Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1865-03-14
ATTORNEY GENERAL's OFTTCE

|
OF service should be Taken into Con-
stderHtiOn In Calculating Quotas.
ATTORNEY GENERALS oFTTcE go
February 9, 1866. Jr
SR In your letter of the 2sth of JAM
uary, you ask my opinion on the legal
points presented In the letter Of Governor
A. G. Curtin, to you, Of date the 25th Of
January. r-u- --- gI5
Governor Curtin's lettsr is in relation to
the construction Of the set of Congress,
approved Sd March, 1863, commonly called
the Enrolment Act. He insists 3.
1st. That the words period of service;
since the commencement of the rebellion, %
as used In the 18th section of the Act do
not require the President, IN assigning the
quotas to the several States, to take into
consideration the whole term of enlistment
of the volunteer and militia men; sRd
I'd. Thst that part Of the Act of the Sd
of March, 1863, which makes the period Of
service an element in the calculation nee
essary to determine the number Of men
due from State, district, county, or town,
has been repealed by the I'd section of the
act amendstory Of the Enrolment Act
approved oath February, 1864. -
It will be more convenient TO consider
these questions in the reverse order, mas.
much as if it shall be found that the repeal
has been made, as commended for, the first
point made by the Governor need not be
considered.
The great objects of the Enrolment Act
are:
lst. To declare who shsn constitute the
national forces; and
I'd. To organize plan by which the
national forces can be made available.
Subordinate to the purpose of raising
and organizing the national forces, the
plan adopted BY Congress shows desire
that the draft upon the industrial popula-
ton of the several States, and the eommu-
mites thereof, should be equslized as nearly
as practicable. r,
By the Atm section of the act of the Sd
of March, 1853, the United States is divid-
ed into districts, of which the District of
Columbia shall constitute one, each Terri.
rory of the United States shsH constitute
one or more, as the President shall direct,
and each Congressional District of the re-
spective States, as fixed by the law of the
State, next preceding the enrolment, shall
constitute one The 9th section provides,
that there shall be Board of Enrolment
in each district. By the 9th sectien it is
provided, that if the Board of Enrolment
Bhal deem it necessary, district may be
divided into two, and with the assent of
the Secretary of War, into any greater
number Of subdivisions
By the 18th section, it is made the duty
of the President, in assigning to the dis
g. h. has oF k, haE til II
therefrom, to take into consideration the
number of volunteers and militia furnished
by and from the several states in which
said districts are situated, and the period
of their service since the commencement
of the present rebellion andshall SO make
said assignment as Ito equslizs the numbers
among the districts of the several States,
considering and allowing for the numbers
already furnished as aforesaid, and the
time Of their service. a-r-
1t is evident from the face of this set,
that the several states and districts had
furnished number Of volunteers and mill
tia and for periods ofservice. ID
The first duty of the President was to
have the national forces enrolled; his next
duty was to ascertain what number of
volunteers and militia had been furnished
from the several states, and the periods OF
their service since the eommencement Of
the present rebellion; and then, from what
districts in the several states they come,
that he might 'equRlize the numbers among
the districts of the several states, consider
ing and allowing for the numbers already
furnished as aforesaid, and the time of their
service. Under the act tof the Sd Of March,
1863, It is pls in that he had no right and
power to cut up district into counties,
townships, precincts, or wards, in order to
equaliza the draft therein. The authority
given in the 9th section to sub-divide
district, was for the purpose Of facilitating or
expediting the enrolment, and with no
reference to equalization. It might, and
doubtless did, happen in many districts,
that one well defined portion Of district,
as county, township or ward, had fur
nished greatly more than the number due
therefrom, whilst other parts of the same
district, equally well defined, had furnished
few or none, thereby making draft upon
the district necessaryi and yet under the
act, it was not in the power Of the Presi-
dent to make the draft otherwise than
equal over the whole district. This was
unjust and oppressive, In order to correct
this fragrant hardship and injustice, Con-
gress, by the second section Of the act of
24th' February, 1854, and which is in
amendment of the act of Sd March, 1863,
declared that the quota of each ward Of
city, town, township, precinct or election
district, or of a county, where the county is
not divided into wards, towns, townships,
precincts or election districts, shall be, as
nearly as possible, in proportion to the
of men resident therein isble to
military service, taking into account, as far
as practicable, the number which has been
furnished therefrom.
1t is earnestly insisted, and most ingei /
niously argued, that this second section OF
the amended act repesls 30 much of the
twelfth section OF the act of the3d of March,
1863, as makes it the duty of the President
TO take into consideration the period of
service of the volunteers and militia from
The several States. The argument in favor
Of the repeal rests wholly upon the words |
of the smendstory sct-''the number which |
has been previously furnished therefrom.D
It is insisted that @number," as here used, |
means an srithmetical count. cannot 80 |
understand 1t, .+- igf -'4
The Act of the Sd of March, 1853, had |
prescribed a mode by which the number of |
man due from the several States, and the |
districts of the several States, should be as |
certained and that mode required not 8 |
simple count but 8 consideration of the |
period of service of men previously furnish !
ID. Congress used the word number" in |
he I'd section of the Amendatory Act, |
darafo N dino, that tho rooda Of cor,pf y,rai /
.cribed in the original Act would be pre-
Ierved. 4 l1 =-l---l
There are many evidences upon the face
Of the Amendstory Act which show that it
was not the intention of Congress to change
he mode Of count prescribed in the original
Act. I'D i aa'- '--'
The amended Act docs not undertake to,
lsy how the quota of State. or district is