The Cadiz Democratic sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1854-1864, 1863-08-26


sovereign may lrsaI the rebels as subjects as
well IS belligeFents.
Hence, ciyilswar, In which the belligerchts
have become, territ orial enemies. instantly
snnnls all rights 10 claims oil public enemies
seainst the United States, under the Constit-
ution or laws, whether that Cons tiiuiion he
called compact, treaty, or 4 covenant,
and whether the parties 10 it were States,
in their sovereign cspscity, or he people Of
the United States as individuals.
ANY other result would be as incompre-
hensble ss it would be mischievous. A pub
lie enemy cannot law ully claim the right
Of entering Congress, and voting down the
measures taken 10 subdue him.
WHY not2 Because be is public enemy;
because by becoming public enemy he has
annuiled and lost bis rights in he Goverp>
ment, and can never regain them, except by
our consent --1-. s-s--fsr..
II the Inhabitants Of large part Of the U.
Mon have, by becoming public enemies,
surr ndeTed and aDEulled their 'UTmer
rights, the question arises can they recover
them? Such ghls cannot be regaihed by
reason OF their having ceased TO fight The
character of public enemy having once
been stamped upon them by the laws OF war
remains fixed until it shall have been by our
consent removed
To stop fighting does not make them
cease to be public enemies, because they
have laid down their arms for want Of pow
der, not Tor want of will Peace does not
restore the noble dead who have fallen a
sacrifice to treason. Nor does it revive the
rights once extingushed by civil, terrible
war. The lend of the Union belongs TO the
people OF the United States, subject to the
rights o individual ownership. Each per
son inhabiting those sections Of the country
declared by the Presidents Pro amatlon to
be in rebellion, has the right to what belongs
TO public enemy, and no more. He can
have no right to take any part in our Gov
ernment. That right does not belong TO au
enemy OF the country, while he is waging
war or alter be has been subdued. A public
enemy has right to participate in or to as
sumo the Government OF the United States
only when he has conquered the United
States We find in this we'll settled doc
trine of belligerent law the solution of all
questions in relation to State rights. After
the inhabitants OF a district have become
public enemies they have no rights either
State or personal, against the United States.
They are beligerents only, and have left to
them only beligprent rights.
Suppose that all the inhabitants living in
South Carolina should be swept off, SO tbs
solitude should reign throughout its borders,
III broken by any living thing, would the
State rights of South Carolina still exist as
attached 10 the land itself?
Can there be sovereignty W thout peo>
pie, or State without inhabitants? State
rights, 50 lar as they concern the Union, are
the rights OF persons, as members of State,
in relation to the General Government, and
when the person bas become public enemy
then he loses all rights except the rights OF
war. And when all the inhabitants have (by
engaging in civil, territorial wary become
publicly enemies, it 10 The same, in legal Of
feet, as though the inhabitants had been an
initiated So lar as this Government is
concerned, civil war obliterates all lines OF
States or countries; the only lires recognized
by war are the lines which seperaes US frem
public enemy.
do not place reliance upon the common
law doctrine OF forfeiture of franchises as
applicable to this revolution; Ior forfeiture
can be founded only upon the admission OF
he validity OF the act in which forfeiture is
founded
Nor does the belligerent law of civil, terr,>
torial war, whereby public enemy loses his
rights as citizen, admit the right OF scces
sion 1t Is not any vote or law Of secession
that makes an individual public enemy
A person may commit helnous off-hses q
gainst municipal law, and commit acts OF
hostility against the Government. without
being public enemy. TO be personal en-
emy is not to be public enemy to the coun
try, in the event o. belligerent or interns-
tional law. Whose engages in an insurrec-
tion is personal enemy, but it is not until
thai insurrection has swelled into territorial
war that be becomes public enemy.
1t must also be remembered that the right
o secession is not conceded by enforcement
OF belligerent law, since, in civil war ma
ton has the right TO treat its citizens as sub
jects or as beliigerents, or as both. Hence,
while bellgerent law destroys all claims
subjects engaged in civil war, as against the
parent Government, 1t does not release the
subject from his duties to that Government
BY war the subject loses his rigats, but does
not escape his obligations.
The inhabitants Of the conquered districts
will thus lose Their right to govern us, bu,
will not escape their obligations TO obey US.
Whatever rights are lett TO them, besides
the rights oil war, will be such as we choose
to allow them. 1t is Tor us to dictate 10 them
not or them TO dictate to us what privileges
they shall eujoy.
Among the war measure sanctioned by the
President, to which he bas, more than once,
pledged his sacred honor, and which Con
gress has enforced by solemn laws, is the
liberation OF slaves. The Government has
invited them to share the dangers, the hon.
or and the advantages Of sustaining The o..
non, and has pledged itself to the world Tor
heir freedom.
Whatever disasters may beall our arms,
whatever hu,niliations may be in store for
us, il is earnestly hoped that we may be saw
ed the uniathomable lnfamy OF breaking the
nations 'sith with Europe, and with colored
citizens and slaves in the Uniou.
Now il the rebellous States shall attempt
TO return to the Union with Constitutions
guaranteeing the perpetuity OF Slavery; if
the laws OF those States shall be again revi-
we'd and put in force against free blacks AID
slaves, we shall, at once, have reinstated in
the Union, in all its force aud wickedness,
the very curse which has brought on the
war and all ,ls terrible train Of sufferiugs
The war is fought by slave holders for the
perpe uty of slavery. Shall we hand over
to hem, at the end Of the war, just what
they have been fshling for? Shall all our
blood and treasure be spilled uselessly upon
the grouno? Shall the country not protect
ise against the evil which has caused all to
the stranged serpent, when, without your
aid, he will perish?
Ifyour concads State rights to your en-.
emies what security have you that traitors
will not pass State laws which will render
the position OF the blacks intolerable, or re-
d,ice Jbe,,, MI 10 SlY,sru ...