The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-03-21

cAH4of 31eU&GbRo to declare wIInt enaA or enst
not b propefty, or what property ahsll OF anal
not b troaehtinto the territories. a rePesi OF
the Mexi6dn laws instead Of being such deolara-
ton, wouM have been but declaration that the
laws Of 40 foreign government shall prevent
any citizen of any of the United States from
having full md free use and enjoyment Of all
his constitutional ard reserved rights. The es-
sence Of the doctrine of non-interventon is, pass
no law either for the establishment or exclusion
of slavery from the territories. The repeal OF
these Mexican laws would have been neither the
establishment nor exclusion Of slavery in the
Mexican territories.
Again We submit that both Of these acts are
tainted with this great fraud upon the South
that while their advocates denied that they had
the right to pass any law, repeating or other
wise, on the subject Of slavery, they have, by
mastery Inactivity sanctioned as the law of
those territories, an act of the Congress of
Mexico, excluding one entire section OF the
Union from emgrating thither! Can such
monstr0us political anomaly exist as thls--that
while the American Congress cannot exclude
slavery from the territories the act of a Mexican
Congress is in force, excluding slavery there
from and that there is no power IN the Con-
gress of the United States to declare such laws
of no force theren-and consequently they are
as irrcpealable as the laws Of the Modes and Per-
slams!
We indeed held that no Mexican law, in con-
lct with the Constitution, can prevail in those
territories for moment But we are a minor
| ity and cannot give force to such an opinion.
The power that controls every department Of
| the government--be it executive, Legislative or
judicial, holds a different opinion. and hence
the necessity Of repeal Of those laws by Con
gress. The refusal to repeal was direct sanc
ton Of the Mexican law, and practically and
virtually an enactment by Congress of the
| Wilnot Proyiso.
There is another branch of this system of
wrong and fraud which deserves your consider
alton. We alIude to the ACKNOWLEDGMENT of a
| slaveholding State -Texas-and the transfer Of
her soil to the purposes of free soil. At the
annexation of Texas that State claimed by law
the Rio Grande to be her western boundary.
Congress received Texas into tho Union with
but one reservation or proviso, and that WAS that
it reserved the power TO settle all questions of
boundary which should arise with foreign ma
tionsn BY the treaty with Mexico that govern
ment Yielded the entire terri DRY claimed by
(. Mexico and all of New Mexico and Upper Cal
iforna. 1t yielded to the government Of which
! Texas was part For whom did the govern
ment acquire it! Either for Texas, or for itself
alone. The government, however, can only
hold property in fduciary capacity--in trust
| for those whom it represents, to wit: for the
people OF each State respectively. Under such
circumstances, can the government set up II
claim to the territory included within the bound
aries claimed by Texas, when annexed? We
hold that it cannot Ii is estopped from doing
so by the net of annexation, admitting Texas,
with the reservation of right to settle all ques-
tons of boundary which might arise with
foreign nations" 1t then il estoped from en-
tertanng question of boundary with Texas,
on It's own account. 1t can only do so on
account of I" a foreign nation" The only g for
eign nation" that ever disputed the Texas
boundary was Mexico. BY the treaty, however,
Mexico yielded that boundary to the govern.
ment, which was bound as trustee or agent,
to yield it to Texas, for whose benefit, in part,
the war carried on.
None can for moment contend that New
! Mexico, after it was Yielded to the United States
could become party to this question Of boun-
Diary with Texas, il the United States could not
We did not receive New Mexico as an organized
State. We only received the territory of New
Mexico, and such citizens as chose to become
citizens of the United States could do so. Wher
received the Executive ut once created there
military government Such was the condition
of things whom Texas passed law to assert hei
rights in all the territory east of the Rio Grande
She sent commissioners there to organize coun.
ties and TO extend her laws and jurisdiction owe,
them. Some of the inhabitants demonstrated
against this procedure. The military governor
finally warned the commissioners to desst--
/ Texas prepared to enforce her rights and at this
iuncture the President Of the United States
threatened the sovereign State of Texas to re-
sist the extension of her jurisdiction over that
,,-;4,. T.lo
stood-the weak, small and deeply indebted
State Of Texas against the rich and powerful
4 government of the United States. The first
having an undoubted right, the last having the
power to resist The one slaveholding State
the other government in the hands of the anti
slavery power! And while thus lining her
righttu domain with sodery that government
passed n law offering to Texas ten millions oil
dollars for her claim Who could not foresee
the result The law did not submit to Texas
the question, "Will you sell your land for ten
milons!" No---but simply, Decide if YOU
will take ten millions" The question was de-
! cided by the general government IA to who
should hold the land. All that Texas had to
decide was whether she would take the money
or tie bayonet. Texas decided to take the
money and the 'ast tract yielded by her-as
large as the State of Alabama--was at once put
under the freesoil act Incorporating the terrific.
rial government of New Mexico. This proce-
dure shows that ours is fast becoming, not only
n consolidated, but military government
The whole South was interested in the issue
! Who will deny that Texas was admitted as q
protection to the South against Free-so ag.
gresson and that the provision inserted in the
act that Texas might hereafter be carved up into
free States AL of which lying South of SO. 80
should be slave States, was inserted for the ben
eft ofthe whole South And yet by this tyrani
cal and unconstitutional procedure. territory
thus devoted to the purposes of the South was
torn from Texas and devoted to the purposes OF
free-soil. In its double aspect--first, of the in
vasion Of the rights of sovereign State, and
the assuption of power by the general govern
ment, and second, of the ACKNOWLEDGMENT Of o
slave State, in violation of the spirit of the act
OF annexation, this boundary net Of the late Con
gress stands forth as one otthe most prominent
OF That system of acts, all of which were so much
in derrogation Of the rights of the South
Another of those measures deserves our no
tlce. We allude e., the act of suppressing the