The State guard., 1848-08-29

lofy lSln5 Soutii or tniHy-SK degrees thll ty minutes north latitude commonly know
 as the Missouri compromise line, shall admitted into the Union with or withol slavery, as the people of each State ask
 ing admission may desire. And in suc State or States as shall be formed out c
 said territory north of the Missouri com
 promise line, slavery or involuntary servi
 tule (except for crime) shall be prohibi ted" e455i
 The territory of Oregon lies far nortl
 of thirty-six degress thirty minutes, tn, 1 Missouri and Texas compromise line
 Its southern boundary is the parallel o 42, leaving the intermediat,l distance tt be three hundred and thirty geographical miles.
 And it is because the provisiofs of this bill are nor incohsista,,i ,,fith sh4 .a.A,s ~l the Missouri compromise, if extended from the Rio Grande to the Pacific ocean, that l have not felt at liberty to withhold my sanction. Had it embraced territories south of that compromise, the question presentation my consideration would have J been of far different character, and my action upon it must have corresponded with my convictions.
 Ought we no H to disturb the Missouri and Texas compromises Ought we at this late day, in attempting to annul what has beeu so long established and acquies- ced in, to excite sectional divisions and lealouses; to alienate the people of dit. terent portions of the Union from each other; and to endanger the existence of the Union itself?
 From the adoption of the federal con stitution, during . period of sixty years, our progress as nation has been without example in the annals of history. Under the protection of bountifll Providence, we have advanced with giant strides in the career of wealth and prosperity. We have enjoyed the blessings of freedom to a greater extent than any other people, ancient or modern, under a government which has preserved order, and secured to every citizen life, liberty, and property We have now become an example for imi- tation to the whole world. The friends of freedom in every cline point with ad- miration to our institutions. Shall we, then, at the moment when the people of Europe are devoting all their energies in the attempt to assimilate their institutions of our own, peril all our bic ssings by de- spising the lessons of experience, and re- fasing to tread in the footsteps which our fathers have troddenl And for what cause would we endanger our glorious Union The Missouri compromise con- tains a prohibition of slavery throughout all that vast region extending twelve and a halfdcgrces along the Pacific, from the parallel of thi.y.six degrees thirty min utes to that ol forty-ninc degrees, and east from that ocean to and beyond the summit of the Rocky mountains. Why, then, should our institutions be endangered be- cause it is proposed to submit to the peo- pie of the remainder of our newly acquir- ed territory lying south of thrty-six de- grccs thirty minutes, embracing less than 1 four degrees of latitude, the question whether, in the language of the Texas compromise, they "shall be admitted Gas a State) into the Union with or without slavery 2" Is this question to be push ed to such extremities by excited partisans on the one side or the other, in regard to our newly acquired distant possessions on the Pacific, as to cndanger the union oi thirty glorious States which constitute our confederacy have an abiding coni- dence that the sober reflection and sound patriotism of the people of all the States will bring them to the conclusion that tue dictate of wisdom is to follow the exam pie of those who have gone before US, and settle this dangerous question on the Mis- souri compromise, or some other equitable compromise, which would respect the rights of all, and prove satisfactory to the c...asrent portions of tho Union.
 H,,,.lina as a sacred trust the Executive authority for Inc whole Union, and bound to guard the rights o. / all, should be con, strained, by sense of duly, to withhold ! my official sanction from any measure ! which would conflict with these important objects. M
 cannot moro appropriately close this message than by quoting from the Fare well Address of the Farther of his coun. try. His warning voice can never be he ard in vain by the American people. | 5 the spirit oi prophecy had distinctly pre-. scented to his view, more than a hall centu " ago, tho present distracted condition o his country, the language which he ther employed, could not have been more ap. propriate than it is to the present ocea l sion. He declared:
 1.-The unity of government, which con stitutcs you one people, is also now dca to you. It is justly so ; for it is mail 1 pillar in the cdifice of your real indepen 1 dence, the support of your tranquility a ihome, your peace abroad, of your safety I of your prosperity, of that very libcrt.
 which you so highly prize. But as it il
 easy to foresee that from different quar ters, much pains will be taken, many arti 4icies employed, to weaken in your mind the conviction of this truth--as this is tn point in your political fortress agains !, which the batteries of internal and exteI : nal enemies will be most constantly an | actively (though often covertly and insid 9 ously) directed it Is of infinite momer