The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1850-05-29

large as they are, they embrace no very dispro-
portionate quantity Of land adapted to cultivation.
And it is known that they contain extensive
ranges of mountains, deserts Of sand, and much
unproductive soil 1t might have been, per-
haps, better to have assigned to California
more limited front on the Pacific; but even
if there had been reserved on the shore of that
ocean a portion of the boundary which it pre-
sents for any other State States, it is not very
certain that an accessible interior Of sufficient
extent could have been given to them to render
an approach to the ocean through their own lin
its of any very great Importance.
ga majority Of the committee think that there
are many urgent concurring considerations in
favor of admitting California with the proposed
boundaries, and of securing to her at this time
the benefits of State government If, here
after, upon an increase of her population, more
thorough exploration Of her territory, and an as
certainment of the relations which may arise be-
tween the people occupying its various parts, it
should be found conducive to their convenience
and happiness to form new State out of Cali
fornia, we have every reason to believe, from
past experience, that the question of its admis-
sion will be fairly considered and justly decided.
ga majority Of the committee, therefore, re-
commend to the Senate the passage of the bill
reported by the Committees on Territories for
the admission of California as State into the
]
tee also recommend that the amendment report
ed by the same committee to the bill be adopted,
so as to leave incontcstable the right of the Uni
ted States to the public domain and other pub
lie property in California.
s'Whist majority Of the committee believe
it to be necessary and proper, under actual cir
cumstances, to admit California, they think it
quite as necessary and proper to establish gov
ernments for the residue of the territory derived
from Mexico, and to bring it within the pale of
the Federal authority The remotcness Of that
territory from the scat of the General Govern.
nent; the dispersed state Of its population, the
variety OF races-pure and nixed-of which it
consists; the ignorance of some of the races of
our laws, language, and habits; their exposure
to inroads and wars of savage tribes; and the So
lemn stipuations Of the treaty by which we ac-
qured dominion over them-impose upon the U.
States the imperative obligation of extending to
them protection, and of providing for them gov
ernment and laws suited to their condition. Con-
gress will fail in the performance of high duty
if it does not give, or attempt to give, to them
the benefit of such protection, government, and
laws. They are not now, and for long time
to come may not be, prepared for State govern
ment. The territorial form, for the present, is
best suited to their considered. bill has been
reported by the Committee on Territories, divi
ding all the territory acquired from Mexico, not
comprehended within the limits of California,
into two Territories, under the names of New
Mexico and Utah, and proposing for each a ter
ritorial government.
"The committee recommended to the Senate
the establishment of those territorial govern
ments; and, in order more certainly to secure
that desirable object, they also recommend that
the bill for their establishment be incorporated
in the bill for the admission of California, and
that, united together, they both be passed
"The combination of the two measures in the
same bill is objected to on various grounds. Ii
is that they incongruous, and have no necessary
connection with each other. A majority of the
committee think otherwise. The object ofboth
measures is the establishment of government
suited to the conditions, respectively, ofthe pro-
posed new State and of the new territories. Pri-
or to their transfer to the United States, they
both formed part of Mexico, where they stood
in equal relation to the Government of that Re-
public. They were both ceded to the United
States by the same treaty And in the same ar
ticle of that treaty the United States solemnly
engaged to protect and govern both. Common
in their origin, common in their alien alton from
one foreign government to another, common in
their wants of good government, and contermin-
Gus in some of their boundaries, and alike in ma
ny particulars of physical condition, they have
nearly everything in common in the relations in
which they stand to the rest of this Union. There
is, them, general fitness and propriety in ex-
tending the parental care of Government to both
in common. < If California, by a sudden and ex.
traordinary7 augmentation Of population, has ad-
vanced SO rapidly as to mature her for State
government, that furnishes no reason why the
less fortunate Territories Of New Mexico and
Utah should be abandoned, and left ungoverned
by the United States, or should be disconnected
with California, which, although she has organ.
lied for herself State government, must be le.
gally and constitutionally regarded as territory
until she is actually admitted as a State in the
Union. I -... .. . ., .-,.,,.f .,
''.lt is further objected that, by combining the
two measures in the same bill, members who
may be willing TO vote for one and unwilling tt
vote for the other, would be placed in an embar
it is urged, to take or to reject both. On the 9th
er hand, there are other members who would be
willing to vote for both united, but would fee
themselves constrained to vote against the Ca.
lifornia bill ifit stood alone. Each party find in
the bill which it favors something which com.
mends it to acceptance, and in the other some.
thing which it disapproves. The true ground
therefore, of the objection to the union Of the
measures, is not any want of affinity between
them, but because Of the favor or disfavor with
which they are respectively regarded. In this
conflict Of opinion, it, seems to majority of the
committee that spirit Of mutual concession en-.
joins that the two measures should be connected
together; the effect Of which will be, that Meth
er opinion will exclusively triumph, and thai
both may find in such an amicable arrangement
enough, Of good to reconcile them to the accept
ance of the combined measure. And such
course of legislation is not at all unusual. Few
laws have ever passed in which there were mo-
parts to which exception was taken. 1t is mex
pedient, if not impractcable, to separate these
i parts, and embody them in distinct bills, so a.
to accommodate the diversity Of opinion whicl
may exist. The Constitution Of the United
States contained in it a great variety Of provis
ions, to some Of which serious objection wa
made in the Convention which formed it by diff
ferent members Of that body; and when it wa
submitted to the ratification Of the States, som,
of them objected to some parts, and others to 9th
Z er parts OF the same instrument. Had these va
rious parts and provisions been separately acte.
on in the Convention, or separately submitte,
to the people Of the United States, it is by II,
means certain that the Constitution itself woul
ever have been adopted or ratified Those VIII
did not like particular provisions, found compen
sation in other parts Of IL. And nj all cases q
constitutions and laws, when either is presente
as whole, the question 70 Be decided q, whetl
pr Ia ssnnd Tx ~.