The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-07-18

but by the Mother Country. II was solerlnly
tadjudicated in the English Privy. Council that
her claim was groundlcss yet, after the sever
ance of this country from England by
the war Of the Revolution. and the relip-
punishment by the British Government of her
Territorial rights to the American Confederacy,
4 did our Government presumeto possess and re-
tain this disputed country in opposition to Vir-
/ ginia On the contrary, WIS not our title de-
rived from Virginia by deed Of cession, and
was not the cession obtained at our solicitation
The imagination is at fault to conceive the con-
sequences which would have befallen our infant
| Republic if she had made forcible attempt to
wrest this country from Virginia Yet in what
particular was the claim of Virginia, being a
mere paper title, accompanied with possession,
stronger than the claim of Texas to New
Mexico! q 3
! But even if there was any force in the argu-
ment that the imbeciity of Texas to reduce this
country into possession amounted TO u relin-
punishment OF her title, maintain that our Gov
ernment is estopped by its own acts and declarl-
tons from setting up any title antagonistical to
the claim Of Texas. BY the treaty Of amexa-
ton, the United States became trustee for Tex
as, to arrange and settle her boundary and, for
sOoth it strikes me rs model doctrine to be
mooted in court of good conscience--in q
court Of equity-that in making bargain affec-
ting the right OF cestui que trust, the trustee
can be justified, upheld, and sustained in circum-
scribing those rights for their own benefit. /
have always imagined that all bargains and con
tracts of this description Injured to the benefit of
the cestiti que trust and hence, have concluded,
that as our Government undertook, as the friend
Of Texts, to settle her boundary, she must, as
an honest, as faithful trustee, impart to that
Stata fta .Ixt .ffl ,af
| gain. But if the voice of Justice should fall
upon our ears as 9 the lstess wind, II imagine
that there is a power to be found in the Federal
Constitution which, when exercised will com
pei MS to admit to the full extent, the rights Of
Texas to this country
The Constitution Of the United States and
the treaties made in pursuance Of that instrll-
ment, are declared to be the supreme law of the
| land; and would ask, have we not treaty slip
ulatons made with Texas, acknowledging her
title to this country, and are not those stipula-
tons still binding on us? BY reference to u
conventions between the United States
and Texas, in the year 1888, we distinctly adj
mitted our entire western boundary of New
! Mexico, to be the proper boundary between our
country and Texas. If we did not at that time
consider the claim of Texas as being good, why
should we have compromised our independent
position rs neutral Power, in the war then
being waged between Mexico and Texas, by the
establishment of this line and in case of any
aggression having been made upon our national
interest in the country circumscrbed by this
line, would we have hesitated in demanding rep
aration from the government of Texas? And
ifTexas should have attempted to shield herself
under the plea that it was not her territory,
. would we have been satisfied with the justifica-
l 2 ,, rafh bo,, i,,cic Tod
upon strict observance of the treaty stipula-
tons! A careful and unprejudiced considera-
ton of these different questions will coerce upon
our minds the convction, that by the terms of the
I convention we admitted and acknowledged the
claim OF Texas as good to the Rio Grande up to
the AID degree Of north latitude Is not that
convention still in force, or has it been abroga-
ted by the annexation OF Texas to this country
j Justice, law, and common sense all combine to
/ enforce upon us the conviction, that as there is
nothing in that convention regarding title ut all
| Inconsistent with the present relations OF the
! two countries, the agreement and stipulations
are still binding on us, and that we cannot by
any act of our own absolve ourselves from their
observance. But in addition to this treaty there
has been another convention between the United
States and Texas, Interior, indeed, in time, but
vastly more important in its operations refer
to the agreements of annexation.
! ltmay want the high solemnty attending the
execution OF a treaty as prescribed by our Con-
stitution, but itcan never want its judicial cogen-
cy. 1t WILL it must be considered rs the supreme
law of the land, a law resting under the agis of
the Constitution for its protection and hence
irrepealable by any action of Congress, much
less by mere resolution of this House. Let
me call your attentionto the second section of
this joint resolution, by force of which Texas
became annexed to our country. This section
sets forth three conditions, on the compliance
with which by Texas, she was to be admitted as
one of the States Of the Union. The first con-
diton relates to the settlement of the boundary
of Texas The second relates to the local and
fiscal regulations, which would necessarily result
from annexation. The third condition relates
to the territory of Texas. | will read it:
"New States Of convenient size, not exceed
ing four in number in addition to said State of
Texas, and having sufficient population, may
thereafter, by the consent of said State, be form
ed out of the territory thereof, which shall be
entitled to admission under the provisions of
the federal Constitution. And such States as
may be formed out of that portion of said terri
! tory lying south of thirty-siX degrees thirty
minutes north latitude, commonly known as the
Missouri Compromise line, shall be admitted into
the Union with or without slavery, as the people
of each State asking admission may desire
And in such State or States as shall be formed
out of the territory north Of the said Missouri
/ Compromise line slavery or involuntary servi-
tude, except for crime, shall be prohibited
Now, sir, as all the territory north Of this line
and much south Off includes New Mexico, i will
observe that every word and line in this condition
acknowledges the right of Texas to all of the
country lying east of the Rio Grande. II ex-
pressly prescrbes that in addition to the present
State of Texas, four new States, with the con-
sent of Texas, may be formed and slml be adj
mitted into our Union There is something
peculiarly striking in the phraseology of this
last clause. -Four new States are to be formed
out of the territory of Texas Where is that
/ territory to be found! Itcould not have been
the intention of the trainers of this resolution to
confine the formation of these States exclusively
to the territory lying in the southern portion of
I Texas because the very next clause of the same
condition prescribes that in the territory lying
north of the parallel of latitude SO deg. 80 min.