Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1863-06-11

COnYaleScent.
About the Draft.
WASHINGTON, June 10.-The following of
fetal orders have been promulgated by the
war Department.
office Of P'ocoSt Marshal General, June
| 9.-The following opinion of Hon. William
Whiting, solicitor of the war department, has
been ordered to be published by the secretary
of war =
The national forces liable to perfor militia
~ duty include all able bodied male citizens
of the United States, and persons of foreign
birth who have declared their intention to be-
come citizens according to law, being between
twenty and forty-fye years of age. Certain
persons are excepted, divided into eight
| classes. No person but such as are therein
excepted shall be exempt Sect 2. 1t is de-
clared the duty of the enrolling officers to en-
roll all persons subject to military duty.
| Sect. 8. All persons thus enrolled shall be
subject for two years after July LIST succeed
ing the enrolment to be called into the mill
tary service. Sect. IL. The national forces
not now in the military service, enrolled I'M
| der the act, shall be divided into two classes,
| &c. Sect 3. Those of the second class shall
| not be called out until those OF the first class
! shall have been exhausted Thus it seems,
| by the true construction of this act,
that, while all persons coming within
its provisions are to be enrolled in the
! national forces. nevertheless under the first
| enrolment those in the military at the time
! the act went into effect are not to be included
in that class which is subject to the first draft.
Several provisions of this statute are inconsis-
tent with the idea that persons then in the
service were to be treated as liable to draft
from the first class, Thus it is provided in
the 9TH section that regulars, volunteer mill
tia. or persons called into service under this
or any other act of congress, were to be ar
rested as deserters wherever they might be
found by the provost marshal, and to be sent
tlalhn distinction between these different class
es of persons, viz, those who were then in the
service and those who were TO be drafted in.
The same distinction is recognized in section
Is, which provides bounties for those who.
being then in the service should volunteer to
re-enlist. The statute providing for the cIas-
sifcation of troops from which drafts are to be
made enacts as follows Section 8.
That the national forces of the United
States not now in military service, enrolled
under this act, shall be divided into two
classes. Thus, those who are now-that is
to say, on the Sd of March, 1868 - IN the
military service, are not to be included in
either Of these classes, and as those then
(March Sd in the service were not includ-
ed in either of these two classes, they NAV
be said to constitute class of persons to be
enrolled under the provisions of this act
As between the first and second class the
law (Sect. 3D. requires that the second class
shall not in any district, be called into the
service of the United States until those of
the first class shall have been thus called
in. Volunteers or regulars who have been
in the service, and who had been discharged
thor had ,N,,J
day Of March, 1868, are liable to be drafted
in the same manner as if they had never
been in service. No regard is to be paid to
their former period of service, or to the
length or brevity of the period between the
date of their discharge and that of the draft
Volunteers who were in the service of the
United States on the Sd of March, 1863 and
have since that time been discharged, are not
therefore included in the first class. from
which the first draft is intended to be made.
and are therefore not now liable to be called
on by draft, which is to be made from that
class of the forces of the United States under
the provisions of this act,
WIN. WHITING,
Solicitor of the War Department.
JAMES B. FAY, Provost Marshal General.
WAR DEPARTMENT, PRovosr Marshal,
GENERALS OFFICE, WASHINGTON, June G.
The following opinion of Hon. VIM. Whit
ing, solicitor of the war department, has been
ordered to be published by the secretary of
war:
1t is made the duty of provost marshals to
obey all lawful orders and regulations of the |
provost marshal general, and such as shall he /
prescribed by law concerning the enrolment
and calling into service of national forces /
under the act of March 3D., 1868, section 7tb
The 10Th section of the same act pro-
1ri1 hat
any draft of men enrolled under the art
into the service of the United States, or
shall counsel or aid any person to resist anv
such draft, or shall assault or obstruct anv
officers in making such, or in the performance
OF any service in relation thereto, or shall
counsel any person to assault or obstruct
any such officer, or shall counsel any drafted
man not to appear at the place of rendez-
vous, or wltully dissuade them from the ner
tormance OF military duty as required by law,
such persons shall be subject to summary
arrest by the provost marshal and shall be
forthwith delivered to the civil authorities
and upon conviction thereof be punished
by line not exceeding $500, or by imprison-
ment not exceeding two years, or by both of
said puniShments. To do any act which will
prevent or impede enrolment of the national
forces, which enrolment is preliminary and
essential to the draft, is to prevent or impede
the draft itself. The enrolment is service
to be performed by the provost marshal, in
relation to the draft. 1t is not the act of draw
ing ballots out of ballot box itself but it is
IN relation to 1t, and is the first step that must
by law be taken preparatory to the draft 1t
Is, therefore, clearly within the duty of the
provost marshal to subject all persons who
obstruct the enrolment the meeting of the
board, or any other proceeding which is pre-
liminary and essential to the draft, to summa-
ry arrest, according to the provisions of sec
tion 20. There are many ways of obstructinp
officers in the performance Of their services
Or duties in making or in relation to the draft
without employing physical force The ne,
ylect or refusal to do an act required by law
o be done, may itself be such an obstruction