act._" According to him, it must not be supposed "that the body
should have the right of cutting off parts from itself and giving
them into the authority of another."[Footnote: De Jure Belli et
Pads, tr. Whewell, Lib. II. Cap. 6, S: 4] Of the same opinion is
Pufendorf, declaring: "The sovereign who attempts to transfer his
kingdom to another by his sole authority does an act in itself
null and void, and not binding on his subjects. To make such a
conveyance valid, the consent of the people is required, as well
as of the prince." [Footnote: De Jure Naturae et Gentium, Lib.
VIII. Cap. 5, Section 9.] Vattel crowns this testimony, when he
adds, that a province or city, "abandoned and dismembered from the
State, is not obliged to receive the new master proposed to be
given it." [Footnote: Le Droit des Gens, Liv. I. Ch. 21, Section
264.] Before such texts, stronger than a fortress, the soldiers of
Germany must halt.

Nor can it be forgotten how inconsistent is the guaranty of
Dismemberment with that heroic passion for national unity which is
the glory of Germany. National unity is not less the right of
France than of Germany; and these provinces, though in former
centuries German, and still preserving the German speech, belong
to the existing unity of France,--unless, according to the popular
song, the German's Fatherland extends

"Far as the German accent rings";

and then the conqueror must insist on Switzerland; and why not
cross the Atlantic, to dictate laws in Pennsylvania and Chicago?
But this same song has a better verse, calling that the German's
Fatherland