It was an afterthought on the part of the hard-pressed defenders of the right of secession.

It was the ingenious but lame device of an able lawyer who undertook to defend what was indefensible.
Mr.Yulee of Florida had endeavored to make the same argument on behalf of his State, feeling the embarrassment as did Mr.Benjamin, and relying, as Mr.Benjamin did, upon the clause in the treaty with Spain entitling Florida to admission to the Union.

Mr.Benjamin and Mr.Yulee should both have known that the guaranty which they quoted was nothing more and nothing less than the ordinary condition which every enlightened nation makes in parting with its subjects or citizens, that they shall enter into the new relation without discrimination against them and with no lower degree of civil rights than had already been enjoyed by those who form the nation to which they are about to be annexed.

Louisiana, when she was transferred to the United States, received no further guaranty than Napoleon in effect gave to Spain at the treaty of San Ildefonso, or than the Spanish Bourbons had given to the French Bourbons in the treaty of 1763 at the close of the Seven Years' War.

In each of the three transfers of the sovereignty of Louisiana, the same condition was perfectly understood as to the rights of the inhabitants.