— ... - - ■ i ■ tt A. T~2 -XT Tg-tr SICIvLEn., Proprietor.] i\EW SERIES, ftortlj Branch BnnncniK A weekly Democratic paper, devoted to Pol ' pljfef{y lies, News, the .Arts (jf j ind Seienccs &e. Tab- *] El - ' ished every Wednes lay, at Tunkhannock, Wyoming County Pa. - /'I MHyfj 7 BY HARVfcY SICKLER. . Terms —1 copy 1 year, (in advance) 51. 50. If hot pain within six months, $2.00 will he charged ADVEiTTISIKTCr . 11l line* or| ■ ' > > less, make, three ■ four ■ tiro 'three . six ' one one square wceks^wecJcsyno'Ui mo'thjno'Ui year 1 Square 1.00 1,25; 2.25< 2,87( 3,00 5,0(1 2 do. 2,00' 2.50 3,25! 3.50' 4,50. GOO 3 do. 3,00! 3,75 4.75; 5.50 7,00; 9,00 i Column. 4,00 4,50 6.50 8.00? 10,00; 15.00 do. 6 00' 7,00 10,00; 12.00 17,00, 25.00 do. 800 9,50 14,00: 18.00, 25,00j 35,00 1 do. 10,00 12,00! 17,00'22,00/23,00 40,00 Business Cards of one square, with paper, S5. JOB WOBK ef all kinds neatly executed, and at prices to suit the titnes. fht.sines.s BACON STAND.—Nichols on, Pa. C L JACKSON, Proprietor. (vin49tf] HS. COOPER, A k'KDEON • Newton Centre, Lnzerne County Pa. ftEO. S. TUTTON, ATTORNEY AT LAW, '_J Tunkhnnnock, Pa. Oflice m Stark's Ifiick Ploek, Ti-.>es "'-cc*. M. PIATT, ATTORNEY AT LAW, Of- Y\ lice in Stark's Rriok Rluck, Tioga St., Tunk hannock. Pa. R" R.&S, W,'UTTI.E ATTORNEY'S AT, LAW, Oface on Tioga street, Tunkham >ok Pa. HARVEY SIC KI.EK. A I IOKNR:\ AT I.AW and GENERAL INSPRANCE AGENT - Of fice, Rri'lge street, opposite Wall's Hotel, Tunkhan nock Pa. DR. J. v. RORSF.I.ius, HAVING LOCAT ED AT THE TALES. WILL promptly attend all calls in tho line of hi? pr< fes.don—may he found lit Beemer'S Hotel, when not professionally absent. Palls, Oct. 10, 1361. UK. .1. c\ UEC K 1 TI A- Co., PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS, Would respectfully nnnonn-e to the citizens of Wy ming that they have located at Tunkhannock wher bey will promptly attend to all < all* in the line of noir prcf'.'s-ion. Maj-Le found at his L.ug Storo wneu not professionally absent. T M. CARE*, M. i). — (Graduate of the q . . M. Institute, Cincinnati) would r vc. ifulfv announce to the citizens of Wyoming and Luzerne Counties, that he continues his regular practice in the various departments of his profession. -May ne found at his office or residence, when r.ot professionally ab dit Tartieulnr attention given to the treatment Chronic Diseas. entremorehmd, Vyoming Ci. Fa. — \2u2 WALL S HOTEL, LATE AMERICAN HOUSE, TUNKIIAN NOCK, A\ YO.AIING CO, lA THIS establishment has recently been refitted nrnl furnished in the latest style Every.attention will te given to the comfort ana cOTiverih-i ce o" those tvjo patronize the House. T. H. WALL, Owner nni Proprietor. Tnnkhannoek, September 11, iciii. MA¥JNAR 7 S HOTEL, T UNKIi A N N O CK, ,WTO MIN G COUNTY, PENN A. JOHN MAYNARD, Proprietor. HAVING taken the Hotel, in the Borough of Tunkhannock, recently occupied by Riley Warner, the proprietor respectfully solicits a share ot public patronage. The House has been thoroughly repaired, and the comforts and accomodations of a first class Hotel, will be found by a.i who may favor t with their custom. September 11, 19G1. NORTH BRANCH HOTEL, MESUOPPEN, WYOMING COUNTY, PA YVm. U. CORTRIGIIT, Prop'r HAVING resumed the proprietorship of the above Hotel, the undersigned will spare no effort to render the house an agreeable place ot sojourn for all who may favor it with their custom. Win. 11. CCRTRIIIHT. June, 3rd, 1863 M. OILMAN, DENTIST. WGILMAN, has permanently located in Tunk • hanncvk Borough, and respectfully tenders las professional services to the citizens of this place and Rrrounding country. . ALL WORK WARRANTED, TO GIVE SATIS FACTION. Offico over Tutton < L&tv Ofaoa, near tU e Pos Tffiee. Dee. 11, IS6I. TO NERVOUS SUFFERERS OF B( TF SEXES, A REVEREND GENTLEMAN HAVING BEEN restored to health in a few days, after undergoing all the usual routine and irregular expensive modes of treatment without success, considers it his sacred du ty to communicate to his afflicted fellow creatures the means of cure. Hence, on the receipt of an ad dressed envelope, ho will send (free) a copy of the prescription used. Direct to Dr John M. Daonacl, 168 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, New York. v2n'24!y THE CONFESSIONS AND~ EXPERIENCE ~ OF A NERVOUS INVALID. Published for the benefit and as a caution to young rnen, and others, who suffer ironi Nervous Debility, Karly Decay, and their kindred ailments—*supplying ?' sclf-cuie. By ono who has cured him self after being a >ictim of misplaced confidence in medical humbug and quackery. By enclosing apost paid directed envelope, einglo copies may be had of the author, Nathanikl Mayfair, Em.. Bedford. Kings County New York —v3-Dls-]y. Unconstitutionality of the Conscrip tion Act. JUSTICE WOODWARD'S OPINION, WoomvAßD, J.- -On the 3d day of March, 18 3. flie C' tigress of the United Slates pass ed an act f. r u enrolling an i calling out the National (■ rees, and for other purposes," which is ci innimly called the Conscription Law. The pla'ntifF<, wiu ?re Citizens of Pennsylvania, have set forth the act fully 'in their bills, and they coitiohiin tliat they iiave been drafted into li e military service of the Government in pursuance of said enactment, but that the same is unconstitutional and void, and that the defendants, who are en gaged in executing the act, have violated the lights and are about to invade the per.-utial liberty ol the plaintiffs, and thereupon they invoke the equi'ab'e interposition of ibis Court to enjoin the defendants against a far ther execution of the said act. For the jurisdiction of this Court to >et aside an act of Congress as unconstitutional, and to grant the relief prayed for, I refe. my self to the views of the Chief Justice in the opinion he his just delivered in these cases, and I cotne at oi.ee to the constitutional question. The act begins with a preamble which re cites the existing insurrection and rehcl" enrolled The payment ol §>3oo excus s any dr.i oj person, so that i'. is, in tllfO', law provi-: ing for a compulsory drali or con-crpii n . : such citizens as ate unwiliii g <>t unable r ( purchase * xeinpiimi at the stipulated price.— It is the first instance, in his:oiy, ( >f hgi-|, t tion forcing a great public burthen on the poor. Our State legislation, which exempts men who are not worth more than S3OO from paying their own debts, is in striking cm trast with this Conscription law, which de volves upon such men the burthen which be longs to the whole 'national f irces,' and to which, all persons ought willingly to contri buto.' This, however ' s an objection to the spirit of the enactment rather than to its con stitutionality. The description of persons to he enrolled, able bodied citizens between fwen y-onr an i forty five years of age, i" substantially thede scription of the militia as define 1 mi our Penn sylvania statutes and pmbabh in the stat utes of all States. The national free", then, meaning the militia of the Suites, ctrtamh include the militia of Pennsylvania. Thi expression, 'national f< res' is modern lan guage when so applied. It is not f.njn I in onr Constitution, eii fier Stare or Federal, and if used in commentaries on the Constitution, and in history, it wdl generally be found ap plied to our land and naval forces, in actual service—to what may be called our standing army. It is a total misnotner when applied tc the militia, for the militia is a State insti tution. The General Government has no mi litia. The State militia, always highly es teemed as one of the bulwarks of our liber ties, are recognized in the Federal Constitu tion, and it is not in the power of Congress to obliterate them or to merge them in 'na tional forces.' T n'ess there is more magic in a name than has erer ben supposed, this conscript law was intended to act upon tfie State mahth. and our question is. therefore, whether Con press has power to impress or draft the inili tia of the State. T cannot perceive wh.it ob jection can be taken to this statement of the question, for surely it will not be argued that calling the militia national forces, makes them something else than the militia. Tf Congress did not mean to draft the militia under this law, where did they expect to find the ra tional forces ! 'All able bodied white maie citizens between the ages of twenty one and forty-five years, residing in this State, and not exempted by the laws of the United States,' with certain specified exceptions, con stitute our State militia. Will if be said that the conscript law was not intended to operate on these ? T think it will not. Then if it does touch, and was framed and designed to draft this very class of citizens, no pos.-ible objection can lie taken to the above statement of the question we have to decide. I therefore repeat the question with great confidence in its accuracy, has Congress tho "TO SPEAK HIS THOUGHTS IS EVERY FREEMAN'S RIGHT. "—Thomas Jefferson. TUNKHANNOCK, PA., WEDNESDAY, DEC. 2, 1863. constnuitonal power to impress or dralt into the military service of the United States, the militia men of Pennsylvania ? This question has to he answered by the Con-titwioii of the United States, because that instrument, trained by deputies of the people ot the Stales and ratified a >d put into effect b> the Smtes themselves in their re spective corporate capacities, delegates to Congress all the power that b<>dv can exer cise. These delegations are either express or such implications as are essential to the exe cutimi of the expressly delegated powers. There are but three provisions in the C-n -ti it'ioil ..I the United S'ates that can tie appealed t> in snppnt of (his legislation. In onr ordinary editions ihey stand numbered as clauses 13, 16 and 17 of the viit sect.on of Ar I. >.f the Constitution. " 13. Congress shall have power to raise and support armies, but no appropriations of money to that use shall be for a lunger term than two years. " 15 Congress shall have p over to provide for calling birth the militia to execute the lavssof the Union, to suppress insurrections, to repel invasion. '• 17. Congress eh?II have power to provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part ot them as may be employe! m the service of the I nil. d £>'a ; es, ie*tivnig to the State- ie sprciivi ly. ti.e appointmeiit ol officer- and t e ailtb ruv ol (Mining tile niili'ia according to itie di-ciphne piescnbrd by Goiigfess." '• To armies"—these are large word-} what do they mean ? There c-utld he 'n* Inn nation upon the number or size ot armies io be raised, lor ail pos*ible coutmgmcies C'.uld not 1.-- fore-ci-n, hoi our tuesiioii has not rel > tvnee- to number .>r -7. hut- to tit. MOI>E "I raising armies. The fr.imel-of the COICI u.lon, and 1 tie S ate* <'o.a iopted it iler v ed then* idea- ot government principally fr tn ihe example of Great Rriiiiii—c< 1 t nnly n t from any of the inure imperial and despotic governments of the cart!i. What they meant in 111:1k was amor.- free Constitution than thai of Great Criti it taking that a* a nmde'i in some tilings—but enlarging the basis of popular rights in all respects thai would be coiisistaut with older and stability. They knew that the Briiti-h army had generally been recruited by volunt ry enlistments, stimulated by wages and bounties, and that the few int>ihc s of impressment and forced conscriptions ol land forces, ha I met wttii the d stv r <>' .In Eoclish oanoii and had led to I .rev t.t.ve -:. i -lie-. I i 17u4 and 17u7 eon -'•i j,'i ti s t r i t iiioi' dn. |*i oameiit lull .no t si in eon*. 'ui|i.;ia . |>o|'it:g lite AIIHO ■ . ( v n' on a ;.i IU Geo. 111,0 1(>. }M lat i ■ 1 .on. s- .neot .. '1 Mi ami disi.r lerl i p r* m* not 1.n0.u u .nv law fill trade, or having - one subs a iv sufficient for ttieir übsistanee," and Ibis was as lat a* English legislation tiad g me when -.or feder al Const it I!' b>n was planned. A-sttredly the fr.amers ofmr Constitution f voluntary enlistments. The people were justly jealous of standing armies. Hence they to-'k away most of the war power from tne executive, where, under monarchical forms, it generally resides, and veiled it in ilie legislative department, in one branch <>l which the Stales have equal re pre >eniati •'(, and in the other branch of which i in* people of ilie Stales ale dmctlv repre sented according t . the.r number-. T tiie-i repiv seiiialives <>t the Slates ami i!,e p "p! , tins power of origin it ing w.r was committed, but even in their liainls it was restrained by the limitation ,l biennial appropriations f"i the support of the armies they might raise. Of course, no army could be raised or sup ported which did not command popular ap propr.ation, and it was rightly considered that voluntary enlistments would never he wanting to recruit the ranksof such an army. The war power, existing only for the protec tion of the people, and left a s far as it was possible to leave it in their own hands, was incapable of being used without their consent, and, therefore, could never languish for en listments. Tiiey would be ready enough to recruit the ranks of anv army they deemed necessary to their sateiy. Thus the theorj of the Constitution placed this great power, like all othei governmental powers, directly upon the consent of the governed. The theory itself was founded on free and fair elections—which are the fundaniental postulate of the Constitution. Tt the patron age and power of the government shall ever 'e employed to control popular elections, the nominal representatives of the people tnav cease to be their real representatives, and then the armies which may be raised may not so command public confilenco as to at tract the necessarj recruits, and then con script laws and other extra-constitutional expedients may become necessary to fill the ranks. lint governmental interference with popular elections will be subversion of the Constitution, and no constitutional argument can assume such a possibility. Supposing then that the people arc always to be fairly represented in the halls of Con gress, I maintain that it it grievous injnstie? to them to legislate on the assumption that any war honestly waged for constitutional ob jects will not always hare such sympathy and support from the people as will secure all necessary enlistments. Equally unjust to their intelligence it is to suppose that they meant to confer on their servants the power to impress them into a war which they could not approve When to thee considerations we add the 1 ability of a great country, like ours, to stimu -1 late and reward enlistments, both at home and abroad, by bounties, pensions and home j steads, as well as by political patronage in countless forms, we see how little necessity or warrant there is for implying a grant A the 1117 penal power of conscription. There is nothing in the history of the Con stitution nor in those excellent coiitempoia neous paper-, called the Federalist, to justify the opinion that this vast power bes wrapped up in (he few plain words of the 13th clause, whilst the subsequent clauses, concerning tlu inilnia, absolutely forbid it. If the very improbable case be euppoaable, that enlistments into the Federal armies might become so numerous in a particular Slate as sensibly to impair its own proper military power, is it not much more improb able that the Stales meant to confer upon the General Government the power to deprive tliein, at its own pleasure, altogether of the militia, by forced levies? Yet this might easily happen il the power of conscription be conceded to Congress. There are no limita tions expressed—nothing to compel Congress to observe quotas and proportions as among tiie several Slates—nothing to prevent their rni-iiig armies wholly from one State, taking even able b<>du d citizen out of ' give way to an implied one ? If the loth clause confers power to draft the militia, the words of the 16th and 17th claus es are the idlest that were ever written. But if the 13th conferred only the power to en li-i volunteers, then the subsequent clauses hi come very intelhgibl • —stand we 1 with the 13th, and add e-etn.ialhr to the martial facnl t.eg "I th Federal Government. Look at thoe clauses. The militia am to be called fo th . ex c\t e tin- law- of the Union, sup pre-* insurrection and repel invasions, to be organized, armed and disciplined by the Stale, bm according to the laws of Congress, such part of them a* may be employed in the service of the United States are to b • govern ed by the President, but officered by the re spective St ales. Now tins consctiption law recites an ''existing insurrection and rebel lion' - as the gtound and reason, not fir calling forth the militia under the above provisions, but for "drafting" them into the military service of the United States. The very case has occurred in which the Constitution says the malitia shall be called out under State officer*, but Congress says they shall le drafted in contempt of State authority. Gen. Washington, and the men of bis day, did not so read the Constitution, when in suppressing the whiskey insurrection in this State, they paid Ihe uiii-t scrupulous regard to the ami powers of the State, t nder the pres sure of a foreign war, a conscrpt bill was re p >rted in Congress in 1814, but it ia! Government usurps a power ever the • Slate tnih'ia which was never delegated, every man's domestic tights (and there are tl. <>se which touch htm tnost clo6ely) arc • qualiy endangered ? The great vice ot the conscript law is, that j it is i >unded on an assumption tiiat congress may lake away, not the State rights of the i citizen, hut the security and foundation of his ftate rights. And how long is civil liberty ex pectcd to last, after the securities of civil lib - | erty are destroyed. The Constitution of the j United States committed the liberties of the t citizen in part to the Federal Government, | but expressly reserved to the States, and the j people i f the States, all it did cot dele | gate. It gave the General Government a i standing army, but left to the States their taiiitia. Its purposes in a!! this balancing of j powers were wise and good, bat this legtsla | tion disregards these distinctions, and up turns tha whole system of government when it converts the State militia into national for i ces. and claims to use and govern them as isuch. I Touts of rebellion above all others, are the , tines when we should stick to our funda | mental iaw, lest we drift into anarchy on one I hand, or into despotism on the other. The j great sin of the present rebellion c insists in iTI dating the Constitution, whereby every j man's civil rights are exposed to sacrifice j Unless the Government be kept on the fouu dlion of the Constitution, we imitate the sin of the rebels, and thereby encourage them I whilst we weaken and dishearten the friends of constitutional order and government. The plaintiffs in these bills bave good right, 1 think, as citizens of Pennsylvania, to com plain of the act in question, not only on the , grounds 1 have indicated, but on another to which I will briefly allude. [ The 12th section provides that the drafted ' persons shall receive ten day's notice of the | rendezvous at which he i* to report for duty I and the J3ih section enacts " that if lie fails j to report himself in pursuance of such uotice, i without furnishing a substitute or paying the required sum therefor, be shall be deem | ed a deserter, and shall be arrested by the provost marshal, and sent to the nearest mili tary post for ttial by court-martial," The only qualification to which this provision ie subject, is tint upon proper showing that he , is not able to do military duty, the board of ; cuti Anient tiny relievo him from the draft. One of the complaints, Kneeder, has set | forth too notice that was served on him in pursuance of this section and by which he : was informed that unless ho appeared on a certain day ho would be " deemed a deserter, and be subject to the penalty prescribed, j therefor, by the rules and articles of war." I behove the penalty of desertion by the mili t tsr- r-ris if pit <--rprrr! * r-vy-' ITEIIMB. Sl.rSO PEH ANNUM martial may choose to inflict, even to that of being put to death. Can a citizen be made a deserter before bo has become a soldier? rias Congress the constitutional power to authorize provost marshals, after drawing tno natr.o of a free man from a wheel and serving him with tea days' notice, to seize and drag him before a court martial for trial under military law ? This question touches the foundations of per sonal liberty. In June, 1215, the Bsrons of England and' ' their retainers, " a numerous host, encamped upon the gra=sy plain of Ilunnymede," wrung from Kmg John that great charter which de clared, among other securities of the rights and liberties of Englishmen, that " no free man shall be arrested, or imprisoned, or de prived of h:s freehold or bis liberties, or free ' customs, or be outlawed or ex.led. or in any manner harmed, mm will we (the King) pro ceed against him, nor send any one againet him by jorce of arm*, unless according to the sentence of his peers (which includes trial by jury) or the common law of England."— Here was laid the strong foundation of tl liberties of the race to which we belong. And yet net here, fLr Magna Charfa created no rights, but only reasserted those which ex isted 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 Lack of Magna lay Charla in the custom.- and maxima of our in Saxon ancestry, those principles of liberty scattered which were gathered together that immortal document which,four hundred years afterwards were again reasserted in two ether great declaratory statute*. " The Petition of Right" and 44 The Bill of Bights," and which were transplanted into our Declaration of In dependence, tlie Bill of rights to our State | Constitution and the Amendments to our : Federal Constitution, and which have thae | become the heritage if these plaintiffs. Says 1 the sth Aiticle of the Amendments: " No person shall le held to answer for capital or otherwise infamous crime unless on a presentiment or ind otment of a grand jury, except JII cases arising in the land or naval forces or in tlie militia when in actual service in time of war or public uange"." What is the se.pc of th ; s txcep'.icn ? Tho land or naval forces mean the regular milita ry crganizitiou cf the Gnrerncisr.t—the standing army and navy—into which citizens aie introduced by military education, from boyhood, or by enlif'incuts, and become, by their own consent, subject to the military code and liable to be tried and punished with out any forms or saf.-guardn of the common law. In like manner the militia, when dulv called out and placed in " actual service,'' ar suljtct to the rules and articles of war. at! their cctntnon law rights of personal freedom being far tho tituc su;jended. la at when are militia men in actual service? When ther have becu n -titled of a draft ? Judge Story in speaking of the authority of congress over the militia says : " The question when the authority of Con gress over the militia becomes exclusive, must essentially depend upon the fact when they are to he deemed in the actual service of the L nited Nates. There is a clear distinction between calling forth the militia and their being in actual service. These are not con temporaneous acts nor necessarily indentieal in their constitutional leanings. The Presi dent is not commander-in-chief of the militia except when in actual service ; and not uierelv when they are ordered into service. They are subjected to martial loir only when in actual service, and n> t merely when called forth, before they have obeyed the call. The acts of 1705 an! other acts on the subject manifestly contemplate and recognize this distinction. To briny the militia within the meaning of being in the actual service there must be an obedience to the call and some acts of organisation, mustering rendezvous, or marching done in obedience to the call in the public service"Story's Con. Live. To?. 3, See. 1208. If it be suggested that this plain rule of common tense and constitutional law is not violated by the cor.rcription cct, because it applies to the " national forces," I reply as before, that this is only a new name for the militia, and that the constitutional rights of a citizen are not to be sacrificed to an uncon stitutional name. When Judgo Storv was endeavoring to mark with 6o much distinct ness the time at which the common law rights of the citizen ceased and his liability to mili tary rule began—the time, in a word, when he became a soldier—why did it not occur tc his fertile mind that Congress could render '•his distinction valueless and unmeaning by a new nomenclature—by calling the militia " national forces V It is not difficult to con ceive how such a suggestion would hare fared had it occurred or been made to him. Rut it is difficult, in the presence of the grave issues of the present day, to tieat so frivolous a sug gestion with a dignity and forbearance the occasion demands. I have shown what rights of personal libelty these plaintiffs inherited from a remote ancestry, and how they are guaranteed to them by our Constitutions, and at what time they are to give place to mar tial law. and sorely if a wheel set in motion by Congress can crush and grind those rights I out of existence, without regard to the limita tions of the Cinstitution, some weightier re. VuM h* found f-f >t t's misno VOL. 3, NO. 17.