The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1845-02-19
ANNEXATION OR TEXAS.
SPEECH OF MR.. BUCHANAN,
or PENNSYLVANIA,
IN SENATE,
FEsRuARY IA, l6A5.
Concluded.


ton OF this power. And, as Mr.. Van Buren, had be-
| fore him argued, Mr.. Jefferson must have changed
his opinion he never would have acted as Inc did
i In the admission Of Louisiana.
Mr.. b. here went on TO say that II was very sin-
guar mode of getting rid Of plain clause 10 the Con-
stituton, by arguing from the nconsenieDces which
| resulted from IT, The Senator's argument In this
way applied well to admission by the treaty power
as 10 admission by act of Congress And the conse-
quenees he threatened about as much to be APP
pretended that that the sky should iall-phen Il
did we should catch lsrks. A laugh.
A wise man would leave as little 10 the discretion
Of his agents as possible-but he must leave them
some. Congress had from the Constitution the war
making power and they might, II such was their
pleasure, declare war 10 morrow morning against the
| whole world. Was that an argument against the
powerl Ii they ever should be insane enough, they
might in like manner abuse any and every other pow
| or as well as this Of admitting States. New
States may be admitted by the Congress into the
Unlon" Was il argument against this power that
Congress might admit China, with her august Empe-
ror, the brother OF the sun and moon Congress
| might admit France, or Austria, or England herself,
when those countries should adopt a republican form
Of government and ask for admission, but before.
! Nor was Congress bound TO admit them, even then.
! The question now was not whether We should ad-
nit the Chinese, but people Of kindred blood TO our
own-our brothers and our slsters-a people capable
OF liberty and it for liberty people trained from
| infancy 10 the principles Of our Government and
that when Me country they inhabited was necessary
to complete The security Of our pwH territory and 10
secure TO US the navigation Of the Mississippi To
que against such proposition because by the
power Congress might admit China and all the world
amounted, Ia Mr.. BIS judgment, 10 Just nothing.
MIR Is. said there was portion Of the general
guDent on the admission oil Texas which he should
not discuss. II had been we'll met, and he had ex-
pressed his views Of IL former occasion. Ii was
the position that could not admit Texas without
the consent Of Mexico. The day had gone by for
| that argument And that we could not do il without
breach of the national faith and without war The
day Tor such an argument had forever passed away
| He should not now open it anew. Suffice il to say
that Texas never had owed allegiance to the present
| Government Of Mexico for a single hour and il
she once did, she had achieved her independence
| in the bloody fields Of San Jacinte. And what she
then acquired by the sword she was able to maintain
| against Mexico by the sword The anglo-Sa on
blood could be subdued by any thing that claim
ed Mexican origin. Texas had maintained her in
dependence for nine years How could gentlemen
thus contend against the very principles Of our
| Revolution How could they say that that young
but glorious people, who had thrown of The yoke and
bravey vindlcaed their freedom, only quasi in
dependent until the consent Of that very Power who
had unjustly attempted 10 hold them in bondage should
be obIained1 This argument however, had been but
little used, and did not seem to be much relied on.
| And here Mr.. b. said he might stop; but he
was DESTROYS OF fully doing his duty to this great ques
| lion, ne would advance a little turther
| He contended that Texas ought TO be admitted in-
10 the Union because II would be bond Of perpetu
| al peace between us and England, and France. and
| all the manufacturing nations Of the world This
might, at its first annuncation sound strangely but
| IT could be demonstrated. What was that which had
raised the power Of Great Britain to greater height
than any other single causef Undeniaby it the
cotton manufacture it this which, above all ese
had contributed to place her in the elevated position
she now held before the world il necessary not
to her prosperity merely, but almost to her national
| existence itself Without it she would sink to the
rank Of second or a third Power. France, TO some
| extent, was in similar circumstances. England
wise, and understood her own position. She was ex-
ploring and land to find some genial soil and some
propiiious heaven, under which cotton might be made
to flourish for the supply Of her manufacturing popu
lation. Brazil, Egypt, and the East Indies had all
been tried in turn, but all her efforts in those quar-
tiers had proved in great measure yain Either the
climate or the soil had turned out to be unfavorable
/ and the experiment bad failed. Meanwhile Texas
had arisen as out of the ocean, and presented the
1 finest cotton region the world saw. Mr.. b did
not blame England for her endeavors to acquire an
influence in such country. She would be false to
herself if she did not attempt to depress rival by
seeking to establish independent Power at its very
1 door. Give US Texas, and should then possess
all the valuable cotton regions OF the world and this
would have more effect in preserving peace with
! England than an army of hundred thousand men
I
she was dependant on us for nothing else she then
must be for this great staple SO indispensable to her
very being as a nation.
Texas, Mr.. b. admitted, never would be colony
Of England; that was most certain but if she should
l., not be admitted into our Union, and should remain
an independent State, she must of necessity form
close alliance with England it could not be other
i wise. The manufactures of England had been in a
!, great degree excluded from the continent the Anne
rican system began extensively to prevail; the
Voll UAru, bal. Al
| the protection Of German manufactures Hence it
was necessary to the very existence of Great Britain
] that she could cooniZe. She must have customers
for her manufactures, which had now acquired such
a stupeDdous magnitude. Texas must for many,
many years to come, be planting country, cotton
\ growing country. Manufactures could not flourish
. there for long time. Her natural policy, therefore,
would be to form close alliance with England to
let England receive her cotton free of duty, and to
take in return British manufactures at low or ra-
y Their nominal duty. Thus Texas would answer her
j purposes in a double vew--frst, by furnishing her
y with the raw material, which she must have and
could not get elsewhere except from us and second
\ ly, by afording her market for her goods
4 For these reasons, Mr.. b. said, let have Texas
2 as part of our own Conlederacy. Then we should
have entire command of the great staple of the world
We we're ourselves turning it to every practicable
use We were making sails of it; we were making
\, it into baggiug and into blankets and using it in
thousand ways to promote human comfor--a at the
cheapest rate, to alleviate the wants snd mitigate the
suffering of mankind. While the golden opportunity
Il was presented TO u.s. let embrace il without fur
Their hesitation or delay.
1t was indeed truly wonderful how the attachment
Of the people Of Texas continued, notwithstanding
neglect, and apparently the very face Of their
own interest Still they continued true and steady
to their national instncts This showed how deeply
the feeling of liberty, the attachment 10 free Gov
eminent, was planted in the breasts of those who
had once enjoyed it and how vain and idle were all
the arts employed to shake it
| But once more: Mr.. Ii. would admit Texas
on account of the glorious system of free trade it
would open to America. II had been stated on high
authority chat of the honorable Senator from Maine,
Mr.. Evans) that the amount Of our home trade was
| fifteen times great that Of the foreign.
! Mr.. EVANS made a word of explanation, not
l hes rd by the Reporter