The State guard., 1848-08-22

army then being at Corpus Christi. He reached there, presented his credentials, and Was rejected in December, the army being still at Corpus Christi. All this was communicated to the President in January, lS46; and under an order given by the President, only because. tho minister was rejected, the army took up its line of march for the Rio Grande on the 18th of March thereafter; thus making difference of four months between the dcputation of the minister and the march of the army. Sir, the humblest freeman who claims the protection of your laws when arraigned at the bar of his country, has the right to be tried alone by the facts upon the record. And surely. when the highest functionary known to our laws is charged with grave political crimes, and which, if true, would class him in the bloody catalogue of ty- rants and monsters who have afflicted the earth, iio hope lof temporary party asccn- dency, no imagined prospect of political advantage, should make us dnmindldl of the truth of history.
 And now, sir, l leave niy colleague, as also the President-the one to the recon- cilement of his inconsistencies, the other to the enjoyment of that public confidence he has so richly won, and that vindication which impartial history always bestows, both upon the motives and the conduct of public men.
 I will now proceed, Mr. Chairman, to the consideration of the important subject embraced in the bill upon your table. We are but just extricated from the wan in which, for the last two years, We have been involved. A war which, although it has acted as heavy drain upon otir resources, both of treasure and of blood, has, at the same time, been fruitful in all those results which augment the sum of nations power and glory. Blythe treaty of peace concluded with Mexico, more than eigh- teen hundred thousand square miles of territory have been added to the public domain of the United States. In addition to this, we already own tho vast territory of Oregon, for which this bill proposes to establish government. Thus embrac- ing an extent of country running through seventeen degrees of latitudcs along the Pacific coast. This extensive region, in itself an empire, has been achieved by the common enterprise, treasure, and blood, of all the Union; and is, therefore, of right, the common inheritance of every Ameri- can citizen. Embracing within its range every variety.of soil and climate known to the north temperate zone, it is naturally adapted to the successful culture and pro- duciion of most ot those great staples which havo so augmented the power and wealth ofithis Confectionery; while, on this new threatrc, the mechanic arts will find ample range, and inviting induce- ments for the profitable exercise of skill and ingenuity. This vast region, thus ac- quired, and thus calling to its bosom the energy and enterprise of our citizens, is to bc pcopled under the auspices of our Government, and those principles ol'cq,,al- ity in which it was log,ded.
 The duy HOW dcvolves upon us ol giv- ing to these immense acquisitions organic forms of government. But at the very thrcshhold we are met by an obstacle of alarming import. The Southern States of this Union have thought proper 10 lc- galiz,, within their limits. the institution of slavery; and the urauthorized power
 is now boldly asserted by this Congress to exclude them, for that reason, in effect, from all participation in this common pro- pery of all the States. Let us examine the basis of this bolo pretension
 MT. Chairman, the fathers of the Re- public, who framed our Constitution, per. haps, because less pure or less wise than we, their sons, did not seem to regard slavery as incompatible with those exalted objects it was their high purpose to achieve. Property in slaves was then an existing fact in every State of the Union, excepting, perhaps, the State of Massa- chusetts who, if because of the unprof- tablencss of slave labor she did not regard the institution with much favor, contribu- ted her full share to the direct importation of the negro from the coast of Africa, to be bartered in the American market. The Constitution was framed with direct refer ence 10 that existing state of things and but for the fact that the right to hold prop crty in slaves had been expressly recog- nized, and the security of the title to them guarantied in the Constitution, it would never have formed the common bond of our Union. This, sir, is matter of sol chm history and yet, strange to say, with its full blaze ot light shining upon us, and after this Government has been adminis- tered under the Constitution, and it is, for nearly three score years, it is gravcly con tended that, under that Constitution, the Southern master has no right of property in his slave Sir, if this be true, why was slavery made, by the Constitution, the basis of federal representation If no countenance was designed to be given to slavery, why was the privilege of inn porting slaves, for period of twenty years from the adoption of the Constilu- ton, expressly reserved by the States And why. during the same period of time, was Congress denied, in the Constitution, the power to pass any law to "prohibit" such importationl Surely it cannot be that the Constitution, thus authorizing, if not actually encouraging, by its provis- iOns fha sp,nortaf,<,,, ,f ,lo,-.s :.t. xL.