The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1849-03-31

constitution, and shall designate the time and
place of holding the election in each district
appoint the officers to conGuc, the same, and
prescribe the mode ofrnakng the RETURN thereo {;
and shall apportion the delegates fifty in all,
among the several districts, as near as may be =,
4 ccordinG TO the number Of legal voters in each;
| and he sha also designate the time and place
| for the assembling of said convention. Every
| white male inlabiiant oil said Territory, being
an actual resident ofths proposed State, and
having attained the age of twenty one years
shall be entitled TO vote at said election.
| Sec. s. Aud be it further enacted That the
Stale Of California, when admitted into this I'm
ion IN conformity with tho provisions of this
act sl,a Il be entitled and continue to be entitled
until the next gene ral census. to two Rcpresen
tatves in the House of Representatives Of the
United States; and in all other respects, as far
| as they may be applicable, the laws ofthe United
| States shall extend to, and have force in, the
State OF California.
1t will be perceived, by the committee, that
| this bill provides that new State may be erect
cd out Of all the territory ceded to the United
States by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidago. con-
cluded with the Republic of Mexico OH the sec
| ond day of February. eighteen hundred and for
| ty eight Sir, when say, at the outset, thar
! intend to give this substitute my support, may
| be allowed TO state, nevertheless some Of the
objections which prevail against it; when de-
clore that in NV estimation. the gentleman
from VIRGINIA has been act,ated by the lofties,
and most patriotic considerations in proposing it:
| | will only assert what am sure is the unan-
mous orinion of this House. uod trust. sir. of
this country.
And in the first place, the mag nation is
startled at the idea of the immense extent, the
almost houndless area Of this mighty region; it
10, rountrv sir ,hot from lie southern bonn,iarv
n. IL
nnd,r the iortv second derrce oflatitnde. has
)enu,b of consi Of NOR, ,h,n ,housand miles
| nc gr.,t as IL 10 nm tho Atlanta fr,m R,st.n ia
| S.Tonn,h. rou,,rv eytandinr throuoh ten
dcrrees If lati,ndo AVID five and tvan,v degrees
NJ LONGITUDE, and con,nininr nm orrn IN INV
;ndonent. of more than halra million sonare
| miles, know sir that the man sent to MS from
III, Cercr,l and of,;cs raI-es tho ore, loss. bnt
in His am s,t,s6eJ that that man is iuaccu-
r,,o mr. at least inconsistent with ;,snlc hv il III.
Nor,hwest Terr;,orv moth of,bn pIotie riv,r
and the State of Iowa. and cas-, tho Rocky
! NIountai,Is. and west ofthe Mis,is,ppi is report
! od IN cor,o;n scvon hundred and tw.ntS three
,housand sou,re miles vet il r.ouir.s only
,i.nco NJ ,he owe T., ,crcr;va th,. the ex,aut of
,err,orv acquired from M,xico greatly exceeds
il 7 then am justified in es,;ma,iog this latte,
n, least FIVE hundred thous,nd souarr miles. or
an area capable of making sixty States of the
size ,C MARYLAND.
SIR. there IS every tlinp to distinguish the re-.
ma,kable country from our own: lie climate, soil
! nroduc,;ous. and ubvsicaI characteristics arc ex
trcmely different from any thing with which we
mr., personoll, acouninted. Alonp the Pacific
coas, the fertile valleys OF the San joaquin and
the Sacramento arc shut in between the range
of the coast mountains and the lofty peaks orthe
Sierra Nevada, which, as their name denotes,
are covered with almost eternal suows, In the
streams which flow from their poroes that r,,ld
| is found which rivals. in its reputcd abundance,
ali that the Suaniard m his paln,iest dav ever
drcomed of Ell Dorado. Beyond the Sierra is the
rrcat basin. wild, uninhab,cd. unexplored, OK
cent where the energetic add daring Fremont
| has set his wandering and inquisive step: here
! all seems TO be one vast waste, one ,lilni,able
desert: still farther east, shut in by mountains,
olour the dcciiyitous course of the Rio Bravo,
orr the Mexican towns of Santa Fe Albuoueroue
and Taos: and here, seated upon few fertile
snots is H the civilized popnlutiun of New Mex
leo this latter is sepnra,ed from tho people of
the Pacific coast hy two or three immense ranges
of mountains, anG by the unexplorcd region of
of the great basin OF Alta California; but not
more by these than by the diversity OF their hah-
its and pursuits. SO much for the geography Of
this region.
II is next proper to inquire what the popu' a
ton of California may amount to: The gentle
man from Virginia, in his speech set it down at
one hundred and fifty thousand persons; my
own estimate, from all the iniora,htion have
been able to obtain, is widely different. Cap
tain Wilkes estimated the number, IN the year
eighteen hundred and ioTty-eight, to be thirty
thousand; and, as at former census, only one
sixth ofthe population white, we cannot es-
innate the white population at more than SIX
thousand | am aware that large numbers are
supposed to be en- route from the United States
but their numbers have been greatly exage erat-
Cd They do not, from the most authentic ac-
| counts, exceed eight thousand, Or at most, ten
thousand in all; adding these, we ha re forty
thousand for the population Of Upper California,
so far as Known including whites, half breeds,
J Spaniards, Mexians, and indians, instead Of one
hundred and fifty thousand as estimated by the
gentleman from Virginia.
Here Mr.. PREsroN ncrposed, and aid that
he had not estimated the population of Upper