Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-04-26

Tor duty and the aDSentees had to De I
accounted for according to the best
knowledge the company commander
had. Many soldiers we're thus mis-
takenly reported as deserters ,sho we're /
properly and innocently absent.
The practice of detacbiDg was car
ried on to a fearful extent, aud nearly /
every command had one-fourth OF one
third of its men on special duty at the
rear. When General Sherman had
l25 600 men drawing rations he had
only 10000 IN the ranks at the front
We know this from official reports and
orders we have seen while serving in
the A6jutant Generals Department
IN the field Many Of these detached
men were left at Chattanooga, Nash
vile and other points, while the Grand
/ Army went trooping off TO the sea.
i Now how cou Id a company command
+ er at Savannah correctly account for
+ his detached men at Nashville This
! is but an instance. Furloughed sol
diers were on their way to join the
army at Atlanta when it swung off,
I to the coast, and communication being
interrupted they were left behind.
Their time of leave expired and they
became, according to army law, deser-
ters. On the Provost Marshal's rec
ords doubtless many of them are to
this day reported as deserters, although
they may have been duly cleared of
of the charge. and have now an hon
orable discharge in their possession.
What, then, do these reports to the
Provost Marshal amount to as estab-
fishing charge of desertion ? Sim
ply nothing. Even in actual service
they were not regarded as proving any
thing, but only as being cause for sus-
pending the pay and allowances of a
soldier until the propriety of his alb
sence might be investigated and ad-
judged Who then viii be disfran-
chised by this deserter clause Of the
j amendment? We answer, only those
who have been conUicted of desertion
before a civil or military court, and
none others. The statement Of deser-
/ ton on the army rolls Is simply a
, charge and not a conUiction Of the
crime No judges Of election would
2 venture to reiecta mans vote merely
because he Is charged with desertion
or any other offense, particularly sin ce
t law passed by the recent Legislature
5 has made judges subject to fine aud
imprisonment if their reasons for re-
! lection are not valid. No one believes
that charge of crime is conviction of
? crime or even such evidcaee-nf it as
would be likely to indemnify election
judges for rejecting vote. Evidence
of trial and conviction must be pro-
e duced, and whenever that is done dis
T franchisement clearly ought to follow
= But the Commercial suggests that
+, sound policy would be violated by
D going back now TO visit military Of
fenses with punishmenfs which we're
] not threatened or contemplated at the
e time the offense was committed, not
taking the trouble, however. of "se-
J. riously considering that subject. Let
= US take the trouble. The Constitution
S of Ohio, Art. ). Sec. 4, says, The
o General Assembly shall have power tC
y exclude from the privilege of voting
j or of being eligible to Office, any per
d son convicted of bribery, perjury, OF
It other infamous crime" Now bribery
: and perjury can at most be punished
g only with imprisonment and loss oil
J civil rights, but desertion, by the laws
: of every civilized country, is punisha.
: BILE with death, and is surely, there
j 1 fore, one of the Infamous crimes this
= section comprebends. 1t cannot ther
be said that disfrauchisement for de.
r sertion was lot threatened or COZ
:, tempIated'' before the war, for the
r Democratic trainers of the Constitu-
! ton threatened and contemplated il
Y as long ago as 1851, and every soldier
+ who understood Art 5, Sec 4, of that
T document must have nown this.
= Besides, such a law is Just. Gases
= have come to our knowledge of mer
: who received as high as 81 900 bounty
T to enlist, or even more as substitutes
D who no sooner reached the front thar
: they deserted to the enemy. It is g
: very mild punishment for such to be
e d, r~ived of the right of voting anG
h holding Office The same is true Of
2 those convicted Of ylesertiop- to the en-.
e emy or TO the rear in time of actua.
}. hostiities, and more especially of the
y Canada draft sneaks. Let all such be
disfranohised and every good soldier
= will say amen to it. These recreanti
= may be white in their faces, but they
n are black at heart, and richly deserve
r the curse of the law.
S It doubtless would have been better
: to have had the question of enfran
# chising the coIored race submitted un
q encumbered with any other, but there
D we're certain members of the Legisla-
ture who could not be induced to take
: that question straight" and insisted
r upon having il diluted, OF not at all
e Partly out of tenderness for theil
;. weak constitutions the proposition tC
e disfranchise rebels, draft sneaks and
] deserters was attached to the other
p and not submitted as a separate amend.
D ment Yet both can be justly and
0 safely approved, and by ali means
= ought to be. There is nothing in eth
: er that should prejudice the claims ot
the other to popular approval.
!
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