i
r
3
I. ." j
Ir.U. JICOBT, rnbllsher.1
Truth and Right- God and bur Country.
Two Hollas per Annum.
U
VOLUME 15.
BLOOMS BURG. COLUMBIA COUNTY, PA., WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 25, 1863.
NUMBER 5.
I t
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Choice poet rtj.
THE -POOR OLD MAX.
BY . TALIntRR0 DtLLARtX
I isas rambling on morning gay,
Without one car? or sigh,
Twaa in the lovelv month of May,
The sue was shining high ;
The hills ivere clad in golden rays
The lak was sparkling white,
,;The birds were ch.iritmg lonh their lays
; . With sweetness and delight ;
;And thrones were passing to and fro
. - With miles on ery face ;
Methoogtt I never saw before
Such charms in any place.
t - . . . .
,- A on I went with rapid pace.
Cbeer'd with the scenes around,
' A man i aw with haggard lace,
Lo-seated on the ground.
; His hair .as gray, bis beard unshorn, .
' His eyes were senken de-p,
His hat wa old, his clothes were torn;
The picture made me weep.
""' No word 'le spoke when near I drew,
' Bat meekly looked arooi.d,
And from hi cheek a heavy tear
Came ilowly roiling down.
' i ; -
- ! said to iim, "Old man, indeed
Yon tfvm to be in -vanl.
And if, in truth, job are in need,
Why don't you look tor aid ?"
- "'Look at these pallid cheeks," he cries,
"And at this breast so bare ;
Aod see these dim aad snnkea eyes,
- And hiary locks of hair.
' - '
"This Tvorn out robe, this feeble frame,
Now vi?rgiig on the grave ;
This care-worn face, all, all proclaim
That 'I compassion crave.
'When these attiring daily ask
. For mi a small relief,
. I'm only taunted vfiih my rags,
And ht nt away in grief.
"Those ivho like rue are very poor, -s
Dii often pily show j
t ut at their humble cottage door, .
Is fourd but iiltie now. "
"Bat from the rich and ample storey
Relief is seldom given, .
?o to thr old, when very poor
..The highest hope is Heaven."
!,, . ,u. ,...,,. , .
Inccnstitationality or the Conscription let.
- ' " '-
JUDGElrOODTPrfliD'S OPINIO X.
. m . . : -
Woorjwj.RD J Or: the 3d day of March,
1SP3, the Congre-a of the United 5tate
paused an Act for "enrolling and calling out
the Natlocal forces, and for other pnrpos-
es," whicli is commonly called the Con-
tciiDtion Iaw. ' The plaintiffs, who are
i
. citizens o Pennsylvania, have set forth the
, act. fully vi their bills, and they complain
that they have been drafted into the milita
ry service of the Government In pursuance
- of said en;ictmeot, but that the same is on-'-
constitutional and void, and that the de fen-
. dants, wh are enguged in executing the
-' ac:, have 'violated the rights and afe about
' So'idvade the personal liberty of the plain
tiffs, and thereupon they invoke the eqoita
blu interposition of this Court to enjoin the
dsfendanls against a farther execution of
'r ihu said Act.
" For the jurisdiction of this Court to set
- , aside an act of Congress as unconstitutional
and to grunt the relisf praed for, I refer
myself to the Tiews of the Chief Justice, io
th3 opinion he has just' delivered in these
cases, aruM come at once to the constiin
r libsal question. r '
-The Act begin? with a preamble which
resiles this existing iasurrection and rebel
lion against the authority of the United
. tSlttes, tbs duty of the Government to ear
press insurrection and rebellion, to guaran-
138 to each State a republican form of Gov
ernment, and to preierve the public tran
quillity, and declare that for these high
purposes a military force is indispensable,
"to raise and suppoft which all 'persons
otight willingly to contribute," and that no
service li more praiseworthy and honorable
than the; maintenance of the Constitution
ai4 Union ; and then goes to provide for
the enrolling of all the able bodied male
' ciuzens of ihe 'United States, and persons
ol foreign binh, vrho have declared their
intention to become;; citjzena,: between the
;ea of ttreoty ona nnd forty -five years.artd
these able-bodied citizens and foreigners,
with certain exceptions afterward enomera
tJ, t.T9 aclared "ike national brcet" and
, made liable to perform military doty when
csJIad out by the President. - The act df
riisa the country inio military districts cor
responditig with the Congressional districts,
provide for provost marshals and enrolling
boards, aad regulates the details of such
d,-afu as; the President efcail order to be
ruaJa irotz lha naticnal forces so enrolled.
T.js Faf ,2e3t of3C0 excuses any drafted
twscn, ' that it is, in fact a law providing
far cc-rsp'ilsory draft or cocscriptioa of such
ci:i-3K5 is ara cn witling or'nnab'e to par
clxza esiib?tion'atlbe stipdatad price. It'
ji lis- ;it isViancsia our history, of lesia-
lation forcing a great public burden on the
poor. Oar State legislation, which exempts
men who are not worth more than $300
from paying their own debts, i&.in striking
contrast with this Conscription law, which
devolves nporsuch men the burthen which
belong to the whole" "national forces," and
to which "all persons ought willingly to
contribute." This, however, is an objection
to the spirit of the enactment rather than to
its constitutionality.
The description of persons to be enrolted,
able-bodied citizen, between 20 and 45
years of age, is substantially the descrip
tion of the militia as deficed in our Penn
sylvania statutes and probably in the stat
utes of all the Slates The national forces,
then, mean the militia of the States cer
tainly iuclude the militia of Pennsylvania.
This expression, "national forces' is mod
ern language, when so applied. It is not
found in our Constitutions, either State or
Federal, and if used in commentaries on
the Constitution, and in history, it will gen
erally be found applied to our land and na
val forces in actual services to what may
be called our standing army. It is a to'.al
misnomer when applied to the militia, for
the militia is a State institution. The Gen
eral Government has no militia. The State
militia, always highly esteemed as one of
the bolwnrks of our liberties, are recog
nized in the Federal Constitution, and it is
not in the power ot Congress to obliterate
them or to merge them in 'national forces.'
. Unless there is more magic in a name
than has ever been supposed, this conscript
law was intended to act opon the State mi
litia, and our question is, therefore, wheth
er Congress has power to impress or draft
the militia of the S ate. I cannot perceive
what objection can be taken to this state
ment of the question, for surely it will not
be argued that calling the militia national
forces makes them something else than the
militia. If Congress did not mean to draft
the militia under this law, where did they
expect to find the national forces I "All
able bodied white male citizens between
the ages of twei.ty-one and forty -fife years)
residing in this State, and not exempted by
the laws of the United States," with certain
specified exceptions, constitute our State
militia. W ill it be aid tnat the conscrpt
law was not intended to operate on these 1
I think it will not. Then if it does touch,
and was framed and designed to draft this
very clas of citizens, no possible objection
i can be taken to the above statement of the
question e have to decide,
j I, therefore, repeal the question with
; great confidence in its accuracy, has Con
' gress the iottitutioiai power to impress or
draft into the. military service of the United
Slates the militiamen of Pennsylvania !
This question has to be answered by the
Constitution of the United States, becan-e
mat instrument, framed Dy deputies of the
people ol the States and ratified and put in-
10 eneci ay ine oiaies inemse ves in tneir
. , .
: respective corporate capacities, delegate?
10 Congress all the powers that body can
jexerciio. These delegations are either ex-
! press or such implications as are essential
to the execution of expressly delegated
j powers.
j There are but three provisions in the
j Constitution of the United States that can be
appealed to in support of this legislation.
In ordinary editions they stand cumbered
as clauses 13, 16 and 17 ot the VIII section
of Act 1, ot the Constitution :
"13. Congress shall have power to raise
and support armies, but no appropriations
of money to that use shall be for a louger
term than two years.
"1. Congress shall have power to pro
vide for calling forth the militia to execute
the laws of the Union, to sarpress ' insurrec
tion and repel invasion. ..
"17. Congress shall have power to pro
vide lor organizing, arming and disciplin
ing the militia, and for governing such part
of them as may be employed in the service
of the United States, reserving to the Slates
respectively the appointment of the officers
and the authority of training the militia ac
cording to the discipline prescribed by Con-
gress
it
To raise armies'- these are large words!
what do they mean 1 There could be no
limitation opon the numtiir or size of the
armies to be raised, for all possible contin
gencies could not be forseen; but our ques
tion has not reference to numbers or siz,
but to the mode of raising armies. The fra
mer of the Constitution, and the States who
adopted it, derived their ideas of govern
ment principally from the example of Great
Britain certainly not from any of the more
imperial and despotic governments of the
earth. What they meant to make was a
more free Constitution than that of Great
Britain taking that as a model, in some
things bnt enlarging the basis of popular
rights in all respects that would be consist
ent with order and stability. They knew
that the British army bad generally been
recruited by voluntary enlistments, stimu
lated by wages and bounties, and that the
few instances of impressments and forced
conscriptions of land forces bad met with
the disfavor of the English nation and had
led to preventive statutes. In 1704, anJ again
in 1707, concscripUon bills. were attempted
in Parlament but laid aside as unconstitutional.-
During the American Revolution a
statute, 19 Geo. Ill C. 10, permitted the im
pressment of "idle and disorderly persOos
not following any lawful trade or having
some substance sufficient for their subsist
ence," and this was as far as English leg
islation had goae when oar Federal Consti
tution was planned. Aescredly the f ranters
of oar Coustitaticn did not intend to subject
the people of the States to a system of con-
i scription which was applied in the mother
(country only to paupers and vagabonds On
j the contrary, I inlet that the power confer-
red on Congress was the power to raise be called out under State, othcers, but lon
armies by the ordinary English mode of , gres sa)s they shall be drafted, in contempt
voluntary enlistments. ol State authority. General Washington
The people were justly jealous of stand- ' and the men of his day, did not so read the
ing armies. Hence, they took away most
of the war power from the Executive, where
under monarchical forms, it generally re
sides, and vested in the legislative depart
ment, in one branch of which the Suites
have equal representation, and in the other
branch of which the people of the Su?es
are directly represented according to their
numbers. To these representative? of the
States and the people this power of origina
ting war was committed, but even in their
hands it was restrained by the limitation of
biennial Appropriations for the support of
the armies they might raise. Of course, no
army could be raised or supported which
did not command popular approdation, and
it was rightly considered that voluntary en
listment would never be wanting to re
cruit the ranks of such an army. The war
power, existing only for the protection ol
the people, and left, as far as it was possi
ble to leave it, in their own hand, was in
capable of being used without their consent,
and, therefore, could never languish lor en
listment. They would be ready enough to
recruit the ranks of an army ther deemed
necessary to their safey. Thus the theory
of the Constitution placed this great power
like other governmental powers, directly
opon the consent of the governed.
The theory itself was founded on free and
fair electionswhich are the fundamental
postulate of the Constitution If the patron
age and power of the Government shall
ever be employed to control popular dec
lions, the nominal representatives of the
people may cease to be their real represen
tatives, and the armies which may be rais
ed may not command public confidence as
to attract the necessary recruits, and then
conscript laws and other extra constitu
tional expedients may become necessary
to fill the ranks. But governmental interfer
ence with popular elections will be subver
sion of the Constitution, and no constitu
tional arguraenlcan assume such a possi
bility. Supposing that the people are always to
be fairly represented in the halls of Con
gress, I main ain that it is grievous injus
tice to them to legislate on the assumption
that any war hoi.eoily waged tor constitu
tional objects will not always have such
ympathy and support from the people as
will Fee-ore all necessary enlistments.
Equally unjuM to their intelligence is it to
suppose thai hey meant to confer on their
servants the power to impress them into a
war which they could not approve.
When to these considerations we add the
ability of a great country, like ours, to stim
ulate ar.d reward enlistments, both at home
and abroad, by bounties, pensions and
homesteads, as well as by political patron
age in countless forms, we see l.ow little!
necessity or warrant there is for implying
a grant ot the imperial power of conscrip
tion There is nothing in the history of the Con
stitution nor in those excellent contempora
neous papers called the Federalist, to jus
tify the opiniou that ts vast power lies
wrapped up iu the few plain words of the
13th clause, whilst the subsequent clanses,
concerning the mijitia, absolutely forbid it.
It the very improbable case be supposa
ble, thai enlistments into the Federal ar
mies might become so numerous in a par
ticular State is sensibly to impair its own
proper military power, is it not much more
improbable that the States mean to confer
udoo the General Government the Dower to
deprive them, at its own pleasure, altogeth
er of the militia, by forced levies ? Yet this
a m
mitiht easily happen if the rower cf con I duties which the Constitution has commit
ecription be conceded to Congress. There J ted to the Federal Government, and has
are no limitations expressed nothing to . furnished it with all necessary civil func
compel Cong'ess to observe quotas propor- J tionaries, and with power to levy and col-
tior.s as among the several States nothing
to prevent their raising armies wholly from
one Slate, taking every able-bodied citizen
out of it to the endangering, if not utter uu
doicg of all its domestic interests.
-And besides, if we concede this danger- ,
oos power to the language of the thirteenth
clause, we destroy the force and effect of
the words of the sixteenth and seventeenth
clauses. We make the instrument sell
destructive, which is violative of all canons
of construction. Congress 6ball have pow
er to provide for calling forth ihe militia in
the manner and subject to the limitations
prescribed in clauses sixteen and seventeen,
and therefore, I argae Congress has not the
power to draft thtm. Is an express rule of;
the Constitution to give way to an implied
one ? If ihe thirteenth clause confers pow
er to draft the militia, the words of the six
teenth and seventeenth clauses are the
idlest that were ever written. But if the
eighteenth conferred only the power to en-
li.U volunteers, then the subsequent clauses
become very intelligible stand well with
the thirteenth, and add essentially to the i
martial faculties of the Federal Government,
Look at those clauses. The militia are to
be called forth to execute the laws of the
Union, surpress insurrections and repel in
vasions, to be organized, armed disciplined
by the State, but according to the. laws of
Congress, and such part of them at may be
employed in the service of the United
States are to be governed by the President
but officered by the respective Slates.. Now
this Conscription law recites an "existing
insurrection and rebellion" as the ground
and reason; hot for calling forth' the' .militia
under the above provisions, but for dtafting
them into the military service of the United
States. The very case has occurred in
which the Constitution says ihe militia shall
Constitution, when surpressing the whisky
insurrection in 'this State they paid the most
scrupulous regard to the right p.nd powers
of the State. Under pressure of a foreign
war, a Conscript Bdl was reported in Con
gress, 1814, but.it did not pas, and if it had,
it would have been ho precedent for :hi
law, because we are dealing with an insur
rection, and insurrections are specially pro
vided for in the Constitution. If to support
a loreign war Congress may draft the mill-
tia, which I do not admit, the power of draft
to snrpress insurrections' not to be implied
since another mode of surpressing insurrec
tions is expressly provided. When a State
is called on for its quota ot militia, it may
determine, by lot, who ol the whole . num
ber ol its enrolled militia shall answer the
call, and thus State drafts are quite regular,
but a Congressional draft to surpress insur
rection is an inovation that has no warrant
in the history or text of the Constitution.
Ki'.her such a law, or the Constitution must
be set aside. They cannot stand together.
And, happily, no ill consequences can
flow from adbearing to the Constitution, for
the standing army of the Federal Govern
ment, recruited by enlistments in the ordi
nary way, with the State militia, called forh
according to the Constitution, are a force
quite sufficient to subdue any rebellion
that is capable of being sudued b) force of
arms Such a formidable force, wisely wiel
ded, in connection with a paternal and pat
riotic administration of all other constitu
tional powers, will never fail to put down
refractory malcontents, and preserve peace
and good order among the American people.
This Conscript law, therefore, not sanction
ed by the Constitution, is not adapted to
the exigences of the times, nor likely to
have success as a war measure.
In its political bearings, even more than
in it military aspects, it is subversive of
the Constitution aod of the rights of citizens
that depend upon State authority. A few
thoughts will make this plain. It is impos
sible to study our Slate and Federal Consti
tutions, without seeing how manifestly the
one was designed to guard and maintain
the personal and social rights of the citizen
the other to take care of his external re
lations. . .
Nature, education, property, home, wife,
and children, servant, administration' of
goods and chattels af'er death, and a grave
yard in which to sleep the sleep of death,
these are among the objects of Slate solici
tude, for the protection of which the State
provides civi I authorities and back of them
ihe poise comilatus and the military to make
the civil administration effectual. Now if
the principle be admitted that Congress
may lake away the State militia, who does
" 8ee lhal the ultimate and final security
1 ol every man's domestic and personal rights
1? ...! - ,l .
i endangered. To ihe extent delegated in
the Constitution nobody questions the right
ol Congress to control the State militia,
but if to the extent to which this enactment
goes, the States will be reduced to the con
dition of mere counties ot a great Common
wealth, and the citizen of the Slate most
look to the Federal Government for the
regulation of bis external relations.
The citizens of the Slates need protection
from loreign foes and Indian tribes peace
ful intercourse and commerce with all ihe
world a standard of values and of weights
and measures that shall be common to all
' ihe States, and a postal system that 6hall
i bo co-extensive with interstate trade and
commerce. To adjust and maintaio these
external relations of the citizen, are high
j Iect taxes from the people of the States, to
raise and support armies, to provide a
navy, and to call forth the militia to exe
cute the laws.
Thus is the American citizen amply
provided, by means of Constitutions that
are written, with protection lor all his rights
natural and artificial, domestic and foreign;
but as the war power of the General Gov
ernment is his ultimate secority for his ex
ternal, so is the militia his ultimate security
for his internal or domestee rights.
Could the State Government strike at the
war power of . the Federal Government
without endangering every man's rights ?
In view of the existing rebellion, no man
would hesitate how to answer this ques-
tion, and yel is it not equally apparent that
when the Federal Government usurps a
power over the State militia which was
never delegated, every man' domestic
rights (and they afe those which touch him
most closely) are equally endangered.
The great vice of the Conscript law is
that it is founded on an assumption that
Congress may take a way, not the State
rights of the citizen, but the t.ecunty and
foundation of bis State rights. And how
long is civil liberty expected to last after
the securities of civilliberties are destroyed?
The Constitution of the United States com
mitted the liberties of the citizen in part to
the Federal Government, but expressly re
served to the States and the people - of the
States all it did not delegate. It gave the
General Government a standing army, but
left 'to the States their militia. Its pur
poses in all this balancing of. powers were
' wise and good, but this legislation disre.
gards these destinctions, and upturns , the
whole system of government when it con
verts the State militia into "national forces"
and claims to use and govern them as
such.
Times of rebellion,above all others, are the
times when we should stick to our funda
mental law, lest we drift into anarchy on
one hand or into despotism on the other.
The great sin of the present rebellioo con
sists of violating the Constitution whereby
every man's civil righla are exposed to
sacrifice. Unless the Government be kept
on the foundation of the Constitution, we
imitate the sin of the rebel, and thereby
encourage them,whilst We weaken and dis
hearten the friends of constitutional order
and government. The planliffs in these
bills have good right, I think, as citizens of
Pennsylvania, to complain of the act in
question, not only on the grounds I have
indicated, but on another to which I will
briefly allude.
The1 12th section provides that the drafted
person shall receive ten days' notice of the
rendezvous at which he is to report for
dut, and the 13th section enacts "that if
he fails to report himself in pnrsnance 'of
such notice, without luruishing a substitute
or paying the required sum therefor, be
shall be deemed a deserter, and shall be
arrested by the provost marshal, and sent
to the nearest military post for trial by
court martial." The only qualification to
which this provision is subject is, that upon
proper showing that he is not able to do
military duty the board of enrollment may
relieve him from the draft.
One of the complainants, Kneedler, has
set forth the notice that was served on him
in pursuance of this section, and by which
he was informed that unless he appeared
on a certain day, he would be "deemed a
deserter, and be subject to the pinslt' pre
scribed therefor, by the rules and . articles
of war." I believe the penally of desertion
by the military code is any corporeal punish
ment a court martial may choose to inflict
even to that of being put to death
Can a citizen be made a deserter before
he has become a soldier 1 Has Congress
the constitutional power to authorize pro
vost marshals, after drawing the name of a
freeman from a wheel and serving him
with a ten days' notice, to seize and drag
him before a court-martial for trial under
a military law ? This question touches the
foundations of personal liberty.
In June, 1215, Ihe Barons of England and
their retainers, "a numerous host encamped
upon the grassy plain of Runnymede,"
wrung from King John that Great Charter
which declared, among other securities of
the rights and liberties of Englishmen, that
"no freeman shall be arrested, or imprison
ed, or deprived of his freehold, or b is liber
ties, or free cnsloms, or be outlawed or ex
iled, or in any manner harmed ; nor will
we (the King) proceed against him, nor
send any one against him by force if arms,
unless according to the sentence of bis
peers (which includes trial by jury) or the
common law of England." Here was laid
the strong foundation of the liberties of the
race to which we belong. And yet not
here, for Magna Charta created no rights,
but only reasserted those which existed
long before at common law. It was for the
most part, says Lord Coke, merely declara
tory of the principal grounds of the funda
mental laws of England. Far back of
Magna Charta, in the customs and maxims
of our Saxon ancestry, those principles of
liberty lay scattered which were gathered
together in that imortal document, which
four hundred years afterwards were again
reasserted in two other great declaratory
statutes, "The Petition of Rights" and "The
Bill of Rights," and which were transplant
ed into our Declaration of Independence,
the Bill of Rights to our State Constitution
and the Amendments to our Federal Consti
tution, and which have thus become the
heritage of these plaintiffs. Says the 5th
Article of these Amendments : "No person
shall be held to answer for a capital or
otherwise infamous crime unless on a pre
sentment' or indictment of a grand jury,
except in cases arising in the land or naval
forces or when in the militia when in actual
service in time of war or public danger "
What is the scope of this exception ? The
land or naval forces mean the regular mili
tary organization of the Gover nment-lhe
standing army andnavy-into which citizens
are introduced by military education from
boyhood or by enlistments, and become, by
their own consent, subject to the military
code and liable to be tried and punished
withont any of the lorins or safeguards of
the common law. In like manner the
militia when duly called out and placed
"in actual service" are subject to the rules
and articles of war, all their common law
rights of personal freedom being for the
lime suspended. But when are militiamen
in actual service ? Wheu they have been
notified of a draft 1 Judge Story in speak
ing of the authority of Congress over the
militia says: "The question when the
authonty of Congress over the militia be
comes exclusive, must essentially depend
upon the fact when they are to be deemed
in the actual service of the United States.
There is a clear distinction between calling
forth the militia and their being in actual
service. These are not contemporaneous
acts nor necessarily indentical in their con
stitutional leaning. The President is not
Coramander-in Chief of the militia, except
when in actual service.and not merely when
they are ordered into service. They are
subjected to martial lata only when, in actual
servic and not mereh, when called fo,th before
they havt obeyed tkt call. .The acts of 1795
and other acts on the subject manifestly
contemplate and recognize this distinction.
To bring ihe militia within the meaning ol
being in all actual service there must be
an otedience to the call, and some acts ot
organization, mustering, rendezvous, or
marching done in obedience to the call in
the public service." (Story's Con. Law,
vol 3, sec. 1208.)
If it be suggested that this plain rule of
common seme and constitutional law is not
violated by the Conscription act because ii
applies to the ' national forces," I reply as
before, that tbis is only a new name for the
militia, and that the constitutional rights of
a citizen are not to be sacrificed to an un
constitutional name. .When Judge Strong
was endeavoring to mark with so much dis
tinctness the time at which the common
law rights of the citizen ceased and his
liability to military rule began-'.he 'time,
in a word, when he became a soldier why
did it not occur-to his fertile mind that Con
gress could render this distinction value
less and unmeaning by a new nomencla-ture-by
calling the militia "na'ional forces?"
It is not difficult io conceive how such a
suggestion would have fared had it occurred
or been made to him But it is difficult in
the presence of the grave issues of the
present day, to treat so frivolous a sugges
tion with the dignity and forbearance the
occasion demands. I have shown what
right of personal liberty these plaintiffs in
herited from a remote ancestry, and how
they are guaranteed to them by our consti
tutions, and at what time they are to give
place to martial law ; and surely if a wheel
set in motion byCongress, can crush and
grind those rights out of extence, without
regard to the limitations of the Constitution,
some weightier reason should be found for
it than the misnomer which the act so stud
iously applies to the mililia-scme reason
that deserves to stand in stead of Magna
Charta, our Constitution, and all our iradi
tional freedom.
The only general reason thatl have ever
heard suggested, and which is applicable
against all the views advanced in this
opinion is called military necessity. The
country is involved in a great civil war
which can be brought loan honorable close
only by an energetic use ol all our resources, I
and no restraint should be tolerated, in such '
circumstances, save only those which
Christian civilization has imposed on all
warfare. Whatever is according to the i
Constitution, the argument claims, may be '
done, of course-whatever is over and .
peyond the Constitution is jnsiified as mil-
itary necessity, and of that the President
and Congress are exclusive and final judg- (
es. .
The amount of the argument is that the
exigencies of the times justify the substitu
tion ot martial law for the Constitution.
But what is martial law ? Blackstone and
Sir Mathew Hale tell us "it is built upon
no settled principles, but is entirely arbi
Irary n its decisions, is in truth and reality Youthful error, actuated by a desire to bee
no law, but something indulged rather than efil others, will be happy io furnish to a
allowed as law." The unrestrained will of who need it, free of charge, the Recipe and
one or a nomber of men, then, is the rule directions for making the simple Remedy
which the argument substitutes for the ued in his eae. Those wishing to profit
Constitution. It is of no consequence that by his experience and possess a valuable
the will thus set up for supreme law is that remedy will receive the same, by retain
of men whom a majority of the people have
chosen, because according to our system,!
the majority can only choose men to admin
ister the Constitution as it is written.
Majorities, as a power recognized by law
i .-. I,, .t.v.i:.k -
than a minority would have. But may
majorities or minorities set aside the Consti-
lotion under pressure of rebellion and in-
aurrection ? As the Constitution anticipates
and provides for such calamities, it is a
reproach to its wisdom to say that it is ina-
dequate to such emergencies. No man
has any historical right to cast this reproach
uoon it. No current exoerience proves it.
It never can be proved except by an unsuc
cessful use of the legitimate powers of the
Constitution against rebellion, and then the
thing proved will be that the instrument
needs amendment, which its machinery is
flexible enough to allow. Even such a
melancholy demonstration would do no
more than point out necessery amendments
-it would not surrender the people to the
arbitrary will of anybody. Presidents and
Congressmen are only servents of the beople
to do their will, not as that will may be ex
pressed under passion or excitement, but
as it stands recorded in the Constitution
liis the Constitution, indeed which makes
Ihera Presidents and Congressmen. They
have no more power to set op their wills
against the Constitution than so many
private citizens would have. Outside of
of that ihey are only private citizens.
I do not, therefore, feel the force of the
argument drawn from the distressing circum
stances, of the time Bad as they are, we
make, them worse by substituting arbitrary
power for constitutional rule ; brt if we
made them better and not worse, the judi
cial mind ought not to be expected to ap
prove the substitution, for it can recognize
no violation of the Constitution as a legiti
mate vindication of the Constitution. To
place ourselves under despotic sway in or
der to bring back rebels to the Constitution
we have give up, is a procedure that per
plexes the student of political science, and
will quite confound the historian of our
times.
Littlx Squalls don't npset the lover's
boat ; they drive it all the faster to port.
It is staled that the rebels at Richmond
: have robbed our prisoner, of upwards of
' to,ouv.
A FORTUNE FOR ALL!
EITHER HI EX OR WOMEX
NO HUMBUG, but an ENTIRELY NEW
thing. Only three months in this country!
No clap-trap operation to gull the public,
but a genuine money-malting thing! Read
the Circular of instruction once only, and
you will understand it perfectly. A Lady
ha-just written to me that ehe is making
as high as TWENTY DOLLARS SOME
DAYS! giving instructions in this ' art.
Thooatids ol Soldiers are making money
rapidly at it. It in a thing that takes belief
than anything ever offered. You can
make money with it home or abroad on
Keam boats or railroad cars, and in the
country or city. You wilt be pleased in
pursuing it, not only because it will jield
a handsome income, but also in conse
quence of the general admiration which it
elicits. It is pretty much all profit. A
mere trifle i necessary to start with.
There is tcarcelv one person oat of
thousands who ever pays any attention to
advertisements of this kind, thinking they
are humbugs. Consequently those who da
send for instructions will have a broad
field to make money ;n. There is a class
of persons in this world who would think
that because they have been humbugged
out of a dollar or so, that everything that
is advertised is a humbug. Consequently
the try no more. The person who suc
ceeds is the one that keeps on trying until
he hits oomethiiig that pays him.
This art cost me on thousand dollars,
and I expect to make money out of it and
all who purchase the art of me will do the
same. One Dollar sent to me will insure
the prompt return of a card of instructions
in the art. The money wVl be returned to
those not atiJUd.
Address WALTER T. TINSLEY,
No. 1 Park Place, New York.
Oct. 21, 1863. 3m.
EDITOR OF THE STAR, Dear Sir
With your permission I wih to say to the
readers of your paper that I will send by
return mail to all who wish it, (free) a Re
ceipe, with full directions for making and
using a simple Vegetable Balm, that will
effectually remove, in 10 days, Pimples,
Blotches, Tan, Freckles, and all Impurities
of the Skin, leaving the same soft, clear,
smooth and beautiful,
I will al?o mail free to those having Bald
Heads or Bare Faces, simple directions and
information (bat will enable them to start
a full growth of Luxurient Hair, Whiskers,
or a Moustache, in less than 39 days. All
applications answered by return mail with
oul charge. Respectfully yours,
THOS. F. CHAPMAN, Chemist,
No. 831 Broadway, New York.
August 26, 1863 3m.
A GENTLEMAN, cored of Nervous De
bility, Incompetency, Premature decay and
mail, carefully sealed by addressing.
JOHN B. OGDEN,
No 60 Nassau Streel, New York.
August 26, 1963 3m.
The change of name resorted toby the
aboltionistsand bogus Union savers reminds
j us of a story of a married couple who bad
. a baby named Moses. Some years after
J when they had determined to baptize him,
j not liking the name, they concluded to
' re-name him Robert. But there was no
; preacher in that section, and they finally
thought they would baptize the bey them
selves. In ducking him in the water they
sang out, "Go in Moses, and come out Bob."
But he was ihe same old boy after alt. So
wi-.h the Republican party. Though the
name is changed, they are the same, from
Lincoln down to the meanest secret spy io
the land.
Abolition Improvements. To save t.h
American Union keep two sectional par
ties in power one in the North and the
other in the South, and keep them "peg
ging away."'
To preserve a valuable garment place
it between the jaws of a pair of shears and
close them tighly and "keep cutting away.''
To prevent a cal fight seize two cits,
hold them as closely together as possible,
and "keep pinching away,'' at their tails.
To stop a dog fight put a pin in a long
slick and "keep punching away," behind.
Col. Stonc the iiewly elected Governor
of Iowa, thus declaims :
"I admit that this is an Abolition war
It was nol o much in the start, but the Ad
ministration has discovered that it could not
subdue ibe Sooth else than by mak'n:j it
an Abolition war, and they have don it
and it will be conlinued as an Abolition
war so long as there is one slave left at the
Sooth to be made free. I w jold
raiher eat wiih a nigger than with a Demo-
crat.
Heoceforth let the Abolitionist open hn
mouth, if his political opponent claims that
the war for the Union has been converted
into an Abolition crusade.
It is the best proof of the virtues of a
family circle to see a happy fire-side.
Oca Republican exehanges are nanioff
Abe Lincoln tor r.-electioa to the rai-
utul , . . . . ,