Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1866-08-10

against invasion and domestic violence. Sig
nifcantly omitting ell obligation upon the
States to perform these Federal duties, they
added the prohibition that no State should
grant letters ofmarque orrepiisal, or, with
out consent Of Congress, keep troops or
ships of war IN time of peace, enter into any
compact or agreement with another State or
engage in war unless when actually invaded
or in such eminent danger as would not
admit of delay and cutting off all means
Of raising supplies and munitions of war,
by the further prohibition to coin money,
emit bills of credit, or make any thing but
gold and silver coiu tender IN payment of
debts These ample guarantees of protec-
ton against foreign and domestic foes would
seem to need no further supplement. yet
not content with their express grant, the
framers of the constitution further declared
that this frame of government, and the
laws and treaties made under it, should be
the supreme law, binding above all state
constitutions and laws
After al this concentration of power in a
general government, charged with the high
est functions of the States themselves, flOm
which it was formed for great national par
poses and for their chief welfare, to suppose
that Its most vital power of protection and
preservation was intended to rest on mere
voluntary enlistment, is so feeble in conclu-
sion and full of consequence, so wanting in
authority, and inadequate to the fulfilment
of its purposes, and SO pregnant with ruin
and loss Of national existence, cannot con-
ceiYe how it is possible to adopt such view.
1 take il therefore as proposition sanction
ed BY the entire nation and consecrnted by
the blood Of thousands, that this nation
possesses the power to exact military service
of every able-bodied citizen.
National sovereignty, from its very ma
ture, carries with it every element Of national
life. The duties of the Government and
the citizen are reciprocal-prOtectio from
the one and fidelity and support from the
other
To say therefore that government has no
power to exact military service is TO pass
upon it sentence of death. Nor can we
measure by any ordinary standard the bene-
fits conferred upon the citizen by the protec-
tion his government affords No matter on
what wide or distant ocean his vessel may
ride, no matter where his feet may press the
sands of q foreign soil, no matter what pow
er may assail his liberty or his rights, the
flag of his country, her emblem of power,
follows his wandering Footsteps and covers
him with its folds The voice of her au-
thority proclaims his protection, and her
strong arm aYerts the blow. So we have
been taught, 50 do all really believe and yet
how insignificant her voice. how feeble her
arms, If she possesses no power to enforce
her call for troops.
From the power of draft follows of neces-
sity the power to declare penalty for DISC
bedience. Chief Justice Tilgman, said In
the Com. vs.. Frisk, S. 4 r., 17e by
virtue of this power Congress can make
~, sV1A4s
penalties for disobedience, and erect courts
Tor trial Of offenders In Moore Y Hoas-
ton, s. & r. I69, the same eminent judge
said-the object being to carry the militia
into the field, Congress may infiict penalty
on all those who disobey the call of the
President. 1t was decided also by the
Supreme Court of the United States, in
Houstonv. Moore, Wheaton, /, and Mar
tin V. Mott, II Wheaton, that a militia man
who refused to obey the orders of the Presi-
dent calling him into public service, was Ha-
| bic to be tried for the offence under the 5th
section Of the act of Congress of 2Sth of
February, I795 These authorities are
wholly inconsistent with this theory of vol
untaTy enlistment. and want of power to
| enforce military service. The power exist
ing, the extent of the penalty is within the
discretion of the law making power, wheth-
er it be to forfeiture of life or property, or
the loss of citizenship.
Possessing power over the subject, Con
gress Is not resi- sIonsible for the consequences.
| If from a legitimate exercise of power over
one right, another, dependent on it, neees-
sarIiy falls, it is no argument against the
power itself With loss of life all rights
fail. If Congress punish piracy with death,
| it is no argument against the right to do sol
that the offender thereby loses all his civil
rights. This is an answer to the supposl-
tion that the act of Congress Which inHicts
disfranchisement for desTtion IS an attempt
to regulate State suffrage. 1t neither Is nor
proposes to be a regulation of suffrage, but
simply declares a penalty for desertIon, a
subject within the Federal power. If loss
Of suffrage follow that of citizenship, It Is a
| consequence of the offence, nor regulation
Of suffrage. The State constitution having
hung on suffrage to citizenship, he who for
feits his citizenship by violation OF valid
Federal Law, cannot complain that as con-
sequence he has also lost his right of suffrage,
any more than by conviction of his crime
his wife and children have lost his protection
and support From the few short words
to establish post offices and post roads.
| flows the terrible power to take the mail
robber S life, or imprison him for life. Yet
who doubts that as consequence OF his
crime he may Jose his E6eram tegeaR, be
| stripped of his privilege as 4 freeman, and
be excluded as a witness in G State court2
Unquestionably Congress has no right to
regulate State Suffrage. Our forefathers
| had no douDt of this, nor had we, until re-
cent events have impressed some with a
strong desire that it should be so, whose
wish has therefore begotton this belief. This
leads us to the question does loss of eiti-
zenship produce loss of suffrage under the
State constitution The constitution says
-" In elections by the citizens any white
| freeman Of the age Of, &c, "shall enjoy
the right of an elector = A citizen of what
| The answer Immediately follows-'1bnt a
! citizen of the United States, who had pre-
yiously been qualified voter of this State,
| and removed therefrom and returned, and
/ who shall have resided in the election dis
trict, &C., shall be entitled to vote after resi-
| ding in the State six months. Then follows
| something still more explicit in the proviso
THAT white freemen, citizens of the Uai-
ted States, between the ages of twenty-one
and tRenty-two years of age, having resided,
| &c, shall be entitled to vote. although they
shall not have paid taxes. Ii is very clear,
| therefore that elections by the citizens
means, according to the State constitution,
elections by citizens of the United States.
Such citizenship being the hasis of suffrage
/ it is unnecessary to inquire into the power
/ of State to extend suffrage to all others ;
on whether they can he State citizenship
| independently of that Of the United States.
4 s. 4