Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1850-07-02

date
ns,raon Of civil affairs in California 10 Tue 90 e
W he government organized under the provisions %, Iu
o,r ttutiou" &C. And thus without warrant .. r ,,h
violation of the plain letter oil .c M dn;on Of the
I"i,cJ States over a large and valuable territory, III.
v If all the States quietly handed over 10 he ~ ;
go, who went upon il, and who were invited anu
ia q, take IL and as ii in sport with So grave an ~
," General ends the matter by agreeing to delray ' NJ;
v Of the convention Out Of the public money har s
Ids fSee his letter "the Hon. o. !. Bo,,S' e''
,an dated at Monterey, September Is, io4s ia,
S,,onuc passing strange, Mr.. President tnat sue
pr,nt ,slrpations of power, such wan.on i shnuld
S;n..d disregard of planeSt constitutions "a'
Micheu' ,hnt yrbuke and even without noce-any thn5'
pass , constitution and ALL is made secondary ~ wy
great end Of Shaving oil the discussion, ta d thc RIGHTS
nr by the constituted authorities OF the iaho, 'o - he
81 tho cone of the Southern States as co-proprie'oi ~
Territories. -, ,; s;p,nlcity given in
NIL message of the President 10 get ra o ,ic VIZ
,b;n question OF slavery, by getting rd o. ne pull
.uro lin which il was connected The summary DISPOSE
lion to make OF the sns 81 1 ,Pe President or his
,ssors II was the grave SPECIFIC oil me Iciei :;
-; yhich certainly carried oil the disease ny cays VII
the patient , &. ~ so,, Elorid, Mr. Yuleel brought
h,nr The Senate on former day. an occasion solllcma.
similar that arose think in the ease oil Afhi9s @ c
isI,,iyc Council of that territory peloncd INC .oV-
80 - ;.,uc his proclamation calling upon te peopie 10
onanise State government in the days ocleTe VI IT.
silent Jackson. The Governor, VINO seems " nav nav "
nroncr idea of the position in when he soo " VIC
ph,i,,ed the question 10 the President ana nc aSah
~ no Attorney General and the latter advised me re
siden that the Governor was bound 10 au , ari.
,,e but that he could give countenance 10 any eso
,innary movement Of that kind aPprehenn Mr. Iiesl'
IN ,, there are none who will doubt that the true Feuc
ro 1ea,ion of territory 10 this government Is iiat Of
ronertv and as is always the case oi property hed D! Il
aovereim that carries with il not only the night 10 thc
coil EXCEPT where private right ntcrycIs out also ao'
over the people inhabltlng mat SOIL
II was under such guidance that the convention asscl-
bcd in California; and framed the constitution WHICH mas
been submitted 10 us by the President naer la po'a W.,
,ion of military commander without the sanction oil me
Congress of the Cned States but in derogaon o us an.
,horty And this constitution with The exact oouhaacs u
urescrbes for the States called on 10 sanction
~ ,nttcr Of poitcal necessity Sir have looked some
what into the report of the debates in convention IN aof
mia which were placed some days since upon our tables ana
found n other gentlemen will find, II they VIII ooA
through this report that the polar star which guided 'e
deliberations all the great questions TO BE- determined was
so 10 adjust them would best insure speedy anhtss'h
f ,hoir state into the Union On the question nj bond-
~ OF domestic scrydc and Of the exclusion OF the ri-
can race altogether from California every thing seems 10
have been effected and 10 some extent CONTROLLED ~ De-
lief in the necessity of popaling the majority in Congress
nm thc subject of African slavery One OF the earliest pro-
psous in the convention in relation TO tie boundaries was
that they should prescribe the boundaries o Inc new "
the erisnG boundaries of California; those boundaries by
which the territory coded by Observation-Disclosures which
would embrace nearly equal 10 that OF the thirteen
oripna States and the gentleman who moved this PROPOSE
on nayc rs his reason for it, that il they undertook To cut
and carve for themselves prescribe convenient
boundaries for the State Of California the effect would be
Law in gaining admission into the Union That gentleman
said in substance If take the whole o California, II VII
meyer be considered By any body that this immense area OF
hundreds Of thousands Of square miles should remain one
Snic hut tat il would necessarily be divided tic
number population required IL and formed INTO dilc-
rent States and his proposition was, that Tie territory
when tie proper time arrived, should Be divided into SIX
States each one of them having front upon the Pacific
ocean Such the proposition made by this gentleman
who was appciend, of the most intelligent and en-
nhen,d members Of that convention Those views, how
ever were oycyrucd unjust 10 the twenty thirty thns
and p.cne residing i'll the great basin {" Utah and the salt
Lake thousand miles oil, who were ignorant even t!!al
such convention in session. and the ground that
m rake The whole territory for the State would be- mere
likely 10 create dissenson Washington than arbitrary
boundaries were assumed The result was that the idea oi
embracing the entire territory was Abandoned anu lccl ~
liberty 10 choose for themselves the convention eventually
agreed take such boundaries a would be OF most seeming
advantage the coast population, which was done by
line embracing the entire Pacific 'front.' from the boundaries
of Oregon to of Mexico extent Of Ten degrees OF
latitude and extending eastward 10 embrace The mountain
range called the Sierra Nevada Thus the coast popua-
ton in California by dash of the PEN exclude from
the commerce the Pacific the immense and bound
css territory which lies behind thcm with tho millions ci
population which will swarm there at future day And
This is done although Nature herself would 10 intend
otherwise By leaving open way TO the ocean between
the parallel Of 81 and s. where The chains u mountain
subSidc into the plain.
Twill not dcain the Senate by reading from the debates in
Convention But propose quote from them On the points
alluded above well others hereafter 10 BE- noticed
and amend IL my remarks when print auc 10 these
debates here for the purpose of showing that the people 81
California comprehend their wishes do not attach
la tic proposed contraction Of her boundary that great inter
cst which is connected with il here al Washington. do
not find anything in these debates which leads me To believe
that welding the desire OF the people o California 10 be-
come Immediately of the States OF the Inon they wil
take il much heart II contract their boundaries aS
have propnscd But there another striking ct shown by
the debates in that convention and this that every rep
csentave in the convention, present from the territory
south of the line OF &c 80 against the formation OF State
government al ALL that the people who resided south Of that
line were in favor Of territorial government and against
State governments and is further stated IN the debate BY
gentleman who took part In II when TINS question was De-
fore the convention that the votes Of those who were rep
rcsenyes from tie territory south Of that line go BY were
given against the formation Of State government
should say then viewing this question: notas one o o-
cal expedicncY but OF justice and poprcty that the
Senate of the t. States prescribing proper southern bon-
Diary for the State of California should restrict al boundary
TO the parae of 81 3d. To do this would enable the people
living Fast of the great chain of mountains to have access
to the Pacific coast and would be conormabe To the wish OF
the large and stable population residing south o at me
Mr. President il has been asked in the Senate more than
once with what view would contract the boundaries oi
California? Ii has been asked Of gentlemen from the
Southern States whether II they did not contract ths bo-
Diary and open way that they could carry their slaves
there il would be done? The Senator from Massaci-
sets Mr. WebserI time ago, declared that slavery
would never 20 there; that this Wimo Proviso written
on every rock and every pan that nature had ordained
slavery could exist there and that II was de 10
attempt contravene the ordinances OF nature Sir any
gentleman who will inform himself Of the statements made
and acted on in the California Convention shown by The
debates will find that if the people Of the Southern States
had been nj liberty take their slaves there under what
assume to be their constitutional right they would have
been taken int the territory by hundreds q thousands and
that this day the larger portion numerically would have
been the population of slaves held BY the Southern slave
holders. Sir what could be valuable use OF that
labor than in working mines! Every body under
stand that for himself But is provchy the fact hataer
the convention of California had determined upon the exci
sion of slaves from the territory, proposition was made
that the constitutions should exclude the African in every
FORM bond or free aud the given for il was thus
summed M You have excluded slavery. Now unless you
exclude the African altogether the consequence will be
that The territory of iornia will be inundated by free
nrocs Because 80 valuable would be their services 10
their masters that the If slaves would take them
there thousands and thousands, upon contract that They
should serve them and then he lntit-
ted. /: said that by adopting Ibis course each slave
would be worth from 10 five thousand dollars year 10
his master These them facts which present in an
swcr To gentlemen who contend that there is for
African slavery there. Now, who say that the same
reasoning does apply 10 tie southern paT Of California
II is said that gold has been discovered there and Tint
il never will be- Those who haze said may be right or
they may be wrong. Gentlemen say that tie climate the
soil and the which 10 be- found there afford
no inducements for slave labor. In that too they may be
right they may be wrong; bni say that under the Con-
sitution we have legal right 10 have the door left open
and have tkept opcn in order that ENJOY IT, 50
long il remains territory, in any way We may think
most expcdent
But apart from any question Of constitutional right or OBJ
legation towards the Southern States glance the map
will show that every motive of public policy and just equa
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