The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-08-19
q the arm aud navy 81 tie 6 United On

the army aud navy of the United
States, and OF the militia of fctte-seye-
7 rals l States wlseia called into thgaetual
service ofithe United States, (article
four section four. Ih addition to
these,'ls the general grant OF power,
applicable alike to its civil and mill.
p tary fnnntinne, . piled by tiie deoia-
ration of ths'objects of the establish
inent of the Union-namely, to
establish justice, insure domestic
tranquility, provide for the common
defence, promote the general welfare
and secure the blessings of liberty to
the nation (preamble.) To this
should be added, the right to make
all laws which shall be necessary and
proper for carrying into execution
the foregoing powers and all other
powers vested by the Constitution in
the Government of the United States.
or IN any department or officer there
of, (Article l, Section 81 This am
pie charter of war powers, as full md
complete as that enjoyed by any Go
'vernment recognized as possessing
national attributes, confers upon the
Federal Government power to deter
mine as to the causes and conditions
upon which these powers should be
put in exercise, the ends towards
which they should be addressed, and
the means appropriate to the attain
ment OF those ends. SO long us they
belong to the class known as war
powers.
The question then arises, can a
State become the proper subject of
the exercise of these war powers?
The general proposition bearing
upon this subject is that any organ
lied community capable of creating
and welding military power can bo
both actor and subject in relation to
the exercise of such powers. The
States of the Union having ut their
command organized militia, capable
of raising, arming and maintaining
troops, and of procuring munitions
and supplies of war, are clearly COM
petent to engage in war, except so
far as that competency is interfered
with by the Constitution of the
United States. That instrument acts
only upon their legal capacity to
make war, not upon their power to
maintain war when once lawfully
made. 1t recognizes, in certain
cases, the right of State to defend
itself by means belonging to war,
when placed in jeopardy. and time
Is not allowed to invoke the military
aid of the:United States. Ina word,
If any case can arise under the Con-
stitution where the Government Of
the nation would be justified in
bringing the constitutional powers of
the Government to bear upon the
State for the accomplishment of a
lawful end, resisted by the State, the
necessity of q resort to arms would
arise from the very fact that the sub
ject of these powers in the given
case was an organized community
possessed inherently of military
powers. Turning, then, to the Con
stitution, we find that such o. case
may arise, but is most likely to occur
under the provisions inhibiting GER
tain powers to the States, namely
that to enter into any treaty alliance,
or confederation, or grant letters of
marque and reprisal, article 1, Sec
ton 1O.) tits not enough to say that
the Constitution executes itself by
instantly annulling such transac-
tions, for the prohibited alliance or
confederation might exist for the
very purpose of destroying that
Constitution-as was the case in the
war of rebellion; nor would the legal
invalidity of letters of marque and
reprisal accomplish that protection to
commerce intended to be secured by
the constitutional provision under
consideration. It is, therefore, free
from doubt that State may, consis-
tently with the Constitution, place
herself in such position as to be-
come rightfully subject to the war
powers of the nation.
This leads to the inquiry whether
the State of South Carolina occupied
such an attitude to the Government
of the United States. She passed,
as State, an ordinance of secession
that was the immediate cause of the
war; she made an alliance and con-
federacy with certain other States, in
violation OF the express prohibition
of the Constitution. With her con-
federates, she made war, in the full
est sense, against the nation; raised,
armed and maintained, at the public
cost, armies and navy, to oppose