Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1864-11-09
From the PeOkress.

From the Peosress.
o,,reme Court..Important Decision
It's known that the Supreme Court has oeen ~
session for several days past at the call OF on.e,
Tnst;ce PEARSON to hear arguments CONSIDER anu
Soo;ds mon several cases broaght before the triou
nal m writs of ha5eas corpus sued out by persons
Who claim immunity from military service; IprougI,
tha conrtesv and kindness of Gen. Fowe, counsel
for Mr. johnson, we are enabled 10 lay 'n0 ''A""
inc decision before the public:
WILLIAM D. JOHNSON o. PETER NALLETT.
Tho net;tioner claims to be exempt from military
,..,ce in the army of the Confederate States upon
Tho Ground that he is policeman OF the Clty OF
Ro1e;oh His claim is resisted in the return OF the
defendant upon the allegation that the petitioner Is
mt noliceman, but only contractor to keep the
Civ numps in order. The testimony OF the mayor
Of the City, together with the other proofs taken
and filed in the cause satisfy US that the petitoner
is one of City police, though in addition to his du-
tics az SUCH he has had assigned to him the charge
Of keeping the pumps in repair. Upon the fac's
TINS appearing from the pleadings and proofs the
Question arises whether the petitioner is entitled to
Exemption from CONSUMPTION This is question :.
of law and it duty now to proceed to Its con-
sideration
that the Confederate Congress have no power to or
der the CONSUMPTION of State officers. The princl-
nile is well expressed by the Supreme Court of Ap.
meals in Virginia. in the opinion given in the case OF
Burroughs us Payton, and we express our full con-
currence in it. "The State governments are an es-
sental part of our political system for upon the
separate and Independent sovereignty Of the States
the foundation of our confederation rests. All
powers not delegated to the Confederate States by
the Constitution prohibited to it by the States,
are reserved to the States respectively or to the peo
pie thereof; and the Confederate States guarantee
to each State republican form Of government.
1t is absurd to suppose that the government OF
the Confederate States rghsfully destroy the
States which created 1t; and ell the powers confer
red on it must be understood to have been given
with the limitation that in executing them, nothing
shall be done to interfere with the independent ex
ercse of its sovereign powers by each State. Con-
gress can hsve no right therefore, to deprive a
State of the services of any officer necessary to the
action of its government And the State itself is
the sole judge as the officers that are necessary for
that purpose"
We are not aware that the Confederate Congress
has ever Set up claim y the exercise of any power
inconsistent with this fundamental principle OF State
sovereignty. On the contrary, in all the acts which
it has passed granting exemptions from c0nscrptioD
it has expressly mentioned, in some form or other,
State officers as being entitled to exemption Thus
in the of April 2lst 1862, "all judicial and ex
ecutive officers Of State governments are exempted
of April, "the officers, judicial and executive, Of
the State governments are again declared TO be ex
empted. The act of May the lst, 1863, provides
that in addition to the State officers exempted by
the act of Oct 11th 1862 "there shall be exempted
all State officers whom the Governor Of any State
may claim to have exempted for the due admins
tration of the government and laws thereof but
this exemption shall not continue in any State after
the adjournment of the next regular session Of its
Legislature, unless such Legislature shall by law
exempt them from military duty in the provisional
army of the Confederate States" Its unnecessary
to consider the effect Of any of these exemption
acts because they we're all repealed oy the act of
the 18th February, 1864, and State officers were
exempted IN the following terms: " The members
of the several State Legislatures, and such other
State officers as the Governors of the respective
States may certify to be necessary for the proper
administration of the State governments" If the
petitioner be State officer, and had he produced
any such certificate in his behalf from the Cover
nor Of this State we must presume that the Confed
crate officers would have admitted it and have
empted him accordingly. But he has failed to pro-
duce any such certificate and yet he insists,
erthelesS that his right to exemption is established
by the action of our General Assembly. That body,
by an act ratified the 14th day of December, 1868,
mentions several officials as necessary to carry
the operation Of the State government" for whom
claims had been made and obtained under the act of
Congress of May 1868, and then itself claims and
exempts them from CONSUMPTION. Among the obi
Gals thus claimed to be exempt are the Mayor
and police of Raleigh" See Laws of Extra Session
in Dec, 1868, Oh. IA. That same body at its extra
session in May, 1854, by resolution ratified the
2Sth day of the same month demands" the exemp.
ton Of the same, together with some other officers,
prefacing with preamble declaring that the fear
less and free discharge Of the officers of tie State is
essential to the preservation of its Sovereignty and
that Congress has no power to conscrpt State Of
ficeTs"
Has the Legislature of the State the right "to de-
mand" these exemptonss 1t very decidedly our
opinion that it has, and that it has it to the exclus
ion of every other department of the SsfSe govern
ment. 1t is clear, beyond all question:" a. within
the limits of the written Constitution (which The peo
pie Of the State have imposed upon the government,
the legislative power is the supreme power in the
State Among it's vast powers of Legislation, which
are unlimited and unrestricted except by the Con-
stuton, is that ofascerainiug what officers, in ad.
dtion to those specified in the Constitution, nee
essary for the efficient management of the affairs of
the State, and then of appointing the officers and
two great departments of government are very
different. To the judiciary is assigned the power
of expounding the constitationallaws, while the ex
ecutive has solely the power to enforce their faithful
execution. From this it seems to US to follow as
logical sequence, that when it is shown that each
State is the sole judge as to the officers that are nec
essary to the action Of its government its Leg
isature. and its Legislature alone, is the organ
by which its judgment is to be ascertasned
and made known. 1t may we'll be that the
Legislature can select and appoint the Governor
its agent to certify its decision, but We are unable
to find among the powers given to the Confederate
government any authority to confer upon the Gov
ernor of the State the power to decide and then to
| certify his decision as to who are the necessary
State officers. The conclusion to which this course
ofreasoning leads US is that the petitioner is ent-
tied to his discharge, provided he is such officer
as the Legislature has power to exempt as being
necessary in the administration of the laws Of the
| State Police are defined by Webster to be "a
body of civil officers especially il. cities, for enforc.