The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-07-29


cluding provinces which always tend to corrupt,
and inevitably and ultimately to drag down the
parent State. Then, the proposition which l
submit is congenial with the treaty-truly con-
genial and compatible with the Constitution Of
the United Suites and the proposition to es-
tablish territorial form of government over
this people is in violation of the spirit of the
treaty and of the Constitution
81 But sir, New Mexic0 ia entitled to be admit
ted into the Union Of the United States under
that treaty, because il cannot be regarded as a
treaty stipulating or contemplating an Oppres-
sive exercise Of the right Of Congress in defining
the time ofadmission. but reasonable exercise
Of 1.-THE exercise Of sound discretion for the
good of the people with whom the stipulation
and covenant were made. 1t is covenant tor
their protection and benefit, and not stipula-
ton for their oppression and ruin. What, then,
is the time when New Mexico ought to be ad-
mitted! That time, sir, has come when the ad-
mission Of New Mexico, not as province, is me-
cesssary to save the liberty Of the people and
the integrity Of her territory. That is the time,
and that time has now come; for both are in
danger. The liberties of New Mexico are in
danger Of being subverted by an absorption by
the State Of Texas, and her actual existence is
endangered by the efforts of that State to bring
shall be given to me upon this point, sir? There
is no answer, except it be that New Mexico is
not in condition to be admitted. But New
Mexico fufls all the conditions which you have
ever required for the admission of any State
into the Union. There is but one condition
which the Constitution recognizes; and that is,
that she shall present a republican form of gov
ernment. New Mexico fnlfills that condition.
You have before you established precedents
by which you have required population
of given amount Of numbers to constitute
State. That number is a number sufficient to
elect one member Of Congress. New Mexico
fulfls that condition; for she has hundred
thousand souls-she has population larger than
Texas when that community was admitted as
State. She has a. population two-thirds as
large as that of Texas. Sixty thousand citizens
were needful to entitle the State of Ohio to ad-
mission--sixty thousand were all that were re-
quired Of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and
Florida; and New Mexico exceeds them all by
more than two-thirds of the number required.
But we have been told that the condition Of
these people was such that they were unfit for
selfgovenment and therefore should be denied
admission. Sir, it is too late to raise that OBJ
lection. They are citizens of the United States;
and no man maintaining the capacity of man for
selfgovernment can maintain that any ninety
thousand people citizens Of the United States,
recognized as such by its Constitution, its trea-
ties, and its laws-are incapable Of the functions
of selfgovernment. t ,as.4 y +
!. know that it is said that you will govern
them better than they could govern themselves;
and how will you govern them better! What is
the guarantee that you are offering them Of gov
erning them better than they can govern them
selves? 1t is the proposition to dismember their
territory and to subvert their constitution. They
are mingled pOpulatiOn--a population marked
by characteristics which have resulted from the
extraordinary system Of colonization and of gov
ernment maintained by Old Spain in her provin-
ces-a policy peculiarly different from our own,
and marked by very different results in its in
f1uences upon the people. The settlement of
the colonies of Spain proceeded altogether from
a thirst for gold, and nothing else. The gov
ernment which Spain exercised over the colo
nies was the government of jealous, arbitrary
authority, exercised for the purpose solely Of
deriving the utmost possible profit from her
colonies. The colonization of these States was
the result Of an ardent thirst, not for gold but
for liberty; and the consequences which result
ed are seen in the widely different character of
the two populations. The people of the United
States have grown up by slow degrees. It was
one hundred and seventy years after the first
attempt at colonization by the Anglo-Saxons,
before any forms of well-established Institutions
were found on this continent The career of
the Spaniards, on the other hand, was brilliant
and successful. The whole of the Spanish
portion of this continent speedily rose into vice
royalties, which were, filled with wealth. and
splendor, and pride.
But, after the lapse Of another hundred years,
- <baiA A IL bcc<
on steadily increasing, until it has converted the
whole or large portion of the northern part of
the continent by subjugation, while the Spanish
portion is decaying and declining, and falls an
easy prey to conquest The Anglo-Saxon colo
nization left the native inhabitants of these
countries out Of its sympathy, and it left them
barbarous and savage, and they remained So
But the peculiar Influences of the religion which
the colonists of Spain carried into her new ter
ritories operated successfully in winning the
Indians to Christianity and to partial civilization:
and we have, therefore, this extraordinary fact,
that while we exclude Indians or aborigines
from the possession Of liberty and the rights of
citizens in our own States and in our own coun-
try, we have conquered the ab0rgines in Spanish
portions of the continent for the purpose Of
making them citizens, and have extended to
them the rights Of citizens. So, sir, the popu-
lation of New Mexico consists of some two
thousand people Of the European race, and chiefly
Anglo -Saxons, then Of some ten thousand of the
Creoles, or the descendants Of the Spanish colo
nists, and sixty thousand Indians, more or less
mixed in blood, but civilized and christianized.
Ny motion, sir, is to bring this extraordinary
and peculiar population into the United States
as a State of this Union; and it is a motion
upon which shall stand, and stand so long as
grace and strength are given me to stand for
anything But sir, If the question were now
whether this people should be invited to share
in the government of this Union should an
swer no. If the question was whether the pub
lie treasury should pour forth money to bring
this population into this Union as State, 1
should say no. Still more, if the proposition
were to conquer this people, to bring them into
the Union, should resist to the last But those
questions have all gone by. ' afosA sa'
You have brought you have conquered, you
have stipulated to bring them into the United
States, and you have stipulated to bring them in,
not as territories, as provinces, but as States
You cannot do this except you give them the
power of State, the privileges and preropatiyes