"Indeed, the main feature which distinguishes the Union under the
Constitution from the old Confederation is this: that whereas the old
Confederation did deal with States directly, making requisitions upon
them for supplies and relying upon them for the execution of its laws,
the Constitution of the United States, in order to form a more perfect
Union, made its laws binding on the individual citizens of the several
States, whether living in one State or in another. Congress, as the
legislative branch of this Government, enacts a law which shall be
operative upon every individual within its jurisdiction. It is binding
upon each individual citizen, and if he resists it by force, he is
guilty of a crime, and is punished accordingly, any thing in the
constitution or laws of his State to the contrary notwithstanding. But
the States themselves are not touched by the laws of the United States
or by the Constitution of the United States. A State can not be
indicted; a State can not be tried; a State can not be hung for
treason. The individuals in a State may be so tried and hung, but the
State as an organization, as an organic member of the Union, still
exists, whether its individual citizens commit treason or not."

Mr. Raymond subsequently cited some of the consequences which he
thought must follow the acceptance of the position assumed by Mr.
Stevens. "If," said Mr. Raymond, "as he asserts, we have been waging
war with an independent Power, with a separate nation, I can not see
how we can talk of treason in connection with our recent conflict, or
demand the execution of Davis or any body else as a traitor. Certainly
if we were at war with any other foreign Power, we should not talk of
the treason of those who were opposed to us in the field. If we were
engaged in a war with France, and should take as prisoner the Emperor
Napoleon, certainly we could not talk of him as a traitor or as liable
to execution. I think that by adopting any such assumption as that of
the honorable gentleman, we surrender the whole idea of treason and
the punishment of traitors. I think, moreover, that we accept,
virtually and practically, the doctrine of State sovereignty, the
right of a State to withdraw from the Union, and to break up the Union
at its own will and pleasure.

"Another of the consequences of this doctrine, as it seems to me,
would be our inability to talk of loyal men in the South. Loyal to
what? Loyal to a foreign, independent P