The record-union., 1897-03-29

English law, and which was responsible
for the creation of that famous charac-
ter the father of the MarshalSea.' A
brother lawyer tells me that there are
but five other States in which this is a
statutory writ 1t can be exercised, as
you are doubtless aware, to deprive a
person of his or her freedom for an in
definite period. The hardship of it is
when a debtor is restrained from leav-
ing the Jurisdiction and is SO prevented
from earning the means to liquidate his
indebtedness. am unable to under
stand why thirty-eight or thirty-nine
States refuse to recognize the justice of
this restraint and five or six others
should maintain it.
1.-The election laws are equally per-
picking. AS l understood the subject,
the General Government says that a
man must be 81 years of age and a ma
tive born or naturalized citizen before
he can exercise the right of franchise.
1t so happened that the man l have
been looking for has removed from one
State to another in pursuit of employ
ment. In tracing I found that he has
been within the last seventeen years a
citizen of the States of Maine, Rhode
Island, Missouri and Colorado.
I'm the State of Maine it was neceS-
sary for him to have been a resident for
but three months to have the right to
vote, but when he removed to Rhode
Island he had to stay there two years
to qualify himself as a voter. When
he went out to Missouri he was obliged
to live in the State year, but in Col
Il Of hut civ &c G
required In looking up the qualifica-
tions for citizenship in these States
found in Rhode Island and Maine pau
pers or lunatics were debarred from vot-
ing, but hat in Colorado the election
laws make no mention of either of these
classes, forbidding only the right of
franchise to persons who had been con-
victed Of bribery in public office.
I'm several of the Southern States
discovered, on making further inquiry
that dueling or aiding or abetting duel
is sufficient cause to prohibit citizen
otherwise qualified from taking part in
an election, but it is no bar in the North
ern States.
Now don't imagine that l am going
to write any impressions of America
when | get home, because / shall do
nothing of the sort. AS a lawyer l am
interested in these apparent clashes and
conflicts of law and have devoted what
time l could spare to studying them. So
far as politics is concerned, | am quite
at sea, except in general way. 1t
seems to me that you are turning peo-
pie out of office and putting others in
their places continuously. In one State
the local parliament meets biennially.
and in another annually. Certain offices
are appointive in one section of the
country and elective in another.
Il am surprised at the knowledge of
political affairs displayed by young
people in all parts of the country l have
visited. Boys in their teens seem to
take to the subject like ducks take to
water They are far ahead of the Eng
lish boys in that respect and the way
they talk of the work of conventions
and of deals and combinations
amazes me. But to return to the sub
ject first spoke of, | cannot begin to
express my perpleXity over the variance
of the laws in the different States and
how inconsistent it all seems to an Eng
lishman who is accustomed to the same
sort of regulation in Lands End that
he finds in London-the same sort of
law in Warwickshire that is dispensed
in York. / shall have an interesting
story to tell when l get settled down at
home again.
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