The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-05-30

premature declfnc. virginia, the nrst ana great
css Of the States OF the Union richest in her great
msn, her soil, her minerals, her bays, her rivers
and her delightful climate, has sunk into third
rate State, under the decay which affects the root
Of all growth ia nations as in individuals-the
decay Of enlightened labor. Such has been the
fate Of Virginia and yet her fate has been better
than that of any Of her Southern sisters. The
vigor which the free municipal institutions of
England infused into the race that gave the first
impulse 70 the Southern Commonwealth, has been
gradually running out under an adverse system.
The labor Of negroes, in exempting the master
from labor, has made every free man look to such
exemption, not only relief from painful effort,
but as a privilege and an honorable distinction.
Hence, slave labor has destroyed the industry of
the free race, and the prosperity Of the State is
made dependent upon the forced exersied>f t2sss.S
who have no interest in it while those who have
are enervated, and subjected to all the demorali-
ration which must flow from system xhich makes
easy incidence marx Of superiority The free
men who in sueh State, are compelled by poverty
to labor, mnst become yoke-fellows with the de-
grsaed Africaa race which makes up The mass Of
cultivators. Those Of the free white men who
submit to this soon sink to the level of the black
laborers with whom they associate while every
one whose innate energy and intellect teaches
him to spurn it, leaves the State, and adds to the
multitude who fly from it, to exalt the prosperity
and grandeur which beams on the free States OF
the Union, making them the miracle end glory Of
this age of progress.
point your attention to the fatal tendency of
the system which the South seeks to impose upon
you, to stay its own downward course with feel
ings of deep chagrin. | am myself native of the
section whose fate ] deplore, and if my duty to
you did not require, | would be the last TO advert
to the maady which preys upon its life AS your
representative at the seat of political power am
bound to reveal TO you the Vaccinations ofwhich
you are the object, and to open to your view the
consequences which would attend its success.
The schemes of those who would bind you to the
s~>siay of the slave States, render IL necessary
that your Representative should be excluded from
re Hobs of CoYrreSs: that your civil Govern
ment, and the laws you brought with you, should
be denied recognition; that you should be left in
condition too helpless to defend your own rights,
while the plans were maturing for their sacrifice,
You need not ask, then, why have our own petit
tons, respectfully presented, been rejected WIN
our rights, which are certainly indisputable, beSu
so long withheld Why we have been compelled
to live under a military domination so repugnant
to freedom, and so opposed to the acknowledged
spirit and foundation of this Government Why
our condition, instead Of being improved by the
transfer of allegiance as was promised to us, has
been continually getting worse2 Why this Gov
eminent has so long neglected giving you that
protection against Indian depredations which was
so often promised both before and since the treaty
Of cession? Why the connection with this Gov
eminent which you have been encouraged to look
forward to az the beginning of your prosperity
and improvement, has had its opening with three
years of depreciation, miserable misrule, and mill
tary despoism You are l PROSTATE, thai Ts1ds may
dism4naber and diode Mem Merico, and uLect her 10
cJo no
dnced into he remnant of territory that may NOT be
Appropriated 10 TeraS; and, faally that the region
thus secured TO Southern policy may become The stock
on which TO graft nep conqnests from Mer,co To
this whole policy know you entertain the strong
est repugnance. The deep stake which you have
in the issue of this scheme demands from you a
thorough examination and speedy action 1t is
beyond question, that you cannot expect that
assistance and support from this Government
which you certainly had right to look for. That
yuu have hecn dosertra and tr.~escrr-a 40 tho
power Of Texas, SO far as the administration Of
the War Department-to which you are commit
ted by the Executive of the United States-can
effect it. you have the evidence in the conduct Of
your military government. While the Admins
tration say here, that you have Government
under which you can well afford TO live, and under
which you arc amply protected, the Secretary at
War is giving instructions to that Government
itself TO desert you, when you have most need Of
an organized resistance-thus making it manifest
tina, the Administration here, land especially the
Secretary of War, q Southern man, connives at
the Texan scheme to dismember your Territory,
and the Southern scheme of opening it TO slavery.
The Administration claims to be neutral in this
CONTROVERSY between the authorities Of Texas and
the people of New Mexico, but when it is under
stood that the people of New Mexico have no
other civil Government than that which is admin
stered by the military commanders sent there by
the War Department, and those holding commits
sions under and during the pleasure of these mil
tary commanders, and when we see that they
have been instructed not to resist the authorities
Of Texas in their attempt to assume jurisdiction
over the people Of New Mexico, is it not manifest
that this "nemYal1yD rirttdi surrender Of the0c
tal government OF N,r Marco the h0nds Of TsraS?
Does it not demonstrate the connivance Of the
slaveholding Secretary of War in the schemes of
Texas and the South
Il is useless for me to remind you that you have
no other than military Government to admins
ter the civil laws with which you came into the
U Union, land under which you and your ancestors
have lived for two centuries What other Execu-
tive have you, but the commander Of the troops
in New Mexico Does he not absolutely control
all the civil establishments of your country Is
there civil officer but holds his Office by COM
mission from the military officer during his will
aud peasure2 Has he not, indeed, assumed to
order the courts whom to bring to trial, and in
every way prescribe their jurisdiction And
when the Secretary Of War commands him not to
interfere. or prevent the officers from Texas to
exercise their commissions in your Territory, can
that be called neutrality 10 it not virtual
abandonment of the Government II you had
separate civil Government, entirely disconnected
with the military commanders of the country,
n;-hxh H. nal oil
ity. But now, by this non-action they compel you
10 resist the military Government which the Uni
ted States have set up over you, and then organ
ize n Government and prepare resistance to the
eucroachments of Texas Being thus deserted by
this Government to the extent to which this Gov
eminent can desert you flor have appealed in vain
to the Secretary of War and the President, 10
prevent this collision until the question can be
adjudicated and settled by some competent
authority it only remains for you to decide
whether you will tamely submit to this sssnmP.
ton Of power Texas, knowing the Illegally ana
injustice of her claim, refuses TO submit what is
question of law to an impartial judiciary, and Inc
question Of her right has assumed an entirely sec.
tional and geographical phasis II is sustained
by the assertion, the sympathy, and assistance OF
the entire South, the motives and object OF when
are too plain to be disguised it is avowedy TO be
a forcible extension Of their peculiar institution
over a country whence it is now excluded, and
where it is repugnant alike to the feelings ana IN.
terests of its inhabitants. Under the cover OF
this Texas claim the approaches are made de-
signed TO give Judgment to slavery IN ne"
Mexico which shall convert it into new slave
State on It's introduction into the Union. Out Oh
the dismembered remnant given as portion 10
Texas, she will be enabled to exc out another, to
come in as one of its four new slave States count
ed on, to counterpoise the free institutions OF the
North. II this should not be sufficient, Mexico
proper will then be at hand to undergo new
partition, or total snbmersion in n new Southern
slave Confederacy.
The first step in this process is to supplant the
fundamental municipal institutions brought by
View MEXICO With her into the Inion by q terri