The New York herald., 1867-05-27

49,
,rovson In the consultation OF The United slatcs o. to
reason against the Vnied states does not declare what
haiI be the punsD.nens conviction OF reasoa- That
eit for Congreys with The limitation that csvfuption
eiture except during the life Of the parry Congrsss IN
no exercise0f its 70 declare the punishment has
limited Euct punishment as consequence OF conviction
o the ren3 Ky OF death or imprisonment and the
n,sson slaves owned by the party. and 70 disquahn
cation from holiing any olce under he United States
these ten s.aies-exeep, perhaps v,rgnia-which de-
ciarcs dsfranchsement a. TO The right OF suffrage by
zhe fourth and fith sections may be considered to-
rs'her me party applying for registration must
That a,s ss never esss smssr Q, State aesss
and engaged in nsuTecuon rebellion against
,ssreSf ne .na. taken oath nsnSsT q
a. S executive Or judicial ocey q any state to suppor.
sasea IN nsSrrscuon or reseilcn against he Uslted
STAGES. or given aid comfort the enemies thereof
These clauses Of the oath effect extend the enfran
chsemont beyond the OF the original act and
the prior clauses Of TIE oath ITSELF In the important par
hcnar that neither q conviction nor Judgment OF
court nor express legislative enactment is required
70 establish The fact OF dis'ranchsement. In
legal parlance Acknowledgement under these
clauses Of the oath results from matters IN pair
But respect these clauses limit the generality Of
the original act 10 disranchisement The original act
conteunpates arising from part cpaon
IN = rebellion whereas Acknowledgement under these
clauses does not arise from participation In rebellion
alone but otcr elements must concurtbat Is 70 say,
the holding Of certain odices the taking an ohcal
oath oy certSn officers and Afterwards participating N
tne rebellion against tho United States. .ss
The consideration OF these Two ciausos leads 70 two
distinct ubscts matter of nqnry-frst, What Offices
oisers comprehended2 secoRd, What acts amount
70 engaging in insurcction or rebellion against the
Uned States or gving nsd or comfort TO the enemies
shsreofY will first oonscr what Offices or officers are
comprehedded As 70 some officers there Is no room
for doubt Members Of state Legislature bore
Cf Congss clearly oneugh designated The question
might however, arise whether convention held In
~ tfnt&rw>
would answer to the description Of State Legislature
within the meaning Of tho act Such convention,
although Il Is clothed with legislative powers, cannot
properly be denomnated State legislature and IN the
acts under consideration, convention and legis
laure expressly distinguished from each other; for
they require the constitution be framed by
uon and they require the Legislature Of the same State
10 adopt the constitutional amendment When, then,
in the came acts they the phrase Legislature
Of the State they must be understood to IL In the
game and distinguished from copsttstonal
convention But TO those Legislatures which passed
what called ordinances OF secession by whatever
name they may have been called, am OF opinion that
their members properly comprehended within this
dsqualying clause for can imagine no official Iegis-
lave position IN which the duty OF allegiance was more
distinctly violated.
The next ana more difncut inquiry is, who is to be
considered nm officer OF the United States,
tive OF judicial officer Of any State within the meaning
OF these ciausssS Various classes Of officers here
intendcd-Saie officers and federal officers and
ive judicial officers No legislative officer is men,
member OF Congress The descriptions used as to other
officers are, as 10 State officers that thev must be Judi
cia or executives and as to federal officer the terms
executive judicial are not expressed Ho is described
simply officer of the United States. II has been
shown that federal officers aud state officers classified
separately in the clauses OF the act under consideration
deem u profitable and conducive to clear order TO
follow this classification. shall accordingly first
terms executive or judicial This phrase Is " twice sHs
used IN these clausee, with the superadded
any State in the second clause. think the control
ling term OF DESCRIPTION If there any repugnancy in
the terms must be taken to be the last used
nO tan
named IN the nrst clause and 70 others Besides II is
the same term Of description used In the OF Con-
take the oath TO support the constitution OF The United
States and in the third section OF the Constitutional
executive and judicial officers OF staten The terms
are 30 general and indefinite that they fail 10 express
with sufficient certainty designation Of the persons
intended 70 be reached. II s 10 bc regretted In mat
ter Of SO much importance that the rule OF designa-
lion adopted as To members OF Congress and Of State
found impracticable that moro definite general
rules had not been declared The uncertainty becomes
~: ans sss for
construction, which arises from the generality
Of law cannSs be better stated than in the language Of
20 the intent OF the act Those statutes which compre
hond all things In the letter the sages of the law have
expounded 70 extend but to some things Those which
generally prohibit all people from doing such
and those which include every person in the letter they
have adjudged to roach persons only all founded
COnsiuer1ng
necessity Of the act, and comparing one part with
another and sometimes by foreign circumstances y
intent OF these acts and show by what role OF con-
strucon-stric libpraI-thnt intent may best ar.
rived at The INTENT as expressed. Is 70 enable the
people Of each OF these states 70 frame constitution for
the State by the exercise OF the right suffrage There
are clauses OF the act giving the right BY general
terms OF description 10 the people generally
and especially 10 those who have never enjoyed tho
right before There other clauses of the act which
by general terms take away this right or suffrage from
rll 0fCo
sruction as TO the clauses which give right must be
liberal and them the general terms are not 10 be re-
scted, bat to those clauses which derogae from tho
existing right the rule OF construction must be stric
that none should be excluded who clearly with
Fu&-I begin, thon. with the inquiry whether officers
OF me miita oi a State embraced within these
terms OF description, and have doubt that they
not Certainly Congress, to tho officers Of Stale,
was not content TO the term large and without
eral term. II the purpose TO designate military
oiicers tho usual words manifest that intent would
have been adopted and the terms would have been the
Judicial and executive, the civil military officers OF
the state Accordingly find when that the pur-
pose, As We see Il was In the third section Of the
constitutional amendment, known as article four
seen Congress expresses that purpose very clearly
rhat section provides that person shall be euator
Representative in Congress- or eecor Of President or
Vice President any Office civil or military under
the United States q member OF any State Legisa-
iare or a. an executive or judicial ocer shall have
gwen aid comfort TO the thereof This third
section expressly referred than once IN these
=
language In followed word for word In these dsquafyng
causfs as Tar as was possible except the particular
~ which one made to apply TO eligibility and the other
the right 70 vote: when therefore, find that Congress
IN declaring what persons shall DO disiranchiscd from
hoidsg any Office expressly includes military well %
civil oficers as in the third section OF amendment
aud In providing what persons shall be disfranchsed
from voting who hold any Office omit mention mill
iary officers, escape the conclusion that mill
tary ocers wec not here within their contemplation II
= impossible TO imagine . case in which the
applioaion Tor It evident hero that the lawmakers
framing tho disqualncations OF the voter took special
eoenzance Of the third section OF the amendment and
wsisbcd Il word by word, following literally for the
most part and rejecting deliberately che very word in
tended 10 embrace Q military of1cer. IL must be borne
In mind that We are here considering the class Of mill
tary Offices who were such prior TO the rebellion,
when the Office was lawful. and who known a.
ocers OF the militia not that class who became military
officers during the rebeon. As last class they
all come under that other clause n disqualification
which spplies TO participation in tb. tsbellion.
Sscord-Having the inquiry th.a crcumscrbed 10
clvi ohcers, the question recui, What civil officers
are TO be brought within the term. executive or judicial