The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-12-19
GOVERN MENT'S DEFENSE.
lcontinued from First Page.l

Continued from First Page0
came from the Philippines, were dutia-
BILE and had been smuggled into the
United States. The case now comes up
to the United States Supreme court on
the appellants plea that the property
was not subject TO customs duties, the
Philippines being a part of the United
States. Mr. Harmon directed the ear
ly part of his argument to setting forth
the fundamental principles of equality
which had been enunciated by the Dec
| Iaration of independence.
Attorney General Griggs began at $3.50
the presentation of the governments
position in the case Mr. Griggs began
| in quiet and conversational style, sell
dom resorting to gesture or emphasis.
He said that as counsel had been IVAN
dering in, the fields and plucking the
flowers of eloquence, he would first give
plain statement of the issues involv
ed"
Mr.. Griggs then entered upon the pre-
sentation of his subject in detail. He
contended that the right of the United
States to acquire territory had been as
serted in the Declaration of Indepen
dence, and said that such acquisition
could be made either by conquest, by
treaty, by annexation, or by discovery.
He quoted a number of supreme court
decisions in support of this contention.
A great deal of attention was given
to the right to govern territory when
once acquired, and innumerable author
tiles were adduced in support of this po-
oil On oil bo decision of 10
supreme court in the Mormon church
case, in which the court said that at
would be absurd to hold that the Unit
ed States has power to acquire territory
and no power to govern it when acquir-
ed" In this case the court said fur
Their on, that the United States having
acquired the territory of Louisiana and
the territories west of the Rocky noun
tains "the United States government
was the only one which could impose
laws upon them and it's sovereignty
over them was complete" In the course
of his argument in this connection Mr..
Griggs asserted that international law
declares that the new sovereign may
deal with the inhabitants of conquered
or coded territory and give them such
laws as it sees fit"
Mr.. Griggs gave considerable atten-
ton to the views of Thomas jefferson
on the power of the United States to
acquire territory. He quoted the let
tiers of Mr.. Jefferson to Senator Breck-
enridge in 1903 in which Mr.. Jefferson
said: THE constitution makes no pro-
vision for holding foreign territory"
Commenting upon this expression the
attorney general said:
If this language stood by itself and
We're the only utterances of Jefferson
on the subject it would justify that be-
lief as to his opinion on the constitu-
t1onal question which has been COM
monty attributed to him. An examina-
ton, however, of his writings and of
his whole course of action with refer
ence to the Louisiana purchase. espec-
tally with reference to the constitution
al question, shows conclusively that
Mr.. Jefferson's doubt was not with ref
erence to the power of the United States
to acquire foreign territory, but rather
as to the right to annex it and make it
a part of the United States.'
Various other quotations were made
from Jefferson's writings, and among
other things the following from letter
to Albert Gallatin
Inere is no constitutional difficulty |
as to the acquisition of territory, and
whether when acquired it may be taken
into the Union by the constitution as if |
now stands will become question of |
expediency, l think it will be safer not
to permit the enlargement of the Union |
but by amendment of the constitution |
Liberal extracts also were made from |
the annals of congress to show that the |
only doubt in the minds of members of |
congress in connection with the acqui- |
sition of Louisiana was the right to at
tach it and make it part of the United !
States.
Referring to the doubts of Jefferson, |
Madison and various others of their |
time as to the power to bring acquired |
into the Union, Mr.. Griggs