"[170] So the guarantee availed not at all to justify
the act which it was presented to excuse--the fact being that a State,
and not an "unlawful combination," as asserted, was the object of
assault, and the case one of making war. For a State or union of States
to attack with military force another State, is to make war. By the
Constitution, the power to make war is given solely to Congress.
"Congress shall have power to declare war," says the Constitution.[171]
And, again, "to raise and support armies."[172] Thus, under a perverted
use of language, the Executive at Washington did that which he
undeniably had no power to do, under a faithful observance of the
Constitution.
To justify himself to Congress and the people, or, rather, before the
face of mankind, for this evasion of the Constitution of his country,
President Lincoln, in his message to Congress, of July 4, 1861, resorted
to the artifice of saying, "It [meaning the proceedings of the
Confederate States] presents to the whole family of man the question
whether a constitutional republic or democracy--a government of the
people by the same people--can, or can not, maintain its territorial
integrity against its own domestic foes?"
The answer to this question is very plain. In the nature of things, no
union can be formed except by separate, independent, and distinct
parties. Any other combination is not a union; and, upon the destruction
of any of these elements in the parties, the union _ipso facto_ ceases.
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