The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1865-09-27


THE HONE. ChhEEs, said to beta citizen of
influence and position in Georgia." publishes
letter in the Augusta papers, in which lie makes
the following remarkable declaration "The Gov
crnment OF the United States according to the
law Of fnntions, has acquired the right to refuse to
us acontnuancc OF such political organization In
the State has silownsolf hostile to the conquer
and has aided tic war; and so much of our Con-
stitution and Laws rs contravcnc the fundamental
policy OF the colriuoror."
This is what tie Republicans clam-what they
havo manifested every intention to carry out; and
it becomes Interesting to us to inquire upon what
foundation of right they can presume to build in
advocating doctrine so new and startling. There
ha5hiways! been III the Government the power to
maintain involate the Constitution and Laws of tho
United States. and it has repeatedly bccn rccog-
nizea and exercised by tho Judiciary in declaring
void all acts, whether Of states or Individuals
pugnant to them, and in Furnishing all offences
against them. But the Republicans, in claiming
suchn right, claim another and different power
from this-a power givon by tho laws of war, and
independent of the Constitutions power to sub
sttuto the policy of party for the Constitution. LIS
There any basis for such o caim2 !: 4,
The question presents itself to US in two phases,
In one aspect the Southern States and the General
Government sustain to each other the relation of
independent powers, the one conquered by the
other. or course, in this case the law of nations
applies, and to tho conqueror belong the spos.
But this Is certainly inadmissable. The war was
undertaken and supported by the nation for the
purpose OF putting down any such assumption. In
the other aspect these States bear to tho Govern
mont the relations accorded by the Constitution
These are the only features that she can have. If
the States are not under the Constitution and are
not lndeDenQcnt than tbey nnfL;no Tho Io+
ter is the only view at all admissible in consisonce
with the true sense of the people and the propriety
OF the war; and the error Of those who advocate the
right in question lies in applying to this state of
the case principles only applicable to the crcum-
stances Of tho other We not astonished at
tho republicans seizing upon any pretext to fur
ther their ends, butwe are surprised that South
ern man should maintain such position For he
refers to right acquired by war and by the law
of nations, a right different from what before ex
1sted; he must therefore, aude to rights acquired
by the Government entirely outside of and indie
pendent of tho Constitution in other words, the
right OF the party in power to substitute their own
will for the fundamental law w
Some difficulty in the question arises from the
peculiar structure of our system of government
under which the States exercise SO many attrt-
butes Of sovereignty; hence the relations OF the
close of the war moro analogous, in re-
spect to the matter before us, to the case of an
independent nation conquered by another, than to
tho case of reyolted subjects quelled and subdued
For In the latter the questions would be such
only as related ito individuals pardon OF
punishment, the loss or restoration of property,
&c; While IN the former they are such as pertain
10 the condition of nation they are questions of
political organizations, of constitutions and of
laws. One may be inadvertently led, therefore, to
draw conclusions from the principles which govern
the rights and duties Of different nations, rather
than from those which pertain to- ono nation in a
state of civil war. But while VIC admit the anaio-
gy VIC must recolect that there is only an analogy
and not direct resemblance. If the Constitution
means anything at all, the great fact of it's exis
tehce creates at once distinction between the
Two cases which it is folly to disregard While in
both the question is regarding tho effect Of sue
cessful war on affairs of state in ono case there is
no other tribunal, and tho decision must be con-
trolled by the law OF natons in the other thereis
anestablished tribunal, and that is the Constitu:
Lon. TO this must tho appeal be made, and to no
other For we hold, that while between the United
States and other nations those principles Of natur
al justice which enlightened States have sanction
ed and adopted in their dealings with each other
fully apply; yet in our structure of government
the law OF nations has no place regards the re-
iatons of the States to each other and to the
General Government. If that had been sufficient
guaranty for the welfare, tranquility, improve
mont and happiness Of the people of the United
States, thero: would have been no need to ;estab-
lsh Union and to franc q Constitution for the
better securing of those ends. Nor upon any of
the great questions Of domestic concern touching
those relations have tho rights and duties of the
States been argued to flow from any other source
except in the matter Of secession, and that has
been decided against by the uprising of the nation
The right to make war upon State was never
CLAIMED or exercised as one resulting from the law
OF nations, but as one in accordance with the pro
vision of the Constitution which gave to the Gov
ernment the power to suppress and punish insur-
rechon An'the acts of the Government, with ref
ence to the conduct Of the war, were done as acts
under the authority Of the Constitution. The Gov.
ernment III no case looked outside OF TINT for its
power. Can it be with reason asserted, then, that
power which derived it's right to make war and
to conduct war from tho Constitution, upon the
completion Of its duty suddenly acquires new
rights which its authority never contemplated
1t would be just reasonable to say that an agent
after successfully performing tho duties relating
to- his trust, thence becomesat once endowed with
higher rights and privileges than his principal
Ii tho Constitution were sufficient for all the alb
normal circumstances Of insurrection. much moro
NJ ha nptn nt,,l.a