The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1857-02-17

dependent, il can have no intention, in SO
Ting in acountry, to leave to others the rigl
of command, or any Of those rights that COZ
stituto sovereignty. The whole space ov,
which nation extends its government,
called it's territory" vattels Laws of N,
tions, b. /, Gu. Is, Sections 2O4, 2o5.
ave have explained in chapter Is, book
how nation takes possession of a country
and at the same time gains possession of th
domain and government thereof. That cour
try, with everything included in it, become
the property Of the nation in general"
n
"The full domain is necessarily peculia
aud exclusive right; for, if / have full righ
to dispose Of a thing as please, il theme
follows that others have no right to il at all
since if they had any could not freely dis
Rafe fiay' be limited and restrained insevera
| ways by the laws of the State, and it alway'
is SO by the eminent domain of the sovereign
but the general domain Of the nation is ful
and absolute" Ib., B. Q.
Again he says:
"The general domain of the nation ovel
the lands she inhabits ia naturally connected
with the empire; and in taking possession o.
country, the nation is presumed to take pos
session of the government at the same time.
The sovereignty meeted to the domain es
tablishes the jurisdiction of the nation in her
territores, or the country that belongs to her
1t is her province or that of her sovereign to
exercise justice in all the places under her ju-
risdiction." H., Sections s3, 81.
This is common law, rs expounded by the
masters and recognized for ages throughout
the civilized world. And such would proba-
bly, have been the feeling il, all our courts,
had the Constitution of the United States
contained no express provision on the subject.
But it has not left it to mere Inference and
implication. For,
2. The Constitution directly confers upon
Congress the power.
"The Congress shall have power to dispose
of and make all needful rules and regulations
respecting the territory or other property be-
longing to tho United States; and nothing in
this Constitution shall be SO construed as to
prejudice any claims Of the United States, or
of any particular State"
This provision Of the Constitution would
seem to bo plain enough without exposition !;
and had there not been 80 many attempts "to
darken counsel by words without knowledge"
the simple reading Of it would be sufficient to
settle The question. But various readings and
constructions have been attempted to he i'm
posed upon it, and its consideration must
therefore demand moments attention.
Il is maintained 10y our honorable Senator
who has patented these new readings that
"tsrriiory' is used simply in the sense Of land
designating merely one species Of property.
TO this VIC have several things to say in re-
ply:
a. Admitting this TO be true, it does not
relieve him of the difficulty, nor answer the
purpose Of sound argument. With this
gloss the clause would read thus: "Congress
shall have full power to make all necdful
rules and regulations respecting the lands and
other property Of the United States" Does
this deprive them Of tho power of legislstion7
Certainly not--for that is contained in the
'ueedful rules and reguations;" and "rules
and regulations" made by Congress are lars,
and the making of these laws j. legislation.
And Congress would still have "power to
make ALL neediul rules and regulations re-
spccting the lands and other property" OF
what is "ncedful" they are TO be the judges.
And if they found any land outside of tho
jurisdiction of any of tho State Governments,
it is reasonable to suppose that they would
think the establishment of Government
among tho things that were "ncedful.' This
would generally be necessary even to secure
the property value Of such lands, and if there
was TO be Legislation respecting these land, con-
sidered simply as property, Congress might
deem it needful to exclude slavery therefrom,
that thus they might be sold the more rapid
ly, and at a higher price And if they thus
deemed, the legislation would be entirely
within the scope of this provision thus inter
prctcd. 1t is not necessary that the word
"torritory" should have jurisdiction in it,
Power to make all needful rules and regula-
tions" means jurisdiction; and il can mean
nothing else. And if to sell the public lands
TO advantage, Congress shall deem it needful
to organize government for the people who