The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1871-01-05

delivering hic opinion in Faulkner
case, | w. Va. r. 2Sf, "as to the fir
objection against Mr.. F.'s qualifying
practice law" that q Virginia licens
cannot avail the applicant in the court
of this StateTethAtis, that licehse b,
fore the reorganization and before III
formation of West Virginia was nc
available, says: "a. to the first obje'
ton, the formation Of the State Of We.
Virginia within the territorial jurisdi'
ton Of the State Of Virginia, was
coup detat accomplished in cOnformit
to the laws OF the mother State" Tha
is, it was revolutionary proceeding
yet preserving the rights OF individual'
for the learned Judge there shows tha
what was valid in Virginia would b
equally 80 in West Virginia" and MI
Faulkner, an active partisan in tn
South, was admitted to the bar withou
taking the test oath prescribed for tn
officers of the State by the Act Of Jun
26, 1863. This was January term
1866. At the same term Of this court
w. A. Quarter, Esq, presented his ap
peal from the Circuit Court OF Kanawhi
county, which had refused to let hin
qualify without taking this same ties
oath. He had been an attorney previ
GUS to the war; had voted for the ordi
nance Of secession; had voluntarily en-
tered the service OF the Confederacy
had borne arms and waged war agains
the United States, and had taker
the amnesty oath; all which are thu
agreed facts in his case The rulings il
Mr.. Faulkner case wtr.re-afiirmed. III
had lost none of his Old Virginia rights
by the coup d etat which made Yves
Virginia a State; and the Court further
held, that treason against the Unitec
States did not necessarily Involve treason
against the State, p. SOL, and that he
could not have committed treason
against the State, unless the act OF Feb
3, 1868 was void, p. 572 This was in
January 1866; it was after the present
was formed. Both cases
affirmed that the rights Of persons IN
Ter the Constitution and the laws OF
Virginia were recognized and secured
under the Constitution of West Wiz.
ginia. Now observe that the rights o!
lawyers are not express, but that the
right OF suffrage is an expressed constitu,
tional right, and above all powers OF
legislation. Twice has this Court af.
firmed the citizenship OF these men,
and 80 of all others similarly situated.
Twice have they affirmed that their
rights and privileges have been pre-
served. We are now dealing with the
rights Of voters under express consttu-
Lional provisions, not with those Of law
yers as incidental rights which as valid
in Virginia would be equally SO in Wes'
Virginia The Constitution Of West
Art. |, 3. 6, provides that
The citizens OF the State are the citI-
.ens Of the United States, residing
herein and section seventh says,
Every citizen shall be entitled to equal
representation, equality Of numbers en-
tiled thereto, shall, az far as practicable,
De preserved" Here are the decisions
If the final court as to the Virginia
lights conserved in West Virginia
Their citizenship, and their eq1ali;y Of
are recognized in the distrihu
ion Of Senator'S and members Of the
House; in the allotments OF equality
If numbers for the Congressional Dis
riots; and in the distribution Of Judi
,ial Circuits. Did these men by taking
Up arms az .inst the United States for
cit their right Of citizenship in the
United States? This Court has ex.
,ressly said they have not, This
Jourt has repeatedly said they
lad not. in the cases decided
" it, involving belligerent rights. II
hey were not citizens, they we're entitled
o these rights. Otherwise, they wcr2
rot traitors, and the doctrine Of seces-
ion is indicated Otherwise, the rights
If persons and of parties engaged i'll
he war are international rights there is
10 foundation for the Alabama claims;
otherwise all the judgments Of this Court
BASED on the assumption or the fact
hat these men were citizens engaged
n a civil war, and that their contracts
.s between themselves were void, and
hat their acts as Individuals under
heir superior officers were without
justification, are erroneous in principle.
The theory OF dcciti=enatios, as it is
allied, is at war with the doctrine Of
re Union-the Constitutional unity of
he States in one National Unity. 1t
mas been ignored IN all the facts and
just stated. And these nave
been recognized in He'd yes Us Price, = W.
Va. X. 1872, Williams Us. Freeland, i'd,
BOG, Lively's ex. Us. Ballard, i'll. 496,
Echo!s Us. Stantons, 3 id. 514, and
Hedges rs. Michaels, and Price rs.
Lutman. Shall We be legally con
,istent and affirm that Sccessionism is
the correct legal and Constitutional
doctrine and that the civil war was a
revolution which obliterated all the
landmarks Of aHthe States, and substitu-
ted centralized power, supreme,
absolute. and when it pleascs, despotic :?
No sane man will, now, 80 affirm, and
these men would cease to be citizens Of
the United States and 10y this sixth
section, Art. of the Constitution Of
West Virginia they were citizens Of the
State, and by the first section Of Art.
III. they were voters, as therein
described This is the lap which no
legislative enactment can set aside or
make void.
We had come to the January term,
1866, of this Court. TIE decisions in
favor of Faulkner and Quarter were
sustained by Judges Brown and Berk-
shire Of the Supreme Court, though
opposed by that man of unenviable
notoriety, Mr.. Nat Harrison, OF the
Greenbrier Circuit, who sat with these
Judges. Throughout the legislation OF