PRESENTATION OF PETITIONS. By Mr. Howard: petition of H. H. Parks, prosecuting attorney, and the resolution of the board of supervisors of Ottawa county, asking the passage of a law to legalize the action of said board and of the townships of said county, in relation to volunteers; Also, the petition of J. G. Van Has and 107 others, citizens of the township of Zealand, Ottawa county, asking to have a law passed to legalize the proceedings of the said township, and to authorize the issue of bonds for volunteer purposes; Referred to the committee on ways and means. By Mr. Barnes: petition of John Ferguson and 90 others, citizens of Delhi, in the county of Ingham, praying for authority to pay town bounties; Also, memorial of the township board of the town of White Oak, containing the proceedings of a town meeting, in regard to bounties, and asking that their action may be legalized; Referred to the committee on ways and means. By Mr. Cobb: petition, also statement of a vote taken in Kalamazoo for a war loan; Referred to the committee on ways and means. By Mr. Slafter: petition of J. W. Spencer, Joseph Morrison and 30 others, of the township of Indian Fields, Tuscola county, asking that the action of said township in raising money for volunteer purposes may be legalized; Also, petition of A. B. Clark and 20 others, of the township of Dayton, Tuscola county, praying that the action of said township in raising money for volunteer purposes be legalized; Also, memorial of G. W. Gilmore and 15 others, of the township of Fremont, Tuscola county, relative to raising money for volunteer purposes; Referred to the committtee on ways and means. By Mr. Hood: memorial of the township board of the township of London, Monroe county, in regard to bounties to volunteers; Referred to the committee on ways and means. REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES. By the committee on federal relations: The committee on federal relations of the House, acting with the committees on finance and State affairs of the Senate, under a concurrent resolution, to whom was referred so much of the Governor's message as relates to the soldiers' national cemetery, have considered the same, and have agreed upon a report, which was presented in the Senate, and is printed in the journal of the 22d inst., and to which the House is respectfully referred. WM. WHEELER, Chairman. Report accepted and committee discharged. By the committee on ways and means: The committee on ways and means, to whom was referred so much of the message of the Governor as relates to the subject of legalizing bonds, issued by towns and counties for the payment of bounties to volunteers, together with sundry petitions and bills relative to the same subject, respectfully report that they have had the same under consideration, and a majority thereof have directed me to report, in lieu of any of said bills, the accompanying bill, entitled A bill to authorize townships, counties and cities to pay bounties heretofore offered to volunteers, And recommend that it do pass, and ask to be discharged from the further consideration of the subject. WM. WARNER, By order of a Majority of said Committee. Report accepted and committee discharged. The bill was read a first and second time by its title, ordered printed, referred to the committee of the whole, and placed on the general order. By the committee on ways and means: The committee on ways and means, to whom was referred so much of the message of the Governor as relates to the subject of raising money for the payment of bounties to volunteers, respectfully report that they have had the same under con sideration, and a majority thereof have directed me to report to the House the accompanying bill, entitled A bill to amend section 1 of an act entitled an act to authorize the payment of a State bounty to volunteers, mustered from this State into the military service of the United States, approved March 6, 1863, And recommend that it do pass, and ask to be discharged from the further consideration of the subject. WM. WARNER, By order of a Majority of said Committee. Report accepted and committee discharged. The bill was read a first and second time by its title, ordered printed, referred to the committee of the whole and placed on the general order. By the minority of the committee on the judiciary: The minority of the judiciary committee, to whom was referred so much of the Governor's message as relates to soldiers voting; also, A bill to enable the qualified electors of this State, in the military service, to vote at certain elections, and to amend sections forty-five and sixty-one, of chapter six, of the compiled laws; Also, A bill to secure the elective franchise to the qualified voters of the army and navy of the State of Michigan, Have had the same under consideration, and would respectfully report that they recommend that the first above named bill do pass, and that they be discharged from the further consideration of the subject; and in making this recommendation, it may be proper to assign some of the reasons for doing so: First, it is but an act of justice to those who have gone into the service of the country to fight its battles, defend its constitution and laws, and crush out the most wicked, causeless and unholy rebellion that ever existed on the face of the earth; and if taking up arms in defence of our country is to deprive one of the right held most sacred by all freemen, the right of suffrage, it will do more to deter our brave men and veterans now in the field from re-enlisting than any other one cause, and also deter our men now at home from replenishing the depleted ranks of our regiments now in the field. This alone would be a sufficient reason for me to vote for the bill if no other could be offered. But it is said by some that this Legislature has no power to pass such a law for the reason that the same is prohibited by the constitution. If that is so the undersigned has been unable to see it in that light. In a republican government all power is vested in the people, and the power to make constitutions also rests with them, and the legislature is the representative of the people, and everything that the people might do may be done by the legislature if not restrained by the constitution. That part of the constitution which relates to this subject reads as follows: "No citizen or inhabitant shall be an elector, or entitled to vote at any election, unless he shall be above the age of twenty-one years, and has resided in this State three months, and in the township or ward in which he offers to vote ten days next preceding such election." No one will pretend that a soldier, by reason of his enlistment and service in the army or navy, loses or gains a residence, but that his resi dence is the same as if he had not left his home. This is expressly so declared by the constitution itself. Now if this be so, what is to hinder the soldier from voting wherever he may be, if the Legislature see fit so to direct, unless the clause of the constitution above quoted directly or by implication prohibits it. That clause speaks directly as to the age and residence of the voter. The place of voting, or where the election shall be held, is not mentioned or even intimated. Suppose that some township of this State should be infested with some contagious disease, or become inundated by the sudden rise of water, so that all the inhabitants of such township had to flee to some other place for a temporary residence; and suppose this should happen about the time of some one of our elections, does any one presume to say that the Legislature has no power to say that the people of such township may hold an election for the township from which they have been driven, by the elements or disease, in some adjoining or even distant place where they might be assembled? The idea that such persons shall be disfranchised is preposterous in the extreme, and has not the slightest foundation in fact. Great stress is placed upon the words, "in the township or ward in which he offers to vote," by the opponents of this measure; but such persons do not look at the connection that these words have with the rest of the sentence, and if they will look at the same closely, they will see that by no sort of inference can it be construed to have any reference to the place of holding the election, and only to the age and residence of the voter, as before said. There is no doubt with the undersigned but that a person can vote in the township in which he has a residence, while in some other place, provided the ballot box and proper officers of his township were removed to him. All State constitutions, in governments like ours, unlike that of the United States, is restraining, while that of the latter is a granting power. While Congress can do nothing only what is granted in express, or implied terms, given by the constitution of the United States, a State Legislature can do anything within the legislative scope not inhibited by the State constitution. If this reasoning, then, be correct, there can be no doubt but that we have full power to pass the proposed law. The Supreme Court of Iowa have passed upon a law almost like the one before us, and have decided the same to be constitutional, and in rendering their opinion, they speak expressly of the constitution of Michigan and some other States, and say they have no clause prohibiting the passage of such laws. And beside all the above, we have several precedents that will, or at least should have some weight on our action. The Legislature of this State has, on several occasions, passed laws by which certain townships might hold their elections without the bounds of the township. The Legislature of 1861 passed three such laws, by which they allowed the townships of Ann Arbor, Pontiac and Coldwater to hold elections within the |