The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-07-18
NEW MEXICO ITS POPULATION.

The timely movement of the people Of New
Mexico, by which they have placed themselves
in the position of State sovereignty, enabling
them to demand as their constitutional right ad-
mission into the Union, on q footing Of equality
with the other States seems to give entire salts
faction to all save the slavery -propagandists Of
the South and their allies at the North. The
former class Of opponents openly deny the right
Of the people of New Mexico to exclude slavery.
The latter are not exactly prepared to take this
ground, and are under the necessity Of present
ing objections to the admission of the new State,
drawn from the character Of its population. Ac-
49, Oara, os prvsesss'ns y,
the advocates Of ultra democracy and the largest
liberty that the Indian and Mexican voters Of
New Mexico are unfit for political freedom, and
the exercise of the rights Of selfgovernment.
The delegate from New Mexico, Fl. N. Smith,
estimates the population of the Territory in round
numbers at $4,000. OF these, some 5000 are
the descendants of the Aztecs, the semi civilized
founders Of those ancient cities, the ruins of
which, scattered over Mexico attest their original
splendor and the skill of their artifcers They
are the best farmers Of New Mexico, living in
compact villages, surrounded by fruit trees, gar
dens, and great fields of corn and melons The
report of Lieut.. J. w. Albert, of his "Examna-
ton Of New Mexico, in the years 1s46-'47, gives
minute descriptions of some Of the principal
Pueblos or Indian towns. The houses are from
two to three stories high, firmly constructed of
sun-dried bricks, or rough stone, plastered with
clay or the glittering white of selenite Each vii
age has its church, its padre, an acalde or chief
magistrate The inhabitants are Industrious
peaceable, and kind-hearted They are lovers of
flowers and fruit trees, and Lieut. Albert says that
he could at first sight distinguish an Indian from
Spanish town, by the green clump OF trees
which enclosed it. They raise large numbers
of the common domestic fowls, and, like their Az
tee ancestors, have fancy for tanning birds. In
dress and appearance they scarcely suffer in COM
psrison with their Csstilian neighbors Col EN-
Org, in his report to the Secretary of War of his
Explorations in New Mexico, gives the portrait
of an Indian woman, painted from life, in the par
lor of the Indian alcalde Of Isoletta 1t is pic
ture Of remarkable beauty; the figure full and
gracefully moulded, and the features delicately
chiselled. The women are very tolerable house
wives, and our officers, who during the late war
had occasion to partakc of their hospitality, speak
of their well-loaded tables, their sponge-cakes,
fine wheaton loaves, and domestic wines
These Pueblo Indians were the first to welcome
the American troops to New Mexico. They dis
liked the Mexican rule, as it constantly reminded
them Of the days Of the Conquest and the subju-
CATION of their ancestors. Colonel Emory does
not hesitate to pronounce them the best and
would certainly be most ungrateful return to
these people, if their State should be denied a
place in the American Confederacy, on the ground
that they are unworthy Of the rights of citizen
ship. -
As to the Mexican or Spanish part Of the popu-
lation, they are, to say the least, quite az well
fitted for the duties and responsibilities of State
government, as the old inhabitants Of Louis
lana and Florida, when those States were received
into the Union. They are not an enterprising,
ard-working people-the majority content them
selves with the simple necessaries Of life-they
have neither the thrifsiness nor the stiffness of
Yankees. They have few books and no news
papers. Yet they are by no means deficient in
the rudments Of education each village has its
padre, more or less learned, and Lieut.. Albert
says it is rare to find New Mexican boy or girl
who is unable to read Many of the old landed
propretors are wealthy, living in style Of rude
magnifcence; exhibiting upon their tables mas
sive silver plate, the product of New Mexican
mines and the work of New Mexican artisans,
and hanging their walls with mirrors and paint.
ings Their sons are educated in the United
States or Mexico. Several have graduated at the
St. Louis college. Some of their private residen-
ces are spacious, and not without architectural
pretension. That Of Senior Ortero, at Peralta,
has front pertai or piazza of five hundred feet in
length. At Peralta, Albuquerque, Ell Paso, Padil-
la and Bernallilo, officers found polite and in
telgent society All classes are courteous and civil
in their social intercourse crimes of the highest
degree are unfrequent, but, as in all parts of
Mexico, gaming is prevalent vice. In the north
ern part of the Territory there is good deal of
and the famous Taos whiskey is
too freely used. Lower down, the light, delicious
wines Of FL Paso are in common use The
Americans who visit them have the reputation of
hard drinkers, and when Col Emory, on one oc.
casion declined the prefer of bottle Of whiskey.
the astonished Mexican exclaimed, @What! no
whiskeyl Then you are no American ~
To the restless, unsatisfed, grasping Anglo
Saxon the careless and listlessness and simple
pastoral habits Of the New Mexicans are we'll cal
culsted to awaken feeling Of contemptuous supe-
rority on the part of the former But ii may be
question: after ALL whether the dolce far nients the
quiet Indifference Of the one Is not as productive
Of happiness as the goadng irritability and ha-
bitual unrest of the other.
Every year, the tide of emigration setting to-
wards from the old world, brings to our shores
the poor, the ignorant, and vicious, in numbers
far greater than the entire population of New
Mexico These are incorporated into cur body |
polite, and, in the new States and Territories, |
speedily become voters. We would not, if we
could, close our ports against them, and refuse |
them an asylum In our broad territory. But who |
would not prefer to the refuse and squald overplus
Of crowded European cities, and the annual dis |
Of their jais and work houses the quiz
st, home-loving and pastoral people Of New Mex
co who for the last quarter Of century have exer
Used the rights Of citizens of republic, and
whose insulated position, II 1t has deprived
hem in some measure Of the benefits Of the gen.
,ral progress Of civilization, has at the same
line preserved them from some Of the worst |
r;cos which that cvili atom has carried In its
rain.
But, as things are, what avail all facts and ar
yuments on this point Is 1t not manifest To the
wisdom Of this great Republic, in Congress assem-
lied that these New Mexicans are incapable of |