Excerpt from Opinion of Hon.: John M. Read, of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in Favor of the Constitutionality of the Act of Congress of March 3, 1863, for Enrolling and Calling Out the National Forces and for Other Purposes NO person is naturally exempted from taking up arms in defence Of the state, - the Obligation Of every member Of society being the same. Those alone are excepted who are incapable Of handling arms or supporting the fatigues Of war. This is the reason why Old men, children and women are ex empted. The clergy cannot naturally and as a matter Of right arrogate to themselves any peculiar exemption. TO defend one's country is an action not unworthy Of the most sacred hands. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.