The Arkansas banner., 1848-01-24
Hon. LEWIS CAss.

U. ,. DiCkiNSON. l Hon. LEWIS CAss.
 Washington, Dee %, l8i7. Ceshemen-Agreeabiyt to your request, place al your disposal copy of ,he letter to which you re- ferrcd.
 With great respect, am, gentlemen, your obs svt | LEWIS CASS. 1 Hon. J. Thompson. ". s Fcaihersion. Wm, Saw. | yer, 1T. J. Turner, ". W. Wick, J. L. Robinson. s. Foote, Howell Cobb, A. ". ycnabe, D. $. Dickinson.
 Washington, Dec. 2l, Is47. Dear Sir-l have received yon. letter, aud shall l answer it as frankly as it Is written.
 You ask me whfther am in favor of the aeoniai. | ton of Mexican territory. and wha. are my seuii- | ments with regard to the wi.mot Pruyisn have so often and so explicitly stated my views of the first question, in the Senate that 1t seems sl- most unnecessary to repeat them here. As you re- quest t. however, shall briefly give them. think then, that no peace slsould be granted to Mexico, till a reasonable indemnity Is obiaiued for the injuries which she has done us The territorial ext nt of tlis indemnity s in the first instance subject of executive consideration. There the co,,- sttution has laced 1t, and there am willing to
 ave 1t; not only because have full confidence in its udcious exercise, but because in inc everyary- ing circumstances of war, it would be indiscrect. by a public declaration, to commit the country to any line of indemnity, which might otherwise Le enlarged as tho obstinate injustice of the enemy prolongs the contest, with its losses of blood and treasufe.
 It appears to me that tho kind of me,anhvs,caI magnanimity, wtich would reject all indemnity at the close of bloody and expensive war, brought on by a dirsci at ack upon troops by the enA. my and preceded by succession of unjust scts for
 series of yeas, is as unworthy of the age iu which we iye as it is revoltag 10 tbe couamon sense and practice of mankind. It would conduce but little ntI ftaaa putatoa, to declare that repadiate ali expecta- ton of compensation from the Mexican government, aud are fighting, not for any pracficat Te>uIt but Tor some vague. perhaps, philanthropic object, winch escapes from my penetration, and must b. deilnsd by these who assume this new principle of national in;erconH,unicat;oB. All wars arc to be deprecated us we'll by the statesman as by the phi lanthropist. They are great evtls but there are greater evils than thesa and submission to ininscc IS among them. The nution. which should refuse to defend ifs rights ani It's honor when assailed, would soon have neither 10 defend and when driven to war; it is not by professions ef dsinteres,encss and declarations of magnanimity, that its rational objects can be best obtaned other nations taught lesson of forbearance-the strongest security for permanent peace. We are st war with Mexico. and its vigorous pros cuton Is the surcst means of it's speedy teruiaation, and ample indemnity, the surest guarantee against the recurrencc of such in ju tice Us provoked it.
 The Wiinlot Proviso has been before the country some time has been repeatedly discussed in Con- sress, and by the public press. am strongly i'm. pressed with the opinicn that a great ehan.c has been going on in the public mind upon this snbec, in my own as wei as others; and that doubts are resolving themselves ntl conviction, tut the prin eiplc involves should be kept ont of the national legislature, and left te the people of the confe9eracy in their respective local governments.
 The whole subject is comprehensive one. and frui ful of inn ortant consequences. Itwoud be il- timed to discuss il here. shall not assume that responsible task, but shall confnc myself to such general views are csssary to the fair eAhibi ion of my opinions.
 We may we'll regret the existcarc of slavery h the Southern States, and wish they had been saved from Its introduction. But fherc il is, and not by the act of the present generation; and we must deal with It us great practical question: nveiviog the the right nor the power to touch 1t where 1t exists and Ii we had both, their exercise, by any means suggested might lead 10 results which 10 ~ise man would willingly encounter, and which no good man could contemplate without anxiety.
 The theory of cur government presupposes that regulation of all subjects relating to what may be termed their intei nal police. They are sovereign within tn ir boun3uries, except in those where they have surrendered to the general government a DO tiou c their rights. n order to give effect to tho objects oi the upion whether these concern foreign nd i0ns Ot tHe etFetai Stotc& tnctukeves. Local t stituions, II may speak, whether thcy have re- ference to sasery, to any other relations domes tic or public, left to local authority, either ori gnal or dcrivs,iye. Congress has no right to say that there shall be slavery in New York, or that there shall be no savey In Georgia; nor Is thereany other human powsr, but the people of those States respectively. which can change the relations exist ing therein; and they say. if they will We will have slavery ia the former, and will abolish it in the latter.
 In various respects the Territg iss diTer from the States: Some of their rights are inchoai and they do not possess the peculiar attributes of sovereignty Their rela' ion to the general government Is vsry im?erft cty defined by the constitution; and it will be md, upon examination that In that instrument the only graht of power concerning them is convey cd in the phrase Cengress shall have the power to dispose of and make ali needfa regulations, respect ing he trri,ory and other property bsongng to tie United States" Certainly this phraseology Is very loose if it were designed to include in the grant Inc whole power of cgissation over persons, well as things. The expression, the. .iefritosy and other Propsrty," fsiriy construed, relates to the public lands as snch to arssnais, dock yards orts ships, and all the yaroas kais of property, which the U. States may and must possess
 But surely the simple authority to dssp,se ef aad vcgalqts thcse does not extend 10 tho unlimited pow
 of iegislatisn to the passage of all laps in the most general acceptioR of the word; which, by the by Is carefully excluded from. the ssataacs. And. indeed, If this were go, II would render unnecessagy another provision of tke const utiea, which grants to Congress the power to with the consent of the States, respectively, over all places parchas- cd for the .eseciion of forts, magazines, arsenas, dock -yafds. Sc" These being the sprpper,y ef tue United states, If the power to make .neeffal rules and regulations concerning" them iscluaes the gsa era power of gslaiian then the grant of aathori- ty to regulate the territory anf other property of the United Staies' is unlimited, wherever subjects are found for is operation, and it's exercise needed no suiilary prcvisieB IT, the other hand. II desa not include such power of isgslatssu over the Zshei rrcpciy" Of the United states. then it dees es ia-