hoal called the Rip Raps,
should be, with the right of property and entire jurisdiction
thereon, vested in the said United States for the purpose of
fortification and other objects of national defense:

"1. _Be it enacted by the General Assembly_, That it shall be
lawful and proper for the Governor of this Commonwealth, by
conveyance or deeds in writing under his hand and the seal of
the State, to transfer, assign, and make over unto the said
United States the right of property and title, as well as all
the jurisdiction which this Commonwealth possesses over the
lands and shoal at Old Point Comfort and the Rip Raps:...

"2. _And be it further enacted_, That, _should the said United
States at any time abandon the said lands and shoal, or
appropriate them to any other purposes than those indicated in
the preamble to this act, that then, and in that case, the same
shall revert to and revest in this Commonwealth_."[112]

By accepting such grants, under such conditions, the Government of the
United States assented to their propriety, and the principle that holds
good in any one case is of course applicable to all others of the same
sort, whether expressly asserted in the act of cession or not. Indeed,
no express declaration would be necessary to establish a conclusion
resulting so directly from the nature of the case, and the settled
principles of sovereignty and eminent domain.

A State withdrawing from the Union would necessarily assume the control
theretofore exercised by the General Government over all public defenses
and other public property within her limits. It would, however, be but
fair and proper that adequate compensation should be made to the other
members of the partnership, or their common agent, for the value of the
works and for any other advantage obtained by the one party, or loss
incurred by the other. Such equitable settlement, the seceding States of
the South, without exception, as I believe, were desirous to make, and
prompt to propose to the Federal authorities.

On the secession of South Carolina, the condition of the defenses of
Charleston Harbor became a subject of anxiety with all parties. Of the
three forts in or at the entrance of the harbor, two were unoccupied,
but the third (Fort Moultrie) was held by a garrison of but little more
than one hundred men--of whom only sixty-three were said to be
effectives--under command of Major R