The Arkansas banner., 1844-07-31

vernment instituted, and new laws and rulers selected, and stability and quiet given to their national affairs, We ought to acknowledge both their de fdcto and dc jure existence their full right to come into the family oi nations, and exercise all the powers of inde- pendent sovereignties The other side oi this question is the British or'European side. Theirs is the doctrine of eternal allegiance. Ours, that of free agency and self-govemment, Theirs is the doctrine of the divine right of kings. Ours that of the divine right oi the people. Theirs is the doctrine oi tyranny over the mind and conscience-the reign oi it upheld by the bowsifing, the inqulsitIon' and standino armies. Ours is the doctrine of liberty, upheld by reason, intelligence, and sound morals In some respects, the struggle between these principles has been roing on since civilization has been much difiiised, and especially between colonies and their parent country-the former striving for privileges commensurate with their growth and rights It is the child become more man. and claiming the authority and lmmu- mites of man; and is to be countenanced rather than prescribed. All people thus situ- aied. in all time-whether Carthaginlans from Tyre, Greeks from Egypt, Marselols and Syraeusans from Greece, Spaniards from Rome, North Americans from England, or South Americans from Spain-all have thus acted. and been thus eountenanced and sus- tained; and so must be Texas. And we were destined to open the drama on the new continent
 The colonial system thus prostrated her in l776, and a new government like our own springing I'D oil its ruins, astonished the powers of Europe, as well as all the Old World, as much as the original discovery ei America by the great acorld-fnder, who hreathes in marble by Persice in front ot the Capitol Yet, forsooth, we hear 1t now gravely argued thata people like thosein Texas cannot, de jure eede their territory, or unite with us in government; but must first, with due humility, ask leave of Mexico, orsubmit to be reconquered by her, and have the con- veyance emanate from her, i'll order to have it suit onr opponents modern American no- tions of selfgoyernment and all this, though Texas revoted for as good cause as we did from England, though she has established as good constitution and laws, and though she has maintained them all firmly and un- impaired for years, and has been recognized and negotiated with as sovereign and inde- pendent nation by all the great powers of Cristendomi Yes; kings, at the Congress of Vienna, may cede principalities and pow CTS, extinguish old or create new govern ments, and transfer the people like sheep in the shambles; or kings alone may partition 1 Poland, and hlotou obnoxious dynastles and empires from the map of the world-as Eng land does ever and over again in India but a sovereign people and their established go- vernment, by q vote almost unanimous. are to be held incompetent to cede their terrlto- ry and change their government. And this is to be held, also, by us Aaglo-Americans and Spanish Mexicans, who exist as nations only by revolts and changes of their own governments; and, furthermore, that, fl We dare only by peaceful. negotiation to take the cession, il ought to call down upon our pre- sumptious heads all the horrors of foreign war.
 What are the more specific points in this objection interposed by senators in debate
 First, that though independent and sove- reign, the republic of Texas is not competent 10 eede its whole territory, though it might be to cede T part And it is urged that, in the case of Louisiana and Florida, only q part of Spain and France was ceded.
 But how absurd does such an objection appear, when, if Texas owns 200,000,000 of acres, she might legally cede l99,999,999 acres, but not that and the other acre; or she might legally cede.a quarter of il at one time, another quarter at another, and so through the whole, except the lastl No, sir; she is neither entirely independent nor entirely sovereign, if incapable of conveying the whole. Such are the principles of national law
 "A free people, or king, may alienate their territory, in part orin full. n-{Grotius, , b., ch 6, sec. 2.
 And if in full, then the union of their peo- pie with our form of government follows as q matter ef course, unless they choose 10 emigrate elsewhere, and join some other go- yernment, or form new one, on some vacant portion of the earth--like that of Alneas and his companions from Troy, or Dido from Tyre. And fl the people and the indePen- dent republic of Texas are, for this reason, not as competent 10 unite with Us entirely as stsSl "tS '1 1NoNt oiA d 3dN pi diNlt tei itVl < then the absurdity would seem to follow that they never can be competent for admission into the Union, thopgh recognised by Mcxi- co, and no shadow of war existing, till they become qualified by abandoning their inde- pendence, repudiating republieanism, and, as seville dependency or reconquest of the the monarchs of Spain or Mexico, be sold merely as portion of their territory 10 the United States
 When senators contend that this cession ofthe whole destroys the ceding government or nation, and is hence impractieable and un- precedented, they forget that the nation may still hold together and migrate, or may agree to unite with the neighbor to whom their territory has been conveyed, and that this is neither unusual nor unreasonable. Pray tell me, did not Rhode Island unite with us-all her territory, and all her people, and all her government-rather than part; and thus became annexed to that Union whose consti- tution she before had refused 10 aid in form ing, and refused to adopt till, in all quarters.