300 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
existence. While the Federation exists there is no right to secede. But that is not the real question. The real question is, will the federation continue even when the Act is changed ? In other words the question is, is this a perpetual Union with no right to secede or, is this a mere alliance with a right to break away? In my opinion the Indian Federation is not a perpetual union and that the Indian States have a right to secede. In this respect the constitution of the United States and this Indian Federation stand in clear contrast. The constitution of the United States says nothing as to the right of secession. This omission was interpreted in two different ways. Some said that it was not granted because it was copy recognized. Others said it was not excluded because it was not negatived. It was this controversy over the question namely whether the right of secession was excluded because it was not recognized which led to the Civil War of 1861. The Civil War settled two important principles : (1) No State has a right to declare an Act of the Federal Government invalid ; (2) No State has a right to secede from the Union. In the Indian Federation it would be unnecessary to go to war for establishing the right to secession because the Constitution recognizes the right of the Indian States to secede from the Indian Federation if certain eventualities occur. What is a perpetual Union and what is only a compact is made nowhere so clear as by Blackstone in his analysis of the nature of the Union between England and Scotland. To use his language the Indian Federation is not an incorporate Union because in a Union the two contracting States are totally annihilated without any power of revival. The Indian Federation is an alliance between two contracting parties, the Crown and the Indian States, in which neither is annihilated but each reserves a right to original Status if a breach of condition occurs. The Constitution of the United States originated in a compact but resulted in a union. The Indian Federation originates in a compact and continues as a compact. That the Indian Federation has none of the marks of a Union but on the other hand it has all the marks of a compact is beyond dispute. The distinguishing marks of a Union were well described by Daniel Webster, when in one of his speeches on the American Constitution he said—
“ ...The constitution speaks of that political system which is established as ‘the Government of the United States’. Is it not doing a strange violence to languages to call a league or a compact between sovereign powers a Government ? The Government of a State is that organisation in which political power resides”.
“ ...The broad and clear difference between a government and a league or a compact is that a government is a body politic ; it has a will of its own ; and it possesses powers and faculties to execute its own purposes Every compact looks to some power to enforce its stipulations. Even in a compact between sovereign communities, there always exists this ultimate reference to a power to ensure its execution ; although in such