Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1899-01-19
ON EXPANSION
Charles A. Gardiner Upholds the FOL
icy In Speech.
MAKES A LEGAL ARGUMENT
tells the New York state Bar A"s"-
ciatiOn That This Country H"
the Right to Acquire For-
cign Territory.

Albany, Jan. 19.-An ADDRESS Oh
Right to Acquire and Hold forelsh
,itory" was delivered before the ann
meeting here of the New YORK o.".e
Bar association by Mr.. Charles "A. "a,
diner, counsel for the elevated rai'roaus
of New York city. Mr.. Gardner WIN
was we'll received, said in part:
"The sovereign nations OF the "orio
rossess equal rights and equal powers
Their equality is perfect, their lnoe-
nendence absolute. Between them ma
tional constitutions are unknown. IN
oxternal or international relations the
United States is assumed by all other
sovereignties to possess apsolute po
ers unrestrained by constitutions nm.
itations. That assumption Is corre''
based upon the fundamental cano" Vi
the law of nations. The Unlteo STATS
may ratify it's proposed treaty WIN
Spain, and no other nation mas any
right to question its political or con-
stitutional authority to do So
care there, therefore, no limitations
on our national sovereignty? DURING
the colonial period, as Mr. Justice Ire
dell explained, the British monarchs
were sovereign and the colonlsts thclr
subjects, but after the Revolution SOW
eregnty passed to and vested IN the
people g Dali, 93), and there 1t remains
vested today, in the 100000 American
citizens, not as individuals, but as
political and sovereign unit Historl-
cally this unit preceded both state ana
federal constitutions. 1t created tnelh.
The Declaration of independence, the
supreme act of sovereignty, gave birth
to the nation, while the constitution
gave form to it's government The con-
stitution is but a law of the people dis
tributing. not creating, sovereign pow
ers among the several organs OF SOW
ereignty.
Soverciyns' Attribute.
1.-THE right to acquire territory IRE
spective of it's situs, contiguous or lor-
eign, by conquest. treaty, purchase or
discovery is an acknowledged and well
established attribute of sovereignty ana
has been exercised by sovereigns from
the beginning of recorded history. NO
one pretends that the right is specihcal-
ly renowned in the constitution. Hence
it remains an attribute of the soVer-
eign people, and congress and the pres
ident, the sole agents and trustees or
that sovereignty, have exclusive ana
unrestricted right to exercise it,
IT advance the proposition with def
erence that this right is itself primary
and substantive attribute of sovereign
ty, as is the right of national existence
or self defense, and I shall regard it as
the primary and fundamental authority
for territorial expansion.
'"The right to acquire is also derived
from the constitutional powers to de-
clare war and to make treaties.
New territory may be acquired with
out becoming subject to the tariff pro-
visions of our constitution and laws
Sugar from Cuba and Hawaii, tobacco
from Cuba and Porto Rico and the
products of the Philippines and La
drones will not be admitted duty free
unless congress so determines: hence
the vast sums invested in our sugar and
tobacco industries need not be imper-
lied, nor need colonial imports reduce
our customs revenue or disturb our eco
nomic status