in a tone of moderation as contrasted
with the offensive dictation of Mr. Slidell. He devoted himself
mainly to answering an argument which came instinctively to every
man's mind, and which bore with particular severity upon the action
of Louisiana. Mr. Benjamin brought his eminent legal ability to
the discussion, but failed even to satisfy himself. The State of
Louisiana was formed from territory which had been bought and paid
for by the United States out of the common treasury of the whole
people. Whatever specious plea might be made for the independent
and separate sovereignty of the old thirteen States, the argument
could not apply to Louisiana. No one could maintain that Louisiana
had ever enjoyed a separate sovereignty of any kind, nominal or
real. She had been originally owned by France, had been sold to
Spain, had been sold back again to France, and had been bought by
the United States. These sales had been made without protest from
any one, and the title conferred at each transfer was undisputed,
the sovereignty of the purchasing power undeniable.

Confronting these facts, and realizing the difficulty they presented,
Mr. Benjamin was reduced to desperate straits for argument. "Without
entering into the details of the negotiation," he said, "the archives
of our State Department show the fact to be that although the
domain, the public lands and other property of France in the ceded
province, were conveyed by absolute title to the United States,
the sovereignty was not conveyed _otherwise than in trust_." This
peculiar statement of a sovereignty that was "conveyed in trust"
Mr. Benjamin attempted to sustain by quoting the clause in the
treaty which gave the right of the people of Louisiana to be
incorporated into the Union "on terms of equality with the other
States." From this he argued that the sovereignty of the _Territory_
of Louisiana held in trust by the Federal Government, and conveyed
to the _State_ of Louisiana on her admission to the Union, was
necessarily greater than the National sovereignty. Indeed, Mr.
Benjamin recognized no "Nation" in the United States and no real
sovereignty in the General Government which was but the agent of
the sovereign States. It properly and logically followed, according
to Mr. Benjamin, that the "sovereignty held in trust," might, when
conferred, be immediately and rightfully employed to destroy the
life of the trustee. The United States might or might not ad