Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1850-08-16

anu removing tue proceeds Wherever
they please, without their being sub
iected, on this account, to any contri-
button, tax, or charge whatever.
"T'hose who shall prefer to remain
in the said Territories may either re
tain the title and rights of Mexican
citizens or acquire those of citizens
of the United States. But they shall
be under the obligation tomake their
election within one year from the
date of the exchange of ratifications
OF this treaty; and those who shall
remain in the said Territories after
the expiration of that year, without
having declared their intention to re-
tain the character Of Mexicans, shall
be considered o have elected to be-
come citizens of the United States.
SIN the said territories property of
every kind now belonging to Mexi-
cans, not established there, shall be
inviolably respected. The present
owners, the heirs of these, and all
MeXicans who may hereafter acquire
said property by contract, shall enjoy,
with respect TO it, guarantees equally
ample as if the same belonged to cit
izens OF The United States"
The ninth article of the treaty is in
these words:
The Mexicans who, in the terri
tories aforesaid, shall not preserve
the character of citizens ofthe Mexi-
can Republic, conformably with what
is stipulated In the proceeding article,
shall be Incorporated into the Union
of The United States, and be admitted
at the proper time Ito be Judged Of
by the Congress efthe United States)
to the enjoyment Of all the rights of
citizens Of the United States, accord
ing to the principles of the Constitu-
ton; and in the meantime shall be
maintained and protected in the free
enjoyment of their liberty and the
property, and secured in the free ex-
ercise of their religion, without re-
striction."
tits plain, therefore, on the fac Of
these treaty stipulations, that all Mex
leans established in territories north
or east of the line of demarkation al
ready mentioned, come within the
protection of the ninth article; and
that the treaty, bein a part of the SUI
preme law Of the land, does extend
over all such Mexicans, and assures
to them perfect security in the free
enjoyment oftheir liberty and proper
ty, as well as in the free exercise of
their religion; and this supreme law
OF the land being thus in actual force
over this territory, is to be maintained
until it shall be displaced or superse-
dcd by other legal provisions; and ifit
be obstructed or resisted by combi-
nations too powerful to | e suppressed
by the civil authority, the case is one
which comes within the provisions of
the law, and which obliges the Pres
ldentto enforce these provisions. Nei-
ther the constitution, nor the laws,
nor my duty. nor my oath of office,
leave mcmy alternative, or any choice
lnmy mode OF action.
The Executive Government ofthc
United States has no power or au-
thority TO determine what was the
true line of boundary between Mex
ico and the United States before the
treaty of Guadalupe Hldalgo, nor
has it any such power now, Since tho
question has become question be-
tween the State of Texas and the
United States. So far as this boun-
Diary Il doubtful, that doubt can only
be removed by some act of Congress,
TO which the assent of the State of
Texas may be necessary, or by some
appropriate mode of legal adiudica-
ton; but in the meantime if distur-
Dances or collisions arise or should
be threatened, it is absolutely incum-
bent on the Executive Government,
however painful the duty, to take
care that the laws be faithfully main
tanned; and he can regard only the
actual state of thl gs as it existed at
the date of the treaty, and is bound
to protect all inhabitants who were
then established and who now remain
north and east of the line of demar-
katlon, in the full enjoyment of their
liberty and property according TO
the provisions of the 9th article of the
treaty; in other words, all must be
now regarded as New Mexico which
was possessed and occupied as New
Mexico by citizens of Mexico at the
date of the treaty, until definite
line of boundary shall be established
by competent authority. This asse.~
ton of duty to project the people of
New Mexico from threatened vio-
ience or from seizure, TO be carried