MR. WEBSTER’S SPEECH,

IN THE

U. S. SENATE, MARCH 23, 1848,

UPON THE

 WA.R WITI1 MEXICO.

BOSTON:%
184:8.
E.A.STBURN’S PRESS:

REMARKS.

 

IN SENATE, March 23, 1848.

AFTER the morning hour had expired, the galleries, lobbies
and floor of the Senate Chamber being densely crowded, Mr.
Wnssrnn addressed the President and the Senate as follows:

Mu. PRESIDENT:

ON Friday a bill passed the Senate for raising ten regiments of new
troops, for the further prosecution of the war against Mexico, and we have
been informed that that measure is shortly to be followed, in this branch of
the Legislature, by a bill to raise twenty regiments of volunteers for the same
service.

I was desirous of exzpressing my opinions against the object of these bills,
against the supposed necessity which leads to their enactment, and against
the general policy which they are apparently designed to promote. Cir--
cumstances, personal" to myself, but beyond my control, compelled me to
forego, on that day, the execution of that design. i_,

The bill now before the Senate, is a measure for raising money, to meet

the exigencies of the government and to provide the means, as well as for;

other things, for the pay and support of these thirty regiments. ,

Sir, the scenes through which We have passed and are passing here, are
various. For a fortnight, the World supposes, we have been occupied with
the ratification of a treaty of peace: and that within these walls, t

“ The world shut out,"

notes of peace and hopes of peace, nay, strong assurances of peace, as Well as
indications of peace, have been uttered to console and to cheer us. Sir, it has
been over and over again stated, and is public, that we have ratified a treaty,---—-
of‘ course, a treaty of peace; and, as the country has been led to suppose, not
of an uncertain, empty and delusive peace; but of real and substantial, a
gratifying and an endm-z'9z__q peace, «—--- a peace which should stanch the Wounds
of war, prevent the further flow of human blood, cut off these enormous ex-
penses, and return our friends and our brothers, and our children, if they

be yet living, from the land of slaughter, and the land of still more dismal

destruction by climate, to our firesides and our arms.
Hardly had these cheering and exhilirating notes ceased upon our ears, when,

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in resumed public session, we are summoned to fresh warlike operations, to
create a new army of thirty thousand men, for the further prosecution of the war,
to carry that war, in the language of the President, stillmore dreadfully into
the mitalparts of the enemy, and to press home, by fire and sword, the claims
we make, the grounds which we insist upon, against our fallen, prostrate, I
had almost said our ignoble enemy.

If I may judge from the opening speech of the honorable Senator from
Michigan, and from other speeches that have been made upon this floor, there
has been no time, from the commencement of the war, when it has been more
urgently pressed upon us, not only to maintain, but to increase our military
means; not only to continue the war, but to press it still more vigorously than
as yet has been done.

Pray, what does all this mean? Is it, I ask, confessed then,-—---is it con-
fessed, that we are no nearer a peace than we were, when we snatched up
that bit of paper called, or miscalled, a treaty, and ratified it? Have we yet
to fight it out to the utmost, as if nothing pacific had intervened?

I wish, sir, to treat the proceedings of this, and of every department of the
government, with the utmostrespect. God knows that the constitution of
this government, and the exercise of its just powers in the administration
of the laws under it, have been the cherished object of all my unimportant
life. But, if the subject were not one too deeply interesting, I should say
our proceedings here might well enough cause a smile. In the ordinary trans-
action of the foreign relations of this, and of all other governments, the
course has been to negotiate first, and to ratify afterwards. This seems to
be the natural order of conducting intercourse between foreign States. We
have chosen to reverse this order. We ratify first, and negotiate afterwards.
We set up a treaty, such as we find it and choose to make it, and then send
two Ministers ‘Plenipotentiary to negotiate thereupon in the Capitol of the
enemy. One would think, sir, the ordinary course of proceeding much the
juster; that to negotiate, to hold intercourse and come to some arrangement,
by authorized agents, and then to submit that arrangement to the sovereign
authority to which these agents are responsible, would be always the most
desirable method of proceeding. It strikes me that the course we have adopt-
ed is strange, is grotesque. So far as I know, it is unprecedented in the
history of diplomatic intercourse. Learned gentlemen on the floor of the

Senate, interested to defend and protect this course, may, in their extensive
reading, have found examples of it. I know of none.

Sir, we are in possession, by military power, of New Mexico and Califor-
nia, countries belonging hitherto to the United States of Mexico. We are
informed by the President that it is his purpose to retain them, to consider
them as territory fit to be attached, and to be attached, to these United
States of America. And our military operations and designs now before
the Senate, are to enforce this claim of the Executive of the United States.
We are tofcompel Mexico to agree, that thepart of "her dominion called

NewlMexico, and the other called California, shall be ceded to us; that we 

arein possession, as is said, and that she shall yield her‘ title to us. I This
isthe precise object of this new army of 30,000 men. gSir, it is the identical

. object, in my judgment, for which the war was originally commenced, for

whichtit has hitherto been prosecuted, and in furtherance of awhichtfhis treaty
is to  used,‘ but as one means to bring about their general result, that
general“ result depending, rafter. } all, i on our own superior power, and on the
necestsity  isubtting to any termswhich we may tprescribe to fallen, fallen,
fallen Mexico!   A 3 S ._ i i a i t t V

 Sir, “imemblersl composing the other House, the more popular branch

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of’ the Legislature, have all been elected since, I had almost said, the fatal,
I will say, the remarkable, events of the 11th and 13th days of May,
1846. That other house has passed a resolution, affirming that “the war
with Mexico was begun unconstitutionally and unnecessarily by the Execu-
tive government of the United States.” I concur in that sentiment; I hold
that to be the most recent and aut.hentic expression of the will and opinion
of the majority~ot' the people of the United States.

There is, sir, another proposition, not so authentically announced hither-
to, but, in my judgment, equally true, and equally capable of demonstration,
and that is, that this war was begun, has been continued, and is now prose-
cuted, fbr the great and leading purpose of the acquisition of’ new territory,
out of which to bring in new» States, with their Mexican population, into this
our Union of the United States.

If unavowed at first, this purpose did not remain unavowed long. How-
ever often it may be said that we did not go to war for conquest--— i

“ Credat Judceus Appella,

Non ego,”-—---—--u

 

Does not every body see, that the moment we get possession of territory, we
must retain it and make it our own? Now I think that this original object has
not been changed, has not been varied. Sir, I think it exists in the eyes of
those who originally contemplated it, and who began the war for it, as
plain, as attractive to them, and from which they no more avert their eyes
now, than they did then, or have done at any time since. We have compelled
a treaty of cession. We know in our consciences that it is compelled. VVe use
it as an instrument and an agency, in conjunction with other instruments and
other agencies of a more tbrxnidable and destructive character, to enforce the
cession of Mexican territory, to acquire territory for new States, new States
to be added to this Union. We know, every intelligent man knows, that
there is no stronger desire in the breast of a Mexican citizen, than to retain
the territory which belongs to the Republic. i We knowthat the Mexican peo-
ple will part with it, if part they must, with regret, with pangs of sor--
row. That we know; we know it is all forced; and, therefore, because we
know it must» be fbrced, because we know, that whether the government,
which we consider our creature, do or do not agree to it, we know that the
Mexican people will never accede to the terms of this treaty but through
the impulse of absolute necessity, and the impression made upon them by ir-
resistible force, therefore we purpose to overwhelm them with another
army. We purpose to raise another army of ten thousand regulars and
twenty thousand volunteers, and to pour them in and upon the Mexican pee»
P Now, sir, I should be happy to concur, notwithstanding all this tocsin,
and all this cry of all the Semproniuses in the land, that their “ voices are
still for war,” I should be happy to agree, and substantially I do agree,
Witliwtlie opinion of the Senator from South Carolina. I think I have my-
self’ uttered the sentiment, within a fortnight, to the same effect,——-that af-
ter all, the war with Jlfecoico ts psubstaaeztially over,«—-that there can be no
more fighting. The war‘ places us, at this moment, in an armed state, but
not in a condition of daily battle. Now, in the present state of things, my
opinion is, that the people of this country will not sustain the war, with a.
view of further conflicts and further subjugation. They will not submit to

its heavy expenses, nor will they find any gratification in putting the bayonet

to the throats of the Mexican people. _ _
For my part, I hope the Ten Regiment B111. will never become a law.
1*

6

Three weeks ago, I should have entertained that hope with the utmost confi-
dence. Events instruct me to abate my confidence. I still hope it will not
ass.

And here I dare say I shall be called by some a “ Mexican ‘Whig?’ The
man who can stand up here and say, that he hopes t.hat what the administra-
tion projects,. and the further prosecution of the war with Mexico requires, may
not be carried into effect, must be an enemy to his country, or, what gentle-
men have considered the same thing, an enemy to the President of the

‘United States, and to his administration and his party. He is a Mexican.

Sir, I think very badly of the Mexican character, high and low, out and out;
but names do not terrify me. Besides, if I have suffered or am to suffer
in this respect, if I have rendered myself subject to the reproaches of
these stipendiary presses, these hired abusers of the motives of public men, I
have the honor on this occasion to be in very respecable company. In the
vituperative, accusative, denunciatory sense of that term, I don’t know a greater
Mexican in this body, than the honorable Senator from Michigan, the Chair-
man of the Committee on Military Affairs.

Mn. Cass. ---- Will the gentleman be good enough to explain what sort of
a Mexican I am? ‘

MR. WEBSTER. ——-- That’s exactly the thing, sir, that I now propose to do.
On the resumption of the bill in the Senate the other day, the gentleman
told us that its principal object was to frighten Mexico, it would touch his
humanity too much to Imxrt her! He would frighten her--—

Mn. Cass.-—--Does the gentleman affirm that I said that?

Mn. Weesren. —--Yes, twice.

Mn. C.A.ss.-—-——~ No sir, I beg your pardon, I did not say it. I did not say
it would touch my humanity to hurt her. '  i I

MR. WEBSTER. -—--- Be it so ---_

Mn. CASS.--——VVill the honorable Senator allow me to repeat my state-
ment of the object of the bill? I said it was two-fold, —--_first,, that it would
enable us to prosecute the war if necessary, and second, that it would show
Mexico we were prepared to do so; and thus by its moral effect, would in-
duce her to ratify the treaty.

Mn. Wn13s'rEn.-—-—The gentleman said that the principal object of the bill
was to frighten Mexico; and that this would be more humane than .to
harm her. i i I i r

Mn. CA.ss.—--That’s true.

Mn. Wnnsrnn. -—~--- It is true, is it?

MR. Cass.-—--Yes sir." I I t i i S ,

1\/I1=t. Wnnsrete.--—-Very well-I-—-I thought as much. Now, sir, the‘re-
markable characteristic of that speech, that which makes it so much a
Mexican speech, is, that the gentleman spoke it in the hearing of Mexico,
as wellas in the hearing of the Senate. We are accused here, because
what we say is heard by Mexico, and Mexico derives encouragement from
what is said here. . And yet the honorable member comes forth and tells
Mexico, that the principal object of the bill is to frighten her! His words
have passed along the I wires ; they are on the Gulf, and are floating away
to Vera Cruz; and when they get there, they will signify to Mexico that,
A“ after all, ye good Mexicans, my principal object is to frighten you; and to
thelyend that you may not be frightened too much, I have given you this in-

dication of my purpose.’’, That’s kind in ‘him, certainly!

Mr. Iifresiident, you remember that‘ when Snug the lyjoiner was to enact
the.licm, and rage, andrroar. upon the stage, he was quite apprehensive that
he might frighten the Duchess and the ladies too‘? ‘much, for “ there is not,”

7

it

he was told, a “more fearful wild-fowl than your lion living,” and “ ’twere
pity of his life, if he should terrify the ladies.” And, therefore, by the ad-
vice of his comrade, Mr. Nicholas Bottom, he wisely concluded that, in the
height and fury of his effort qua: lion, he would show one half his face from.
out the lion’s neck, and himself speak through, saying plainly, these words,
or ‘to the same defect,’ -—--“ Ladies, or fair ladies, you think I come hither as
a lion. I am no such thing! I am a man as other men are ; ---—I’m only
Snug, the joiner.” (Great laughter.) '

But, sir, in any View of this case, in any View of the proper policy of this
government, to be pursued according to any man’s apprehension and judg-
ment, where is the, necessity for this augmentation, by regiments, of the mili-
tary force of the country? I hold in my hand a note, which I suppose
to be substantially correct, of the present military force of the United
States. I cannot answer for its entire accuracy, but I believe it to be
substantially according to fact. We have twenty-five regiments of regular
troops, of various arms. If full, they would amount to 28,960 rank and file,
and including officers, to 30,296 men. These, with the exception of 600 or
700 men, are now all out of the United States and in field service in Mexico,
or en route to Mexico. I But these regiments are not full. Casualties and
the climate have sadly reduced their numbers. If the recruiting service were
now to yield 10,000 men, it would not more than fill up these regiments, so
that every Brigadier, and Colonel, and Captain should have his appropriate,
his full command. Here is a call, then, on the country now for the enlist-
men of ten thousand men, to complete the regiments in the foreign service
of the United States.

I understand, sir, that there is a report from GEN. Scorr,-—--from GEN.
Soorr, a man who has performed the most brilliant campaign on recent
military record, a man who has warred against the enemy, warred against
the climate, warred against a thousand unpropitious circumstances, and has
carried the flag of his country to the capitol of the enemy, honorably,
proudly, humanely, to his own permanent honor, and the great military credit
of the nation,~—~GnN. Scorr! and where is he? At Puebla! at Pueb-~
la! undergoing an inquiry before his inferiors in 0 rank, and other persons

without military rank; while the high powers he has exercised, and exercised-

with so much distinction, are transferred to another, I do not say to one
unworthy of them, but to one inferior in rank, station and experience to him»
self. .
But GEN. Scorn.‘ reports. as I understand, that in February, there were
twenty thousand regular troops under his command and en route, and we
have thirty regiments of volunteers for the war. If full, this i would
make 34,000 men, or, including otlicers, 35,000 in theyvoliunteer service. So,
that, if the regiments were fhll, there would be at this moment a number of troops
regular and volunteer, of not less than 55,000 or 60,000 men, including re-
cruits on the way. And with these 20,000 men in the field, of regular troops,
there were also 10,000 volunteers, making of _regulars and volunteers under
GEN. Scorr, 30,000 men. The Senator from Michigan knows these things
better than I do, but I believe this is very nearly-the fact. Now, all these
troops are regularly oflicered. There is no deficiency, in the line or in the
staff, of otiicers. They are all full. ','Where there is any deficiency it consists
of men. s r I I
I Now, sir, there may be a plausible reason for saying that there is dith-

culty in recruiting at home for the supply of .deficiency in the volunteer reg» .
piments. It may be said, that volunteers choose to enlist under oflicers of
their own knowledge and selection. pThfey do not incline to enlist as t india

8

vidual volunteers, to join regiments abroad, under oi;'ficers of whom they know
nothing. There may be something in that. But, pray, what conclusion does
it lead to, if not to this, that all these regiments must moulder away, by
casualties or disease, until the privates are less in number than the oflicers
themselves P

But, however it may be, with respect to volunteers, in regard to recruit-
ing for the regular service, in filling up the regiments by pay and bounties
according to existing laws, or new laws if new ones are necessary, there
is no reason on earth why we should now create 500 new officers, for the
purpose of getting 10,000 more men. The officers are already there, in
that respect there is no deficiency. All that is wanted is men, and there is
place for the men; and I suppose no gentleman here or elsewhere thinks
that recruiting will go on faster than would be necessary to fill up the defi-
ciencies in the regiments abroad. l

But now, sir, what do we want of a greater force than we have in Mexico?
I am not saying what do we want of a force greater than we can supply ; but
what is the object of bringing these new regiments into the field? What do we
propose? There is no army to fight. I suppose there are not 500 men under
arms in any part of Mexico----——- probably not half that number, except in one
place. Mexico is prostrate. It is not the government that resists us. Why, it
is notorious that the government of Mexico is on our side: that it is an instru-
ment, by which we hope to establish such a peace, and accomplish such a treaty
as we like. As far as I understand the matter, the government of Mexico owes
its life and breath and being to the support of our arms, and to the hope —-— I
do not say how inspired -—--- that some how or other and at no distant period, she
will have the pecuniary means of carrying it on, from our three millions, or our
twelve millions, or from some of‘ our other millions.

"What do we propose to do, then, with these thirty regiments which it is de-
signed to throw into Mexico? Are we going to cut the throats of her people?
Are we to thrust the sword deeper and deeper into the “ vital parts ” of Mex»
ico? What is it proposed to do? Sir, I can see no object in it; and yet while
we are pressed and urged to adopt this proposition to raise ten-ancl-twenty—regi~
ments, we are told, and the public is told, and the public believes, that we are on
the verge of a safe and honorable peace. Every one looks every morning for
tidings of a confirmed peace, or of confirmed hopes of peace. We gather it
from the administration, and from every organ of the administration, from Dan
to Beersheba. And yet warlilre preparations, the incurring of expenses, the im-
position of new charges upon the Treasury, are pressed here, as if peace were
not in all our thoughts, or, at least, not in any of our expectations.

Now, sir, I propose to hold a plain talk to-day, and I say that, according to
my best judgment, the object of the bill is patronage, ofiice, the gratification of
friends. This very measure for raising ten regiments, creates four or five
hundred officers, colonels, subalterns, and not them only, for, for allthese I
feel some respect; but there are also paymasters, contractors, persons engaged
in the transportation service, gcommissaries, even down to sutlers, at id genus
omne, -—-—— people who handle the public money without facing the foe, --- one and

all of whom are true descendants, or if not, true representatives,‘ of Ancient

Pistol, who said he would
. “ sutler he
I I ’ “ Unto the camp, and profits will accrue.”

Sir, *1? hope, with no disrespect for the app1icants,and the aspirants, and the
patriots, (and among them are some sincere patriots). who would fight for their
country, and those others who are not ready to fight, but who are willing to be
paid, with no , disrespect for any of‘ them, according to their ran]; and station,

9

their degree and their merits, I hope they will all be disappointed. I hope
that, as the pleasant season advances, the whole may find it for their interest to
place themselves, of mild mornings, in the cars, and take their destination to their
respective places of honorable private occupation, and of civil employment.
They have my good wishes that they may find their homes, from the avenue and
the capitol, and from the purlieus of the President’s House, in good health them-
selves, and that they may find their families all very happy to receive them.
But, sir, ‘

, “ paulo majors canamus.”

This war was waged for the object of creating new States, on the southern
frontier of the United States, out of Mexican territory, and with such popula-
tion as should be found resident thereupon.

I have opposed this object. I am against all accessions of territory to form new
States. And this is no matter of sentimentality, whichI am to parade before mass-
meetings, or before my constituents at home, and not resist by vote. It is not a mat-l
ter with me of declamation, of regret, or of expressed repugiiance. It is a matter
of firm, unchangeable purpose. I yield nothing to the force of circumstances that
have occurred, or that I can consider as likely to occur. And therefore I say
sir, that if I were asked to—clay whether, for the sake of peace, I will take a
treaty for adding two new States to the Union on our southern border, I say no,
distinctly, NO. And I wish every man in the United States to understand
that to be my judgment and my purpose.

I said upon our Sour/rem border, because the present proposition takes that
locality. I would say the same of the west, the north--east or of any other hor-
der. I resist to—day and forever, and to the end, any proposition to add any for-
eign territory, South or West, North or East, to the States of this Union, as they
are now constituted and held together under the constitution. I do not want the
colonists of Englandon the north; and as little do I want the population of Mexico
on the south. I resist and reject all, and all with equal resolution. And, there--
fore, I say that, if the question were put to me to-day, whether I would take
peace under the present state of the country, distressed as it is, during the ex»-

istence of war, odious as this war is, under circumstances so afflictive to humanity, ,

and so disturbing to the business of those whom I represent, as now exist, I
say still, if it were put to me whether I would have peace, with new States, I
would say no, —-—~ no! And that because, sir, there is no necessity of being driven
into that dilemma, in my judgment. Other gentlemen think differently. I hold
no man’s conscience; but I mean to make a clean breast of it myself; and I
protest‘ that I see no reason, I believe there is none, why we cannot obtain
as safe a‘ peace, as honorable and as prompt a peace, without territory as with
it. The two things are separable. There is no necessary connection be-
tween them. Mexico does not wish us to take herterritory, whileshe receives
our money. Far from it. . She yields her assent, if she yieldsjit at all, reluct-
antly, and we allrknow it. It is the result of force, and there is no man here
who does. not know that. And let me say, sir,that if this Trist paper shall
finally be rejecteclgin ‘Mexico, it is most likelyto be because those who under our
protection hold the power there, cannot persuade the iMexican Congress or peo-
ple to agree to this cession of territory. The thing most likely to break up

. what we now. expect to take place, is the repugnance of the Mexican people to

part with Mexican territory. They would prefer to keep their territory, and
that we should keep our money; as I prefer we should keep our money and
they their territory. ‘We shall see‘. ‘I pretend to no powers of prediction. I
do not know what may happen. The times are full of strange events. I think
it certain that, if the treaty which has gone to Mexico sha11~fai1 to be ratified,'it

10

will be because of the aversion of theMexican Congress, or the Mexican people

 to cede the territory, or any part of it, belonging to their Republic.

I have said that I would rather have no peace for the present, than to have a
peace which brings territory for new States ; and the reason is that we shall get
peace as soon without territory as with it; more safe, more durable, and vastly
more honorable to us, the great Republic of’ the World.

" But we hear gentlemen say we must have some territory ---the people de-
mand it. I deny it, at least I see no proof of it whatever. I do not doubt
there are individuals of an enterprising character, disposed to emigrate, who
know nothing about New Mexico but that it is far off‘, and nothing about Cali-
fornia but that itis still farther off, who are tired of the dull pursuits of agriculu
ture and of civil life, that there are hundreds and thousands of such persons
to ‘whom whatsoever is new and distant is attractive. They feel the spirit of
borderrers; and the spirit of a_ borclerer, I take it, is to be tolerably contented
with his condition where he is, until somebody goes to regions beyond him; and
then his eagerness is to take up his traps and go still farther than he who has
thus got in advance of him. With such men, the desire to emigrate is an irre-
sistible passion. At least, so said thatigreat and sagacious observer of human
nature, M. Talleyrand, when he travelled in this country in 1797.

But I say I do not find any where any considerable and respectable body of
persons who want more territory and such territory. Twenty-four of -us last
year in this house voted against the prosecution of the war for territory, because
we did not want it-—— both southern and northern men. I believe the southern
gentlemen who concurred in that vote found themselves, even when they had
acted against what might be supposed to be local feelings andpartialities, sus-
tained on the general policy of not seeking territory, or, by the acquisition of ter-
ritory, bringing into our politics certain embarrassing and embroiling questions
and considerations. I do not learn that they suffered from the advocacy of such
a sentiment. I believe they were supported in it; and I believe that through
the greater part of the south, andieven of the south-west, to a great extent, there
is no prevalent opinion in favor of acquiring territory, and such territory, and of
the augmentation of our population, and by such population. And such, I need
not say is, if‘ not the undivided, the preponderating sentiment of all the north.

But it is said we must take territory for the sake of peace. We must take
territory! It is the will of the President. If we do not now take what i he
offers, we may fare worse. Mr. Polkwill take no less ;. that, he is fixed upon:

he is immovable: he has-—-«put--down--his--foot! Well, sir, he put it down i

on 54; 40: but it didn’t stay. I speak of the President, as of all Presidents, with
no disrespect. But I know of’ no reason why his opinion and Ms will, his pur-
pose declared to be final, should control us, any more than our purpose, formed
from equally conscientious motives and under as high responsibilities, should con-
trol him. We think he is firm and will not be moved. I should be sorry, sir,
very sorry indeed, that we should entertainimore respect for the firmness of the

individual at the head of the government, than we may entertain for our own a
firmness. He stands out tagainstus:---— Do we fear to stand out against him ?,
For one, I do not. It appears to me to be a slavish doctrine. For ‘one I am

willing to meet the issue, andsgo to the people all over this broad land. Shall

we take peace without new states, or refuse peace without new states? "I will

stand uponthat and trust the people. And I do that because. I think it right,
At because II have no distrust of the people. I am not unwilling to put it to
their s,0verei,gn.decisi~on and arbitration. I hold this to beta question vital, per-

manent,,,leIementary,,inl the future prosperity of the country and the maintenance j

of" the institution: and I am Willingsto trustgthat question to the people 2‘ and

 

I pref'erii:t,lf>eeause I what I take to be a ,great Constitutional principle, or what ‘ ‘

11

is essential to its maintenance, is to be broken down, let it be the act of‘ the peo-
ple themselves: it shall never be my act. I do not distrust the people. I
am willing to take their sentiment from the Gulf to the British Provinces, and
from the Ocean to the Missouri: Will you continue the war for territor , to
be purchased, after all, at an enormous price, a price a thousand timesthe value
of all its purchases; or take peace, contenting yourselves with the honor we
have reaped by the military achievements of: the army‘: will you take peace
without territory, and preserve the integrity of the Constitution of the Country?
I am entirely willing to stand upon that question. I will therefore take the

‘issue: Peace, with no new states,‘ keeping our money ourselves: or War till

new states shall be acquired, and vast sums paid. That’s the true issue. I am
willing to leave that before the people and to the people, because it is a question
for themselves. If they support me and think with me, very well. If other-
wise, if they will have territory, and add_ new states to the Union, let them
do so; and let them be the artificers of their own fortune, for good or for evil.

But, sir, we tremble before Executive power. The truth cannot be concealed.
We tremble before Executive power! Mr. Polk will take no less than this l If’
we do not take this, the King’s anger may kindle, and he will give us what is
worse.

But now, sir, who and what is Mr. Polk? I speak of him with no manner
of disrespect. I mean, thereby, only to ask who and what is the President of
the United States, for the current moment. He is in the last year of his admin»,
istration. Formallymficially, it can only be drawn out till the 4th of March
next, while really and substantially, we know that two slzont months, will or
may, produce events that will render the duration of_ that otficial term of very
little importance. We are on the eve of a Presidential election. That machine
which is resorted to to collect public opinion, or party opinion, will be put in ope-
ration two months hence. We shall see its result. It may be that the present
incumbent of the Presidential ofiice will be again presented, to his party friends
andsadmirers, for their suffrages for the next Presidential term. I do not say
how probable or improbable this is. Perhaps it is not entirely probable. Sup-
pose this not to be the result; what then? Why, then, Mr. Polk becomes as
absolutely insignificant has any respectable man among the public men of the
United States- Honored in private life, valued for his private character, re-
spectable, never eminent, in public life, he will, from the moment a new star
arises, have just as little influence as you, or I ; and so far as myself am con-
cerned that certainly is little enouglr. . r r ; .

Sir, political partisans and aspirants and oflice-seekers, are not sunflowers.
They do not n I

. .,  ; 3 . i “ —-—-- turn to their God when he sets, ,
The same look which they turned when he rose.”

No, sir, if the respectable gentleman now at the head of the government he
agreed upon, there will be those who will commend his consistency, who will
bebound to maintain it, for the interest of his party-friends willrequire it.
It will be done. If otherwise, who is there in the whole breadth and length
of the land, that willcare for the consistency of the present incumbent of the

-otfice? There will then be new objects. , "Manifest destiny’ will have pointed

out some otherfman. ‘Sir, the enlogies are now written, the commendations
of praise are already elaborated. I do not say everything fulsoine, but every-
thing panegyrical, has already been written out, with‘ blanks for names, to be

filled wlientthe Convention shall adjourn. vWhen ‘manifestdestiny ’ shall be I

nnrojlled,  t theses strong ‘panegyrics, I wherever; they may ‘light, made before-_

hand, laid lupin pigeon-holes, studied, framed, emblazoned and embossed, shall .

all come ~out,r  then there will be found to be somebody inthe United States

12

whose merits have ‘been strangely overlooked, marked out by Providence, a
kind of miracle, while all will wonder that nobody ever thought of him before,
as a fit and the only fit man to be at the head of this great Republic!

I shrink not, therefore, from any thing that I feel to be my duty, on account
of any apprehension of the importance and imposing dignity, and power of will,
ascribed to the present incumbent of that office. But I wish we possessed that
power of will. I wish we had that firmness —--firmness. Firmness,

“ Si sit,——nul1um numen absit.”

Yes, sir, I wish we had adherence. I wish we could gather -something from
the spirit of our brave corps, who have met the enemy under circumstances most
adverse, and have stood the shock. I wish we could imitate Zachary Taylor in
his bivouac on the field of Buena Vista. He said he “ would remain for the
night; he would feel the enemy in the morning and try his position.” I wish,
before we surrender, we could make up our minds to “ feel the enemy and try
his position,” and I think we should find him, as Taylor did, under the early
sun, on his way to San Louis Potosi. That’s my judgment. ,

But, sir, I come to the all-absorbing question, more particularly, of the cre-
ation of new States. I

When I came into the counsels of thecountry, Louisiana had been obtained
under the treaty with France. Shortly after, Florida was obtained under
the treaty with Spain. These two countries, we know, of course, lay on our
frontier, and commanded the outlets of the great rivers which flow into the gulf.
As I have had occcasion more than once to say, in the first of these instances
the President of the United States (MR. JEFFERSON) supposed that an amend-
ment of the Constitution was required. He acted upon that supposition. Mr.
Madison was Secretary of State, and, upon the suggestion of Mr. Jeiferson, pro-
posed that the proper amendment to the Constitution should be submitted to bring
Louisiana into the Union. Mr. Madison drew it and submitted it to Mr. Adams,
as I have understood. Mr. Madison did not go upon any general idea that new
States might be admitted. Hedid not suggest a general amendment of the Con-
stitution in that respect. But the amendment of the Constitution which he propos-
ed and submitted to Mr. Adams, was a simple declaration bya new article, that
“ The province of Louisiana is hereby declared to be part and parcel of the United
States.” Public opinion, seeing the great importance of the acquisition, took a
turn favorable to the affirmation of the power. The act was acquiesced in, and
Louisiana became a part of the Union, without any alteration of the Constitution.

On the example of Louisiana, Florida was admitted. l

Now, sir, I consider those transactions as passed, settled, legalized‘ ‘There
they stand, as matters of political history. They are facts against which it
would be idle at this day to contend. . a

My first agency in these matters was upon the proposition , for admitting
Texas into this Union. That I thought it my duty to oppose, upon the general
ground of opposing all annexation of new States out of foreign territory; .and,
I may add, and I ought to add in justice, of States in which slaves were to be
represented in the Congress of U the United States, on the ground of its inequal-
ity. It happened to me, sir, to be called upon to address a political meeting in
New York in 1837 or ’38, after the recognition of Texan Independence. I
state now, sir, what Ihave often stated before, that no man from the first, has
been a more sincere well-wisher to thejgovernment and the people of Texas,
thanmyself. I looked upon the achievement of their independence in the bat-
tle of San Jacinto, as an extraordinary, almost a marvellous, incident in the af-
fairs of mankind.  I was amongithe first disposed to acknowledge her independ-
ence. But the first, downjto this _moment,? Iflopposed,;as far as I was able,

13

the annexation of new States to this Union. I stated my reasons on the occaa
sion now referred to, in language which I have now before me and which I
beg to present to the Senate:

-’~‘ It cannot be disguised, gentlemen, that a desire or intention is already, man»
ifested to annex Texas to the United States. On a subject of such mighty mag»
nitude as this, and at a moment when public attention is drawn to it, I should
feel myself wanting in candor, if _I did not express my opinion; since all must
suppose that on such a question, 1t1s impossible I should be Without some opinion.

“ I say then, gentlemen, in all frankness, that I see objections, I think insur-
mountable objections, to the annexation of Texas to the United States. When
the Constitution was formed, it is not probable that either its framers or the peo-
ple ever looked to the admission of any States into the Union, except such as
then already existed, and such as should be formed out of territories then al-
ready belonging to the United States. Fifteen years after the adoption of the
Constitution, however, the case of Louisiana arose. Louisiana was obtainedby
treaty with France; who had recently obtained it from Spain; but the object
of this acquisition, certainly, was not mere extension ot territory; other great
political interests were connected with it. Spain, while she possessed Louisiana,
had held the mouths of the great rivers which rise in the 'Westcrn States and
flow into the Gulf of Mexico. She had disputed our use of these rivers al-
ready, and with a powerful nation in possession of these outlets to the sea, it is
obvious that the commerce of all the West was in danger of perpetual vexation.
The command of these rivers to the sea was, therefore, the great object aimed
at in the acquisition of Louisiana. But that acquisition naturally brought terri-
tory along with it, and three States now exist, formed out of that ancient pro-«
Vince. .

“ A similar policy and a sirnilar necessity, though perhaps not entirely so ur-
gent, led to the acquisition of Florida.

“ N ow, no such necessity, no such policy, requires the annexation of Texas.
The accession of Texas to our territory is not necessary to the full and com-
plete enjoyment of all which we already possess. Her zase, therefore, stands
entirely different from that of Louisiana and 1*‘lorida. There being, then, no
necessity for extending the limits of the Union, in that direction, we ought, I
think, for numerous and powerful reasons, to be content with our present bound-
aries.

“ Gentlemen, we all see, that by whomsoever possessed, Texas is wlilzely to be
at slaveholding country, and I frankly avow my entire unwillingness to do any-
thing which shall extend the slavery of the African race on this Continent, or
add other slaveholding States to the Union. Wliexi I say that I regard slavery
in itself as a great moral, social, and political evil, I only use language which
has been adopted by distinguished men, themselves citizens of slaveholding
States. I shall do nothing, therefore, to favor or encourage its further‘exten-
sion. VVe have slavery already amongst us. The Constitution found it among
us; it recognised it, and gave it solemn guaranties. To theifull extent of these
guaranties we are all bound, in honor, in justice, and by the Constitution. All
the stipulations contained in the Constitution, in favor of the slaveholding States
which are already in the Union, ought to be fulfilled, in the fullness of their
spirit, and to the exactness of their letter. Slavery, as it exists in the States, is
beyond the reach of Congress. It is a concern of the States themselves; they
have never submitted it to Congress, and Congress has no rightful power over
it. I shall concur, therefore, in no act, no measure, no menace, no indication of
purpose, which shall interfere, or threaten to interfere, with the exclusive an»

thority of the several "States over the subject of ‘slavery as it exists within their

14:

respective limits. All this appears to me to be matter of plain and imperative
dut . .
“Y But when we come to speak of admitting new States, the subject assumes
an entirely different aspect. Cur rights and our duties are then both different.

“ The free” States, and all the States, are then at liberty to accept or reject.
When it is proposed to bring new members into this political partnership, the
old members have a right to say on what terms such new partners are to come
in, and what they are to bring along with them. In my opinion, the people of
the United States will not consent to bring a new, vastly extensive and slave-
holding country, large enough for half a dozen or dozen States, into the Union.
In my opinion they ought not to consent to it. Indeed, I am altogether at a
loss to conceive what possible benefit any part of this country can expect to de-
rive from such annexation ; all benefit to any part is at least doubtful and un-
certain; the objections obvious, plain, and strong. On the general question of
slavery, a great portion of the community is already strongly excited. The
subject has not only attracted attention as a question of politics, but it has
struck a far deeper toned ‘chord. It has arrested the religious feeling of the
country; it has taken strong hold on the consciences of men. He is a rash
man, indeed,‘ and little conversant with human nature, and especially has he
a very erroneous estimate of the character of the people of this country, who
supposes that a feeling of this kind is to be trifled with or despised. It will
assuredly cause itself to be respected. It may be reasoned with, it may be
made willing, I believe it is entirely willing, to fulfil all existing engagements,
and all existing duties, to uphold and defend the Constitution, as it is establish-
ed, with whatever regrets about some provisions which it does actually con-«
tain. But to coerce it into silence----»-to endeavor to restrain its free expression
---to seek to compress and confine it, warm as it is, and more heated as such
endeavors would inevitably render it, should all this be attempted, I know now
thing, even in the Constitution, or the Union itself, which would not be en-
dangered by the explosion which might follow.

“I see, therefore, no political necessity for the annexation of Texas to the
Union; no advantages to be derived from it; and ohjectionsto it, of a strong,
and in my judgment, decisive character.

“I believe it to be for the interest and happiness of the whole Union to re.»
main as it is, without dimunition and without addition.”

Well, sir, for a few years I held a position in the Executive administration-of
the government. I left the Department of State in 1843, in the month of May.

‘Within a month after another, an intelligent gentleman, for whom I cherished .

a high respect, and who came to a sad and untimely end, had taken my place, I
had occasion to know-— not ofiicially, but from circumstances ---that the .An-
nexation of Texas was taken up by Mr. Tyler-’s Administration, as an Admin-
istration measure. It was pushed, pressed, insisted on ; and I believe the hon-
orable gentleman to whom I have referred (Mr. Ursnun) had something like a
passion for the accomplishment of this purpose. And I am afraid that the Pre--
sident of thelUnited States at that time suffered his ardent feelings not a little
to control his more prudent judgment. At any rate, I saw, in 1843," that An-
nexation had become a purpose of the Administration. I was notin Congress
nor in public life. But seeing this state of things, I thought it mydufty to ad-

. Inonish, so far as—I could,the country of the existence of that purpose. There

are gentlemen, many of them at the North, there are gentlemen now in the capi- r

tol, who know, that in the summer of 1843, being fully persuaded that this pur-
pose was embraced with zeal anddetermination by theCExe»cutive Department

of the Government of the United States, I thought it my duty, and asked them .

to concur  me in the attempt, to let that purpose be "known to the country.

15

I conferred with gentlemen of distinction and eminence. I proposed means of
exciting public attention to the question of Annexation, before it should have
become a party question; for I had learned that when any topic becomes a party
question, it is in vain to argue upon it.

But the optimists, and the quietists, and those who said all things are well,
and let all things alone, discouraged, discountenanced and repressed any such
effort. The North, they said, could take care of itself; the country could take
care of _' self, and would not sustain Mr. Tyler in his project of Annexation.
When the time should come, they said, the power of the North would be felt,
and would be found suflicient to resist and prevent the consummation of the
measure. And I could now refer to paragraphs and articles in the most respec-
table and leading journals of the «North, in which it was attempted to produce
the impression that there was no danger, there could be no addition of new
States, and men need not alarm themselves about that.

I was not in Congress, sir, when the preliminary resolutions, providing for
annexing Texas, passed. I only know that, up to a very short period before
the passage of those resolutions, the impression in that part of the country of
which I have spoken, was that no such measure could be adopted. But I have
found in the course of thirty years’ experience, that whatever measures the
Executive Government may embrace and push, are quite likely to succeed in
the end. There is always a giving way, somewhere. The Executive Govern-
ment acts with uniformity, with steadiness, with entire unity of purpose. And
sooner or later, often enough, and according to my construction of our history,

quite too often, it effects its purposes. In this way it becomes the predomina-'

ting power of the Government.

. Well, sir, just before the commencement of the present Administration, the
resolutions for the Annexation of Texas were passed in Congress. Texas com-
plied with the provisions of those resolutions, and was here, or the case was
here, on the 22d day of December, 184-5, for her final admission into the Union,
as one of the States. I took occasion then to say:

.“ Mr. President, there is no citizen of this country who was more kindly dis-
posed towards the people of Texas tlian myself, from the time they achieved, in
so very extraordinary a manner, their independence from the Mexican Govern-
ment. I have shown, I hope, in another place, and shall show in all situations,

and under all circumstances, a just and proper regard for the people of that

country; but, with respect to its annexation to this Union, it is well known that,
from the first announcement of any such idea, I have felt it my duty steadily,
uniformly, and zealously to oppose it. I have expressed opinions and urged ar-
guments against it, every where, and on all occasions on which the subject came

wuncler consideration. I could not now, if I were to go over the whole topic
again, adduce any new views, or support old views as far as I am aware, by any

new arguments or illustrations. My eifox-ts have been constant and unwearied;
but, like those of others, they have. failed of success. I will, therefore, sir, in
very few words, acting under the unanimous resolution and instructions of both
branches of the Legislature of Massachusetts, as well as in conformity to my
own settled juclgrnent and full conviction, recapitulate before the Senate and be-
fore the community, the objections which have prevailed, and must always pre-

vail, with me against this measure of annexation. I In the first place, I have, on

the deepest reflleetion, long ago come to the conclusion, that it was of very dam
gerous tendency and doubtful consequences, to enlarge the boundaries of this
Government or theterritories over which our laws are now established. There
mnstbe some limit to the extent of our territory, if we would make our institu-
tions perrénanent. And in this permanency lives the great subject of all my

tptoliticaliletfoirts, the paramount object of my political regard. I The Government

16

‘is very likely to be endangered, in my opinion, by a further enlargement of its
already vast territorial survey.

‘F In the next place, I have always wished that this country should exhibit to
the nations of the earth the example of a great, rich, and powerful republic,
which is not possessed by a spirit of aggrandizement. It is an example, Ithink,
due from us to the world, in favor of the character of republican government. t

“ In the third place, sir, I have to say, that while I hold, with as much in»-
tegrity, I trust, and faithfulness as any citizen of this country, to all thfi original
arrangements and compromises in which they Const.itution under whic we now
live was adopted, I never could, and never can, persuade myself to be in favor
of the admission of other States into the Union, as slave States, with the
inequalities which were allowed and accorded to the slaveholding States then in
existence, by the Constitution. I do not think that the free States ever expect-
ed, or could expect, that they would be called on to admit further slave States
having the advantages, the unequal advantages, arising to them from the mode
of apportioning representation under the existing Constitution.

“ Sir, I have never made an effort, and never propose to make an effort; I
have never countenanced an effort, and never mean to countenance an effort, to
disturb the arrangements as originally made, by which the various States came
into the Union; but I cannot avoid considering it quite a different question
when a proposition is made to admit new States, and that they be allowed to
come in with the same advantages and inequalities which existed in regard to
the old.”

Now, sir, as I have said, in all this I acted under resolutions of the. State of Mas-
sachusetts, certainly concurring with my own judgment, so often repeated and
reafirmed by the unanimous consent -of all men of all parties, that I could not
well go through the series, declaring not only the impolicy, but the unconstitu-
tionality of such annexation. And the case presented is this :-——if a State pro-
posed to come in, comes in as a slave State, it increases that iozequalvity in the con»
dition of the people which already exists, and which, so far as it exists, I would
never attempt to alter, which I would preserve by my vote and by whatever in-
fluence I might possess. Since it was a part of the original compact, let it stand,
but I will not consent to augment, or extend that inequality. But there is
another consideration of vastly more general importance even than that, more
general, because it affects all the States, free and slaveholding,-. and that is, if
the States, formed out of territory thus thinly peopled, come in, they necessarily,
inevitably, break up the relation existing between the two branches of the Legis-
lature anddestroy its balance. They breals: up the constitutional relation be-
tween the Senate and House of Representatives. If you bring in new States,
every State that comes in must have two Senators, while it may have fifty

thousand “or sixty thousand people and no more. You will thus haveseverali

States which shall have more Senators than Representatives. Canany thing

occur to disfigure and derange the frame of government under which we live
more than that? tI—Iere will be a Senate beiaring no proportion to the people,
out of all relation, a Senate formed by the addition of new States ;which may

have only one representative while it has two Senators, while others have ten,
‘fifteen, thirty Representatives,and but two Senators. A Senate added to, aug-
myented by thesenew Senators from States where. there are few. people, becomes

an.»odious oligarch;/.« It holds power without adequate constituency. Sir, it
is cbutboroug/zmongerring on alarge scale. s i  l I it

, ml\'low, sir, I do not depend .on. theory. I ask ~your,and I aslmthe Senate, and

the country,.to look at facts; to see where we were when we made the departure

three years. ago, andwheregwe now are; and I shallpppleavefit to imagination to

conjecture, where we soon shall be. I  ,  v r in _ p Q , p I V I of 
We admitted Texas as one State for the present. But if you will refer to

17

the resolutions providing for the annexation of Texas, you will find a provision
that it shall be in the power of Coiigress hereafter to make four other new
States out of Texan territory. Present and prospectively, therefore, five new
States, sending ten Senators, may come into the Union out of Texas. Three
years ago we did that. Now we propose to make two States more: for un-
doubtedly it‘ we take what the P1'esident recommends, New Mexico and Califor-
nia, each will make a State,---so that there will be four Senators. We shall
have then, in this new territory, seven States sending fourteen Senators to this
Chp.1mbE‘3e‘p.t Nfow whpt vlpiglll be the replation between the Senate and the people,
or ie a es rom w iic e come .

I do not understand that tliere is any accurate census of Texas. It is gener-
ally supposed to contain 150,000 persons. I doubt whether it is over 100,000.
(Mr. Maiigum said ‘ 149,000.’) Well, call it 150,000. VVell, sir, Texas is not
destined to be a country of dense population. Suppose it to have 150,000 people.
By the best accounts, and I have gone over all I could find, New Mexico may
have 60 or7 0,000 inhabitants, such as they are--— say 7 0,000. In California it
is supposed there are but 25,000 now; but undoubtedly if it become ours, per-
sons O1‘1g_1I1f1lly’ from the Vlrestern country will emigrate to the neighborhood of
San Francisco, where there is some good land and some lIll‘.eI"€StllTlg country,
and they may reach 60 or 7 0,000. Put them down for 70,000. We have then
in the whole territory, upon this estimate, which is as large as any man puts it,
290,000 people; and they may send us, whenever we ask for thein, fourteen
Senators. Less than the population of Verniont, and not one et'gla.t/z part that
of New York I Fourteen Senators and no more people than Vermont! no
more people than New Hampsliire, and not so many as the good State of New
J erseyl But, then, Texas claims to the line of the Rio Grande, and to run along
that river; and if that be her true line, then of course she absorbs a consider-
able, the greater part, of that which is now called New Mexico. _I shall not argue
the question of the true south or western line of Texas. I will only say, what
npitsit be t‘l£ppa1;3(~1)1ntttC:)NeVerl3\T4:bOEly who Vail; 10&:‘);nl{.'(z1a6‘l.'I(]it|]/11(.:I lliiitp, tppd Earn dany tlihinlg
0 1e ma ter, a ew , exico canno e W1" e‘ y ie 10 ran e, a s a -
low, fordableiriver, creeping along a narrow valley, at the base of’ enormous
mountains. New Mexico must remain together, and be a State, with 60,000
people, and so it will be, and so will be California.

Suppose Texas I to remain a unit for the present, let it be one State for the
present, still we shall have three States, Texas, New Mexico and California:

and we shall have then six Senators for less than 300,000 people. We shall

have as many for those 300,000 whom they will represent, as for New York,
Pennsylvania .’al.1‘1(1pOl1TlO, with their four or five milliorts, of people: and that’s
what you call equal governnientl Is not this enormous? Have gentlemen con-
sidered it,——--— have they looked at it? Are they willing to look it in the face and
then say they embrace it? I trust in God that the people will look at it, con-
sider it and reject it. I
And now let me add that this disproportion can never be d27m£re.t's7zecZ. It must
remain forever. How will you go to work to diminish it? Texas with her
150,000 people, forms one State. Suppose population to flow in; where will

, it go ? not to the densely settled portions, but it will spread over the whole regioii ;

p doubt, it is all chalked out now.

it will go to places remote from the Gulf‘, -—— to places remote from the present
capital of Texas; and, therefore, so soon as there are in the north part of Texas
people enough to satisfy the conditions of the constitution of the United States, or
rather the practice of Congress, for the formation of new States, a new State
may be formed; and then we ‘shall have another new State made. I do not

Then, as to New Mexico, there can he noinore people there than there are
. 2* p p y

18

now. The man is ignorant, stupid, who can look upon the map and see what
that country is, and suppose that it can have. more people than it has now, some
sixty or seventy thousand. It is an old settled country, the people living
along t.he bottom of the valley, upon the two sides of the garter which stretches
through it, and is full only of land holders and miserable peons: and it can
sustain, not only under their cultivation but under any cultivation to which the
American race will submit, no more people than are there now. And two Sen-s
ators will comefrom New Mexico with its present population to the end of our
lives and those of our children. '

And now how is it with California? We propose to take Calit"orni.a from the 

47th degree of north latitude to the 32d. VVe propose to take ten degrees
along the coast of the Pacific. All along the coast for that great distance are
settlements and villages and ports : and back, all is wilderness and barrenness
and Indian country. But if’, just about St. Francisco and perhaps Monterey,
emigrants enough should settle to make up one State, then the people 500 miles
ofi' would have another State. And so this disproportion of the Senate to the
people will go on and must go on, and we cannot prevent it. u I

y 1 I say, sir, that according to my conscientious conviction we are now fixing on
the constitution of the United States and its frame of government, a monstrosity,
a disfiguration, an enormity! Sir, I hardly dare trust myself‘. I don’t know
but I may be under some delusion. I don’t knowibut my head is turned. It
may be the weakness of mine eyes that forms this monstrous apparition! But
if I may trust myself, if I may persuade myself that I am in my right mind,
then it does appear tome that we, in this Senate, have been,and are acting,
and are likely to be acting hereafter, and immediately, a part which will form
the most remarkable epoch in the history of our country.

I hold it to be enormous, --—— flagrant; an outrage upon all the principles of
popular Republican government, and on the elementary provisions of the con--
stitution under which we live, and which we have sworn t.o support.

But then, stir, what relieves the case i"rom this enormity? Wl'lat is our reli—-
ance? Why, it is that we stipulate that these new States shall only be brought
in, at a suitable time. And pray, what is to constitute the suitableness of time?
'Who~is to judge of‘ it? I tell you, sir, that that suitable time will come when
the preponderance of . party power here, makes it necessary to bring in new
States! Be assured it will be a suitable time when votes are wanted in this
Senate. We have had some little experience of that. Texas came in at a ‘ suit-
able tirne’-—--a very suitable. time! Texas was finally admitted in December
1845. My friend near me here, for whom I have a great regard, whose ac-
quaintance I have cultivatecl with pleasure, (Mr. Rusk,) took his seat in March,
184-6, with his colleague. In July 1846, these two Texan votes turned the

balance in the Senate, and overthrew the Tariii‘ of 1842, in my judgment the

best system of revenue ever established in this country. s .

' Grentlemen on the opposite side, think otherwise. They think it fortunate.
They think that was a suitable time, and they mean to take care that other times
shall be equally suitable. , I understand it perfectly well. That’s the difference

of opinion betweenpme and these -honorable gentlemen. To their policy, their
jobjects and their purposes, the time was suitable, and the aid was eflicient and

‘ l

decisive. t i j _ s p y ,
I Sir, in 1850 perhaps a similar question. maybe agitated here. i It is notlikely

_to.!l0e-nbeforle that time, but agitated it will be then, punlessa change in the admin-
 istration qf the governmentshallp take place. According, to my apprehension,

looking at general results, as flowing from our established system of "Commerce

«and Revenue,... at about i1850,;in,two years from this, weshall’ probably be en-
gaged in a new revision of ‘our system: in the work of establishing,'if we can, I

2. Tariff‘ of specific duties, --— of protecting, if we can,‘ our domestic industry and

19

the manui‘actures oi‘ the country, in the work of preventing, it‘ we can, the
overwhelmning flood of foreign itnportations. Suppose that to be part of the
future: that would be exactly the ‘suitable time,’ if necessary, for two Sena-«
tors from New Mexico to make their appearance here. ,

But, again, we hear other lulling and soothing tones, which quiet none of my
alarms, assuage none of my apprehensions «--— commend me to my nightly rest
with no more resignation. And that is the plea, that we may trust the popular
branch qf the Legislature, we may look to the House of Representatives, to
the Northern and Middle States, and even the sound men of the South, and
trust them to take care that new States he not admitted sooner than they should
be, or for party purposes. I am compelled by experience, to distrust all such
reliances. If we cannot rely on ourselves, when we have the clear constitua
tional authority competent to carry us through, and motives intensely powerful,
I beg to know how we can rely on others? Have we more reliance on the
patriotism, the firmness of others, than on our own?

Besides, experience shows us that things of this sort may be sprung upon
Congress and the people. It was so in the case of Texas. It was so in the
Twenty-eighth Congress. The members of that Congress were not chosen to
decide the question of Annexation or no Annexation. They came in on other
grounds, political and party, and were supported for reasons not connected with
that question. What then? The Administration sprung upon them the ques-«
tion of Annexation. It obtained a snap judgment upon it, and carried the meas-
ure of Annexation. That is indubitable, as I could show by many instances, of
which I shall state only one.

Four gentlemen from the State of Connecticut were elected before the ques-
tion arose, belonging to the dominant party. They had not been here long be«
fore they were committed to Annexation; and when it was known in Connec~
ticut that Annexation was in contemplation, remonst ances, primte, public and
lervislative, were uttered in tones that any one could hear who could liear thun-«
der. Did these more those members? Not at all. *<‘.very one of them voted
for Annexatiionl The election came on, and they were all turned out to a man.
But what did those care for that, who had had the benefit of their votes ? Such
agencies, it‘ it be not more proper to call them such instrunientalities, retain res-
pect no longer than they continue to be useful.

Sir, we take New Mexico and Caliibrriiiag who is weak enough to suppose
tliat there’s an end? Don’t we hear it avowed every day, that it would be proper
also to take Sonora, 'I‘amaulipas and other provinces and States of Northern
Mexico? Who thinks that the hunger for dominion will stop here of itself 3”
It is said, to be sure, that our present acquisitions will prove so lean and unset»
isfactory, that we shall seek no further. In my juclgment, we may as well say
of a rapacious animal, that if he has made one ll1'lp1‘0ClLlCl3lV6 hunt, he will not
try for a better foray. ‘

But farther. There are some things one can argue against with temper, and
submit to, if overruled, without mortification. There are other things that seem
to affect one’s consciousness of being a sensible man, and to imply a disposition
to impose upon his common sense. And of this class of topics, or pretenccs, I
have never heard of any thing, and I cannot conceive of any thing, more ridicu
ulous in itself‘, more absurd, and more attrontive to all sober judgment, than the
cry that we are getting indemnity, Icfnderzzntftg/, by the acquisition of New Mex-
ice and California. I hold they are not worth a dollar: and we pay for them

vast sums of money! We have expended, as every body knows, large trees»

ures in the prosecution of the war; and now what is to constitute this indem-
nity? What do gentlemen mean by it? Now, sir, let us see how this stands.

I We get a country. We get, in the first instance, a cession, or an acknowledgw

20

ment of boundary, (I care not which way you state it,) of the country between
the N ueces and the Rio Grande. What this country is, appears from a publi.
cation made by a gentlemen in the other House, (Major Gaines.) He says
the whole country is worth not/mtg.

“ The country from the ueces to the valley of the Rio Grande is poor, ster-
ile, sandy, and barren -a-—with not a single tree of any size or value on our whole
route. The only tree which we saw, wa.s the musquit tree, and very few of
these. The musquit is a small tree, resembling an old and decayed peach tree‘.
The whole country may be truly called a perfect waste, uninhabited and unin--~
habitable. There is not a drop of running water between the two rivers, except
in the two small streams of San Salvador and Santa Gartrudus, and these only
contain water in the rainy season. Neither of them had running water when
we passed them. The chaparral commences within forty or fifty mi.les of the
Rio Grande. This is poor, rocky, and sandy; covered with prickly pear, this»
tles, and almost every sticking thing »——- constituting a thick and perfectly impen-
etrable undergrowth. For any useful or agricultural purpose, the country is not
worth a sous. ,

“ So far as we were able to form any opinion of this desert upon the other
routes which had been travelled, its character every where between the a two
rivers, is pretty much the same. We learned that the routes pursued by Gen-
eral Taylor, south of ours, was through a country similar to that through which
we passed; as also was that travelled by Gen. Wool from San Antonio to Pre-
sidio, on the Rio Grrande. _From what we both saw and heard, the whole com»
mand came to the conclusion which I have already expressed~—-——that it was
worth azot/wing. I have no hesitation in saying, that I would not hazard the life
of one valuable and useful man for every foot of land between San Patricio and
the valley of the Rio Grande. The country is not now and can never be of the
slzlgittest value.” ’ 1

Major Gaines has been through this region lately. He is a competent ob»-
server. He is contradicted by nobody. And so far as that country is concern-
ed, I take it for granted that it is not worth a dollar.

Now of New Mexico——~what of that? Forty-nine fiftieths, at least, of the
whole of New Mexico, are a barren waste, a desert plain, or mountain,
with no wood, no timber: little faggots for lighting a fire are carried 30 or 40
miles on mules; there is no natural fall of rains there, as in temperate climates.
Itis Asiatic in scenery altogether p-—-- enormously high mountains, running up some
of them 10,000 feet -—- with narrow valleys at their bases, through which streams
sometimes trickle along. A strip, a garter winds along, through which runs
the Rio Grande, from far away up in the Rocky Mountains to latitude thirty-
three, a distance of‘ three or four hundred miles. There these 60,000 persons
are. In the mountains on the right and left, are streams which, obeyinrr the

natural tendency, as laterals, should flow into the Rio Grande, and whicll, in .

certain seasons, when rains are abundant, do,~some of them, actually reach the

0 Rio Grande, while the greater part always, and all for the greater part of the

year, never reach an outlet to the sea, but are absorbed in the sands and desert
plains of‘ the country. There is no cultivation there. There is cultivation
where there is artificial watering “or irrigation, and no where else. i Men can

live only inthepnarrow valley, and in the gorges of the mountains which rise

around it, and not along the course. of the streams which losethemselves in
the sands. is I 1 , g V ,  I
I Now there is no public domain in New Mexico, --~ not a foot of land, to the
soil of which we. shall obtain title. .Not an acre becomes ours Whenthge country

becomes, ours. More than that; the country is full of people, such as  V

 

are. , Therenot the least thingtin it to invite settlement from the fertile _

la
6

21

ley of the.Mississippi. And I undertake to say that there would not be two
hundred families or persons, who would emigrate from the United States to New
Mexico, for agricultural purposes, in fifty years. They could not live there.
Suppose they were to cultivate the lands ; they could only make them product»
ive in a slight degree by irr_igation, or artificial watering. The people there
produce little, and live on little. That is not the characteristic, I take it, of’ the
people of the Eastern or of the Middle States, or of the Valley of the Mis-
sissippi. They produce a good deal, and they consume a good deal.

Again, sir, New Mexico is not like Texas. I have hoped and I still hope
that Texas will be filled up from among ourselves, not with Spaniards; not
with peons; that its inhabitants will not be Mexican landlords, with troops of
slaves, przedial or otherwise.

l\£[r. Russ: here rose and said he disliked to interrupt the Senator, and there-
fore he had said nothing while he was describing the country between the Nuc-
ces and the Rio Grande; but he wished now to say that when tha.t country
comes to be known, it will be found to be as valuable as any part of’ Texas.

The valley of the Rio Grande is valuable from its source to its month. But he

did not look upon that as indemnity; he claimed that as the mfg/at of Texas. So
far as the Mexican population is concerned, there is a good deal of it in Texas ;
and it comprises many respectable persons, wealthy, intelligent, and distinguisl1-
ed. A good many are now moving in from New Mexico, and settling in Texas.

Mr. VVE13S'1.‘1's‘.It. I take what I say, from ll«Ia,jor GAINES. But I am glad to
hear that any part of New Mexico is fit for the foot of civilized man. And I
am glad, moreover, that there are some persons in New Mexico who are not so
besotted with their miserable condition as not to make an etlbrt to come out of
their country, and get into  better.

Sir, I would, if I had time, call the attention of the Senate to an instructive
speech made in the other House by Mr. SM1'.rI-I of Connecticut. He seems to
have examined all the authorities, to have conversed with all the travellers,
to have corresponded with all our agents. I-Iis speech contains all their commu-
nications ; and I commend it to every man in the United States, who wishes to
know what we are about to acquire by the annexation of New Mexico.

New Mexico is secluded, isolated, a place by itself, in the midst and at
at the foot of" vastmountains, five hundred miles from the settled part of Texas,
and as far from any where else! It does not belong any where! It has no be-
Zoizgings about it! At this moment it is absolutely more retired and shut out
from communication with the civilized world, than the Sandwich Islands or
other Islands of’ the Pacific Sea. In seclusion and remoteness New Mexico
may press hard on the character and condition of Typee. And its people are
infinitely less elevated, in morals and in condiition, than the people of the Sand-
wich Islands. We had much better have Senators from Oahu. Far less intel-
ligent are they than the better class of our Indian neighbors. Commend me to
the Cherokees --- to the Choctaws ; if you please, speak of the Pawnees -—---
of the Snakes ----~-- the Flatfeet-~ of anything but the Diggin Indians, and I will
be satisfied not to take the people of New Mexico. Have they any notion of
our institutions, or of’ any free institutions? Have they any noti.ons of pop-
ular government? N ot the slightest! Not the slightest on earth! ‘When the
question is asked -—-- what will be their constitution ? it is farcical to talk of such
people making a Constitution for themselves. They do not know the meaning
of the term, they do not know its import. They know nothing at all about it;
and I can tell you, sir, that when they are made a Territory and are to be made
a State, such aiConstitutien as the Executive power of this government may
think fit to send them, will be sent and will be adopted. The Constitution of
our fellow citizens of New Mexico, will be framed in the city of Wasliiiigton.

22

Now what says in regard to all Mexico Col. IIARDIN, that most lamented and
distinguished officer, honorably known as a member of the other House, and
who has fallen gallantly fighting in the service of his country? Here is his de-
scription :

“ T/ze wlzole cotmtry "ls misemlly watered. Large r districts ltcwe no water at
all. T/ze streams are small, cmcl at great distances apart. One day we marched
on the road from Monclova to Parras, tlztrty-_-five miles, witlaout water---——- a pretty
severe day’s march for linfantry.

“ Grass is very scarce, and indeed there is none at all in many regions for
miles square. Its place is supplied with prickly pear and thorny bushes.
There is not one acre in two hundred, more probably not one in five hundred,
of all the land we have seen in Mexico, which can ever be cultivated; the
greater portion of it is the most desolate region I could ever have imagined.
The pure granite hills of New England are a paradise to it, for they are with»-
out the thorny briars and venomous reptiles which infest the barbed barrenness
of Mexico. The good land and cultivated spots in Mexico are but dots on
the map. "Were it not that it takes so very little to support a Mexican, and
the land which is cultivated yields its produce with litt.le labor, it would be sur-
prising how its sparse population is sustained. All the towns we have visited,

I with perhaps the exception of Parras, are depopulating, as is also the whole

country.

“ The people are on a par with their land. One in 200 or 500 is rich, and
lives like a nabob ; the rest are peons, or servants sold for debt, who work for
their masters, and are as subservient as the slaves of the South, and look like
Indians, and, indeed, are not more capable of self—government. One man, Ja-
cobus Sanchez, owns three-fourths of all the land our column has passed over in
Mexico. We are told we have seen the best part of Northern Mexico ; if so,
thewhole of it is not worth much. I I

“I came to Mexico in favor of getting or taking enough of it to pay the ex-
penses of the war. I now doubt whether all Northern Mexico is worth the ex-
penses of our column of’ 8000 men. The expenses of the war must be enor-

mous; we have aid enormous 31-ices for ever thinvr; much be ond the usual ,
P 1 Y to 37

prices of the country.” I

There it is. is That’s all North Mexico; and New Mexico is not the better
part of’ it.

Sir, there is a recent traveller, not um"1'ien<lly to the United States, if‘ we
may judge from his work, for he commends us every where, I think an Eng-
lishman, named RUXTON. He gives an account of the morals and the inan-
ners of the population of New Mexico. And, Mr. President and Senators, I
shall take leave to introduce you to these soon to be your respected fellow cit-
izens of New Mexico: r t I i

p “ It is remarkable that, although existing from the earliest times of the col-
onization of New Mexico, a period of I two centuries, in a state of continual hos-
tility with the numerous savagei tribes of Indians who surroundtheir territory,
and in constant insecurity of life and property from their attacks; being alsofar

removed from the enervating influences oflarge cities, and, in their isolated sit-I

nation entirely dependent upon their own resources. the inhabitants are totally
destitute of those qualities which, for the above reasons, we might naturally have
expected to distinguish them, and are as deficient‘ in energy of character and
physical courage, as they are in all the moral and intellectual qualities. In
their social state but one degree removed from the veriests-avages, they might
take a lesson even from these in morality and the..Vc?onventional decencies of
life. Imposinpg trot restraint on their passions,, a shaelessi , and universal loo!-l...
cubinage iexists, and a ‘ total disregardl of morals, to which it would be imposssiw

23

ble to find a parallel in any country calling itself civilized. A want of’ honoraa
ble principle, and consummate duplicity and treachery, characterize all their
dealings. Liars by nature, they are treacherous and faithless to their friends,
cowardly and cringing to their enemies; cruel, as all cowards are, they unite
savage ferocity with their want of animal courage; as an example of which,
their recent massacre of Gov. Bent, and other Americans, may be given, —---one
of an hundred instances.”

These, sir, are soon to be our beloved countrymen!

Mr. President, for a good many years I have struggled in opposition to every
thing which I thought tended to strengthen the arm of Executive power. I
think it is growing more and more formidable every day. And I think that by
yielding to it in this, as in other instances, we give it a strength which it will
be difficult hereafter to resist. I think that it is nothing less than the fear of
Executive power, which induces us to acquiesce in the acquisition of territory,
—--fear, fear, and nothing else.

In the little part which I have acted in public life, it has been my purpose
to preserve the people of the United States, what the Constitution designed to
make them, one people, one in interest,“ one in character, and one in polit-
ical feeling. We now seem disposed to depart from that, and to break it all
up. Wliat sympathy can there be between the people of’ Mexico and California
and the inhabitants of the Valley of the Mississippi and the Eastern States, in
thechoice of a President? Do they know the same man? Do they concur in
any general constitutional principles? Not at all.

Arbitrary governments may have territories, and distant possessions, be-
cause arbitrary . overnrnents may rule them by dili'erent laws and ditlierent sys-
tems. Russia may rule the Ulnraine and the provinces of the Caucasus and

iKamschatl<a, by ,diff'erent codes, ordinances, or ukases.
'We can do no such thing. They must be of us, part of us, or else strang-—

ers.

I think I see that in progress, ‘Wl'1l(':.l1 will clisfigure and defbrm the Constitu-
tion. VVhile these territories remain territories, they will be a trouble and an
annoyance. They will draw aftet‘ them vast expenses. They will probably re-
quire as many troops as we have maintained during the last twenty years, to de-
fend them against the Indian tribes. We must maintain an army at that im—-
mense distance. When they shall become states, they will be still more likely
to give us trouble.

I think I see a course adopted which is likely to t.urn the Constitution of the
land into a dcgformecl monster, into a curse rather than a blessing; in fact, a
frameot" an unequal government, not founded on popular representation, not
founded on equality, but on the grossest inequality. And I think it will go on,
or that there is danger that it will go on, until this Union shall fall to pieces.

I resist it--—- to-day ‘and always I Wl1oeve1* falters, or whoever flies, I continue
the contest!

I know, sir,“ that all the portents are'discot1raging. Wotild to God I could
auspicate good influences. VVould to God that those who think with me, and
myself’, could hope for stronger support. Would we could stand where we do»-
sire to stand. I see the signs are sinister. But with few, or alone, my posi-
tion is fixed! If there were time I would gladly awaken the country. I be-

lieve the country might be awaltened; but it may be too late. But supported

or unsupported, by the blessing of God, I shall do my duty. I see well enough
all the adverse indications. But I am sustained by a deep and a conscientious
sense of duty. And while supported by that feeling, and while such great inter-
ests are at stake, I defy auguries, and ask no omen but my country’s cause I

NOTE.

THE following resolutions hzwe been passed by the Leg;islut.L11*e oi.‘ Mnssecehum
setts, g'enera.lly, it is helievecl,“’wi.tl1out distinction of pol.iticnl pomty, zigzitiinst the
a11I1e.X;€ttl0l1 of Texas, or the creo.tion of new States out of otl‘1e1'i:'o1*eign territor ;
viz.

1838, MA.ne:1~x 16TH. --~ “ Resolvecl, Tliot We, the Senate and House’: of Rep-
resentaiiives, in General Court e.sse2nhled, do, in the nznne of the people of
Messnciittsetts, earnestly and solemnly protest ngniiist the inoorporution of 'l.‘eXo.s
into this Union, and declare that no not done, or cotnpeot mode, for such pur«
pose, by the G-overnrnent of the United States, will he bllltllllg‘ on the States or
the People.”

1843, l\L~t.RC1?I 16T.lI-E-I. ----“Re.9oZee«:Z, Thnt uncler no circuinstenees wluttsoever
can the people of'Me.ssecliusetts 1*eg‘e.1'tl the proposition to .<.tc1n1it T€5X€l.S into the
Union in any other liglit, t.he.n £‘tS do.ii.ge1‘otL1s to its continuance in );)o:.i.ce, in pros-
perit , mid in the enjoyment of those blessings which it is the ohjectiof it free
government to secure.”

1844, MARCH 15’1‘I-I.-~—— “ Resolved, That the power to unite on independent
foreign State with the United States, is not e1n01'ig the powers clelegttted to the
.Gre1ie1'el Govermnent by the Constitution of the United States.”

1845, FEB. 221). ----~--‘‘ Resolved, Tlutt Messoeliu.sett.s has never cielegzttetl the
power to ztclrnit into the Union, States or Territories Without or beyond the ()'1‘ig-
inul territory of the States and Territories belonging to the Union ut the n<.lop-
tion of the Constitutioii of the United States, ztncl t.1’1ut, in VVl1t:‘tt(i5‘V(3].' nim'1no1.' the
consent of” Messachiisetts inzzty have been given, or intierrecl, to the e.(in:irisfsic>n of
the St:..ttes 3.11-early by general consent 'f'o1‘n1ing port of the Union, iiroin emit tor»-
ritory, the aclniissiori of’ such States, in the ,j1;1clg1’11e11t oi" l\I:;tsso.cl.;n1sc;:tts, .t'orm.s no
precmlent for the mzlinissioii of’ Tex;-u~3, anitl (59.11 never be interpi'etod to rest on
powers grmitecl in the Constitution.”

1845, lilnnont. -—~—- “ Zifesoioecl, Tlmt llflzimsitczliusetitzs hereby iéefiises to n.ol«:nowl-
e(i_£g'e the not of the G-overnrnent; of the Unittexil Sl:u.t:<;~.s, 11.1.1i".lflC)1"iZ”ilf1,gZ)' the €L(.ll"Il'lS$i(;T)l1
of Texas, as a. lefgul act, in uny wzty binding; l;1.e.r from usi.1.‘i,g* her utrnost oxer-—~
tions in eo-operation with other Sto..rtee, lgiy every l:1.witnl nntl eonetit;t.1tionn,l 1'x1e:1.~
sure. to unnul its conditions nnrl (.l(3:i‘h‘£iLi1 its necotinplisliment.”

“ imsolvecl, That the :=2..n:ne>;: tion of it l:1‘:'g<:ia slatw'elr1t)l(li1.t1g lterrgitory, oi: the will
of the Governnient of the United St:::tt.es, with the cjleolztreifl int<;;~ntio1'1 oi" gjivizig
strength to the institution of cl<:nne.st'.ie slavery in these »‘§it'.ntte.9:, is no n.ln.rx'n--
ing; eneroe.clnnent upon the 1~i.gl1ts of the treernen oi’ the Uniion, :1. [)0I'V(f?1L‘.“7$i.(T)Il1 of’
the 11;»:-inoiples of repuhliczuii gcaxie1-mn.en.t, o. deliherute nsen.ul.t; upon the eo1fnp2.*o-
niises of the Constitution, anal cleinnntls the etre1"1uous, 1‘ll;‘flfif.(i~3(I.l.‘c§-l..IiTl(;’l pc:1'*seve1"i1ng
oppo.~?.it.rion of all persons, without clisti.netion_, who eleixn to he the friencle of’ hu»
Innn liberty.”

18«;17, 1*‘11:3e.—--— “ Ji?e3o[2.=eci’, u.7zcm.2Tmo2asZ_-3/, Tlmt the people of Messn.cl1tisetts
‘will strenuously resist the zstnnexation ot':;1.1:1ypnewterritory to this Union in which
the bi1‘iistip1tip1.1 lot‘ sleveiiy isft.o1l')e tglexetzed or ta1.sti:?thlIi_sl1erl; n.11<l tlllfl L(1ag'ielet111~e,
in "em. '0 tie peop e o't‘1is ommontweo. ti, co hereb soernn y protest
a.g2i'i‘11st the acquisition of any .u<:ldi.tione.1 territory, Without  express provision
by Congress, that there shell be neither shtvery nor involuntary servitude in
such territory, otherwise tlmn for the ipunishment of crime.” ,

18:17, Azvzerx. 26'rH. --«- “Resolved, Tliiet the annexation of’ territory with Mexi-
can population upon it, is highly inconsistent with the Wellébeingrof this Union.”

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