The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1867-03-28

beIZC(l, pIOCCCuluSS I" TCUt bIC ~ w ALotAeu
ted wherever the property may be found
which proceeding shall follow the proceed
ings in admiralty or revenue cases, and thu
same shall be condemned rs enemies prop
erty, and become the property of the United
States, and the proceeds paid into the Treas
urv of the United States. 9th section ac
of 18th July, 1862 The eighth.scction pro
vides that the court shall make all necessary
orders, and the marshals shall make deeds
and conveyances for such property to the
purchaser, and then such titles shall be good
and valid. This law is unrepealed 1t is in
full force, and stands on the statutc-book us
one of the laws which the President sworc to
execute (Would to God he had obcycd his
oath! Let us see that we obey ours) II
may be objected that the Government is
stretching its powers i'll making such confis.
cations. That was a question well consider
ed when the act Of 1862 was passed. 1t must
be remembered that this is not an open qucs
ton; we are merely considering the enforce
mcnt of an existing law. But will briefly
review some of the arguments in favor of the
right We are treating these belligercnts
simply as enemies, and their property as enc
mics property now in the possession and
power of the conqueror. BY the law of ma
lions in its most stringent provision all the
property liberty, and lives of conquered
CLSLiJ W LlO ullJuSG WIZ are aC
the disposal Of the victor. Modern ciyiIiza-
ton will seldom justify the exercise of the
extreme right. The lives, the liberty, and,
in most cases. the real property of the van
quished arc left untouched. The property,
however, of the vanquished is held in some
shape liable to pay the expenses and DANA
ges sustained by the injured party Ifpeace
Is brought about by treaty, it is usually stp-
ulated that the expenses and damages shall
be paid 10y the defeated belIigerent AS
such remuneration must be levied as taxes
on the subjects, it does subject all their prop
erty to this burden. Where there is no gov
ernmcnt capable Of making term. of peace,
the law-making power of the conquercr must
fix the terms. This gives them sufficient
right to take just such property a. it may
deem proper. Where the subdued bclliger-
ent is composed Of traitors, their personal
crimes aggravate their bclligcrcnt offense and
justify severer treatment, just as u tribe of
saVages are treated with more riyor than
civilized foes. From such a people much
more might and ought to be e1acted than
from an honorable enemy. Whenever exam-
pie requires 1t, heavy fines should be impos-
ed and the criminals reduced to poverty, as
was properly required by our excellent Pres
ldent. Vattcl says: "Whcn, therefore, he
has subdued q hostile nation, he undeniably
may, in the first place, do himself justice re-
speeding the object which has given rise to
the war, and indemnify himself for the cx-
penses and damages which he has sustained
by it, Halleck Opp. 457) says that by strict
right property on land and real estate is sub
ject to seizure, though seldom enforced with
an ordinary enemy. All writers agree with
Vattel Up. 36O: "Thus conqueror who has
taken up arms not only against the sover-
elsn, but against the nation herself, and
whose intention it was to subdue fierce and
savage people, and once for all to reduce an
obstinate enemy, such conqueror may with
justice lay burdens on the conquered nation.
both as compensation for the expenses of the
war and as punishment" Apply these
principles to the case in hand. The cause
of the War was Slavery. We have liberated
the slaves. 1t is our duty to project them,
and provide for them While they are unable
to provide for themselves. Have we not a
right, in the language of Vattel, to do our
selves justice respecting the object which has
caused the war;" by taking lands for home
steads for these objects of the war? n Have
we not right, if we choose to go to that ex-
tent, to indemnify ourselves for the expenses
and damages caused by the war? We might
make the property of the enemy pay the four
billions of dollars which we have expended,
as well as the damages inflicted on loyal men
by confscation and invasion, which might
reach billion more. This bill is merciful,
asking less than one-tenth Of our Just claims.
We could be further justified in intlcting
severe penalties upon this whole hostile peo-
pie as "a fierce and savage people," as an
" obstinate enemy" whom 1t is a duty to
tame and punish. Our future safety requires
stern justice What more savage or fierce
people, than they who deliberately starved
to death 10000 prisoners of war; who shot
or reduced to bondage all captive soldiers of
the colored race; who sought to burn our
cities through secret agents; who sent infec-
ted matrlals into our most populous towns
to destroy non combatants old men, women
and children, by the most loathsome and IA
tai diseases; and who contaminated their
barbarism by the assassination of the mild
est Of rulers and the best of men! If this
Is not " fierce and savage enemy" whom we
have right to reduce to absolute submis-
sion and dependence, point me out one to
which the language of Vattel will apply
You would do great injustice to those mild
savages who owed US no allegiance, by
pointing to those who perpetrated the mas
sacre OF Wyoming; or to the Camanche., or
the wild Indians of the West, or the fierce
tribes of the Oronoco-and yet you seize their
lands and expel them from their native coun-
try. Isuppose none will deny the right to con
fscatc the property of the several belligerent
States, as they all made war as States, or of
the Confederate States of America; for no
one ever denied the right of the conqueror
to the crown property of the vanquished
sovereign, even where the seizure of private
property would not be justified by the cir
cumstances. That would give us all called
for by the first section of the bill. l believe
Texas has about 110,000,00O acres. She re-
tanned all her public lands at the time of
annexation on the condition of paying her
own debts; and afterward called on the
United States Government for the payment
of those very debts, and procured it. know
not how much the other States may have
possibly enough to make up, with Texas,
15O,0O0,000 acres. But it is said that any
of the property of the sovereign is subject to
seizure by the conqueror; in ordinary wars
between monarchies such is the fact; but
that is not the case where the war is made |
on q whole hostile people-"a fierce and |
savage people" But, admitting the limita-
ton to prevail, still it does not obstruct us.
Here is belligerent made up of men whose
crimes had forfeited all their rights, indie
pendently of their belligerent liabilities.
But beyond that, the case of republics is
Vol lifEoropt hoo