American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1866-11-28
Deserters voting.

ept term Of Court, the usual variety Of
cases seem to abound: Fornication and
oas;erdy, Larcency, with the balance of
The catalogue, all came in their turn,
showing most copclusively that all, at
least, have rot reached perfection either
in morality or high toned integrity.
That class of cases, however, in which
all seemed to have a deep interest was
that arising upon the act of the last Leg
islature based upon the act Of Congress,
disqalifying desertoTs, non-roportcr7, &c,
from voting. Quite number of indict,
n-nts growing out Of this law were
brought forward. Thus far, only one has
been tried that of the Commonwealth
vs. James Dunlap, indicted Tor rcceiv-
ing the vote ofa desorter, as judge Off
election. This case was warmly confess
ted on both sides. It was finally brought
to a close, By the Jury, undcr the charge
Of the Court, strongly intinating the pro-
pricty Of such course, bringing in
special verdict, finding certain facts as
allcdgcl by the Commonwealth.
This leaves The case virtually with the
defendant under the ruling Of the Court,
and leaves the county to pay the cost oc
the prosecution, and the Defendant to
pay his own cost. Fer this result, some
viii doubtless feel disposed to reflect ups
on the rulings Of the Court. This, how
ever, would seem 70 us to be unjust
While VIC have no hesitation in saying
that we think the case one that would
hive justified the Court in disree arding
the opinion of the Supreme Court, in the
franklin county case, still, no one can
fairly ccnsurc a subordinate Court for fol.
lowing the rulings Of the superior in
matters Of law
As our readers feel deep interest in
this question, we feel warranted in Civ
ing brief statement Of the matter as it
nov stands And in the first place, tits
admitted by all that none but citizens of
the United States can he voters in Penn
sylvania. In Ac, second place, it is ad-
mi,;cd that The law making. power Of the
nation can, as a punishment for want
of fidelity or other failure of duty with
draw the right of citizenship from the
offender
Dcssrtion is regarded as one of the
highest crime, known to the laws, by all
nations. From an early period in our
history down to the commencement of
the late civil war, laws have been enac-
ted for the punishment of dcsertion in
al! Of ylieh provision for trial by Court.
martial was made BY ii? act of Con-
grcss of Sd of March, 1865, it is enacted
that in addition to the other penalties
then attaching to the crime of desertion,
if they should tail to report, in accord
ance with the Presidents Proclamation
provided for in the same act and which
was issued eight days afterwards, they
should "Je deemed and Hlhcn TO have
voluntarily relinquished their rights as
citizens of the United States, and their
lights to become citizens" At the elcc.
lion of October 1865, it was reasonably
claimed that these deserters having ceas.
Cd to be citizens of the United States,
had no right to vote. One of this class
offered his vote in Franklin county and
was refused by the Board. He brought
a suit of trespass against the inspector;
a case stated was prepared, in which all
the necessary facts were agreed to and
the case taken up to the Supreme Court
for final decision. This Court is at pres
cnt composed of two Gopperheads-
Thompson and Woodward, two Repub-
licans, Reed aed Agnew, and one loyal
Democrat-Judge Strong. lit is boliev-
ed that the first two named would like to
have declared the act Of Congress uncon-
stitutioDal, having an ex post iactO appli-
eaton--as Judge Woodward lntimated
the secondtwo, Reed and Agnew, held
not only that it was constitutional, but
that it was ample to justify election
boards in rejecting the votes of deserters.
While Judge Strong took middle ground,
and. while he did not 90 as far as we be-
lieve he should, still he saved the act of
Congress from being treated as nulity |
by our highest Court He agreed with |
Judges Thompson and Woodward that
as the constitution provides that no one
can be deprived Of life, liberty or proper>
ty without due process Of Law, therefore,
these deserters cannot be deprived Of
their political rights without fair and
impartial trial, VIII ere they can be heard
by witnesses, council, sc. In this we
believed he erred, as the deprivation of
political rights is only one of the Incl
dents of the crime and not punishment,
in anv inst sense. That proyision of the |