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Show -171- we have already stated our opinion of the meaning of the words used in the constitution, and the objects intended to be embraced in the power there given. Ifhatever is granted to the general government is forbidden to the states, be- cause the same word is • used to describe the power denied to the latter, which is employed in describing the power conferred on the foraer; and it is very clear, therefore, that Vermont could not have entered into a treaty with England, or the Canadian government, by which the state agreed to deliver up fugitives charged with offenses committed in Canada0 "But %t may be said that here is no treaty; and, undoubtedly, in the sense in which that word is generally understood, tjiere is no treaty between Vermont and Canada. For when we speak of *a treaty' we mean an instrument written and executed with the formalities oustomery among nations; and as no clause in "the constitution ought to,be interpreted differently from the usual and fair import of the words used, if the decision of this case depended upon the word above mentioned, we should not be prepared to say that there was any express pro- hibition of the power exercised by the state of Vermont. "But the question does not rest upon the prohibition to enter into a treaty. In the very next olause of the constitution the states are forbidden to enter into any 'agreement* or Compact* with a foreign nation; and as these words could not have been idly or superfluously used by the framers of the constitution, they cannot be construed to mean the same thing .with the word ftreatyf. They evidently mean something more, and were designed to make the prohibition more comprehensive. flA few extracts from an eminent writer on the laws of nations, showing the manner in which these different words have been used, and the different meaning sometimes attached to them, will, perhaps, contribute to explain the reason for using them all in the constitution, and will prove that the most comprehensive terms were employed in prohibiting to the states all intercourse with foreign nations, Vattel, page 192, sec. 152, saysi *A treaty, in Latin foedus, is a compact made with a view to the public welfare, by the superior power, either for perpetuity, or for a considerable time•*" "!Section 153* The compacts which have temporary matters for their object, are called agreements, conventions, and pactions. They are accomplished by one single act, and not by repeated acts. These compaots are perfected in their execution onoe for all; treaties receive a successive execution, whose duration equals that of the treaty.* . • "'Seotion 154* Public treaties can only be made by the supreme power, by sovereigns who contract in the name of the state. Thus, con vent ions made be- tween sovereigns respecting their own private affairs, and tfrose between a sovereign and a private person, are, not public treaties.f "'Section 206. The public compacts called conventions, articles of agree- ment, etc., when they are made between sovereigns, differ from treaties onLy in their object.* After reading these extracts, we can be at no loss to comprehend -the |