The Madisonian. (Canton, Miss.) 1850-1855, 1850-04-11

no validity, and can, have none, with
Dut your sanction. How, then, can
you admit it as State, when, accor~
ding to the provision Of the COnstitu>
lion, your power is limited to admit
ting new States. To be admitted, it |
must be State, an existing State, in
of your sanction. before you
can admit it. When you give your
permission to the inhabitants of Ter
ritory to form constitution and State
the constitution and State, they form
derive their authority from the peo-
pie, and not from you. The State be-
fore admitted Is actually a State, and
does not become so by the act of adj
mission, as would be the case with
California, should you admit her con
trary to constitutional provisions and
established usage heretofore.
The Senators on the other side Of the
chamber must permit me to make alew
remarks in connexion particularly ap>
plicable to them, with the exception of
a few Senators from the south sitting on
that side Of the chamber, when the
Oregon question was before this body,
not two years since. You took (if |
mistake not) universally the ground,
that Congress had the sole and abso.
lutte power of legislating for the Ter
ritories, How then can you now, after
the short interval which has elapsed,
abandon the ground which you took,
and thereby virtually admit that the
power Of legislatlng, instead ofbeing
in Congress, Is IN the inhabitants Of the
territories? How can you Justify and
sanction by your votes the acts Of the
Executive, which are in direct deroga-
ton of what you then contended for :
But to approach still nearer to the pre-
sent time, how can you, after condemn
ing, little more than year since, the
grounds taken by the party which yor
defeated at the last election, whee
round and support by your votes th'
grounds which, as explained recent.
on this floor by the candidates of th'
party in the last election, are identica
with those on which the Executive ha
acted in reference to California E
What are we to understand by all this
Must we Conclnde that there is no sin
cerity, no faith in the acts and declara
tious of public men, and that all is mer
acting or hollow profession Or ar
wc to conclude that the exclusion O
the South from territory acquired fror
Mexico is an object Of so paramount
Characterin your estimation, that Right
Justice, Constitution and Consistency
must all yield, when they stand Ill th
way Of our exclusionl
But, it may be asked, what is to b
done with California : Should she nc
, be admitted? | answer, remand he
| back to the territorial condition, as wa
! done in the case Of Tennessee, in tn,
:. early stage ofthe Government Con
1 oress. IN her case, had established tel
: ritorial government in the usual form
r with governor, judges, and other off
GERS, appointed by the United States
, She was entitled, under the deed &
cossion to be admitted into the Unio
as a State as soon as she held sixt
thousand inhabitants. The TerritOrl'
e Government, believing it had that nun
/ ber took Ceusns, by which it appear
: ed it exceeded it. She formed con
. stitution, aud applied for admission
! Congress refused to admit her, OH tn
) ground that the census should he take
4 bv the United States, and that Congre'
\ had not determined whether the terr
n tory should be formed into one or tw
;, States, as it was authorized 10 do III
d der the cession, She returned quietly
r take census by the United States
}. contai6ing provision that the terrific
: ~ should form one State. All aftel
u wards was regularly conducted, and tn
I territory admitted as state !" uu
Z form. The irregularities in the case
, California are lmmeasurably create
e and offer much stronger reasons ft
v pursuing the same course. But, it ms
' be said, California may not submit
' That's not probable, but if she shouI
Il not, when she refuses, it will then /
I time for us to decide what is to be don
j. Having now shown what cannot say
81 the Union, I retnrn to the question VII
~ which commenced. How can Il
J. Union be savedl There is but one wa
u by which il can with any certainty, an
le that is, by : fulland final settlemen
rs on the principle of Justice; of all u
ID questions at issue between the two Sc
IN tions. The South asks for justice, Sin
ID pie Justice, & less she ought not to tax
n, She has no compromise to offer, but q
Of Constitution; & no concession or surrel
ID der 10 make. She has already sarre'
dered 50 much that she has little lett
D. surrender, Snch settlement woul
re 20 to the root Of the evil, and remo'
+ E p. X III : ER.sa aofiAfurr