’'zed authorities, that the Confederate
q’ ateg were, beyond doubt, a Govern*
iiient. They were a tremendous some
tjLing, and made a great noise in the
world, 'aot to be a fact.
What is Government? Vattel in
forms us that “Nations are bodies politic,
societies of men, united together for the
purpose of promoting their mutual safe
ty and advantage by joint efforts of their
combined strength.” Blackstone says:
“ Bv the sovereign power is meant the
making of laws; for wherever that power
resides, ail others must conform to and
be directed by it, whatever appearance
+l,O outward form and administration of
the Government may put on.” Bouvier
ims it that Government is “ the manner
in which sovereignty is exercised in each
gtato”—‘‘sometimes the word Govern
ment is understood the body of men, or
the individual in a State, to whom is en
trusted the executive power.” A learned
lexicographer defines it as the “ form of
a community with respect to the disposi
tion of the supreme authority.” It is
also defined more simply as the “ admin
istration of public affairs.” Were not the
Confederate States a Government accord
ing to the above definitions ? With all
his power to explain away, can the dis
tinguished judicial functionary show how
they failed to be such a power in the
light of the above quotations ? The Con
federate States withdrew (at least in
form) separately from the United States,
and linked themselves together; held a
formal and able convention, which ex
pressed the will or consent of the South
ern people: adopted a Constitution, and
elected a President and Vice-President.
A Cabinet was appointed, and the differ
ent offices of State established. A Sen
ate and House of Representatives were
elected. Courts were fully organized.
All the officers entered upon and dis
charged the duties of their respective
places. Laws were solemnly enacted
and published by the Congress; ex
pounded by the Courts ; and enforced
by the executive officers of the Govern
ment. Commissioners were sent to for
eign Governments. Foreign debts were
contracted. Treasury notes, as money,
and bonds, were issued and made use of
for the purposes intended. There was
an exercise of sovereignty; a complete
“administration of public affairsby the
Confederate authorities for four years to
the exclusion of the powers of the United
States Government. Large armies were
raised and maintained, that the Federal
Government telt unable to cope with,
and it became necessary' for the Yankees
to call in the aid of Irish, Germans,
Southern men, and Negroes. Govern
ment armories, founderies, and work
shops were erected and carried on
throughout the South. Confederate men
of-war proudly rode the seas under the
“Bonnie Blue Flag,” to the terror of North
ern interests on the ocean. Yankee
commerce was forced into British bot
toms. Confederate laws were the only
laws known or observed during the period;
and the Southern Government (or some
thing) had full sway, and compelled obe
dience within its territory for the time.
Lven admitting the Federal Government
had the right to rule within the Confede
rate States, it did not govern in fact ;
but the Southern power ruled or con
trolled public affairs, and were, there
fore, a Government de facto.
A people may be a Nation as to them
selves, or a Nation as to other powers;
that is, they may be possessed of internal
sovereignty. The former depends on
their own condition, and the latter de
pends on their recognition by foreign
States. \\ heaton (a Northern man, and
jurist of high repute,) in his “ Elements
of International Law,” page 30, says :
Sovereignty is acquired by a State,
either at the origin of the civil society
oi which it is composed, or when it sepa
rates itself from the community of which
it previously formed a part, and on
which it was dependent.
This principle applies as well to in
ternal ns to external sovereignty. But
an important distinction is to be noticed
in , respect, between these two species
(l! sovereignty. The internal sovereign
ty of a State does not, in any degree de-
P t ‘ | ‘ ( l upon its recognition by other
‘.■fates. Anew State, springing into
existence, does not require the recogni
of other States to confirm its inter
nal sovereignty. The existence of the
-ate de facto is sufficient, in this re
=jpect. to establish its sovereignty de jure.
11 is a State because it exists.
It, 1 -7! lU ; s tbe infcernal sovereignty of the
n ’led States of America was complete
i° m t]lß they declared themselves
jee sovereign, independent States, on
eo 4th of July, 1776. It was upon this
principle that the Supreme Court de
-1 med in 1808, that the several States
composing the Union, so far as regards
.wir municipal regulations, became en-
! l ? ’ h'om the time when they declared
1 >ern se ]v es independent, to all the rights
powers of sovereign States, aud tha
they did not derive them from conces
sions made by the British King. The
treaty of peace of 1782 contained a re
cognition of their independence, not a
grant of it. From hence it resulted, that
the laws of the several State Govern
ments were from the date of the Declara
tion of Independence, the laws of sover
eign States, and as such were obligato
ry upon the people of such State from
the time they were enacted.”
By the same right and principle, the
Confederate States were a Government
|rom the time of their own declaration of
independence. The}’ were a Govern
ment, or a State, because they existed.
The Colonies were such powers before
they were recognized by any foreign Na
tion. Now, will the Southern Govern
ment (or something) suffer, in any re
spect, by comparison with the Govern
ment of 1776 ? The population of the
Colonies was three millions ; that of the
Confederate States ten or twelve millions.
The highest number of the Revolutiona
ry army did not exceed, if it equaled,
one-tenth of the Southern army, which,
according to enrollment, numbered five
or six hundred thousand. In November,
1776, “the Continental troops, wasted
daily by disease, and desertion, until the
grand army, on which hung the destinies
of this continent, was reduced to three
thousand men, without tents or camp
equipage, half naked and barefooted, dis
heartened by mislortunes, and even hope
afar off.” There is no comparison as to
arms and all the appliances of war, dis
cipline, and military knowledge and skill.
We had a stronger and better navy. The
Confederate Government (or something)
was more complete, compact and efficient.
Our money, during the war, was never
so depreciated as the old Continental
paper. There was a larger proportion of
disaffected persons, or tories, in the Rev
olution. The colonies were more over
run by the enemy, and suffered more de
feats. And there was a greater discord
and dissension in the army and in the
civil government of the Revolution.
On the Ist March, 1837, notwithstand
ing the fact that Texas was a “ rebel”
State, at war with the parent or general
government, the United States recognized
her independence. Oil the 25th of Sep-‘
teinber, 1839, France “ entered into a
treaty with Texas, acknowledging her in
every respect an independent nation.”
In 1840 “ England, Holland and Bel
gium acknowledged her independence.”
Thus the young Republic took her station
among the powers of the earth as a Sov
ereign State. And what was Texas
as a people, or Government, in compari
son with the Confederate States ? The
estimated population in September, 1836,
including Mexicans, Indians, and negroes,
was 52,670, the Anglo-Americans num
bering 30,000. Twenty-three hundred
strong was the maximum of the army in
1836—“a hasty collection of farmers,
paid and fed upon promises, poorly
armed, and with every variety of wea
pon, and up to that time without a single
piece of artillery.” They afterwards
received the “twin sisters,” two six pound
ers. At the close of 1836 the army con
sisted of about 780 men. The memora
ble battle of San Jacinto was fought, on
the American side, by a force number
ing between seven aud eight hundred.
In the spring of 1836 the navy consisted
of three vessels, afterwards increased to
four, one undergoing repair—all mount
ing 29 guns. The brig Potomac was
the only ship afloat, in the Texas navy
in the summer of 1838. At Galveston
in 1836, “ a vessel scarcely anchored in
the harbor once a mouth;” “at this period
the credit of Texas was in low repute,”
and there was “ an empty treasury.” In
November, 1837, President Houston, in
his annual message, “ stated the extra
ordinary fact that, since the commence
ment of his administration, only the
small sum of five hundred dollars in
specie had been paid into the national
treasury.” In May, 1838, the President
said, “ The struggle had left us destitute
and naked. There were no banks, there
was no money; our lands could not be
sold, and the public credit was of doubt
ful character.” In 1840, Texas “pro
missory notes had driven all money out
of the country,” and were themselves
worth only fourteen cents on the dollar.
Her “ bonds were little better than the
notes.” In 1841, “the receipts were
only $442,604, and these almost entirely
in government paper,” the paper “vary
ing from ten to twenty cents on the dol
lar.” The voting population was then
12,000. In every material feature the
Southern Republic was more completely
and grandly a nation, or government,
than the Colonies or Texas.
The Hungarian “revolution,” in regard
t<> which the United States appointed A.
Dudley Mann, agent, and which enlisted
the warm sympathies of the American
people, lasted about one year and
. Mr- Webster, Secretary of
ate, in his correspondence with
u semann, designated the Hungarian
MBMII Os
as a “revolutionary Government.” Louis
Kossuth, after his discomfiture, was re
ceived on board of an American man-of
war and protected by its commander;
which act was approved by the home
Government. The distinguished foreign
er was brought to this country as the
nation's guest, and received with accla
mation and wild enthusiasm, as Govern
or Kossuth, and an honor was conferred
on him by Congress which had been
granted only to the revered La Fayette.
Kossuth’s short rule was treated by the
United States as a Government de facto.
Greenleaf (also a Northern man and
able jurist) says in his work on evidence,
(vol. 1, sec. 4) “and the existence of such
unacknowledged Government, or State,
may in like manner be proved ; the rule
being, that if a body of persons assem
ble together to protect themselves, and
support their independence, make laws,
and have courts of justice, this is evidence
of their being a State.” Could not this
proof be made in regard to the Southern
Confederacy ?
If the Confederate States had defeated
the United States forces and maintained
themselves, would they not have been a
Government? Success would not have
rendered the Government itself any
more complete. It was as full and com
plete as it could have been, excepting re
cognition by, and intercourse with, for
eign powers—more complete than the
United States, under the articles of Con
federation—and it has been shown, by
reference to Wheaton and Greenleaf, that
a people can be a State or Government
without recognition. And how can final
defeat reverse the fact that the Govern
ment did exist ?
But the Chief Justice has advanced a
new and smart idea—his Jiank move
ment is, that the Confederate States were
not a Government, because they did not
take the capital of the United States.
He seems to think that only one head
can exist at the same time; that the new
Government is without a caput until the
old one has lost its poll. He imagines
himself among the Kings, and forgets
that in this country sovereignty resides
in the people. According to his theory,
if the English Government, fearing revo
lution, should remove the capital to
Gibraltar or St. Helena, and the power
of the throne should be subverted in
every other part of the kingdom for ten
or twenty years, the new dynasty or
power would not be a Government, sim
ply because the capital was not taken.
If all the Washington Departments were
removed to Boston, and the country west
of the Hudson should establish anew
Government, so-called, electing all their
officers and controlling their public
affairs, for twenty or fifty years, glad to
leave New England to herself, the “Great
West” would all this time be but a mob,
no Government at last; and each indi
vidual supporting such rule would be a
traitor.
The Colonies did not take London or
turn over the English throne. Was the
organization established in 1776 an “in
surgent body/’ or “usurping power,” or
an “ unlawful Confederacy organized
for the overthrow of the national Govern
ment?’’ The Texas revolutionists did
not include the capital of Mexico in their
conquests. Nor did the Hungarian
rebels take Vienna. But the Colonies
threw off the British power which had
extended over them; Texas expelled
Mexican rule from her limits; Hungary
cast from her limbs the chains of Austria;
and the Confederate States of Ameri
ca, more magnificent, established her own
independent Government.
Let the Chief Justice consult Vattel
on the subject of civil war. That author
says: “When a party is formed in a State,
who no longer obey the sovereign, and
are possessed of sufficient strength to op
pose him—or when, in a republic, the
nation is divided into two opposite fac
tions, and both sides take up arms* —this
is called a civil war.” * # “ The
sovereign indeed nevei fails to bestow the
appellation of rebels on all such of his
subjects as openly resist him ; but when
the latter have acquired sufficient
strength to give him effectual opposition,
and to oblige him to carry on the war
against them according to the established
rules, he must, necessarily, submit to the
use of the term ‘ civil war.’ ” The late
contest, then, was not a rebellion , but a
civil war. Vattel further says :“ A civil
war breaks the bands of society and gov
ernment. or at least suspends their force
and effect—it produces in the nation two
independent parties, who consider each
other as enemies, and acknowledge no
common judge. These two parties,
therefore, must necessarily be considered
as thenceforward constituting, at least for
a time two separate bodies, two distinct
societies. Though one of the parties
may have been to blame in breaking the
unity of the State and resisting lawful
authority ; they are not the less divided
in fact. * * They stand therefore
precisely in the predicament of two na-
tions, who engage in a contest, and,
being unable to come to an agreement,
have recourse to arms.” * * “ But
when a nation becomes divided into two
parties absolutely independent, and no
longer acknowledging a common superior,
the State is dissolved, and the war be
tween the two parties stands on the same
ground, in every respect, as a public war
between two different nations.”
It is to be 1 1 oped, for the sake of his
toric aud legal truth —the respectability
of the American judiciary—that when the
question comes before the Supreme Court
at Washington, it will receive a broader
and more liberal and logical considera
tion—one in consonance with the records
of the past, with precedents, and the ac
tion or the United States Government on
the subject.
For tlie Banner of the South.
ADMIRAL SEMMES’ TRIBUTE TO
LOUISIANA.
Messrs. Editors : As the Banner is
sought after, not so much for news as
for items of interest, instruction and
gratification, I take the liberty of trans
cribing from page 97 of Admiral
Semmes’ “ Memoirs of Service Afloat,”
the following touching and graphic de
scription of New Orleans as he found
it in April, 1861, when he repaired
thither for the purpose of fitting out his
first, ever-memorable, Confederate war
steamer, the Sumter :
“ A great change was apparent in New
Orleans since I had last visited it. The
levee in front of the city was no longer
a great mart of commerce, piled with
cotton bales, and supplies going back to
the planter ; densely packed with steam
ers, and thronged with a busy multi
tude. The long lines of shipping above
the city had been greatly thinned, and
a general air of desolation hung’ over
the river front. It seemed as though a
pestilence brooded over the doomed
city, and that its inhabitants had tied
before the fell destroyer. The Sumter
lay on the opposite side of the river, at
Algiers, and I crossed over every morn
ing to superintend her refitment. I was
sometimes detained at the ferry-house,
waiting for the ferry-boat, and on these
occasions, casting my eyes up and down
the late busy river, it was not unfre
quent to see it without so much as a skiff
in motion ou its bosom.
But this first simoon of the desert
which had swept over the city, as a fore
taste of what was to come, had by no
means discouraged its patriotic inhabi
tants. The activity of commerce had
ceased, it is true, but another description
of activity had taken its place. War
now occupied the thoughts of the multi
tude, and the sound of the drum and the
tramp of armed men were heard in the
streets. The balconies were crowded
with lovely women in gay attire to wit
ness the military procession, and the Con
federate flag in miniature was pinned on
almost every bosom. The enthusiasm of
the Frenchman had been most easily and
gracefully blended with the stern deter
mination of the Southern man of English
descent; the consequence of which was,
that there was more demonstrative pa
triotism in New Orleans than in any
other of our Southern cities. Nor was
this patriotism demonstrative only, it
was deep and real, and was afterwards
sealed with some of the best Creole blood
of the land, poured out, freely, on many
a desperate battle-field. Alas! poor
Louisiana. Once the seat of wealth and
of a gay and refined hospitality, thy ma
norial residences are deserted, and in
decay, or have been levelled by the torch
of the incendiary; thy fruitful fields, that
were cultivated by the coutented laborer,
who whistled his merriment to his lazy
plow, have been given to the jungle; thy
fair daughters have been insulted by the
coarse and rude Vandal; and even thy
liberties have been given in charge of
thy freedmen; and all this, because thou
wouidst thyself be^free!”
Now, this extract, Messrs. Editors, is
only a faint specimen of the noble, patri
otic eloquence that pervades the entire
800 pages of this grandest of all Ameri
can books; and one of my objects in call
ing attention to it, is to ask if some per
suasion cannot be used to iuduce the
publishers, Messrs. Kelly, Piet & Cos., to
get out a more compact and cheaper
edition that may be within the reach of
every family in the South.
Orleans.
The Archbishop of Oregon cautions
the Catholics of the country against an
imposter, named Alfred Bullet, a French
man, who has put on the livery of heaven
to serve the devil in. He has travelled
in England, Italy, and various parts of
the United States. He appears, the
more to deceive, in the garb of a clergy
man. Look out for him !
NEW YORK CORRESPONDENCE
OF THE BANNER OF THE SOUTH.
-President Grant in his new role —
Jdis Inaugural— The South and the
üblic Debt— Our People must look
to themselves for Relief—Great Bri
tain ami the Alabama Claims—The
United States and its Foreign Policy
—Disgraceful Scenes—Gen. Lone
street and his "loiT appointment.
New York, March 13, 1869.
Banner of the South :
Mr President Grant has shown himself
m such a ludicrous light that one has hard
the heart to say a harsh word about
him. The day before his inauguration the
“nation” was licking the dust in servile
adoration at his feet; to-day it has heaved
up the leg against its idol and writes him
down an ignoramus. Such an utter and
sudden collapse has never been known in
the constitutional history of this country,
and the exasperation of the loil at the
ridiculous attitude in which they have
been put is something laughable.
Mr. Grant's inaugural lias two points of
special moment. He expects the South to
pay the public debt and means to disre
gard “local prejudice,” or in other words
the South is to be the “nation’s” pack
horse and yet the natural and righteous
repugnance of its people to negro equality
is to be ruthlessly disregarded, scouted,
and contemned. These are big words for
Mr. Grant, but let us see w'hat they mean.
If the South is ever in a position to pay
this debt contracted in the murder of her
children and the subjugation of herself, it
will be because she is in the possession of
enormous wealth. Now if she has enor
mous wealth she can refuse to pay a dime
of it and no one can make her. Money is
power, and the longest purse carries the
day. So that all Mr. Grant's rhodomon
tade amounts to is that the South cannot
pay unless she has the money to pay, and
if she has the money she need not pay, in
asmuch as the very possession of the mo
ney will give her the power to say wheth
er she will pay or no. It is evident that
Mr. Grant did not think of this, and as
little does he seem to have remembered
how r very absurd it was for him to say I
10 ill do this and I won't do that, when he
has not power enough to procure a repeal
of the Tenure-of-Office act or judgment
enough to make a Cabinet that can stick
together a day. And what a joke this
Cabinet is to be sure—Mum’s Cabinet they
call it here—that had to be reconstructed
ere the ink was dry on the message that
formed it.
But it is almost like striking a man
when lie is down to waste words lurther
on this exploded military man, and there
is nothing further therefore to say on this
subject save to repeat that the welfare of
the South does not depend on the deeds or
wishes of any one man whomsoever, but
on those great natural laws that regulate
all the earth and in whose presence presi
dents and cabinets and congresses and
policies are like so many self-important
but helpless little flies upon the rolling
wheel. For four years past it has been
the fashion among sundry politicians of
the South to look for aid in one form or
another from the North. Their latest de
lusion has been in the case of this man
Grant, but as each prior anticipation has
come to naught so is this one now shown
to have been ill-founded. The true course
is, and always has been, self-reliance. He
who prospers has many friends and let it
but appear that the South is getting on
her feet again and O! what a swarm of
dear, delicious sympathizers will crowd
about her to help her on still further in
the paths of recuperation and swear by all
the eternal verities that they ever loved
her and her cause was always as dear to
them as if their own.
There are some indications from the tone
of the English press that Great Britain is
not safely to be bullied on the Alabama
claims. It is stated that she has already
yielded more on this issue than is alto
gether becoming and does not mean to
give way any more. On this there is much
braggadocio in the papers as to what the
“nation” will do, but I fancy when it
comes to the pinch there will be no fight.
The Alabama, and Florida, and Sumter
managed to keep the seas tolerably clear
of Yankee merchantmen in the war, and
if three friendless vessels, not allowed to
enter foreign ports, could do this what a
smash would England’s magnificent navy
make of the loil. It is one thing to block
ade a line of coast and another to face the
first maritime power of the world on the
broad arena of the high seas. An invasion
of England is too ridiculous to dream ot
and as to wresting Ireland trom the crown,
France tried to do that in 1798, when the
flower ot the British army was lighting on
the continent, and what France failed to
do against but a portion of the English
forces it is not likely this loil “nation”
can do in the face of all the British troops.
Altogether then, there will hardly be a
resort to arms or in fact any other very
definite result to all this gasconading, save
an increased contempt in Europe for this
government. Under the old time regime
when gentlemen and trained statesmen
held the helm; the United States were res
pected abroad, but since the triumph of
ffadical ideas and this consequent irrup
tion of cobblers and nincompoops into
power the sentiment of foreign countries
has undergone decided change. The po
licy of the United States toward them has
been that of an overgrown bully and not
only lacking in decorum, but destitute in
many cases even of ordinary gratitude.
5
