abser
n from the State. a latter decision in tx
or Supreme Court was in the case of Chas