The War Powers conferred upon Congress by the Constitution were well known; they had been conferred upon Congress by the earlier Articles of Confederation. The language of the latter was full and explicit with regard to captures. “The United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole and exclusive right and power of determining on peace and war, … of establishing rules for deciding in all cases _what captures on land or water shall be legal_, and in what manner prizes taken by land or naval forces in the service of the United States shall be divided or appropriated, … and establishing courts for receiving and determining finally _appeals in all cases of captures_.”[87] The language subsequently employed in the Constitution is identical in substance. It is evident that the framers of the Constitution had the Articles of Confederation in mind, when they vested in Congress power to “make rules concerning captures on land and water.” The bills now under consideration are obviously founded on the War Powers. The first section of the first bill begins as follows. “That all the estate and property, money, stocks, credits, and effects of the persons hereafter named in this section are hereby forfeited to the Government of the United States, _and are declared lawful subjects of seizure, and of prize and capture, wherever found, for the indemnity of the United States against the expenses of suppressing the present Rebellion_.” The Senator must be very hardy who denies the power of Congress, in the exercise of belligerent rights, to pass such a bill; and he must be equally hardy, when he insists that belligerent rights are impaired by any limitations of the Constitution. If the enemies against whom we now wage war were not our own fellow-citizens, if they were aliens unhappily fastened for the time on our territory, there would be no fine-spun question of constitutional immunity. Such immunities are essentially municipal in character; but a public enemy can claim nothing merely municipal. The immunities he enjoys are such only as are conceded by the Rights of War,--nor more, nor less. As a public enemy, he seeks to subvert our Government, its laws and its Constitution; and in this warfare he proceeds according to the Rights of War, indifferent to any mere local law. But if the war on our part were in accordance with mere local law, and in subordination to provisions of the Constitution devised for peace, it is evident that the National Government would be unable to cope with its enemy. It would enter into battle with hands tied behind the back. Of course, in warfare with people of another country Senators would not require any such self-sacrifice.