igable waters within the national dominions, and to levy taxes for
national purposes. All powers not thus specifically conceded to the
central authority were, in theory at least, reserved by the individual
Counties to themselves; and to-day a County government, except that it
cannot interfere with the postal service within its borders, nor erect
custom-houses on its County lines to levy taxes on goods coming in from
neighbouring Counties, is practically a sovereign government within its
own territory.

It is only within the last ten years that the right of the Central
Government--the Crown--to use the King's troops to protect from violence
the King's property, in the shape of the Royal mails, in defiance of the
wishes of the Governor of a County, was established by a decision of the
Supreme Court. The Governor protested that the suppression of mobs and
tumults within his County borders was his business, his County police
and militia being the proper instruments for the purpose, and for the
Crown to intervene without his request and sanction was an invasion of
the sovereign dignity of the County.

Although so much has been said on this subject by various English
writers, from Mr. Bryce downwards, few Englishmen, I think, have
comprehended the theoretical significance of this independence of the
individual States, and fewer still grasp its practical importance.
Perhaps the most instructive illustration of what it means is to be
found in the dilemma in which the American government has, on two
occasions in recent years, found itself from its inability to compel a
particular State to observe the national treaty obligations to a foreign
power.

The former of the two cases arose in Louisiana when a number of citizens
of New Orleans (including not only leading bankers and merchants but
also, it is said, at least one ex-Governor of the State and one Judge),
finding that a jury could not, because of terrorisation, be found to
convict certain murderers, Italians and members of the Mafia, took the
murderers out of gaol and hanged them in a public square in broad
daylight. The Italian government demanded the punishment of the
lynchers, and the American government had to confess itself entirely
unable to comply with the request. Whether it would have given the
satisfaction if it could is another question; but the dealing with the
criminals was a matter solely for the Louisiana State authorities, and
the Federal Government had no