The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1866-01-26
AN IMPORTANT DECISION.

Judge King yesterday delivered q
most important decision in the court of
quarter sessions of this county, in the
case of Rowe VS. Stenger. Mr.. Stenger
was returned as elected to the Office Of
District Attorney last fall, and Colonel
Rowe contested the election on the
ground thatthem majority of Mr.. Stenger
was made up of votes cast by men who
were deserters from the draft or from
the military service, andare disfranchi-
sed by the act of Congress.
Judge King held that the penalty of
forfeiture of citizenship could not be
inflicted without due process of law,
and that deserters can be disfranchised
only upon conviction Of the Offense by
some competent tribunal. As the act
of Congress makes nOprovisiOn for the
judicial ascertainment and conviction
of the crime, and the laws Of the State
make no such test Of the qualification
of voters, the votes of such men must
be accepted. In the decision he does
not raise the question of the power Of
Congress to impose penalty affecting
the right of suffrage in a State, and he
expressly valves the issue raised as to
whether rnOt theact of Congress is an
e.r post .fdct0 law, inasmuch as the point
decided is conclusive of the case.
Sucha decision coming from judicial
officer second to none in the State in
high legal attainments, and eminent for
his devotion to the loyal cause, presents
the question of the Acknowledgement
of deserters as one vet to be perfected
by the legislature if it is to be enforced
1t All ~ lbs is IN IN Issue eQfht o. II oTJ we boEa
to see this case reviewed by the court of
last resort in the State. But by the
time it will reach that court, the legis-
lature will have adjourned and if the
decision of our court should be sus-
tanned, we shall have another year of
doubt and defiance of the law of Con-
gress by the only party that can hope
to profit by the votes of those who de-
serted their cOuntry's cause in the day
of peril. Just as is the penalty of the
act of Congress, its enforcement must
have all the sanctity and ceremony Of
law, and to this question the attention
of the legislature should be deliberate
ly, wisely and promptly directed. We
must either have such enactmentS as
will ensure uniform enforcement, or
the punishment of desertiOn must be
abandoned. The general government
has abandoned it, and it is for the States
to declare by their legislation whether
they will do likewise.
WE take the above from the Frank
lin Repository, of last week. 1t will be
seen, by that article, that Judge King
/ has decided that persons who evaded
the draft, or deserted from the militia
ry service of the United States, are
Iegal roterS. This is just what the Dem
0crats claimed them to be. How bitter
a pill this decision must be for those
AbOlitiOnists to swallow, who beloved
so loudly against the reception of "ske-
daddler's votes" at the last election.
The Repository is dumb-fOunded by it
and doesn't know exactly what to rec
Ommend, under the circumstances. 1t
says that the general government has
abandoned the punishment of desey-
ton" Well, is it, then, the business
of the States to take it up? There was
no desertion from the state, but only
| from the FederdL, service. What busi-
ness, then, has the State with the pun.
ishment of desertion? But, suppose
the Legislature passes law prohibit
ing "deserters" from voting, what will
it amount to? 1t would be clearly, in
disputably yuncOnstitutiOnal and would
beyond question, be so decided by the
Supreme Court, whenever the matter
would be brought before that tribunal.
Therefore, we cannot see that the Re
po&itOJy can helpits party much by get
ting the Legislature to pass such law.
We think, on the whole, that that pa
per had betteradvise the leaders of the
"Republican" party to turn their at
tentiOn to some more honorable means
of carrying elections than disfranchi-
sing white men on the score Of their
being "deSerters."