CONGRESS, CONFEDERATE. 



271 



I do not know what particular acts Andrew 

 Johnson may have done which would imply he 

 intended to become a citizen of this Govern- 

 ment. I say that when his State seceded he 

 had a right to abandon his State ; and if he did, 

 in good faith, abandon that State, he is an alien 

 enemy, and not a traitor. How far his specific 

 act goes, of attempting to represent Tennessee in 

 the United States Senate, is another question. 

 I am not putting it upon that ground. I ask 

 this: Do you hold Andrew Johnson, who 

 abandoned the State of Tennessee and never 

 came under obligation to the Confederate Gov- 

 ernment, to be a traitor ? Can he be a traitor ? 

 I am discussing the general proposition. I say 

 that, as regards every man who held allegiance 

 to the United States originally, while he had a 

 right to adhere to that allegiance, there was 

 no power on earth could break his allegiance 

 against his consent. This proposition I assert, 

 and when a gentleman denies it he need not 

 talk about State rights and individual rights. 

 He erects the Government into a despotism, 

 whether it goes by the name of monarchy, ar- 

 istocracy, or democracy. If you can lay hold 

 of a citizen and tear him' loose against his will 

 from his acknowledged allegiance, you exercise 

 the greatest power a tyrant is capable of ex- 

 ercising. I say again that no power can right- 

 ly force a man to break his allegiance. The 

 very violation of allegiance implies a consent 

 of the will. 



The senator says that there are no citizens 

 of the Confederate States. But the Constitu- 

 tion says there are. " The electors in each State 

 shall be citizens of the Confederate States.'' 

 The gentleman says it does not mean that. I 

 should suspect any theory that drove me to 

 destroy or change the language of the Constitu- 

 tion itself. Here it is plainly written; and 

 because I abide by it the gentleman calls me a 

 "nationalist."' God save the mark ! 



Mr. "Wigfall : I hope he will. 



Mr. Hill : I have always understood that 

 the fundamental principle of State rights is, 

 that the power shall be found in the grant, and 

 that it is to be defined by the words used, and 

 that "construction" was the old theory of the 

 nationalists. We will take the doctrine of 

 State rights, if we go by the letter. The words 

 are. "citizen of the Confederate States." The 

 gentleman, to save State rights, steps in and 

 begins to construe. "It did not mean than ; I 

 grant that it says so, but it does not mean it." 

 Who construes? He not only applies words 

 not used, but changes words used, puts in 

 words, reads new meanings, and talks to me 

 about construction and "nationalism." It is 

 not a question ; it is not used in that one single 

 sense, but here it is again: "Xo person shall 

 be a representative who has not attained the 

 age of twenty-five years, and been a citizen of 

 the Confederate States." It did not mean it, 

 of course. But it says, furthermore. "Xo 

 person shall be a Senator who shall not have 

 attained the age of thirty years, and been a 



citizen of the Confederate States.'' Now, un- 

 less my friend will admit he is a citizen of the 

 Confederate States, he ought to be ousted from 

 his seat in this body ; he is incompetent to hold 

 it by the Constitution that is, by the Consti- 

 tution as it reads. Of course, if my friend is 

 allowed to decide by li national " and " federal " 

 rules, to construe the Constitution, to pay no 

 attention to what it says, but only to what he 

 thinks or desires it to mean, he will be entitled 

 to his seat. 



Mr. Semmes : I would like to ask the sen- 

 ator one question. This Constitution says 

 "the people of the Confederate States." Do 

 you suppose it means other than the citizens 

 of the States ? 



Mr. Hill : I certainly do not. They become 

 citizens of the Confederate States through the 

 States, except they be aliens. I grant that no 

 person can be a citizen of the Confederate 

 States who is not a citizen of some one of the 

 States, but it does not follow that a citizen of 

 a State is necessarily a citizen of the Confed- 

 erate States. Gentlemen may indorse subli- 

 mated theoriesthat define our Constitution after 

 the manner of the interpreters of the will in 

 Dean Swift's "Tale of a Tub." They wanted 

 to construe it, not according to what it said, 

 but according to the measure of their own 

 wishes. The text did not suit them, so they 

 took sentences : but sentences would not give the 

 meaning, so they took words ; they could not 

 find the right consecutive words, so they took 

 syllables, and. finding they would not do, they 

 selected letters, and putting them together 

 they made a will to suit their taste. Gentle- 

 men upon the same principle may destroy the 

 Constitution, and make it mean what they 

 please, in order to accomplish their purposes. 

 But I am thus much of a State rights man : I 

 deny the Confederate Government has any 

 power not granted ; and I say you must look to 

 the language of the grant to find the extent of 

 the power, and that which necessarily results 

 from the grant the power to carry out the 

 grant must be in the grant. The language 

 " citizens of the Confederate States " is used in 

 the Constitution no less than three times. It 

 is true, they are first citizens of the respective 

 States, but they become citizens of the Confed- 

 erate States through the States compacting 

 together confederating together. 



The Constitution also declares what shall be 

 treason against the Confederate States. What 

 is treason? A violation of one's allegiance. 

 A gentleman gets up to argue or to intimate 

 that a man cannot owe allegiance to the Con- 

 federate States on account of some legislation, 

 in Xorth Carolina 



Mr. Oldham : Do you argue he can ? 



Mr. Hill : I say he can owe allegiance to the 

 Confederate States as far as the Constitution 

 binds him. He did not owe original allegiance, 

 I grant. 



Mr. Oldham: Obedience. 



Mr. Hill: Treason is defined by jurists and 



