The Republic of Venezuela is one of the three independent States formed in 1831 on the dismemberment of the Republic of Colombia. The United States of America declared themselves independent on July 4, 1776. By the Treaty of peace and friendship signed at Paris on September 3, 1783, Great Britain acknowledged the United States, viz. New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, to be free Sovereign and Independent States. The present Constitution dates from December 17, 1787. The United States now comprise thirty-eight States, besides some territories not yet recognized as States in union, and some Indian Territories. There are three distinct and independent powers in the United States, viz. the Executive in the President, the Legislative in Congress, and the Judicial in the Supreme Court. The Hawaii are known under the name of the Sandwich Islands, and their independence was recognized by the United States on December 19, 1842, and by Great Britain on April 1, 1843. The Island of San Domingo is the largest of the Antilles. The Treaty of Ryswick of 1697 ceded the half of the Island to the French, and the other half to Spain. The Blacks of the French portion revolted in 1791, and for a time the authority of the Metropolis was uncertain. In 1822 the whole Island was constituted a single Republic, under the name of Hayti, and she was recognized by France in 1825. CHAPTER I. CONSTITUTION AND SOVEREIGNTY OF THE STATE. 1. THE State is a Community of persons, living within certain defined. boundaries, subject to a constituted government, and freely united together for their common good. "Civitas est cœtus perfectus liberorum hominum juris fruendi et communis utilitatis causa sociatus (Grotius, De Jure Belli et Pacis," Part I. c. 1, § xiv.). "Republica est coetus multitudinis juris consensu et utilitatis communione sociatus" (Cicero, "De Rep.," I. c. 25). The State, not the rulers only, an abstract conception; the personification of a political Society is the subject matter of International Law. 2. The State, acting through its rulers, is a moral or juridical person, having rights and duties. A moral person may be a group of persons or mass of property. The State, or a Corporation, or even a |