New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-04-12

in 1S20-her remOteness, the ChaIa CVoi Vi
her population, the chaotic condition other
Land Tenures, her embarrassed finances
her hostile savages, all forbade 1t. New
Mexico-her Government military dos-
potism, and poor at that; her people inert
and feeble; her frontiers all assailed by pre-
datory savages; her very existence me-
nsced by Texas, whom she was unable to
resist, while no adequate support was at
band-also demanded instant and ehectual
care. Now it is very easy and very idle
10 say that all these questions ought TO
have been settled separately, and settled
;ust right. The controlling fact was that
both Houses of Congress were in the hands
of the Loco Foco party, and that party
was pledged before the world to the main
tenance of the Territorial pretensions Of
Texas. 10 support of these professions, 1t
had plunged the Country into a sanguinary
War on Mexico, and incurred a Public
Debt really of One Hundred Millions
What availed it, then, that the claims OF
Texas TO two thirds of New Mexico were
preposterous, impudent, outrageous =
When your hand is in the ions mouth,
what avails your logical demonstration that
he has no right to bite it off The thing
TO be done is to get it out as speedily and
as nearly sound as possible. We, there
fore. were convinced before the late Con-
eress met-befoTe Mr.. Clay came to Wash
inpton or had uttered word on the sub
iect-ihat some sort of Compromise was
indispensable to get New Mexico safe
I.lv out of the clutches of Texas, in
view of the inevitable and overpowering
combination of Slavery and Loco FocO-
ism in support of the pretensions Of
the latter. With the superadded, the
apocryphal Compromise concerning Fugi-
tive Slaves and the District Slave-Trade we
had no sympathy but, so far as the prop
ositions grouped together in Mr.. Clay's
great Bill are concerned, we gave them
reluctant bat sincere assent, and have new
er Withdrawn it. And whoever says that
Mr.. Clay acted in the late Congress as an
attorney for Slavery-that he desired or
sought the Extension of that curse, either
geographically or otherwise, ISLANDERS him
most foully. Whatever faults he may have,
Descending is not among them, and we
know his purposes as thoroughly as his
avowals or his acts. Firmly insisting that
Slavery in any State must be let alone by
all other States, he has throughout his life
regarded it as an evil inevitably temporary,
! but which external assaults can only aggra-
vate and prolong. This is not our view
or, more strictly, we consider Slavery es-
sentially, necessarily aggressive, and inevi-
tably a cause of disturbance and agitation
so long as it shall exist but it is not ust
that ne should De vIUalIy misrepresenred at
the North because the view he actually
holds isnota Northernone. Hehasnomor
desire to extend the dominion of Slavery
than to extend that Of any other evil which
he nevertheless believes for the present in
extinguishable.
There is not an active and hearty Sla-
very Extensionist in the land who does not
regard Mr.. Clay as an antagonist. The
Mobile Tribune mo relation of his Tribune,
bat the Calhoun organ of Alabama, - recens-
ly had long and powerful article, affirm
ing and proving that Nh Clay is aud ever
has been the most efficient adversary that
Slavery Extension has habitat he has al
ways at heart, and repeatedly by open
avowals, opposed the perpetuation any
where of Slavery as blight and a curse.
No man can really doubt this who has
thoughtfully read his speeches on the
Tariff, Internal Improvements, and kin
dr,d topics. They all evince spirit and
a tendency which cannot coexist with ad-
miration Of and devotion to Slavery. And
so he is generally understood.
We thank The Republic augusta,
Ga. for having, in reply to our inquiry
where and when Mr.. Clay had expressly
approved the WImot Proviso reprinted
the following letter Of Mr. Clay 10 citizens
Of Cleveland, Ohio:
ASHLAND, June Is, l949
GENTLENES: | received your official letter, in
behalf Of the freemen Of the Reserve, inviting me
to unite in celebrating the passage Of the ord-
nance Of 1887, on the 18Th day Of July next.
concur entirely opinion 20 the risdOm Of that
great measure, and | an glad that Il has secured
70 the States in rhich operates an exemption from
the erRs Of SlarTy. But the event ofthe passage
Of tie ordinance has never, within my kno Wedge
been celebrated in any one Of the sixty one years
which have since interviewed. IL is proposed for
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