The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1898-04-01

militia to Cuba:
This question is asked frequently 10y
| militiamcn. Gen. Thomas :. Mumford
nspcctcr-gcncral of Maryland, says:
''Thc power of the President of the
| United States to order the militia outside
of the State or country is not Il new ques
ton by any means. On the contrary, Ii Is
a very old story and a very mortiylng one
it is almost as old as the constitution
itself This document declares that Con
gress may provide for calling out the mil
tia TO execute the laws of the MON, sup
press instruction or rcpcl INVASION
| Congress. as well as the supreme Court OF
the United States has decided that tho
President is the sole judge of when the
cxigcncy exists iustifying him i'll the call
ing out of the militia To rcpel INVASION
The Presidents decision on this point is,
therefore, absolutely final.
sAithough this subject has been thor
| oughlv discussed at various times in our
history in the halls of Congress by emf
ncnt statesmen and constitutional lawyers
| and the weight of their argument seemed
| to be conclusive from the purely legal
standpoint that this power is vested in
the President, nevertheless on every Cc-
casion when our relations with foreign
governments have been strained to the
verge of war or actual hostilitic> have be-
gun and this question has arisen the repre-
sentativcs Of the States themselves or. in
other words, the people, seemed to have
settled the question beyond 4 doubt that
the President has not the power to order
the militia beyond the borders of the State
to repcl invasion. The general govern
ment has heretofore accepted this decision
for all practical purposes As unanswerable
and final.
The most lampntable experience of the
government with the militia was in the
second war with Great Britain, when
nearly every Governor OF The New Eng
land States refused to allow the militia to
90 beyond the borders of their respective
States to assist the regular troops, which
were in actual conflict. This refusal has
occurred in other States in the Union
when the Cove, nment has endcavorcd to
make use of the militia for any cNtcHded
fragrant cases too recent to mention the
militia has refused to obey the constituted
State authorities when their sympathicS
were otherwise SO there is no wcndcr in
c.l, hat 1,p,r amt
is fully satisfied that it cannot look to the
organized militia for assistance in service
of protracted nature outside of the
States themselves.
ITO be sure the militia has been largely
employed by the government on several
occasions in our history, both within and
without the States, but only for temporary
purposes and sometimes by special ar
rangement with the State authorities In
the cases referred to it has performed
splendid service. OF course, every one
at all familiar with the militia of to-day
knows that generally throughout the coun-
try it has never been in such a high state
of efficiency as at present, and the maJorl-
ty of its members are true, loyal citizens.
But this has nothing whatever to do with
the question; therefore, it must be distinct
lv understood that no reflection whatever
is cast upon the militia by the government
so far as its patriotism is concerned, but
that the government has been forced to
assume this attitude solely on account of
the ineradicable public sentiment from
the constitutional standpoint.
LAS result of the foregoing expert
cnccs it may be of interest to some to
know that the policy ofthe government in
raising its armies for general defense is to
appeal to the individual patriotism of the
citizen and to call for UEited States vol
unteers. This procedure was followed in
the Mexican war and also in the civil war,
the Governors Of the States appointing all
the officers up to and including the grade
of colonel The general officers were APP
pointed by the President.
Judging by the successful results OBJ
tanned from the system in the past, it
would not be unreasonable to suppose that
the same policy would likely be adopted
in the future in the event of hostilities
with Il foreign power