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 istrations recently Witnessed in New 
 |r places, which have \een occasioned 
 ih to be deplored by al\ classes of citi- 
 Ices can justify such terrible proceed- 
 Irs can oiFer no sufficient excuse for 
 bow, when the madness of th e hour 
 fed, at least for the present, it trW-iC 
 I'nd rulers, to view the subject candid- 
 j public felt aggrieved by the proceed- 
 I ption act ; they felt that a great wrong 
 |they murmured in secret and in pub- 
 fes which we have witnessed were only 
 lue universal indignation. That the 
 [t in resorting to violent means to re- 
 where acknowledged; but whether 
 | most deserve censure is a question. 
 1 ^nformed, far seeing men might have 
 rom such legislation. If men are 
 government should endeavor to 
 il and legitimate means. A very 
 question should be sufficient to 
 juirer that Congress had no con- 
 l obnoxious conscription act. The 
 ptates confers no such authority 
 uniform conduct of the govern- 
 
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 conscription Reviewed 
 
 THE PEOPLE. 
 
 The riotous demonstrations recently witnessed in New 
 York and some other places, which have Ijeen occasioned 
 by the Draft, are much to be deplored by all classes of citi- 
 zens. No circumstances can justify such terrible proceed- 
 ings, and their authors can offer no sufficient excuse for 
 their conduct. But now, when the madness of the hour 
 seems to have subsided, at least for the present, it ttay ba 
 wise for both people and rulers, to view the subject candid- 
 ly and carefully. The public felt aggrieved by the proceed- 
 ings under the conscription act ; they felt that a great wrong 
 had been done them ; they murmured in secret and in pub- 
 lic, and the disturbances which we have witnessed were only 
 the outcropings of one universal indignation. That the 
 people were not right in resorting to violent means to re- 
 dress a wrong, is everywhere acknowledged ; but whether 
 they or the government most deserve censure is a question. 
 It seems to us that well informed, far seeing men might have 
 anticipated such results from such legislation. If men are 
 wanted for the army, the government should endeavor to 
 raise them by constitutional and legitimate means. A very 
 brief examination of the question should be sufficient to 
 convince any unbiassed enquirer that Congress had no con- 
 stitutional right to pass the obnoxious conscription act. The 
 constitution of the United States confers no such authority 
 upon Congress. And the uniform conduct of the govern- 
 
'"""i mm i inn iii ■ 
 
 2 ,5 703 705 1 
 
 ment, both in war and peace, before the( ^^S- tiusVeii- 
 scription act, clearly shows that no sucn^6wer was delega- 
 ted or intended to be delegated ^J Congress. From its 
 earliest beginning, each colonic 1 government claimed and 
 exercised entire control of As military, and the full exercise 
 of this right was ncer abridged or interfered with by the 
 government of Gre/t Britain, during all the time that the 
 colonies were subjeft to the crown. And during the revo- 
 lutionary war, eacli state continued to exercise entire con- 
 trol over its military system. Each individual state decided 
 when and how drafts should be made. It was wholly a 
 state affair, and Congress never attempted to interfere. 
 When the war was over, and the constitution was framed 
 and adopted, this important article was annexed to it. " The 
 powers not delegated to the United States by the constitu- 
 tion, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the 
 states respectively or to the people." In the war of 1812, 
 each state continued to exercise the same entire control 
 ove* its militia matters. Drafting was done by state au- 
 thority, and by state officers, and the requisitions of the gen- 
 eral government upon the states for troops, were made 
 through the chief magistrate of each state respectively. 
 The general government confided in the intelligence and 
 patriotism of the states. No insolent Marshals patroled the 
 state, disturbing the quiet of its peaceful citizens. State 
 authorities had an eye to the rights and interests of their 
 own people, and state rights had not et been swallowed up 
 by the powers at Washington. 
 
 It must be recollected, that during the war of 1812, the 
 governors of several of the New England states refused to 
 allow their state conscripts to be inn relied out of their re- 
 spective states, declaring that the general government had 
 no authority to use the militia of any state, out of its own 
 limits. To the principle thus laid down, the general govern- 
 ment made no formal opposition, and there the matter 
 seemed to rest as an established principle pertaining to state 
 rights. Now if this was sound constitutional doctrine then, 
 
it must be so now^and Mr. Lincoln's administration has no 
 more right to override, the reserved rights Of the states, than 
 that of Mr. Madison ha<L In accordance with this estab- 
 lished principle of state rights, our own constitution declares, 
 " That the militia shall be held in strj^ subordination to the 
 civil authority." This provision would- be a ridiculous nulli- 
 ty if the general government could at pleasure come in and 
 snatch the militia from the civil authority, and use it for any 
 purpose which Congress or the chief magistrate might 
 choose. Such a power vested in the general government 
 would nullify all the reserved rights of the states, and merge 
 the whole in one central despotism. The time was when 
 the Rhode Island people would have been among the first 
 to sound the tocsin of alarm at any such encroachments 
 upon their rights, either as a community or as individuals. 
 And is it not the duty of state authorities now to protect 
 their own people from any unconstitutional requirements of 
 the general government ? This right and duty of state gov- 
 ernments was not long ago set up in open defiance of the 
 • general government, by the enactment of personal liberty 
 bills in nearly every free state. And whether all those state 
 acts were strictly constitutional or otherwise, they recog- 
 nized a sound principle, and declared it the duty of state 
 governments to protect their own citizens from the encroach- 
 ments of arbitrary power. 
 
 But an attempt is made to justify the existing conscrip- 
 tion act, on the ground that the war in which we are en- 
 gaged at the present time, is not a foreign war, but only an 
 insurrection, and therefore Congress has a right to use the 
 militia to suppress it. In answer to this it may be said that 
 this is no such insurrection or invasion as the constitution 
 contemplates ; 'tis no mob, nor riot, nor temporary insurrec- 
 tion to be suppressed by a hasty appeal to the militia. But 
 it is open war of mammoth proportions, against an organ- 
 ized government, recognized by all Europe, and by our inter- 
 course with its authorities, as a belligerent power, having in 
 all respects the character of a foreign enemy, and however 
 
\ 
 
 unwilling we may be to acknowledge the fact, we are com- 
 pelled to treat this enemy, not as a band of insurgents, but 
 precisely asMve should an English or French army. The 
 present conflict is either a war in the fullest sense of the 
 term, or no war at ~2 but simply an insurrection. The 
 president claims that if is a war, and therefore he is author- 
 ized to susn^d the writ of habeas corpus and do many other 
 things which £ie would not be authorized to do in case of an 
 insurrection only. Now if he is right in this, the conscrip- 
 tion act is unconstitutional, and the president has no authori- 
 ty to enforce it. Much more might be said to show that 
 this act and all proceedings under it are unauthorized by 
 the Constitution of the United States, and in a legal sense 
 absolutely void, but we have no time to pursue the inves- 
 tigation further. Whenever an appeal is made to the proper 
 tribunal, it will undoubtedly be declared unconstitutional. 
 
 But if there was no constitutional impediment to the act, 
 it must nevertheless be considered both unjust and unwise. 
 By lot it inflicts a grievous wrong upon all who have the 
 misfortune to fall under its ban. It is the most odious of all 
 methods for raising troops, and belongs exclusively to des- 
 potic governments. It is said that Great Britain never dur- 
 ing her long wars, ever resorted to this opprobrious method 
 for recruiting her armies. During the fiery reign of Napo- 
 leon Bonaparte, when a military phrenzy had taken posses- 
 sion of all France, this odious method was resorted to, and 
 much of the best blood of the nation was shed in obedience 
 to its requirements. The system in its nature and history 
 is exclusively despotic. In nations where the masses are 
 profoundly ignorant, and accustomed to implicit obedience 
 to superiors, this method obtains, and the conscript may go 
 to the army with as little complaint as the ox to the slaugh- 
 ter. But our Congress, when they concocted and passed 
 this law, greatly mistook the temper of the American people- 
 Unlike the serfs of Russia or Austria, the great masses of our 
 people are intelligent and high minded, and habituated to 
 think and judge for themselves. They make and unmake 
 
5 \ 
 
 their rulers, and approve or disapprove their acts as they think 
 proper, and no administration can long continue to outrage 
 their rights with impunity, as a day of reckoning is pretty 
 sure to come sooner or later.%. Until the inauguration of the 
 present scheme of conscription, the^nolicy of our govern- 
 ment has been to depend upon voluntary enlistments for the 
 regular army, and to make use of the militia only for brief 
 periods, as occasion might require. The present is the first 
 attempt in this country to create a regular army by arbitra- 
 ry conscription, and it is such an audacious onslaught upon 
 state rights and personal liberty as was never before wit- 
 nessed in any free government. 
 
 During the revolutionary war, some portions of the troops 
 were raised by draft. The term of service required was 
 never more than three months at any one time. One por- 
 tion of the militia was called and served three months, and 
 when their term of service expired, unless they chose to re- 
 main as volunteers or substitutes, they returned to their 
 families and resumed their ordinary business, and another 
 set of drafted men took their places in the battle field. By 
 these means the hardships, sacrifices and dangers incident 
 to the war were equalized, and shared by all without com- 
 plaining ; poor men and their more fortunate neighbors la- 
 bored and fought side by side in the same battles, and 
 mingled their blood on the same plains. All hearts beat in 
 unison and glowed with fervor in the cause of their com- 
 mon country. The present conscription measure is extreme- 
 ly unjust, because from the length of the service required it 
 must work entire ruin to a considerable portion of those 
 who are caught in its meshes. Many of them are young 
 married men, farmers, merchants and mechanics, with small 
 families and small means, just starting in business and be- 
 ginning to live, with a hopeful prospect before them. Take 
 the case of a young mechanic just engaged in a prosperous 
 business, with all the fond endearments of home clustering 
 round him — the die is cast, and he is drafted. The unrelent- 
 ing decree puts a sudden stop to all his business arrange- 
 
/ 
 
 mentd, Hutches him from the b« ms femily, and re- 
 
 quire* him t.» exchange the comforta rf home for the hard- / 
 ships, pi and dangers ol ij mp and 6eld oi bat 
 
 tie. II - d Bed for three ittA,""' 1 uhrtherhi' willlivi 
 
 to return at the end^u ' , * ,T n;: lueetion that do one 
 
 can answer; th< >1 more than an even chance in Ins 
 
 . Perhaps he leaves a family without any adequate 
 rapport The town to which he belongs may 
 mete out to bis wife and children a stinted rapport during 
 the time which b - in the army, but if he falls in bafr 
 
 tie or by disease, the tame blow thai strikes him down, at 
 the same instant cuts off the provision made for hk family, 
 and perhaps Leaves them, forlorn and destitute, to the cold 
 charities of an unfeeling world But in whatever circum- 
 Btan( i property such a family may be placed, it is left 
 
 without its proper counsellor and guide, to struggle with the 
 world as beef it maj \ i iscript himself, if he sur- 
 
 vives, three yean oi "•amp life will work untold changes in 
 him, it' he returni at all. it will probablj be with a consti- 
 tution broken down, and with some lasting infirmity upon 
 him; his mind brutalized and debased. Three years spent 
 in indolence, amid all the corrupting influences of army life, 
 demoralises the once circumspect and industrious mechanic; 
 his thoughts, habits and inclinations become changed, and 
 he i- unfitted for 1 1 1 « - quiet duties of civil life, in which the 
 ption found him. Be may return, but not to the 
 home he left — if !*<■ finds bis family, they are strangers to 
 
 him and h<- t" them. 
 
 This conscription Ian is extremely unjust in its require- 
 
 menta The service that Bhould be shared by all as equally 
 
 a- possible, is arbitrarily demanded of s selected portion of 
 
 the people, whilst nothing is required of others. There wi 
 
 for thia As fcx rted, the drafts in the 
 
 rolutionarj war. and also in the 9 ,r of 1812, were for 
 short periods, so that the able bodied men took turns, and 
 the servio I very equally by all The people of 
 
 Rhode Uland,alwayi jealous of their equal rights and immu- 
 
nities, when theyT*^^ jeir constitution, took care to in- 
 sert in it a clause deMk, /£ that " the burdens of the state 
 
 to 
 
 ought to be fairly distribirv&d among its citizens."^ The con- 
 scription law violates this principle, and was evidently framed 
 in utter disregard of all the rigMs. interests and wishes of 
 the people. Its main featur|^7ere oorrowed from despot- 
 isms, and the whole act is littlemore than a transcript of the 
 Russian system. If the service required had been for six, 
 or even nine months, it would have been submitted to with- 
 out any serious complaint, and all the riotous outbreaks and 
 scenes of horror and bloodshed would have been prevented ; 
 a sufficient number of men would have been raised, and the 
 nation would have been saved from the mortification of its 
 failure. The act was certainly very unwise, and does little 
 credit to the heads or the hearts of its authors. The dis- 
 turbance and universal opposition which it everywhere 
 meets with, is doing more to strengthen and encourage the 
 rebels than any victory of theirs ever has done. Again, the 
 act is unjust, because the price of exemption is the same for 
 the poor and the rich. From the rich it exacts an inconsid- 
 erable trifle, whilst it often takes from the poor man all he 
 has. Some sell their little homes, others mortgage them to 
 raise the money ; many give their last dollar, and others 
 borrow of their friends. The poor man must go or part 
 with all he has. The curse has fallen upon him — he is bro- 
 ken up and ruined if he goes, and made a beggar if he stays ; 
 whilst the rich man, whose interest at stake is a thousand 
 fold more than that of the poor man, is in no way incommo- 
 ded. If the call had been peremptory : included the rich 
 as well as the poor, and allowed neither substitutes nor a 
 money commutation, the poor man would readily have 
 marched to the scenes of conflict, shoulder to shoulder with 
 his wealthy neighbor, and cheerfully have shared with him 
 every danger and hardship. Such a course would make the 
 condition of a soldier respectable, promote a spirit of genu- 
 ine patriotism, and give character and efficiency to the army. 
 Such men would feel that they had something at stake be- 
 
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 men ts, snatch f \ bosom u'r j • i e I 
 
 sides their own persons. One fcnforts ,\)f * would be worth 
 more than a score of simple hi\fJL>A The rebels have 
 had much the advantage of us ur rflis respect ; their men ol* 
 substance have fought in the ranks, and their presence has 
 inspired others with courage and devotion to their cause. 
 
 If there is any one claus^fc that act that is more repre- 
 hensible than another, it is tnat which provides that if the 
 conscript fails to appear at the time and place designated, 
 he shall be considered a deserter and dealt with according- 
 ly. Without having committed any crime, or being guilty 
 of the least offence, the absentee is by the law condemned 
 as a deserter, and the penalty is death. The annals of 
 tyranny may be searched in vain for a parallel to this. We 
 would not rashly censure the conduct of our national legis- 
 lature, or willingly impugn the motives of its members, but 
 We are bound to regard the act under consideration as a sad 
 mistake, which must inevitably seriously injure our cause, 
 (and dishonor us at home and abroad. The sovereign peo- 
 ple have already pronounced their disapprobation of it ; and 
 it is much to be hoped that the government will somehow 
 modify or repeal it, and quiet the popular murmurs. Yet 
 we are aware that governments are too prone to turn a deaf 
 ear to the complaints an( j admonitions of the common peo- 
 ple, until the surges of popular indignation sweep over them. 
 But after all that may be said of the palpable injustice of 
 the act in question, and the obvious 1 "disquietude which at- 
 tend the proceedings under it, let it everywhere be distinct- 
 ly understood that the proper remedy is not to be found in 
 open and violent resistance. Such demonstrations are pain- 
 ful evidences of public sentiment, but cannot directly cor- 
 rect the wrong. Therefore we earnestly entreat every one 
 wholly to abstain from all unlawful proceedings, to be pa- 
 tient and bide his time, until the wrong can be corrected in 
 a constitutional manner; and if the constituted authorities 
 Jail to set the matter right, the sovereign people will most 
 assuredly do it in their own good time. 
 
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