Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-02-04

the ~cOuQuerOr claims LlSb the act maOt
ali her people rebsls and traitors. In oul
case, that preteaee was ~impudsntly
/: ridiculous. There Is 10 crime, where
what Is done is done In reclamation OF
assertion Of q disputed right. A man
who takes property, claiming title 10 it
aud having colour Of title, is not guilty
Of larceny, be his claim ever so IN.
founded. The Southern States had foI
seventy years asserted the right to secede,
ia the councils Of the Nation and st the
bar.
1t follows that when the war ended,
the Southern States were not in the
Union. To claim to be SO was to stu!tify
themselves. England wrongfllly viO-
lated the Treaty Of Amlens. She never
did comply with its stipulatiOns. NAPO-
LEON declared war against her for this
violation. Certainly the alliance did
not continue during the wsr. 1t is true
that an individual Ia not released from q
contract because be violates It. Il binds
bin still. It is not ~sbrOgsted or annulled.
Bat 3 treaty, alliance or union between
Stdtes does not continue, after one Of
them repudiates It, though it may DO so
wrcngfulIy. The rGlidiy Of national
Gcts, 5es sag again, does not depend On
their being rightfuL. When two Nations
20 to war, it would be absurd to say tina.
contracts even Of ordinary good neigh
borhoCd, still less those Of friendship,
and still less cOmpacts OF intimate union,
continue to exist. Rightfully or wrong
fnlly, they are broken, in fact and in law.
The separate existence and independ-
enes Of STATES is exclusively a
fact into which no considerations of
right enter. II IS notright that makes
them independent, or wrong that makes
them Provinces or integral parts OF an
Empire.
Until defeated, then, the Southern
/ States were States, sovereign snd indie
pendent. The jumble Of augmentation
that we read, about their having govern
ments de J9cto, IS mere nonsense. Ds-
fsatsd, they became what Carthage was,
when conquered by Rome, Scotland by
EDWARD !, aud Hungary By Austria
aided by Prussia. The conquest snnuIled
their sovereignty, 10 matter how unjust
the Wal upon them may have been. Il
is 3 question Of fact. As - status and
consequences, might between the con-
queror and the conquered, makes right.
Nor, whether their secession was right
ful or wrongful, had they any right or
claim, after the conquest, to re-admit-
tsnCs iato the Union. Ia either case the
war had equally destroyed that right.
The Union could only be re-established
by the consent Of all The parties. The
notion that, because a State had no riqht
to sscede, il did not in fact secede, and
the war was not a var by the State, but
q rebellion on the part Of its people, the
S.Ete remaining all the time in the
Union, Is a transparent absurdity, tend.
ing to the most ridiculous, preposterOus
and Ubiquitous conclusions ubiquitous,
because it annuls Judicial aud legislative
proceedings, contracts aud private rights, /
and strips a multitude OF men OF the legal
protection and immunity to which they
are entitled for acts done by authority
anG under the laws Of the State.
When conquered, the sovereignty of
the Stale was gone. Kingdoms become
Provinces by conquest. It'll for the con-
queror to tx the status Of the conquered.
Il makes no difference whether the war
was just or unjust. The most unjust and
indefsnsible war gives the c~onFueror
good title to the conquered country, and
absolute power over the conquered peo-
pie. If the United States had been
wholly ia the wrong, if they had no
to attempt by arms to prevent Sc
cession or force the South back into the
Union, nay, If they had made war on the
Southern states without any proyocs-
ton at all, while these were faithful to
the Constitution if they bad done so for
the avowed purpose Of destroying the
constitutional rights Of the Southern
States and reducing them to the coud-
ton Of Provinces, they would still have
sH the rights Of the c~onqueror: for there
is no earthly tribunal that can inquire
into the righteousness or iniquity Of the
Right or wrong, i. must have It's
full effect. Our States had the right to
decide for themselves whether there was
cause for secession. The North.
ern States had equally the right to de-
eide for themselves, whether there was
cause OF We cannot see how il is
possible to bold that the Courts of the
coDquering country can decide, as against
its Legislative will, that the subju-
gated Ststes are either in the Union.
and g have been out Of it. or that
they are entitled to re-admlssion. It was
never beard Of that the Courts Of q
country undertook to decide that a war
by 1t was unlawful, that a Treaty
deliberately annulled by its Legislature
still subsisted, or that it did not possess
rights Of conquest exercised by its
legislature. II the Constitution continued
lnimpsi-ed, either as a law over the
,u6iUgatedStstes or as compact 10 which
hey were parties, the Supreme Court
,ould, in proper cases, declare 2cts contrary
% that Constitution void: but is not for
he Court to say that they are stil par
les to the Constitution. They cannot take
t Hpon themselves 10 hold that there is a
with these States, when the Leg :
Power, the Nation legislating, /,
las pronounced that Union dissolved.
{ Congress is not welding the Legisla- !
power Of the Nation, because part 3
# the States are unrepresented in it, the c
Court, for the same reason, is I
lot the Supreme Court Of the United .
states. 1t Is exercising the Judicial d
OF the Northern States alone for Z
.ese alone compose the United States. l
o deny the authority Of Congress t. ae- .
what States belong 70 the Union. /
be suicide Of the Court itself asd, 3
.ght or wrong, the decision Of Congress :
that matter is final, for the Courta
snnot compel it to recognize, against d
5 will, a State as in the Union. 4
For ourselves, W. say that the South 81
as in the right In Der struggle for indie Il
sndenee: that her States did secede !,
the Union, and continue to be In :
pendent States, until they were con- Is
that they are not In the Union e
w, and have 10 right to claim re- =
mission into st.; and that they can O.
lyod $50 with the consents Of the Unltsd v