The North-Carolina standard., 1850-02-20
NuMBgR !. ) 5 |. 798.


- 80 80 ..sg, r NuMBRR 798.
the prevalence of good order and the very curious OBJ
seryanee Of forms and practices common under the
Legitimate workings Of pur system, the midst of
the radical illegally and essentially revolutionary
proceedings which have marked the recent course Of
the peoples But it 10 not to be denied that the pop
ulation Of California is Of tho most heterogeneous
composition, Mexcans, Indians, Chinese, Oahei,eans,
adventures, and gold hunters from all the nations of
the earth-of every language, complexonaud race.
very large proportion of them mere sojoufners,
Inhabited expanae in quest Of treasure with which to
return to their countries and their homes. The great
majority have ties to the country, families nor
settlements. and are literally tenants BY suerance, if
not trespassers on the domain Of the United States.
The right of such population, without any previous
recognition and organization. into separate political
community, to sovereignty, and inherent power, over
and without the authority Of Congress to establish
State government. can surely not be gavely main
tanned by any. Yet that very people. mere Exec
utiye invitation, have assumed and practically exer-
csed such high prerogative, and have attempted to
stamp fundamental, organic law thousands Of miles
of waste, unnhabitcd country. Sir, the limits these
people assume, and which now constitutes this new
State of California, cover some nine degrees of latte
tnde, running diagonally, too; embrace the whole
Pacific coast of our new acquisitions, with all ito
valuable harbors, an extent great as from New
Brunswick to North Carolina, and include an expanse
of wild, unsettled territory equal to five or six
States Of our Union. And is all this to be usurped
and held by some fifty one hundred thousand peo-
pie, without the previous Authority Of Congress or
consent of the States, the invitation aud under the
encouragement of the Executive alone 1t s not to
be tolerated. and at whatever hazards California ought
to be remanded to territorial snboTdination. =.
With its performances and their results, however
startling, the Administration seem well satisfied.
The srangest feature of the message is the earnest
recommendation to Congress to allow the Executive
similar course of action and policy in reference 10
all the residue of our vast acquisitions from Mexico
and witness with acquescence the repetition in in
definite series of such unconstitutional usurpatons
and encroachments its own powers and the rights
Of the States 1t is gravely proposed that the whols
OF the vast exPanse of country, except California,
ecu,ive action, to be setedthe people gathered IN
to separate communities, grown under the tuteage
of the President until they attain the growth and
maturity BETTING States of the Union-then at his
discretion, and as often as he may deem expedient
to be invited and encouraged to assemble in conven-
tions-to form constitutions and organic law, to fix
limits to all the attributes and functions of
sovereign State, ready for admission into the Union
all 'oitout the action @ Congress The regulation Of a
single h,v. Was there ever such conception of states-
manship! To me it seems like the crude fantasy Of
crazed brain rather than the grave Recommendation
of reflection and wisdom Sir, the proposition is as
farccal as tits preposterous: Troublesome family Of
infant communities the President would have on his
hands to be sure rare brawling and quarfeling.
with now and then a very pretty fight, doubtless!
New Mexico would be ambitious enough to cope
with Texas right away Deseret and California are
already at loggerheads about limits and as to the
innumerable little communities that may be expected
tospring up amid the valleys of the Rocky Mountains
and the of the Great Basin, they would succeed
in their struggles to the tenaciy and 6erceness of the
grizzly bears they expel. Sir, frequent and wise leg
slaon will be absolutely requisite for the due man
agemen and settlement of these distant Territories,
and you must have volsnes of laws instead of none.
Besides, Mr. Speaker, how utterly inconsisten.
with all the wise limitations of our Constitution and
the jealous vigilance Of Executive power we have
been always enjoned to entertain, allow such ain
accumulation of extraordinary powers in the hands
Of the Executive, and for such indefinite period Of
continuance. Sole supervisor, legislator, and execI-
tor Of such vast and remote regions, in What would
his position differ from that of monarch covering
by satraps proconsuls, under the of governors
and bearers of dispatches! more pregnant fact, a
more striking illustration, show the bitterness and
intensity of the sectional issues that distract tho
councils Of the country, and merge all things else,
could not be afforded, than mere Recommendation Of
such scheme of policy in relation to the new Ter
ritories. And but for the ant-slavery agitation,
venture to assert it would never for moment receive
advocacy or countcnance on this floor '.'
Hitherto have, Mr.. Speaker, considered the action
and policy of the Executive without reference in tbs
main to this subject but should fail Of my highest
duty, if did not expose and denounce their dsas-
trous consequences to the rights and honor of the
South. In this respect they most of all obnox-
ous to me. consider them most nsidious and dam
gerous; that they have already inflicted great wrong,
and that, carried ont as recommended they would ch
from the States of the South all chance of particpa
ton in the new acquisitions, and efectuay exclude
all shareholders with their property
BY that action and policy, unless rcpudiated, we
have been already excluded from the wide expanse
of California and the whole Pacific coast All SEN
sible men know that, in relation California the ap-
itation and threat of the Wimot Proviso has been
very nearly tantamoun to its enforcement for our ex-
cluson. Slaves are in the nature of capital, which
is pr,verbiay mid, and could not be carried in while
there was the impending threat and DANCE. of COM
pulsory abolition. The Administration although not
responsible for, knew this, and 1t should have opera
ted at least to delay their action Just when the de-
termned stand of many Of The southern States in az.
sertion OF their rights might have encouraged their
citizens in reliance their protection venture into
the territory with their slaves, the Administration
thought proper to determine the matter against them
by usnrping the judicial function, and announcing
positively that the Mexican laws regulating the rels-
tons of persons were in force and must be executed
This must have operated continued and eectual ex-
and the avowed interpretation Of the Executive
as to the operation Of she Mexican laws-from the
character Of the existing population and the exclusion
OF southern men with their property-it was certain
the decision Of tue people would be against the re-
cognition Of the domestic institutions Of the South
the Executive without constitutional authority in the
face Of the direct refusal Of Congrsss to do The same
thing, invited the Heterogeneous population 10 asaem
BILE in convention to establish lis organic law Az