Delaware State journal and statesman., 1865-11-24
WHAT Is A nrArEt

OF the country, from Harper's Weekly:
Whatever the differences of philosophy in
the various views entertained of the present
relation of the late rebel States to the Union
there are practically but two radically differ
ent opinions: one that of the late rebels
themselves and the Northern Copperheads,
which is, that the rebels in certain States
having laid down their arms the States are
by that fact restored to all their former rights
and privileges in the Union; and the other
that of the President and loyal men in all
the States, which is, that they can resume
their ancient position only by the consent OF
the Government, and upon such terms as il
may impose. The grounds upon which this
latter view is held are very many and even
conflicting But it would be difficult to find
clearer or stronger statement of one view
than the one which we subjoin:
"a people having government is, so long
as it continues to have it, that kind of body
polite which we call State So long and
no longer, one year or thousand years.
While Rome had such Rome was State,
and Poland, and Algiers, and Naples, and
Mexico of the Montezumas, and Peru of the
lncas; but losing their governments, Peru
and Mexico became possessions of Spain.
and Naples of Victor Emanuel, and Aleiers
oil France, and Poland of the partitioninr
powers and Rome of the hundred nations
and tribes that broke through her barriers
IL the land they stood on had been submerg-
ed in the sea, those States would not have
been more efIectually destroyed than thew
were when their governments were over
whelmed by conquest
"On the other hand the Old Thirteen were
mere colonies until they acquired govern.
ments, then they became States, and finally
ratiiying the Constitution, States in he Union
no all the new accessions except Texas were
first Territories, then States, then, on admis.
sion, States in the Union. Just as well call
clock-case which never had machinery in
1t, or from which the machinery has beon
removed, a clock, as a people which never
mad government, or whose government
has been destroyed, State. To do so is
simply to change definitions. Land rising
ten thousand feet above all other lands
around is mountain. Who, if il were to
sink, leaving lake in its place. would call
it mountain still?
States in the Union differ from States ont
oil II only in certain relations they bear to
each other. These relations ceasinR in fact
as TO any one Or more States, the difference
IN lact ceases also, and such States are out
OF the Union. No doubt we lawyers often
sayyery pretty things, and poetical too, about
matters which have ceased in reality to exist,
as @iH erfsting in contemplation Of nu. and
the uninitiated think we mean something
they not refecting that law is not an intelli-
gent being, but mere mandate issued Inv
supreme authority, and therefore can never
contemplate at all, though those who admin
lster or talk about it may. Say, then, that
the law contemplates or not what we will, if
there be no government in fact, there is in
TACT no State, or where there are in fact no
relations of unity there is in fact no union.
"Fiye years ago, then, South Carolina was
State in the Union. BY force, and not by
any cunning arrangements of the alphabet
she broke up those relations, one and all
expelled every officer, overthrew every law,
seized every fort, and excluded every vessel
OF the United States. The other ten did sub.
stantially the same. Contemplation of layl
The fact of Union between them and the
United States was as untrue as bet,yeen-
nay, more ntrue-than between japan and
the United States. Not only was there total
separation, but that separation was guarded
by three hundred thousand men under arms.
10 call that union is simply to defy dictionary
and common sense.
But the eleven remained still States, for
they maintained their respective govern
ments. For time. Atlength that long line
Of armed exterior was, as field after field was
lost, driven back, and State after State over
run, their governments destroyed, their laws
annulled, courts closed and fumctionaries dis
placed, and generals and soldiers dispensed
martial law alone under authority of ihe
United States. Not a State government was
lett any more than after the fall of Aleiers
there was an Algerine government, or after
that OF King Bomba a Neapolitan govern.
ment. Those geographical spaces, once
States, are now possessions of the United
States, won by conquest and held by the
sword.
at is only to States in the Union that the
United States are to guarantee a republican
form of government. These are not in hut
only belong to the Union rs Utah belongs
to it, And when or whether they shall he
come States in the Union is just as much in
discretion as when or whether Utah shall
become such.
congress has never created nor attempted
to create State even on our own territory
That is the work of the people. Congress
can only admit States already existing
Tennessee | suppose to be such an inehoate
State, just as California and Michigan and
all the other new States were such. having
formed governments in fact on national ter
ritory by national sufferance When adj
mitted, this sutferance hardens into a title
good against the United States in all circum-
stances except disunion by force. In war.
the grand assile of nations, municipal law
furnishes no rule and the strongest take the
verdict, and the vanquished are at mercy.
with not right on earth except rights to the
wisdom and humanity of the victors
"That is the condition of all the eleven
now. And the whole subject of what is wise
and what is humane is as much open in re-
gard to them as is the question of what il |
wise and humane in regard to tine District |