e passage referred to is in page 542, in which the court, in speaking
of the power of Congress to establish a Territorial Government in
Florida until it should become a State, uses the following language:

"In the mean time Florida continues to be a Territory of the United
States, governed by that clause of the Constitution which empowers
Congress to make all needful rules and regulations respecting the
territory or other property of the United States. Perhaps the power of
governing a Territory belonging to the United States, which has not, by
becoming a State, acquired the means of self-government, may result,
necessarily, from the facts that it is not within the jurisdiction of
any particular State, and is within the power and jurisdiction of the
United States. The right to govern may be the inevitable consequence of
the right to acquire territory. _Whichever may be the source from which
the power is derived, the possession of it is unquestionable._"

It is thus clear, from the whole opinion on this point, that the court
did not mean to decide whether the power was derived from the clause in
the Constitution, or was the necessary consequence of the right to
acquire. They do decide that the power in Congress is unquestionable,
and in this we entirely concur, and nothing will be found in this
opinion to the contrary. The power stands firmly on the latter
alternative put by the court--that is, as "_the inevitable consequence
of the right to acquire territory_."

And what still more clearly demonstrates that the court did not mean to
decide the question, but leave it open for future consideration, is the
fact that the case was decided in the Circuit Court by Mr. Justice
Johnson, and his decision was affirmed by the Supreme Court. His opinion
at the circuit is given in full in a note to the case, and in that
opinion he states, in explicit terms, that the clause of the
Constitution applies only to the territory then within the limits of the
United States, and not to Florida, which had been acquired by cession
from Spain. This part of his opinion will be found in the note in page
517 of the report. But he does not dissent from the opinion of the
Supreme Court; thereby showing that, in his judgment, as well as that of
the court, the case before them did not call for a decision on that
particular point, and the court abstained from deciding it. And in a
part of its opinion subsequent to the passage we have quoted, where the