Daily national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1854, 1854-01-31

Congress, the Senator from Virginia offered the
amendment that nothing therein contained
should impair that provision, either as TO the
number Of States or otherwise; that is that
Texas should be entitled to the same number
Of States with her reduced boundaries as she
would have been entitled to under her larger
boundaries; and those States shall come in
with or without Slavery, being all south Of SO
degrees 80 minutes and nothing to impair
that right shall be inferred from the passage of
the act Such, sir, was the meaning Of that
proposition. Any other construction of it would
stultfy the very character and purpose OF its
mover, the Senator from Virginia. Such, then,
was not only the intent of the mover, but such
is the legal effect Of the law; and say that no
man, after reading the other sections OF the
bill--those to which have referred-can doubt
that such was both the intent and the legal
effect of that law.
Then submit to the Senate if have not
convicted this manifesto, Issued by the Adolf
ton confederates, of being gross classification
Of the laws of the land, and by that falsifica-
ton that an erroneous and injurious impression
has been created upon the public mind. am
sorry to be compelled to indulge in language
Of severity; but there is no other language that
is adequate to express the indignation with
which see this attempt not only to mislead
the public, but to malign my character by de-
liberate Justification Of the public statutes and
the public records.
Sir, this misrepresentation and Justification
does not stop here. In order to give greater
plausibility to their statement, they 60 further,
and state that lit is solemnly declared, in the
very Compromise Acts, that nothing herein
contained shall be construed TO impair on qualify
the prohibition Of Slavery north Of SO deg 80
min and yet, in the face of this declaration,
that sacred prohibition is said to be overthrown.
Can presumption further go?o
In the very teeth of the statute, saying that
they should come in with or without Slavery
as they pleased, these men declare that it il
stated that it sheuld be forever prohibited.
repeat to them: aCould presumption 20 fur
ther ?n Not only presumption in making these
statements, but the presumption that they could
avoid the exposure of their conduct
In order to give greater plausibility to the
Justification of the terms Of the Compromise
Measures of 1850, the confederates also declare
in their manifesto, that they 1.-THE territorial
bills for the organization of UIah and New
Mexico applied to the territory acquired
from Mexico, and to that only. They were in.
tended as settlement of the controversy grow
ing out Of that acquisition, and of that contro-
versy only. They must stand or fall by their
own merits"
submit to the Senate, if there is an intelli-
gent man in America who does not know that
that declaration is falsifed by the statute from
which they quoted. They say that the pro-
visions of that bill were confined to tho terri
tory acquired from Mexico, when the very sec-
ton Of the law from which they quoted that
proviso did purchase part of that very terri
tory from the State Of Texas. And the next
section of the law included that territory in the
new Territory of Mexico. took asmall portion,
also, Of the old Louisiana purchase, and added
that to the new Territory Of Mexico, and made
up the rest out of tho Mexican acquisitions
Then, sir, your statutes show when applied to
the map Of the country, that the Territory Of
New Mexico was composed of territory acquired
from Mexico and also of territory acquired
from Texas, and Of territory acquired from
France and yet, in defiance Of that statute
and in Justification Of it's terms, we are told, in
order to deceive the people, that the bills were
confined 10 the purchase made from Mexico
alone and in order to give it greater solemni-
ty rs WAS necessary while uttering falsehood,
they repeat it twice, fearing that It would not
be believed the first time.
What is more, the Territory of Utah was
not confined TO the country acquired from
Mexico That Territory, as is well known to
every man who understands the geography Of
the country, includes large tract Of rich and
fertile country acquired from France in 1903
and to which the eighth section Of the Missouri
act applied in 1920 IL these confederates do
not know to what country alude | only reply
that they should have known before they ut
tered falschood and imputed q crime to me.
But will tell you to what country allude.
BY the treaty of 1919, by which we acquired
Florida, and fixed q boundary between the
United States and Mexico, the boundary was
made of the Arkansas river to its source, and
then the line ran due north Of the source Of
tho Arkansas to the AID parallel, then along
on the 42d parallel to the Pacific ocean. That
line, due north from the head Of the Arkansas
leaves the whole middle part, described 10 such
the line, and hence part OF tho Louisiana
purchase. Yet, inasmuch as that middle part
il watered and drained by the waters flowing
into the Colorado, when we formed the terrific.
rial limits Of Utah, instead of running that air
line, we ran along the ridge Of the mountains
and cut off that part from Nebraska, or from
the Louisiana purchase, and included il within
the limits OF the Territory of Utah.
Why did we do it? Because we sought for
a national boundary, and it was more natural
TO take the mountains as a boundary, than by
an air line to cut the valleys ON one side Of the
mountains, and annex them to the country on
the other side And why did we take these
natural boundaries, setting at defiance the old
boundaries? The simple reason was, that so
long as we acted upon the principle Of settling
the slave question by geographical line, 80
long we observed those boundaries strictly and
rigidly; but when that was abandoned, in con-
sequence Of the action Of Free-SoiIers and abo-
litionists--whcn il was superseded by tho Com
promise measures Of 1850, wuich rested upon
great universal principle--there was no ne
cessity for keeping in wow the old and un-
natural boundary For that reason, in making
the new Territories, we formed natural bound
aries, irrespective of the source whence our
title wasderived. In writing these bills, paid
no attention TO the fact whether the title was
acquired from louisiana from France, or from
Mexico; for what difference did il make? The
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