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 [The folloiving article lately aprieared in the Albany Exjjress, 
 and is understood, to he from the pen of the reporter of the N. Y. 
 
 (hurt of Appeals.'] 
 
 The Political Status of the Rebellious States, and the 
 Action of the President in respect thereto. 
 
 There is this simple question: Ccin the pe(»})k' of a State 
 forfeit their political rights, so that, politically, they cease to be 
 a State, under the Constitution of the United States ? 
 
 I answer, yes. 
 
 The political existence of a State within this Union can con- 
 tinue no longer than the political rights of the people constitut- 
 ing such State continue. For, the constitutionally recognized 
 political rights of the people within the limits of the State, con- 
 stitute the political existence of the State; and until such rights 
 exist, and are constitutionally recognized, the State has no 
 political existence in the Union. 
 
 The people of a State can go into rehellion against the 
 National Government, individually and politically. It matters 
 not how many of the people individually go into such rehellion. 
 as long as the political authority of the State is loyal to the 
 Union, and so directs its power as to maintain that loyalty, the 
 State is nc.Jt politically in rebellion, and no citizen of the State 
 will be presumed to be disloyal. But when the political author- 
 ity of the State, as such, takes arms against the nation's life, 
 and publicly declares and acts for the overthrow of the nation, 
 then the citizens of sucli State are, by such State action, pre- 
 sumptively in rebellion, and politically responsible therefor. 
 By such act of the State Government its political life within the 
 Union is destroyed, and it becomes, as a political institution, 
 under the Constitution of the United States, defunct. Its 
 political existence as a State has ceased, by the cessation, on the 
 part of the citizens thereof, of all political rights under the 
 
Xatit)niil Govoniinriir; so that nothing remains on which to basf; 
 a political State, under the Federal Constitution; for there can 
 be no State, politically, where tliere are no people* vested with 
 political ri<i;]its. 
 
 The political condition, tlien, of the people of these reheliious 
 States is simply this: The constitutional authority of the 
 National Government, during the rehellion, extended, de Jure, 
 throughout the entire limits of the national domain, and could 
 not he excluded or withdrawn from any part thereof, except by 
 conquest, or by the constitutionally expressed will of the people 
 of the United States. It might be excluded de facto for a time; 
 as was the case during the reliellion in the rebel States. But its 
 authority de Jnre eoiitinued. Now its tiutliority de facto has 
 been re-established over every i)art of its territory by the force of 
 its arms; so that the authority of the United States now stands 
 forth supreme, de facto and dejure, and tlie individuals and the; 
 State institutions that made was u})on it are disarmed and 
 powerless before it. 
 
 There can be no doubt then as to the political stat'is of these 
 States or of the individuals that levied war against the National 
 Government. Being overthrown, they are divested of all politi- 
 cal rights — nay, more, of all political capacity, under the National 
 Government: and. until pardoned, tliey have no caj)acity to take 
 political rights under the National Constitution. 
 
 The President can, by executive clemency, give to these 
 people capacity to receive ])olitical rights; that is, he can pardon 
 them; but that is all lu; can do. It requires the authority of 
 the people, expressed through the National Legislature, to 
 invest them with ])olitical rights and ]towei-s, making them mem- 
 bers of the national family. 
 
 The President, as Commander-in-Chief, can withdraw the 
 army *>i' the United States from this rebellious territory and 
 leave the peojile there to act out their pleasure. But he cannot 
 reinvest" them with any forfeited riglits and powers. He cannot 
 confer uj)on iheiii any civil ])rivileges; nor do I think he has 
 ever attempted anything of the kind. His action in withdraXv- 
 ing his Provisional Governors from certain States is performed 
 as Commandi-r-in-Chief, conferring no civil rights, expressly or 
 by implication. By so doing he virtually declares that he sur- 
 renders to the peo])le of the United States this territory Avith its 
 people, to be governed by their authority under the Constitution. 
 
In otlior words, he brings the people of the United States, with 
 their govorniiiental authority, face to tace with the people of 
 these rebellious States, and says, I no longer interpose my 
 authority as Commander-in-Chief, goyerning by martial law. 
 1 pro})Ose tliat they now come under the civil authority of that 
 Goyernment they attempted to destroy — the Goyernment of the 
 United States. He does not propose to decide upon the legiti- 
 m.acy of those State Goyernments; he only decides that martial 
 law is no longer needed there, and withdraws. 
 
 Politically, then, these States went into rebellion haye no ex- 
 istence. To say they went out, or are out of the Union, is to 
 make a false use of language. Politically they haye no consti- 
 tional existence as States anywhere; because they committed 
 felo de se wlien they made eyery citizen thereof presumptiyely 
 and politically a traitor to the National Goyernment. 
 
 As many of the peojde of those States as haye come within 
 the j)royisions of the amnesty proclamation in good faith, and 
 haye accepted of its terms, are yested with a capacity to take 
 political rights, and thus to become the basis of a political insti- 
 tution known as a State. But such haye only the capacity. 
 The Goyernment of the United States, as the expt)nent of the 
 national will, must determine when, upon what conditions, and 
 with what restrictions, they shall be invested with the rights and 
 prerogatives of national citizenship. 
 
 Whether these rebellious States shall again be brought into 
 the Union or not, clothed with the political power of sovereign 
 States, is not a questicm of political right, but one of jiolitical 
 statesmanship. It is certain that it will not be policy to consti- 
 tute them a part of the national body, until they have within 
 themselves some national life and spirit. To invest them with 
 national powers before th(?y have a national ambition, a national 
 pride and national love, would be in the highest degree .iinwise, 
 if not suicidal. 
 
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