FEDERATION VERSUS FREEDOM 301
a case, this power is but the force of one party against the force of another; that is to say, the power of war. But a Government executes its decisions by its own supreme authority. Its use of force in compelling obedience to its own enactments is not war. It contemplates no opposing party having a right of resistance. It rests on its power to enforce its own will; and when it ceases to possess this power it is no longer a Government”.
In the light of this the following facts should be noted. The Act does not ordain and establish a Federal Government for British India and the Indian States. The Act ordains and establishes a Federal Government for British India only. The Federal Government will become a Government for the States only when each State adopts it by its Instrument of Accession. Again note that the subjection of the States to the Federal Government is not to be for all times. It is to continue only under certain circumstances. It is to continue so long as certain provisions of the Act are continued without a change. Thirdly, where change in the provisions is permissible such change shall not bind the State unless it agrees to be bound by it.
All these are unmistakable signs which show that the Indian Federation is a compact and not a perpetual Union. The essence of a compact is that it reserves the right to break away and to return to the original position.
In this respect therefore the Indian Federation differs from the Federations in U.S.A., Canada and Australia. It differs from the U.S.A., because the right to secede is recognized by the Indian Constitution if the constitution is altered, while it is not recognized by the Constitution of the U.S.A., even if the constitution is altered against the wishes of a particular State. In regard to Australia and Canada such a question cannot really arise and if it did, a civil war would be quite unnecessary to decide the issue. In these federations the sovereignty, whether it is exercised by the Federal Governments or the Units belongs to the Crown and the maintenance of the Federation or its breakup remains with the King and Parliament. Neither the Federation nor the Units could decide the issue otherwise than with the consent of Parliament. If a break-up came, it would be a mere withdrawal of the sovereignty of the Crown and its re-distribution which the Crown is always free to do. The break up could be legal and even if it was perpetrated by non-legal means it could give sovereignty to the rebellious units because it belongs to the Crown. The same would have been the case, if the Indian Federation had been the Federation of British Indian Provinces only. No question of secession could have arisen. The Provinces would have been required to remain in the position in which the Crown might think it best to place them. The Indian Federation has become different because of the entry of the Indian States. The entry of the Indian States is not for all times and under all circumstances. Their entry is upon terms and conditions. That being so the Indian Federation