366 



ENROLMENT AND DRAFT. 



whose decision shall be final." The operations 

 of the officers for making the draft were great- 

 ly embarrassed by the action of the courts, and 

 it threatened for a time in several districts to 

 suspend the business of raising troops and of ar- 

 resting deserters. These difficulties, however, 

 were substantially terminated by the procla- 

 mation of the President on September 15th, 

 suspending the privilege of the* writ of habeas 

 corpus in certain cases. (See HABEAS CORPUS.) 



Nearly twenty thousand deserters were ap- 

 prehended by theiprovost-marshals between the 

 first of May and the first of November. As- 

 suming the number of deserters in October to 

 have been the same as in September, it was 

 found that the number who deserted and ab- 

 sented themselves in September and October 

 was about half as great as the number in May 

 and June. 



The first steps taken toward organizing the 

 bureau of the provost-marshal-general showed 

 the necessity for a military force for special 

 service in the bureau. The law prevented 

 calling out and organizing as a reserve corps, 

 or home guard, the men in part or whole of 

 the second class. The organization, therefore, 

 of men as an invalid corps who had been in 

 service and had become unfit for further field 

 duty was resorted to, and was commenced 

 April 17th. General Order 105, dated April 

 28th, announces the principles upon which the 

 organization would be conducted. The objects 

 to be accomplished by drafting the corps were: 

 1. To secure the military services for garrison, 

 hospital, and provost duty, of that class of de- 

 serving officers and men who, from wounds re- 

 ceived in action or disease contracted in service, 

 were unfit for further duty in the field, and who 

 would otherwise be discharged from the ser- 

 vice, but yet were able to do light duty, and to 

 bring back for like purposes those who had been 

 previously discharged on similar grounds, and 

 were still unfit for active duty and not liable 

 to draft. 2. To provide honorable and useful 

 occupation and suitable compensation for a 

 class of persons whose claims upon the nation no 

 one could question. {See ARMY, UNITED STATES.) 



No renewal of the draft was made during 1863. 

 In October a call was issued for volunteers. 



The disbursements of the Bureau to Novem- 

 ber 1st were $1,190,392. The accounts returned 

 for correction amounted to $348,623 ; making 

 a total of $1,539,015. To this should be added 

 $402,944, being the pay of the district boards. 



Numerous attempts were made to obtain a 

 judicial opinion upon the constitutionality of 

 the Conscription Act. Bills in equity were filed 

 in the Supremo Court of Pennsylvania, substan- 

 tially the same ; one of them was filed by 

 William F. Nichols, charging that his rights 

 have been violated, and his personal liberty is 

 about to bo invaded by the defendants, under 

 the pretence of executing a law of the United 

 States. The bill then sets forth the Conscrip- 

 tion Act, and the complainant avers that he 

 has received no notice, but he is in daily ex- 



pectation of receiving a notice, and being re- 

 quired immediately to report for duty at a 

 designated rendezvous, on pain of being re- 

 garded as a deserter from military service, and 

 of punishment by death under the articles of 

 war. He is advised that the act of Congress un- 

 der which he was enrolled and drafted for mili- 

 tary service, without his consent and contrary 

 to his will, is in derogation of the reserved 

 rights of the States, and of the liberties and 

 rights of the citizens thereof, and that the same 

 is unconstitutional and void, there being dele- 

 gated by the States and the people thereof to 

 the Federal Government no power to enact 

 such a law. * * * 



The bill further charges that the proceedings 

 under the draft are against common justice in 

 this, that the draft is being enforced only in 

 certain of the States not in rebellion and in in- 

 surrection, and certain other States and dis- 

 tricts and parts of States are not being drafted 

 for, and the plaintiflf charges that, by reason 

 thereof, the draft is unlawful. 



The bil}. concludes with a prayer for a writ 

 of injunction against the defendants to restrain 

 them from further proceedings with or under 

 said enrolment, requisition, or draft of citizens 

 of the commonwealth, and of all persons of 

 foreign birth who may have declared their in- 

 tentions to become citizens, in pursuance of 

 the laws, to perform compulsory military duty 

 in the service of the United States, and from all 

 other proceedings which violate the rights and 

 invade the personal liberty of such persons, 

 under pretence of executing the said law 

 of the United States, and particularly from all 

 proceedings under such pretence against the 

 person of this plaintiff. 



The motion for injunction was argued before 

 a full bench on the part of the complainants, 

 the defendants not appearing by counsel. 



The decision of the court was, that the law 

 was unconstitutional, Chief-Justice Lowrie and 

 Justices Woodward and Thompson all concur- 

 ring in this opinion ; while Justices Strong and 

 Read dissented. In delivering the opinion of 

 the court, Lowrie, C. J., says : 



These are three bills in equity wherein the plaintiffs 

 claim relief against the defendants who, acting under 

 the act of Congress of the 3d of March last, well known 

 as the Conscription Act, claim to coerce the plaintiffs 

 to enter the army of the United States as drafted sol- 

 diers. The claim of the plaintiffs is founded on the 

 objection that that act is unconstitutional. 



The Constitution, adopting our historical experi- 

 ence, recognizes two sorts of military land forces the 

 militia and the army, sometimes called the regular, 

 and sometimes the standing army, and delegates 

 to Congress the power to " raise and support armies " 

 and "to provide for calling forth the militia to 

 execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, 

 and repel invasions." But though this act of Congress 

 is intended to provide means for suppressing the re- 

 bellion, yet it is apparent that it is not founded on the 

 power of "calling forth the militia," for those who are 

 drafted under it nave not been armed, organized, and 

 disciplined under the militia law, and are not called 

 forth as militia under State officers, as the Constitution 

 requires. (Art. 1, 8, 16.) 



