Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1848-04-05
NEW MExIco-ITs TRUE VALUE.

WEBSTER, that eminent statesman thus expressed
himself in reference to the true value of New Mex
leo. one of the Mexican States which is to be pur
chased by our Government under the Treaty of
Peace:
Now OF New Mexico. OF that, forty nine fifti
ehs at least is mere barren waste of desert plain
or mountain. There is no wood, no timber-h,tle
faggots TO light fire carried thirty or forty miles
ON mules There is no natural fall OF rains, as in
temperate climates The place and scene are Ash
atc-enormously high mountains, running up some
to the height of ten thousand feet, with very mar
row valleys at their bases, through which streams
sometimes trlckle along; garter winds along,
! throu.ai the thread of which runs the Rio Graude
| from / 7 in the Rocky Mountains down to the la
utude or about thirty three degrees, some three or
four hundred miles. There these sixty thousand
| persons are. In the mountains, on the right and
the lett, are streams whose natural tendencies
would be as lateral streams to flow into the Rio
Grande, and In certain seasons of the year, when
the rains have been abundant in the mountains
some Uf them do actually reach the Rio Grande,
but the greater part of them always, and all of
them for greater part of the year. never reach an
outlet to the They are absorbed in the sandy
and desert plains of the country There is no cul-
ture any where, save that which be obtained
by artificial watering or irrigation. You nave
this along the narrow valley of the Rio Grande, in
but you cannot nave it down along the course of
those streams that lose themselves in the sands.
Now, sir, there is no public domain in New Mex
leo there is not foot of land TO be sold by the
Government there is not that will become
ours when the country becomes ours-not an acre.
But, more than this, the country is full of people,
such rs they are. There is not the least thing i'm
it to invite the settlement of our planters or farmers
There will go, | dare say, spectators, traders,
some OF them adventures, tired of the good coun-
try in the valley of the Mississippi, who desire to
wander; but undertake 10 say there will not be
two hundred farmers planters from the United
States in New Mexico in the next fifty years.
They cannot live there. DO you suppose they are
going to cultivate lands which cannot be made pro-
ductve in the slightest degree without irrigation
lhe people that are there produce little and live
upon little. believe the characteristic of our far
mers throughout this country is TO produce a good
deal and consume good deal. Again, New Mex
leo is not like Texas. | had hoped and still hope
that Texas is TO be filled up by population like
ourselves-not by the Spanish race, not by poems,
not by coarse, ignorant, vulgar landlords, with
tribes OF slaves around them predial and otherwise
Mr. RUsK. Will the honorable Senator allow
me one word 2 did not like to interrupt the Sc
nator when he was reading an account of the coun-
try lying In the valley Of the Nueces. When that
country comes to be known, it will be found as
valuable as any portion eff Texas. From its source
|
found to be the same thing. l did not choose to
interrupt the honorable Senator, but we do not
claim 1t as Indemnity, believing it to be our Just
and equitable right. So far as Mexican population
Is Ssc-Saed, there is good deal of it now in Tex
as, highly respectable, and amongst them those
who have distinguished themselves as patriots,
men OF intelligence and OF worth. These are COM
Ing over and settling in Texas, encouraged by the
| prospect of peace.
Mr. WEBSTER. take what say in regard to
the valley OF the Rio Grande from Ike statement of
Major Gaines. am glad to hear that there is a
part OF 1t INT for the foot of civilized man. am
glad to hear, also, that there of the nabi
tanls OF New Mexico who are not SO besotted with
their miserable condition not to make some eff
fort to get out of the country and to come into bet
ter.
Sir, would, if / had time, call the attention of
| the Senate to 4 very instructive speech that was
made in the other House by Mr.. SMITH of Con
nectlcut. He seems To have examined all our au-
thorltes, conversed with all our travellers and cor
responded with all our agents. His speech con-
talns all their communications, and | commend it
to every man in the United States who wishes to
know what we are about to acquire by the aclui-
sitlon OF New Mexico. New Mexico is secluded
isolated--a place by iself-in the middle of the
mountains, five hundred miles, / believe, from
Texas.
Mr.. R0sK. Five hundred miles from the set
tied portions of Texas.
Mr.. WEBSTER. Further from any where else
1t does not belong any where. 1t has no belong
} ings about it, Sir at this moment it is absolute
ly more retired and shut out from communication
with the civilized world than the Sandwich Is
lands, or most of the islands in the Pacific ocean
IL presses hard on Typee, and the people are inf
nltely less elevated in mind and condition than thu
people of the Sandwich Islands far less worthy o
our association far less fit to send their Senators
here than are the inhabitants of the Sandwich Is
lands far less worthy they than the bette
classes of Indians in our neighborhood. Commen
me TO the Cherokees, the Choctaws if you please
to speak of the Pawnees, the BackReet, the Snak
Indians, and the Flatheads-any thing except tn
-- Indians, and am satisfied with them, in
5 stead of the people of New Mexico. They hav
no notion of our institutions, or of any free nstiu
tons. They have no notion of popular govern
ment. Not the slightest on earth And the ques
ton is asked, what will be their constitution
is fsrcical to talk OF such people making a const
tuition. They do not know the meaning OF III
e term. They do not know its import; they kno,
G nothing at all about it. And can tell you 81
d that when we have made it territory. and wis
G to make it State, such constitution as the f.,
ecutive power of this Government thinks fit to ser
: to them will be sent and adopted. The constit
ton of our fellow-citizens of New Mexico will
d framed in the city of Washington Now, VIII
is says Col. Hardin in regard to New Mexico. III
d most Iamented and distinguished officer, whom
NJ. well knew as member of the other House, al
whose death did most deeply deplore He Civ
description of New Mexico, and speaks Of Il
10 people of that country in these terms
c "fhe people are on par with their land o
|, in two hundred or five hundred is rich and y
3 like nabob; the rest arc peous, or servants SC
- for debt, who work for their masters, and are
~ subservient as the slaves Of the South, and 10
- like Indians and, indeed arc not more capable
to selfgoyernment. One man, Jacobus Sancb