Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1856-10-25
Buchanan's Texas Speech.

Inc following is the extract from BUCHA-
MANS Texas speech which Col. PoND read and
commented upon in his speech here on the
18th, and which we refer to in our notice Of
that speech in to~day's paper. Old Buck, as
ne IS so Familiarity called, cannot say that he
was young and inexperienced when that speech
was made Read the following, Southerners /:
In arriving at the conclusion to support this
treaty. | had no encounter but one serious Oh.
Stacie, AND TIA WAS THE QUESTION or SLAVES
RK. Whilst | ever have maintained, and ever
shall maintain, ia their full force and vigor, the
constitutional rights of the Southern States
over their slave property. I yet feel a strong res
PugnGnce by an act Of mine 10 eGtend the limits
Of The Union 0rer a neeU SlGueh0lding terrtoru.-
After mature reflection, however, | Overcame
these srcuples, and now believe that the ac-
QUESTION Of Texas will be the means Of LIMIT.
ING, not ENLARGING the dominion Of
SLAVERY,
In the government Of the world, Providence
generally produces great changes BY gradual
means. There is nothing rash in the counseis
OF the Almighty. May not, then, the acquisi~
ton of Texas be the means of gradually draw
ing the slaves far to the South to a climate
more congenial to their nature; and may they
not finally pass off into Mexico, and THERE
MINGLE WITH A RACE WHERE NO PREJUDICE
EXISTS AGAINST THEIR COLOR! The Mexican
nation is composed of Spaniards, Indians and
negroes, blended together in every variety,
who would receive our slaves on terms of per.
feet social equality. To this condition they
never can be admitted in the United States.
That the acquisition Of Texas would, ere
long convert Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky,
Missouri, and probably others of the more
Northern slave States into free States, | enter,
tain not a doubt.
Blu should Iecas be annexed TO he Union,
causes DiU be brought into operation a0hich
must inevitably reneore SLAVERY from aohqt neav
be called The farming States. From the best
information, it is no logger profitable to raise
wheat, rye, and corn, BY slave labor. Where
these articles are the only staples of agricul-
ture, in the pointed and expressive language of
Mr.. Randolph, if the slave does not run away
from his master, the master must run away
from the slave. The slave will naturally be
removed from such q country, where his labor
is scarcely adequate to his own support, to a re-
gIon where he can not only maintain himself,
but yield large profits to his master. Texas
will open an outlet; and slavery itself thus
finally pass The Del Norte, and be lost in Next
Ohe thing Is certain; the present number
o~fsIaves cannot be increased by the annexation
of Texas.
81 have never unprecedented the preponder.,
ance Of the slave States 10 the councils of the
nation. Such a fear has always appeared TO
me visionary. But those who entertain such
approximations need not be alarmed BY the
acquisition Of Texas. More than one half of
its territory is wholly unfit for the slave labor,
and, therefore, in the nature Of things, must be
free. Mir. Clay, in his letter of the 18th of Apri
on the subject Of annexation, states that,
according to his information,
a''Fhe territory Of Texas is susceptible of a
division into five States Of Il convenint size
and form Of these, two only would be adap-
ted to that peculiar institution t~elayerv) TO
which | have referred; and the other three, living
west and north Of San Antonio, being only
TO farming and grazing purposes, from
the nature of the soil. climate, and productions,
would not admit Of these i~nstitutio rs. In the
end, therefore, there would be two slave and
three free States probably added to the Uni,
on
"And here, permit me to observe, that there
is one defect in the treaty which ought to be
amended, if we all did not know that it is
destined to be rejected. The treaty itself
TO determine now many free and how
many slave States should be made out Of this
territory "-Pages 62l, 722.