Their ideas were in entire accord with those of Vattel, who, in his
chapter "Of Nations or Sovereign States," writes, "Every _nation_ that
governs itself, under what form soever, without any dependence on
foreign power, is a _sovereign state_."[71]
In another part of the same chapter he gives a lucid statement of the
nature of a confederate republic, such as ours was designed to be. He
says:
"Several sovereign and independent states may unite themselves
together by a perpetual confederacy, without each in particular
ceasing to be _a perfect state_. They will form together a
federal republic: the deliberations in common will offer no
violence to _the sovereignty of each member_, though they may,
in certain respects, put some restraint on the exercise of it,
in virtue of voluntary engagements. A person does not cease to
be free and independent, when he is obliged to fulfill the
engagements into which he has very willingly entered."[72]
What this celebrated author means here by a person, is explained by a
subsequent passage: "The law of nations is the law of sovereigns; states
free and independent are moral persons."[73]
[Footnote 60: "Principes du Droit Politique," chap. v, section I; also,
chap. vii, section 1.]
[Footnote 61: Ibid., chap. vii, section 12.]
[Footnote 62: "Rebellion Record," vol. i, Documents, p. 211.]
[Footnote 63: Elliott's "Debates," vol.
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