Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1859-03-23

a
:, the last of the territories nO,o left in which tn
= South can hope to establish ioothold. A fell
! of labor rich enough to excite the cupi9ity an'
/ enterprise of any people; and The grea DOW
+. ical stand point, from which the Sout%mal
take cary advantage OF the still more inviting
. fields Of enterprise TO the South. 4
) Yet notwithsnndinatLese indications ol IN
+ evtabe destiny, (whi 1be accomplished
i even witlout our parIic mere are those
: among us-foE- whose drnionaas sound con-
, servative men, we enterlaiaA highest re,
spcct--who oppose ol "Ierryoriol
r expansion" Theu who reason, that
"while five slave - have been added TO
the Union, TERRITORY on1ncb has bean acquired
to make twenty,f States, mtich cannot
but became 81 admit the force of this
argument whS y Injection to territorial es:
panson is an I'D be northern portions of
the continent yB6t do( 81 follo@>,hot1he Ocqni-
sirion of territory in tRe irsc,ion he tropics,
, uhe only quarter in whicF<an acquisition can
be mnde ,)-wu be nm extension, from which
free States alcM will be carved, and ''chich
cannot Jut utIecome so 2" There are those again
who reasp with create gtee, that the South
the the preseaI pesI slave % xiha she can cultivate
That we M too reat ucity of slave la
Dor for the sofNwe'at presentfccupy; and that
a diffusion of. our material strength, will but
Ijeopardze the vitality of the institution where
il exists.
We give the opponents Of our views, the
benefit of their argument in the strongest pos
siblc ASPECT, and vet would ask, If the same
argument could not have been as plausibly ad.
duced, by the opponents of the acquisition OF
the Louisiana territory from France in 1903:
the cession of Florida from Spain in 1919,
and we might add, the annexation of Texas
in 1916? In 1902, the United States obtained
the cession from Georgia of the whole ri her
western territory, now embracing the rich and
growing States of Alabama and Mississippi
and all these vital measures, inaugurated and
eagerly advocated by southern statesmen, in
pursuit of the idea of opening new cotton re-
gions FOR the profitable occupation of slave la
Dor in the future. At The date OF MIR. Jeffer-
sons purchase of the immense territory OF
Louisiana from Napoleon 1.-THE shores, on
the scanty plantations, of the Caroinas, Vir-
ginia and Georgia did not exceed 100000
Twelve years prior TO that date, the first parcel
Of cotton, the growth Of those plantations, was
exported, and amounted to only 10000 pounds.
1t might have has, to many, the appearance of
obscurity, to make m acquisition of such an
immense cotton area, half century before it
could be occupied, and vet the sagacous legs-
lators of that era of gigantic statesmen, were
laying the foundations of policy, for the fu-
ture of those who are now enjoying the benefits
of their profound wisdom
What has time demonstrated The few
hundred thousands Of producers, of the essen.
ta element of southern wealth, have increas-
ed to four million, and nearly as many bales
of the grea. staple are annually exported-
Such are the results of the past half century:
fifty years hence, it is estimated; that the slave
population, according to the present rates of
increase will have numbered thirty million.
Who then, Judging the future by the past,
will think it impolitic, and who among our
successors of the next generation. will think
US unwse for extending the area, for the profit.
able occupation of these millions of sla a9es--to
the regions west and south of the Rio Grande. h
Let us not selfshly legislatc for the present.
but still the grander future of our posterity.
But il is again argued, that in the "terrto-
ries out OF which the last five slave States
were carved, slavery existed, and was protect
ed BY laws before its acquisition" And hence
the deduction is sought that in all future ac-
oustlons of territory, where slavery is not pre-
viously protected by law, that it will be i'm
posoibe for the South to incorporate her insh-
tutlons and that they "cannot but become"
free States.
This reasoning is certainly not founded on
that tenet of the Democratic creed, which re-
coguizes the right of the people of the terrific,
ries to establish their own domestic institutions,
without Congressional Intervention or the
sanction of previous organic aw,-but is
based upon the fears, entertained in common,
by many of our leading men-that the nu-
merical superiority of the north, will enable
her to fill the territories we NAV acquire, TO
the entire discontinue Of all efforts from the
south, to obtain an equality 4
We adopt Mr.. Webser's theory, advanced
in his celebrated speech of The 9TH Mar. $780,
that the existence or exclusion of slavery in =,
the territories acquired by the war of lS46, did
not depend upon Legislative enactment, in
hibiting or sanctioning; but depended upon /,
"the law of nature, of physical geography, the
law of the formation Of the EARTH" Slavery
will not go where it is not profitable. Because (,
however, it cannot be profitably occupied in
the great basin of the continent north OF the $
33o parallel, it does not follow, that it will not
extend, to future acquisitions in more tropical
area, where the "laws of nature" and the
physical geography of that portion of the con-
tinent, maniiests its adaptation to slave labor.
As we have stated in former number of this
series, l400 lbs. Of cotton per acre, have been
raised upon the upland praries Of northern c
Texas, during the past three seasons Of ex-
treme drought, and in favorable year we have
known 0000 lbs per acre raised upon the prai.
ries of Dallas county. If such results can be
obtained in portions of Texas, which have all
the aridity of the Mexican climate, without I
any facilities of irrigatiou,-what must be the
adantaiiou Of The exhuberant valleys Of Mexi