The southern press. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-05-28

the truth, whether it shames the devil or not.
4 Laughter. Persons ,oho haze aspired high as
| tOuers Of Aberty--aS eminent loperS of the VII
mot ProuiSo--aS eminent Ftee-soH men, and tchO
haze mounted oper our heads and rodden us domn
as II ve mere mere SLAVES, Hsyare The men thai
brought Texas INTO this country. That is the
truth, and declare it before you, and in the
presence of my God, that il PAS so. Look to
the journals.
/ Without the consent Of yew York, Texas
would not have come into the Union, under
either Of the original resolutions or afterwards
| But New York voted for It'd measure. The
! t,oo senator's from Neo YORK. uoted for il, and
turned The question: and you my thank Them fo.
he glory, The renopn, and The happiness Of hauing
fine or SIC stare STATES al9s 10 The Union
| Great sensation. Don't blame me for it.
Let them answer who did the deed, and who are
now proclaiming liberty, and using it for hum
bug and trading purposes. Gentlemen, who
aided in bringing in Texas? twas all fairly told
to you, You heard Moses and the prophets,
| [laughter,] but if one had risen from the deed,
such was your devotion to that policy, at that
! time, that yeu would not have heard him, or
listened to him for moment. Well all that
will now say is, that with the Messing of God,
acM not no,o or hereafter, befors the country or
| the Uorld, consent 10 be numbefed among those
aoho introduced neao Stare poaoer into the Union.
l. did all IN my po,oer 10 prepentk Applause.
And again, gentlemen, the Mexican war broke
out. This vast territory was acquired, and the
peace was made; and, much Is disliked the
war, | disliked the peace pbre, because it
brought ia these territories. That territory
was unknown. | did not know what it might
be. The plan came from the South. knew
that certain Southern gentlemen wished the ac-
QUESTION of California and New Mexico, and
Utah, as means of extending slave authority
and slave population; everything was known
about it. did not fall into their idea much,
but seeing quarrel, as conceived; seeing how
much it would distract the Union, | voted against
the peace with Mexico. voted against the ac-
QUESTION. i wanted none of her territory, Cal
lforna, New Mexico, nor Utah. They were
rather ultra American. They were far from US,
and saw that they might lead to political dis
turbance, and voted against them all-against
the treaty, and against the peace, and am glad
of it, Seeing that it would be an occasion OF
dispute; that by the controversy the whole
| Union would be agitated, Messrs Berien,
Badger, and other respectable and distinguished
men of the South, voted against the acquisition
and the treaty which secured il; and if the men
of the North had voted the same way, we would
/
| grown out of it, Applause.
Now, there is no sort of doubt, gentlemen,
that there were some persons in the South who
supposed that California, if it came in at all,
would come in rs slave State You know the
extraordinary events that arose there. You
know that California received. rush from the
! Northern people, and that an African slave could
! no more live there than he coufd on the top Of
\ Mount Hecla. OF necessifyit became a free
1 State, an that no doubt was "a source of much
disappointment TO the South. And then there
was New Mexico and Utah; what was TO be
| done.with them? Why, gentlemen, from the
! best Investigation have given the subject, and
| the reflection have devoted 10 it, / cas Of The
opinion that The mountains II Ne,o Merico and
Utah could no more sustain American sldrery
fhan ne snops Of Canada. .aw it was impos
| able. / thought so then, and7 think so now.
! Therefore, gentlemen, cher IL ioas proposed in
| Congress 20 apply The Wilmot Propiso 10 NeW
Merico and Uiah, il appeared to me just as db-
surd aslo apply here in Western Nev York /
saw that the snowy hills, the eternal mountains,
| and the climate of those countries, would never
support slavery. No man could carry a slave
herewith any expectation Of profit 1t could
not be done; and as the South thought it was
| irritating and disrespectful, was not willing to
10 IL, anu, tHtftJOftt saw uO OCCuSiOU lot hp-
plying The Wilmot Provi4o TO New Mexico or
Utah. Ivoted accordingly, and who doubts il
now? The lao admitting ikose territories pas
sed without any proriso. Is there sldre, or is
IL likely there cM be one herel Why, there is
not aanan in the United States so stupid as not
to see at this moment tina; such a thing was
wholly unnecessary, and thai il was calculated to
rritate and offend. And / am not one who is
disposed to create irritation, or give offense to
our brothers, or 10 break up ffaterna friendship,
lciihout cause. The questiouwas open whether
slavery should or should not to New Mexico
or Utah. There is no slavery There is not
the shining face of an African there It is ut
terly impracticabe, and utterly ridiculousto sup
pose il, and no one who does not mean to agi-
| tate, viii urge it. Well gentlemen, we have n
! race Of ngitators oil over the country-some
| connected with the press some, am sorry to
! say, connected with the learned professions,
| They agitate--their livelihood consists iD/
ttating--their freehold, their copyhold, Sner
capital, their all and all depends upon The excite.
ment of the public mind.
Gentlemen, these things went on at the com
mencement Of the year 1850. There were two
| great questions before the public. There was
! the question Of the Texan Boundary, and of a
! government for New Mexico, which consider
as one question; and there was the question Of
masking n provision for the restoration of fugi
live slaves Gentlemen, on these subjects
have something TO say. Texas, as you know,
established her independence Of Mexico, by her
revelation and the battle Of San Jacinto, which
made her sovereign power. | have already
stated TO you what have anticipated from the
motement-that she would ask TO come into
the Union as a slave State. We admitted her
in lS45, and we admitted her as slave State.
We admitted her in l845, and we admitted her
With her own boundaries---rememt er that. She
claimed by conquest all thatterritory which was
commonly called New Mexico, east Of the Rio
Grande. She claimed also by these limits what
her Constitution had declared and established
as the proper limits of Texas. This was her
claim, and when she was admitted into the
United States, the United States did not define
her territory. They admitted her as she was
We took her as she defined her own limits, and
with the power of making three additional slave
States. ] say "we," but did not always re-
member that. Now, in this state of things. let
us 90 back to 1850. What was the state Of