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ty of peace between the two countries. There fore it has become a well-established rule that a treaty is practically the only constitu tional method by which territory can be acquired; although that can also be done and has been done by discovery, exploration, and occupation as above stated. Conceding, then, that territory may be rightfully and constitutionally acquired by the United States in the manner above in dicated, the next statement to be made is that all treaties of whatever nature in order to be valid must be in accordance with, and not repugnant to, the Constitution. A treaty which would violate any of the provisions of that instrument or would destroy our form of government would be absolutely null and void. Although, according to Article VI. of the Constitution, all treaties made under the authority of the United States, like the laws enacted by Congress in pursuance there of, are a part of "the supreme law of the land," no treaty can supersede the Constitu tion either by increasing or by diminishing the powers possessed by the different de partments of the Government; nor can it do so either by adding to or by subtracting from the rights, privileges, or immunities enjoyed by the citizens of the United States. And as the Supreme Court has full power to declare an act of Congress unconstitutional, so it has the same power to make that declaration con cerning a treaty; for it would be absurd to hold that the latter question is without the jurisdiction of that tribunal while the former is within it. In the light of these general principles concerning the validity of which there can be no reasonable doubt in the minds of in telligent persons, let us examine one of the provisions of the treaty under consideration. This is Article IX., which reads as follows: Art. 9.— Spanish subjects, natives of the pen insula, dwelling in the territory whose sovereignty Spain renounces or cedes in the present treaty, may remain in said territory or leave it, maintain ing in one or the other case all their rights of

property, including the right to sell and dispose of said property or its products; and, moreover, they shall retain the right to exercise their in dustry, business or profession, submitting them selves in all respects to the laws which are ap plicable to other foreigners. In case they remain in the territory, they may preserve their Spanish nationality by making in a registry office, within a year after the interchange of the ratifications of this treaty, a declaration of their intention to preserve said nationality. Fail ing this declaration, they will be considered as having renounced said nationality and as having adopted that of the territory in which they may reside. The civil rights and political status of the na tive inhabitants of the territories hereby ceded to the United States shall be determined by Congress. It will be perceived that this article of the treaty assumes to confer upon Congress the power to determine the civil rights and the political status of the native inhabitants of the Territories ceded thereby to the United States. This provision raises the question whether or not the civil rights and the polit ical status of these people are determined by the Constitution; and if they are, whether or not the treaty can confer upon Congress a power which is not conferred upon it by that instrument? In other words, can a treaty enlarge the limited power which Con gress now has over the subject of citizenship? Previous to the adoption of Article XIV. of the Amendments of the Constitution, the subject of citizenship was under the complete control of the several States; and no person could be a citizen of the United States who was not a citizen of some particular State. At that time the only power which Congress possessed over this subject was "to establish an uniform rule of naturalization." (Clause 4, Section 8, Article I.) The first sentence of the first article just cited reads as follows : — All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.