Litchfield enquirer., 1845-06-19

its warm climate Some attemnts have beon
made to jerk the former, but the demand for the
article is limited, and it Is difficult to compete
with that brought from South America in fine
markets Where 1t Is principally consumed. With
Tree intercourse with the United States the vac,
herds OF stock which cover these blooming prai.
ries might be driven over them to the shores O:
the Red and Mississippi Rivers and sustained and
fattened during the drive. on their rich grasses
and sold in the markets Of the South, in place Of
the droves sent thither from Kentucky and the
North Western States, whose cattle would be turn.
ed toward the Eastern markets. Wool and stock
must be the principal products of Texas West OF
! the Trinity and North of the navigable points on
her rivers, and these interests cannot prosper with
out annexation to the United States or free access
to their markets.
That this vast portion of the Republic is unfit
Tor planting, its present condition proves Those
VINO have moved into it for that purpose are aban-
donng the pursuit, and many are quitting the
country. That Texas independent, or any State, or
any number OF agricultural States, separate from
the Union, without markets of their own, can
prosper, is fully disproved, in my opinion, by the
present unfortunate state of this country Itspop-
ulation, which has always been greatly exaggera-
tea abroad, to give the country consequence IN the
eyes of the world, has never, in my opinion, ex-
ceeded 10000. Congress-, to conceal the truth of
the pauclty of the population, and swayed too, by
the interest of rotten borough system, which Sc
cures representative to every county, has steadi-
ly refused to have census taken. ,a .4s& a.5
We have. therefore, but uncertain data for an
estimate, but these data, beside the evidence of
deserted farms unoccupied houses, prove popula-
ton, in spite of the introduction by contract of
foreign colonists, to be diminishing. Tn the last
election of General Houston, four years since,
when there was no opposition, the whole number
OF votes polled was about 16,ooO in the last Pre-
sldential contest in which there was an active and
heated canvass, and which brought out full, Nso.
OF the people, the aggregate vote was no popula-
taking the proportion that yotqinmber of inhabi-
tlon IN communities WlGnited States as basis for
Iahts IS knowtalo'15 900 votes would represent
an ess1tf6h of about 10000, and 13,OO0 popnla-
Ctf6n of 10000. But in Texas, every foreigner is
permitted to vote, who has been six months in the
country, by simply swearing while in the country,
to support its laws and constitution, without being
required to declare his intentions to become a cit
izen, or being obliged to abure his allegiance to
his native or other foreign States. sis ~.
A citizen, therefore, of Great Britain, France or
the United States, without repudating any Of his
obligations to his own country, may 60 into Texas,
and take part in all their civil and political move
ments, and return the same year and resume all
the rights of citizenship in his native country. In
practice, told, all admitted to the right of
suffrage, and few who have been in the country six
weeks are denied the privileges of electors Be-
sides, under law passed during the Mexican in.
vasions to secure the right of voting TO those who
were driven from their homes, and which is still in
force any number of citizens of any one county in
the Republic, being on the day of the election in
any other county, or in New Orleans, in any por-
tion of the globe. may assemble themselves to-
gether and organising themselves es haar9a s4
votes for candidate, which votes when sealed up,
certified and transmitted to the county where they
claim to be residents, are counted as portion Of
the legal votes of said county. .,'. "a.
Under such system, the proportion of voters to
the number of inhabitants must be greater than in
the United States, and the population therefore
less than we have estimated it. 1t is estimated by
we'll informed men, that there 90 900 blacks in
the country; the whole population, therefore,
not exceed $4,000 or 10000. And this is the
great empire whose moral and political influence
is to change and perhaps subvert all our social and
political institutions, by connexion with Our Un-
ion. 1t is one of the most formidable bugbears ev-
er created by popular alarm Texas, it is true, is
of less consequence than respectable county in
old Massachusetts, and will not be justly entitled,
if admitted into the Union, to more than one re-
preventative in Congress, and in my opinion, will
never embrace population more than sufficient
for one respectable State, large proportion of its
people must be engaged in employments in which
free labor only will be profitable F. Y. c.