Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-01-22
COLUMBUS. OHIO. TUESDAY MORNIN:

WHlCu u pCTSOil lot u DllCe,
office or employment, orenables him to sus-
tain any character with success" 1t is
evident from the mature of the pursuits and
professions Of the parties placed under dis
abilities by the Constitution Of Missouri,
that the acts from the taint of which they
| must purge themselves have no possible re-
| lati0n to their fitness for those pursuits and
professions. There can be no connection
| between the fact that MIR. Cummings en-
tered or lett the State of Missouri to avoid
enrolment or draft In the military service
of the United States, and his fitness to teach
the doctrines or administer the sacraments
of his church. Nor can a fact of this kind,
or the expression of words of sympathy
with persons drawn into the rebellion,
constitute any evidence of the unfitness
OF the attorney or counselor to practice his
| profession, or of the professor to teach the
ordinary branches of lucation, or the
want of business knowledge or business
capacity in the manager of q corporation,
or In its directors or trustees. 1t is mani
fest upon the simple statement of the acts
and professions aud pursuits, that there Is
no such relation between them as to render
q denial of the commission of the acts at
all appropriate as n condition OF allowing
the exercise of the profession and pursuits.
The oath could not, therefore, have been
| required as means ofascertaining whether
parties were qualified or not for their re-
spective callings or the trusts with which
they are charged. Itwas required in order
to reach the person, not the calling. 1t
was eXacted not from any notion that the
acts designated indicated uniitness for the
calling, but because the acts were thought
to deserve punishment, and there was no
way to punish the persons who had COM
mitted them butby depriving them Ofsome
of the rights and privileges of the citizen.
| The disabilities created by the Constitution
of Missouri must be regarded as penalties.
| They constitute punishment. We do not
agree with the counsel of Missouri that "to
| punish one is to deprive him of life, liberty
or property, and that to take from him any
thing less than these is no punishment at
| all" The learned counsel does not use
these terms 'liie, liberty and property" as
pretending every right known to the
law. He does not include under ''liberty"
freedom from outrage on the feelings as
well as restraints on the person. He does
not include under property" those estates
which one may acquire in professions,
though they are often the source of the
| highest emOluments and hOnors.
The deprivation of any rights. civil or
political, may be punishment, the circum
stances attending and the causes of depri-
vation determining this TACT. Disqualiiica-
ton from Office may be punishment, as in
cases of conviction upon impeachment.
Disqualification from the pursuit of law
full avocation or from positions OF trust, or
from the privilege of appearing in the
Courts or acting as executor, administrator
or guardian, may also, and often has been,
| imposed as punishment. By the statute of
8 and 10 William Ill, if any person edu-
Gated in or having made profession of
the Christian religion did, by writing,
printing, teaching or advising, speaking,
| deny the truth of the religion or the Divine
authority of the Scriptures, he was for the
| first otfense rendered incapable to hold any
| office or place of trust, and for the second
he was rendered incapable of bringing any
action, being guardian, executor, legatee or
! purchaser OF lands, beside being subjected
| to imprisonment without bail. By statutes
George 1, contempts against the Kings
title were punished by incapacity to hold
public oiice or place of trust, to prosecute
any suit, to be guardian or executor to take
any legacy or deed of gift, aud to vole at
any election for members of Parliament,
and by forfeiture of 8500 to any one who
would sue for the same.
"Some punishments," says Blacks tone,
"consist in exile or punishment, by abjura-
tion Of the realm or transportation; Others
in loss OF liberty by perpetual or Temporal
ry imprisonment. Some extend to contis-
cation by forfeiture of lands or movables,
or both, or of the profits of lands for lite.
Others induce a disability of holding office
or employments, being heirs and executors
and the like" Among the Romans, loss of
the privilege of membership of the family
or of citizenship were punishments intlict-
ed by her laws. In France deprivation or
suspension of civil rights, or OF some of
them, are punishments prescribed by her
code, and among civil rights are included
the right of voting, of eligibility to office,
OF taking part in family councils, of being
guardian and trustee, of bearing arms, or
being employed in school or seminary of
learning. ..I..
The theory upon which our political in
stitutiOns rest Is, that all men have certain
inalienable rights; that among these are
| life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; !;
aud that, in the pursuit of happiness, all
avocations, all honorS, all positions, are
alike open to every one, and that in the
protection of these rights all are equal be-
fore the law. Any deprivation or suspen-
sion of any of these rights for past conduct
or acts is punishment, and can in no other
wise be defined.
Punishment not being therefore restrict
| ed, as contended by counsel, to the depriva-
tion of life, liberty or property, but also
embracing deprivation or suspension of
political or civil rights, and the disabilities
| prescribed by the provisions Of the Mis-
souri, Constitution being in effect punish
ment, we proceed to consider whether there
is any inhibition in the Constitution of the
United States against their enforcement.
The counsel tor Missouri closed his ar
| In hU n mi
Ing picture of the struggle for ascendency
| In that State during the recent rebellion
between the friends aud the enemies of the
! Union, and of the fierce passions which
that struggle aroused. 1t was in the midst
OF the struggle that the present Constitu-
! tion was framed, although it was not adopt
ed by the people until the war had ceased.
1t would have been strange, therefore, had
| it not exhibited in its provisions some traces
of the excitement amid which the conven-
tion held its deliberations. 1t was against
the excited action of the States, under such
| influences as these, that the trainers of the
Federal Constitution intended to guard.
| In Fletcher o. Peck, Mr.. Chief Justice Mar
shall, speaking ofsuch action, uses this Ian
| guagG:
"Whatover respect might have been felt
for the Sta Q sovereignties, it is not to be
disguised that the trainers of the Constitu-
! ton viewed, with some apprehension, the
violentacts which might grow out of the
feelings of the moment; and that the peo-
pie of the United States, in adopting that
| instrument, have manifested determine
| tion to shield themselves and their proper
| tv from the effects Of those sudden and
! strong passions to which men are exposed.
The restrictions on the legislative power
| of the States are obviously founded in this
| nnn tir,,n1,t nnd the Constitution of the