Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1845-02-14

be deemed expedient by her government.
ate for boundaries and that in his iudum.la esot
the psoper time for negotiating with Mer;.dn1 Va
bill anticipated that; and, as we'll to do h. Iha
as to save her pride. provision was mads tpste
and no more; yet SO as not to cede anv no,. Of As
ancient limits. nor so as to recognise anv ..i %
Mexico to Texas. These provisions uos. ute
a part of the compact; because that wonl1 :, Jo~
ter exclude any question Of power in Tho ueeat
government to cede part of this territorv ?eae'd
thing the boundaries. e.
In reply to some remarks of Mr. Mopp,,
KY, Mr.. H. said that, without going Owe, = d
gument again, he hoped to be pardoned e.. Tue a, +
ting the ground he had taken; and it won, 'eTa 5
wherein the senator from Ky., TMr. Mo- saos +
had Inexperienced what Mr.. H. meant bn tthl
this bill bill for~th immediate enner,. c:aiAg
Texas; and perhaps it might remove the ca0t d
tional objection to it which had been startsT "'U
That to aq,ae;c territory to the Uptsa 9.
and to acquire a territory. were, in his von ''ss
very different and distinct things. TO anner, W.
ritory was neither more nor less than to ,rts.,a
Lasos ofthe United States orer such terr;to,,' ~
the people thereof To acquire TERRITORY Sos @d
err was to gain the property therein by the .'
of the proper authority Of government. as hr ,R
and cession, or, as some said, by egislatiy. YEA!
pact. That this bill was one to extend on, IOn
over Texas; but to take effect whenever ~ ''''
might be constitutionaliy acquired, and NOT bae a
That in that sense it was bill to amer 'ror.R
the United States, and nothing more.
That Nebraska, for example, belonged - 4
United States, but it had never been onnsr,s4
the United States-yiz: our laws had never u.
extended over it. And if it were proposed 70 0Fa
mex Nebraska by extending our laws over that ~
ritory, the proposition would have to be m.1'G
Congress; and the act whenever done, must h..
act of legislation, and it could not be done 9TH
wise.
That in the case of Nebraska, the TERRITORY l.,
been acquired already by treaty of cesson. mts
could not he annexed to the United States " =
treaty; and, therefore, bill to extend our Lave
yer it would plainly and necessarily be a prOuo;
ton ior immediate annexation, by an act of cm
:Sress. So in the case of Texas: bill to e,teI
our laws over 1t Gas tbs was) was plainly prm
sltlon tor immediate annexation by act of Can
Sress. But it could not take effect, as this bIrs
not to take effect until Texas might be consdh,
tionally otherwise acquired. Thus we should b
separating the question of annexation from th
mode of acquisition, and leaving it as another AMI
distlnctinquiry what department of our goverpmen
was competent to acquire Texas. In that sens
he had called this bill for Teacs annexation, and
he thought it was the only proper meaning Ofn~
neration. 1t was, he had said, immediate A..
nexation. But by "inmediate," he meant NOT
day, nor tomorrow. nor before sunset "Imm.T
ate" was relative term; and it meant, IS soon :,
the object or subject upon which our Legislation
was to operate could in constitutional mannprh
brought within its influence and then that the b.
gislation of the present day might operate upon i
proprio Oigore, and without new leg islatien.
In that view of the subject, the constitutional
point was unquestionably removed, and could not
lnterpose any barrier in the mind of senators g..
galnst the progress of this bill.