The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1862-07-03


Slavery.
In carrying on.war, whether foreign
or domestic, civilized Governments and
belligerents are required to conform to
the Law of Nations, including as it
does the claw of War;" as one of its
subdivisions. That Law effectually
solves and settles all the questions in
respect to. slaves and slavery which
have arisen or can arise in the progress
of the great Slave Holders Rebellion
against the Federal Government and
the loyal majority of the people, which
is not yet nor very soon to be sup
pressed, and which indeed, as will be
herein shown, has long since ceased
to be a mere rebellion, and become an
organized and formidable Civil War.
Thus, the Law of Nations explicitly
prescribcs the course to be pursued by
conquerors toward people whom the
vanquished had previously enslaved I;
and this provision is as will be seen,
alone sufficient to dispose of all the
questions relating to the slaves of the
seeded States, and those of rebel
masters everywhere.
Vattel's claw of Nations" will be
recognized by all lawyers and states
men as unquestionable authority upon
this, as upon all other subjects of which
it treats. BY referring to S2o3 of Book
III of that master piece of philosophic
jurisprudence, there will be found the
following significant provision:
at has been observed (sl9e) that
we may be obliged, if not externally,
yet in conscience, and by the laws of
equity, to restore to third party the
booty we have recovered out of the
hands of nm enemy who had taken it
from him in an unjust war. The obi.
CATION is more certain and more extern
sive, with regard TO people whom
our enemy had unjustly oppressed.
For people thus spoiled of their liberty,
never renounce the hope of recovering
1t. If they have not voluntarily incor.
porated themselves with the. State bv
which they have been subdued, If
they have not freely aided her in the
war against US, we certainly ought SO
to use Our victory as not merely to
give them new master, but to break
their chains. To deliver an oppressed
people, is a noble fruit of victory; it is
a valuable advantage gained thus to
acquire faithful friend"
1t is not necessary to emphasize any
portions of this extract by the use OF
italic type. 1t is all emphatic, and as
directly to the point as its world-re-
nowned author could have made it, had
he lived in our time and written it with
special reference to the existing state
of affairs in our country.
But is it denied that the common
law of war is to be obeyed in the death.
grapple contest now i'll progress 6e-
tween the loyal people of the Free
States and the red handed, rebelliOus
Slave Power? Fortunately for those
in official or private life who are foun.
dering in the quagmire of doubt upon
the subject, Vattel comes to their relief
and sets this question too, at rest.
Chapter XVIII, of the Book above
quoted, is devoted TO the subject of
"Ciyil War;" In 1922 of that Book
he says:
"When a party is formed in State,
who no longer obey the sovereign, and
are possessed of sufficient strength to
oppose him,-or when in Republic,
the nation is divided into opposite fac
tons and both sides take up arms =
this is called civH ,oar."
Our contest with the Slave Power
has, therefore, passed beyond the con.
dition of mere insurrection and be-
come cion aoar. In s295 of the same
Book, our author, after again speaking
of the "two factions" to a civil war in
a Republic, proceeds as follows:
"Thus there exists in the State two
separate bodies who pretend to abso-
lutte independence, and between which
there is no judge. They decide their
quarrel by arms as two different ma
tons would do. The obligation to OBJ
serve the common lao Of aoar towards
each other, Is, therefore absolute in
dispensibly binding on both parties,
and the same which the law of nature
imposes on all nations in transactions
between State and State"
Ut will be observed that in these
passages, Vattel uses the word "fac-
ton" not in the sense in which we or
dinarily use it, but as synonymous with
"party," and the word "State," as syn
onimous with "Country" or "Govern-
ment.'O
The existing war between the loyal
people of the free, and the rebels of the
Slave States, is, aud for more than a
year, has been, therefore, to all intents
and purposes, a "Civil Wars" and,
therefore, war which the Law of Ma
tons has required our authorities to
prosecute in obedience to the very
provisions of that Law above quoted.