New-York daily tribune., 1863-07-18
TIE CONsCRIPTION.

treason.
The Government necessarily, inevitably, de-
cides when, where and how those services
shall be required and rendered.
If oaths of allegiance or of naturalization
mean anything, they pledge those who take
them to render this service promptly, cheer
fully, heartily.
Naturalized aud Native citizens are under
equal, identical obligations in this respect; but
he who, coming among us from distant
country, has been admitted here TO privileges
which most countries limit to natives, or at
best extend TO foreigners grudgingly and only
after long probation, ought peculiarly to real
ize that obligation and respond TO rs demands
with conspicuous nlacrity.
DO YOU admit this right Of the Country TO
call on You for service in her extremity, and
of her lawful Government to decide when, where,
and how the service shall be rendered II Yes,
we need saw no more of the consttutionallty,
legality, and proprety Of National Conscrip.
tion.
al But why not call on the States for what
ever force may be required ~
We answer-Cas on the States have fire.
quently been made, and in part responded 10.
Many States have utterly refused 10 send a
man. Several have made the mere call pre-
text for throwing of oil appearance OF loyalty,
and plunging madly into the vortex Of Rebel
lion. To maintain that the Federal Govern.
ment has no other resource than dependence
on the State authorities IL 10 arm those au-
thoritie. with power to destroy the Union. Ii
is to enable the authorities Of each State to
repudiate at will the Federal obligations Of
sad State, and thus impose on part OF the
Union duties, labors. sacrifices. that Justly de-
yolve on tho whole. II is TO paralyzc aud
imperil the Union with the fatal wees Of
mere alliance or coniederacy.
All the qubbles and cayil' with regard TO
the Conscription Act Of the late Congress
amount 10 nothing If you admit the night Of
the impercd country to the bee, services of
all her citizens.
And, indeed, when you probe these cayils 10 The
bottom, you fnd tha, the! ak have their
source and impulse in sympathy with Rebels
aud repugnance to their utter defeat and downfall
You never saw n man rAving against the Drafi
who was n hearty, thorough, ouispokcn enemy
of the Shareholders Rebellion. Cure a man
Of all liking for that, and you have yanqu'bed
his prejudice against the Conscrp,ion.
"Ah but the $500 exemption" say the
Copperhead. "we could stand the Drait If it
were not for this exemption
Why, Sirs when Secretary stanton n few
weeks since, undertook to set TIN. exemption
aside, your organs at once changed their tu1e
and protected against any cverrullng of that
exemption. Right or wrong" they screamed
in chorus, "that is part Of the Law, and must
be respected as SUCH" So Mr. Stanton bad
to give way.
1t may have been unwise to adopt pecuni
AIRY payment instead of military service, but
that clause can in no case inyalidate the law.
If it did, you might assert that fniDg man
who had committed an assault was authorizing
men OF means to commit assaults with periec!
impunity.
But it was not unwise if you consider only
the requirements OF the exigency. The Gov
ernment needs soldiers, and makes draft to
supply its want. All men who como within
the prescribed conditions, take their chances Of
being drafted. Some are drafted whose ab-
sence in the field would throw a hundred times
their number out Of work, and derango the
whole industrial machinery OF their respective
communities. Many are drafted whom the
Government itself cannot spare from the can
non-castDg, gunboat-bullding, &c, &c, where
in they are now rendering it far greater and
more indispensable service thun they could 10
the field. At all times, III all wars, our Gov
ernmcnt, like most if not all others, has al
lowed men drafted TO serve it in the field to
send substitutes in their own stead. And this
they would have done under the present draft
had there been no $500 exemption.
This exemption, then, amounts to just
this-The Government chooses TO hire and pick
substitutes for itss, instead Of leaning the choice
TO those ulo pay the money. For their interest in
the matter is directed to getting the cheapest
whom the Government Will take,
while the Government naturally wishes to nc.
cure the best substitute whose services the
money will buy. In other words: the Govern
ment proposes to secure trained. veteran sol.
diers as substitutes 30 far as it can, and good
men at all events; while the drafted mans in
terest lies in quite another direction.
But the $500 clause is right and wise in that
it stops all brokerage or speculation in substi-
tutes, and fixes the cost of exemption within
the means of all whose services are indispeDsa.
bio to the business or industry of the country