The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-14

of the Constitution had intended to tie the
hands of the government in this respect.
why did they not do so in plain terms? If
they intended to grant the government pow
or to acquire foreign territory for coaling
stations, but for no other purpose they
could have said so in very few words, but
the fact that they said nothing about it
shows that they intended TO leave the gov
eminent free to exercise its sovereignty in
the acquisition Of foreign territory and to
hold, control andNuse it in whatever manner
it chose. 1t is true that the government has
power to acquire foreign territory for coal
ing stations, but it is not by virtue of any
| express authority conferred by the Consti-
tuition. 1t is by virtue of the sovereignty
that inheres in every government, and it
has the same right to acquire territory for
| other purposes that it has for coaling sta
tions.
1t is to be hoped some senator will insist
on authority being produced for the conten-
ton that when the government acquires
foreign territory it must accompany the act
with declaration of its intentions to confer
statehood upon the territory and citizenship
upon it's inhabitants. The anti-expansion-
lists insist upon this point as strenuousy
as if it were sacred American doctrine. 1t is
nothing of the kind. 1t is a creation of their
own. There is not a word in the Constitu-
ton to sustain it, and certainly there is no
higher law, for there can be no higher law
than the sovereignty of the people, and the
people cannot exact from themselves a
pledge to do so and so with any foreign
territory they may acquire. 1t is true that
we have converted most of the foreign ter
ritory we have acquired into States, except
New Mexico and Alaska, but there is no
provision in the Constitution requiring that
course of procedure nor anything remotely
resembling a requirement that the govern
ment shall make any declaration of its pur-
pose in this regard. New Mexico has been
held as a territory since 1S4S and Alaska
under a special provisional government
since 1867, and both are likely to be kept in
this condition many years longer. If the
government chooses to make a voluntary
declaration of its purpose to admit certain
territory to statehood, it may, but it is
under no obligation, constitutional or other
wise, to do so. The contention is purely
gratuitous.
When Senator Vest insists that the just
powers of government are derived from the
consent of the governed and therefore the
United States has no right to exercise au-
thority over foreign populations without
their consent, he appears in a new role
He never discovered this great principle dur
ing the years he lived in Kentucky and
Missouri, before the war. nor while he was
a member of the Confederate Congress, first
of the House and then of the Senate. AS
a proslavery man he never questioned the
right of governing the negroes without their
consent. The Constitution of the Confeder-
ate States under which he served in the
Confederate Congress was framed by con-
vention whose members were not elected
by the people, was never itself submitted TO
the people, and was ratified by state legis-
latures elected before it vas framed and
without reference to that issue. During all
that period Senator Vest made no discovery
of the great principle that governments de-
rive their just powers from the consent of
the governed. He cites it now for the pur-
pose of hindering the growth of the Nation
and the spread of liberty and citizenship
He represents the cause of Bourbonism and
reaction now as distinctly as he did in 1861
From advocating a lost cause he has taken
to advocating d weak one with very poor
arguments.