Litchfield enquirer., 1865-04-20

Halter be 80 long not liable to draft or he mayI procure for the Government recruit notliable| Ito draft, and obtain credit for such recruit in| case he should be drafted, subjecting himself. however to the liability of being compelled to| repeat the operation at every succeeding draft |that. may be ordered by the President.
 Chiefly l suppose, the design of the provis- lion of the act of 1865, under consideration, wasj Ito offer inducement and present stimulus tol numbers or associations of individuals in any
 sub district, before the liability ot any of them became fixed by draft, to obtain volunteerl recruits for the army Congress in this law Ioffers such assocIations premium to use their| [exertions to fill up the armies It says to the) residents of the multitudinous counties. towu- lships, ward, and precincts, throughout the fcountry, Organize yourselves into recruiting
 societies induce volunteers to enlist into the| Eservice before the draft; pay them such amor,nts fof bounty as you may be able to raise by your| Icontributons to the recruiting funds of your| several districts ad when they have been en- listed into the service, the volunteers you may have raised will stand to the credit of as many| l of you as may happen to be drafted, to the ex- tent of the number of recruits, in the order| designated at the time the recruits are muster Ted in.'
 Such is the declaration and promise of the new law Its policy is to encourage recruiting not the procura ion of substitutes to induce he people to organize associations for the ad- |vancement of volunteering, rather than the purchase of substitutes.
 In enacting this new law, and inaugurating this new policy, Congress, however, has no t taken away the right of the enrolled person bel
 fore the draft, to furnish substitute, wi tn the Qualification before stated, and thus secure his exemption from draft during the time for which, This substitute shall have been accept d. He still has it in his power to exercise that right lin preference to the right conferred by the 23d section of the act of 3d March, 1865, of obtain occur and securing thereby credit in the event. Ion any occasion, of his being drafted. am of opinion, theirfore, that the 23d sec |tion of the act of March 3d, 1865, does not su- |persede the 4th section of tie act of Feb A, Ils64. .
 The second question which you have referred Ito me, is, whether the recruits which are to Joe taken as substitutes are to be considered land borne upon the muster.rolIs and records of |the office of the Provost Marshal General, as |other volunteer recruits which are obtained at the expense of the United States, or as substi- l Itutes which are furnished at the cost of the principals.
 am of opinion that the recruits whom persons enrolled iE any sub district may 'cause Ito be mustered into the service of the United (States,' in pursuance of the 23d section of the |aet of 3d March, 1865, are to be considered and |t1eated as other volunteers who are obtained lat the expense of the United States. It will bel observed, from the analysis of the law contain I led in the foregoing remarks, that the idea in |volVed in the law of 1864 is subtitution, while the idea of the law of 1865 is crediting. The Isection of the act of 1865 under consideration |does not speak of the recruits in question as |'substitutes' but declares that they shall bel taken as substitutes for the persons who cause them to be mustered in. They are not substi |tutes, but only of the nature of substitutes. Their primary and essential character, under
 the law is that of credits for their procurers or principals; and this description is the first description given of them in the section in| squestion, for after saying which recruits shall |stand to the credit of the persons thus causing| them to be mustered in. the section proceeds, and shal; be taken as substitutes for such per sons, or so many of them as may be drafted, to| the extent of the number of such recruits. A critical study of the words of the statute| |thus deyelopes. the fundamental idea which Il have supposed from other indications, was in tended to be embodied in the law. The 'recruits who are to stand to the credit of the enrolled persons, causing them to be mustered in before |the occurrence of draft, am of opinion, then |are to be considered as other volunteer recruits which are o5tainsd at the expense of the Uni |ted States, and not as substitutes in the or |dinary sense of that term, which are furnished lat the cost of the principals
 Very respectfully,
 Your obedient servant, JAMES SPEED. Attorney General.