Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1864-11-11

the date OF the treaty, but III elCher caeo
the effect is the same, as the validity OF the
treaty is dependent upon the action OF sep
dsate States.
Suppose, for instance, it is agreed by the
treaty making powers that the State OF
Ohio shall become a part of the Conted-
crate States, when an overwhelming ma
iority of her people in convention, called
by the proper State authority, decide by
solemn ordinance to remain with the Uni
ted States or suppose it is agreed by the
treaty making powers that Kentucky shall
remain part Of the United States, when
two-thirds of her people decide to 80 with
the Confederate States. Will any one
contend that the treaty making power has
the right thus to dispose OF States and as
sign them their future position without
their consent9 And will anybody say that
treaty of peace. can be made without de-
filming the government with which Ohio
and Kentucky shall be- associated in fnture4
Suppose, again, that the treaty making
powers, in fixing the boundaries Of the two
Confederacies, should agree to division
of Virginia, and that the territory en-
braced in the pretended new State formed
of part ofSVirginia, shall become part of
the United States, and that the balance
shall 90 with the Confederate States. Will
any Southern man contend that she can
be thus dismembered, and part of her ter
ritory ceGed by the President and Senate
to the government of the United States
without her consent? He, who so contends,
denies the very fundamental principles
upon which the government of the Con-
federate States was organized. What
wonld the old Virginans of the Jcfferso.
man school say to this sort of State sover-
eighty? What would Washington, Jeffer-
son, Madison, Monroe, Henry, Lee, Ma
son, Randolph, and other statesmen ofther
day have said, if they had been told that
the Constitution of the United States con-
ferred upon the treaty making power the
right to cede one-half.tlIe territory Of Vir-
ginia to foreign State without consulting
her or Obtaining her consent?
If President Davis and the Senate have
the power TO cede part of Virginia to the
United States, in fixing the boundaries of
the two COnfederacieS, without her consent,
they have as much power to cede the
whole State to Great Britain or France for
commercial advantages, or that the other
States shall be recognized and the war
cease. Such proposition is too preposter-
Gus for serious argument.
He, who claims such powers for the Pres
ident and Senate, would not only degrade
the States to the position of provinces, but
would clothe the treaty making power Of
the Contederacy with imperial dignity
greater than the most enlightenment mon
archs of the present day assume to them
selves. 1t has been claimed as one of the
prerogatives Of sovereigns that they could
cede to each other their provinces at will.
But in the late treaty between the empe-
rors of France and Austria, the former re-
fused to accept a province coded by the
latter, anG incorporate it into his Empire
and govern it, till the question was submit
ted to the people of the province and they
| gave their consent.
1t is certainly too clear to be successful
! " questioned that the governments of the
two Confederacies have no power to make a
treaty of peace and fix the boundaries OF
the two countries, which, situated as we
are, is a necessary part Of the treaty, with
| ont the concurrence and consent of the in
dividual States to he affected by it. 1fthis
cannot be done without the consent of the
States, where is the objection to a conven,
ton OF the States, to settle in advance the
necessary preliminaries to which their con-
sent is indispensable before the treaty can
be valid and binding2 In the convention
it could be agreed which States would &C
with the North and which with the South
and the ratification ofthc action of the con
vention by the treaty making powers, and
by the people of the several States to be
affected by it, when of character to re
quire their separate action, would fix the
future status of the different States, anC
the proper boundaries Of the two Confed
eraciGs.
While I am satisfied that separate State
action may and most probably will be {
necessary preliminary to a treaty of peace,
do not wish to be misunderstood upor
this point The sovereign States of thu
Confederacy each seeded from the Ole
Union. This they had perfect right t.
do. And each is as sovereign in the presen
Confederacy as she was in the old, and ha
the same right under the like circumstan
ces which she then exercised. But whrl
these States seeded and formed the pres
cnt Contederacy, and entered into tn,
present defensive war together, they, e
least by strong implication, pledged them
selves to stand by and aid each othe
against the common enemy till the end o
the struggle Thus situated, deny tina
any. one of the States can honorably with
draw from the contest, without the consen
Of her sister States, and make a separate
treaty of peace with the enemy.
The people of the States can meet il
convention and abolish the Confederate
government whenever its usurpations an(
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