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meaning of the act; and if by the searching operation of the oath prescribed he is found guilty, the penalty annexed is the loss of the right to vote, and that too by a process entirely unknown to our constitution and laws. So much of the oath as relates to bearing arms against the United States and aiding the so-called confederate authorities, refers directly to offences against the government of the United States, and as such are not within the powers and jurisdiction of this state to punish even by due process of law; and much less can the legislature, by mere legislation, punish such offences, and as a penalty take away the right of suffrage from a qualified voter of this state. These are crimes against the United States, and can only be punished or forgiven by that government; and are not cognizable before any authority or tribunal of a state. And the chief magistrate of the United States, acting upon this principle, by his proclamation of the 29th of May last, in conformity with the authority conferred upon him by the constitution of the United States, and the act of congress made in pursuance thereof, has, most graciously extended pardon and amnesty to a large majority of the citizens of this state, who had engaged in the late rebellion, declaring that all persons not excepted by said proclamation from the benefits thereof, who would take and subscribe a certain oath thereby prescribed, should receive full amnesty and pardon.

Within the provisions of which proclamation the plaintiff below has brought himself by the averments contained in his declaration. Hence, whatever might otherwise have been the effect of his having borne arms against the United States, or of his having aided the so-called confederate authorities, he has now been fully pardoned and forgiven, and is no longer amenable to any authority for his acts in that behalf; and to deprive him of his right to vote on account of his participancy in the war against the United States, would be to punish him for a crime of which he has been pardoned; or, in other language, to inflict a penalty where there is no legal guilt.

But if he had not taken the amnesty oath, still his having