AVES ISLAND. 49 



XI. IF FACULTY NOT IN THE UNITED STATES, IT REMAINS IN THE STATE OF 

 DISCOVERER. 



If this faculty is not in tlie United States it must remain in the State 

 of discoverer, wliich in this case is Massachusetts. 



The full attributes of sovereignty possessed by every independent 

 State are possessed either by the federal government or by the re- 

 spective States, for they cannot die, or be extinguished or alienated, 

 without the consent of the respective States, either impliedly or ex- 

 pressly given. The States possessed them originally. (See Vattel, 

 p. 30, §§ 60, 271; 1 Phil., p. 147, § 125; 4 Cranch, 212, Mclllvane vs. 

 Coxe.) 



It would not be appropriate to the functions of a State government 

 noio to possess them. It would be inconsistent with other powers 

 delegated to the federal government for each State to possess them. 

 To allow a State to acquire territory in any mode would not be in 

 harmony with the principles upon which the federal Constitution was 

 based. It might be a mode by which the clause respecting the admis- 

 sion of new States could be evaded. For instance, Texas might find 

 it convenient to annex Tamaulipas ; Maine, New Brunswick ; Michigan 

 or New York, Canada; and Florida, the Bahamas and Cuba; and, if 

 the government and people of those countries assented thereto, this 

 might possibly be done by a mere act of the State legislatures, without 

 contravening that provision of the Constitution prohibiting the States 

 from making treaties and compacts, &c., with foreign nations and 

 among themselves, and thus extend their limits without restriction. 



Article X of the amendments to the federal Constitution declares 

 that "the powers not delegated to the United States by this Constitu- 

 tion, nor prohibited in it to the States, are reserved to the States re- 

 spectively, or to the people." 



If, therefore, the faculty and power in question has not been dele- 

 gated to the federal government, as contended, it is yet possessed by 

 each State, and the power to enlarge its boundaries ad libitum, in the 

 mode suggested, is still possessed by each, and in this case is possessed 

 by the State of Massachusetts, to which we, as well as Captain Gibbs, 

 belong. 



This argument is used to show the effect and result of denying to 

 the federal government the faculty and power referred to. 



But this is a question as respects our own laws, and with which no 

 foreign government can interfere. It is none of their business. We 

 can settle this question among ourselves and by ourselves. Whenever 

 any difficulty arises, and even if a State has the right referred to, 

 when the claim of a foreign power is interposed, it is a constitutional 

 function, and it is the duty of the federal government to enforce such 

 right.— (See Vattel, lib. 1, c. 3, §§ 36, 37.) This authority is indis- 

 putable. 



VII. EXECUTIVE MAY ENFORCE AND MAINTAIN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE RIGHTS 

 RESULTING FROM DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION WITHOUT ACTION OF CONGRESS. 



The faculty of acquisition by discovery being so possessed by the 

 federal government, no special act of Congress is necessary to enable 

 Ex. Doc. 10 4 



