Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1864-04-21
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 1864.
The Elective Franchise.

! distinguished source from which this
! communication comes will be at once
recognized from the initials attached to
it. 1t is needless for us to say that no
one will question the eminent patriot
ism of the writer although he differs
from a large majority of those who have
at heart the welfare of the country, up
on the subject in question. The COM
munication is devoted mainly to dis
cussion of the policy of attempting to
confer upon our volunteers the power to
exercise the elective franchise This
question Of policy has been passed upon
by our Legislature in enacting the Sol
dler's Voting Law, and so practically
settled in this state for the present at
least. The only remaining question is
whether this law conflicts with our con-
stitution,-a purely legal question, now
in the hands of the Supreme Court
This being the case, and as the policy of
the act has been heretofore discussed at
considerable length in the HERALD, we
present the communication without any
lengthy comment upon its arguments
We will only say in reference to the first
point made, that the law in question
would not be nugatory because miIi-
tary order might Be issued to oppose its
execution; and as the voting Of volun-
teers has not been so intertered with, it
is hardly within the bounds of proba-
bility or even possibility, rs practical
question, that anything OF the kind will
be hereafter attempted during the war.
Secondly, in relation to collusion be-
tween voting volunteers and their Off
GERS, in the nomination of candidates
etc, we will only say that candidates are
| and must be nominated in home con-
ventions in which the soldier cannot
take part, and It is upon one of the can
didates so nominated that the choice of
the soldier will fall in casting his vote.
Thirdly, we would make clear distinc-
ton between the citizens temporarily alb
country's defence in its time of peril,
and the soldiers of the regular army
! The former are to all intentS and
purposes citizens still, attached as
much as ever to the local interests OF
home and the affairs of their state, while
their very act of volunteering shows
them to be at the same time among the
most devoted, of such citizens, to the
welfare Of the country at large. Their
term of service is short, and giving them
the power to vote is rather a strong pre-
ventive against their being used as mere
machines for the promotion of anybody s
ambitious or despotic schemes, than the
contrary. But finally, for as before said
we do not propose now to re-enter upon
any lengthy discussion of the general
policy or expediency of allowing our
volunteers to vote, the special exigen-
cies of this anomalous Rebellion are such
as to render it absolutely necessary to
defend the Union both against traitors
of the South and their sympathisers and
abettors at the North. If the most pat
riotic at the North are disfranchised be-
cause they go to fight the rebels in arms,
what is the result Our correspondent
proposes a remedy but would it be ef-
fectual7 The northern "peace-and-
render men" are not confined by any
q
means to the class instanced in New
York City Though these go to swell the
number, they are but tools in the hands
of Others, who outside of the class spok-
en- of control too many timid, vacillating
or ignorant men for the certain safety or
the good name of the American people.
But if the remedy proposed would 9TH
erwise be ef1ectual or advisable, it, is,
in our view, certainly impracticable.--
Take away the elective franchise from
the patriots who volunteer in the de-
fence of the imperiled Union, and you
leave some states, probably in the hands
of those at home who would surrender
the country into the control of the very
rebels against whom the volunteer cit.
izens are struggling. Such fortunately
would not be the case in Vermont. and
the design here is only to confer upon
our volunteers the same right being bes-
towed by other states upon their citi-
zen volunteers, and the same right they
would enjoy if with less deserving pat
riotism they remained at home.