Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1866-01-04
VOLUME XVI.


springs the preposterous idea that either
the President, or the Senate or the House
OF Representatives, acting separately car
: determine the right of States to send mem
bers or Senators to the Congress of the
: Unon2
: To prove that they are and for four wears
: have been out of the Union for all legal pur
e poses, and being now conquered, subject
I to the absolute disposal of Congress. | will
/ suggest few ideas and adduce few an
e thorities. If the socalled "Confederat.
States OF America" were an independeDt
belllgerent, and were so acknowledged hy
the United States and by Europe, or had as.
sumed and maintained an attitude which
entitled them to be considered and treated
as bclligerent, then, during such time
they were precisely in the condition Of n
foreign nation with whom we were at war.
nor need their independence as a nation be
acknowledged by us to produce that effect
In the able opinion delivered by that ac-
compished and loyal .jurist, Mr.. Justice
Grelr, III the prize cases, all the law ON
these points is collected and clearly stated.
q Black, page 66.) Speaking of civil wars,
and following Vattel he says
When the party i'll rebellion occupv and
hold in hostile manner certain portion
of territory have declared their indepen-
dence have cast off their allegiance. have
/ organized armies have commenced hostil-
tiles against their former SOVEREIGN tbe
world acknowledges them as belligerents
and the contest q war;
And
The parties bclligerent in public war
are independent nations. But it is not nee.
essay, to constitute war, that both parties
should be acknowledged as Independent
nations or foreign States. \ war NAV ex-
ist where one Of the bellgercnts claim SOW
ereign rights against the other"
The idea that the States could not and
did not make war because the Constitution
forbids it, and that this must bc treated as
war Of individuals, is a very injurious
and groundless fallacy Individuals can
not make war They may commit murder,
but that is no war Communities, societies,
States make war. Phillimore says, volume
}, page 6S:
War between private individuals who
are members Of a society cannot exist. The
use Of force in such case is trespass
and not war"
But why appeal to reason to prove that
the seeded States made war as States
when the conclusive opinion of the Supreme
Court is at hand? In the prize cases al
ready cited. the Supreme Court say:
Hence, III organizing this rebellion, they
have acted as States claiming to be sover-
eign over all persons and property within
their respective limits, and asserting a right
to absolve their citizens from their allegi-
ance to the Federal Government Several
of these States have combined to form
new conlederacy; claiming to be acknowl-
edged by the world as sovereign State
Their right to do so is now being decided
by wager of battle The ports and territory
Of each Of these States are held in hostility
to the General Government. 1t is no loose
unorganized insuwection having no defined
boundary Or possession. 1t has a boundary
marked by lines of bayonets, and which
can be crossed only by force South of
this line is enemies territory, because it is
claimed and held in possession by an orgon-
lied hostile and belligerent power"
Again, the Court say, what have been
astonished that any one should doubt:
- The proclamation of blockade is itself
official and conclusive evidence to the Court
that state Of war existed"
Now, what was the legal result of such
war?
The conventions, the treaties made with
nation are broken or annullcd by war
arising between the contracting parties"
-lGhel, 372 ; Hal}eck, 81, section %.
If gentlemen suppose that this doctrine
applies only to national and not to civil
wars, | beg leave to refer them to Eattel,
page 423. He says:
"a civil war breaks the bands of society
and government, or at least suspends their
force and effect it produces in the nation
two Independent parties, who consider each
other as enemies, and acknowledge no com
mon judge. These two parties must there
fore be considered as thenceforward consti-
tuting, at least for time, two separate
bodies two distinct societies. They stand, !
therefore, III precisely the same predica-
ment as two nations who engage in con-
test, and being unable to come to an agree
mcnt, have recourse to arms"
At page 427:
"And when a nation becomes divided in
to two parties absolutely independent, and
no longer acknowledge a common superior,
the state is dissolved, and the war between
the two parties stands on the same ground,
in every respect, as public war between
two different nations"
but must thC bClIlS citHG NC dChIiOWlCNS-
ed as an independent nation, as some con-
tend That is answered in the case refer
red TO i'll , Black, as follows
1t is not the less a civil war, with bel
ligercnt parties in hostile array, because it
may be called an insurrcction' by one
side, and the insurgents be considered as
rebels or traitors. 1t is not necessary that
the independence Of the revolted province
or State be acknowledged in order to con-
stitute it party belligerent in war, ac-
cording to the law of nations"
This doctrine, so clearly established by
publcists, and so distinctly stated by Mr.
Justice Grier, has been frequently reitera-
ted since 10y the Supreme Court of the
United States. In Mr. Alexander's case, 3
Wallace, 40, the present able Chief JUS
ticc, delivering the opinion of the Court,
says:
We must be governed by the principle
of public law 50 often announced from this
bench as applicable to civil and interna-
tional wars, that all the people of each
State or district in insurrection against the
United States must be regarded as enemies
until by the action of the Legislature and
Eyarutiyn nr nt hot ralatioO 10