152

28TH CONG....2D SESS.

more influential in counsel, precede him in the mo-
tion.
He did not, by the act, intend to impute any
improper motives to the honorable gentleman who
presented the memorial; he was prompt indeed to
believe otherwise. The Senator from Michigan con-
sidered, no doubt, that he was in the discharge of a
proper duty. He himself was acting under similar
influences, and he invoked the solemn judgment of
the Senate on the character and intent of the memo-
rial, and the necessity of sustaining his motion. No
one, he said, could be blind to the objects of the
paper, or indifferent to its possible effects upon the
dignity of the Senate and the peace of the country.
It was a new and an unfair mode of discussing the
question of annexation, and ought not to be tolera-
ted in that solemn form, however free debate should
be in the usual way of presenting political contro-
versies to the consideration of the Senate and the
country. The system was not only unfair, but it
was-he said it in no disrespect to his honorable
friend-altogether improper and unwarrantable. It
was calculated, if it was not intended, to cast ridi-
cule and contempt upon a great measure that then
agitated the people. That important subject, Mr. F.
said, should not be approached in this assembly by
any insidious attack: it could not be successfully
met in that way, and he sincerely regretted the pre-
sent untimely and ill-advised attempt.

He was a friend to annexation, as he had always
declared himself, both here and everywhere else,
and he would hereafter prove the sincerity of the
declaration by his recorded act, if he could be per-
mitted to do so on the principles he had hitherto
constantly proclaimed. But warm within him and
decisive as these sentiments were, he would not take
an unfair step to procure their accomplishment, nor
could he patiently submit to be baffled in that man-
ner by those who opposed them. All he asked for
was a clear field and a fair fight-no bush-whacking,
if he might be indulged in an expressive word, well
understood in the border wars of the West; no
masked batteries. He was willing (he said) to stand
an open enfilade; that would be fair, though it
might be hard, and perhaps destructive; still he
would stand it without complaint; and in such a
combat he could fall without murmuring, or he could
triumph without exultation. In fact, he said, he had
all along tempered and restrained his feelings on
this engrossing subject, and he was prepared to go
through the controversy without the least excite-
ment, or any unkind feeling to any opponent. He
claimed for himself, on the whole subject, the utmost
freedom of thought and action, and he freely and
frankly yielded to all around him, and to everybody
else, the same liberty in its fullest extent. In all
that he had done, and all that he might do hereafter,
he intended no offence, and he did not expect to
take any.

But he must insist-in all due deference, and with
great respect he did insist-that the, Senate should
not, by consenting to receive the memorial, counte-
nance a proceeding which was designed by those
who sent it here to mock solemnity itself, and to
cast contempt and ridicule upon a question of policy
which, in its magnitude and importance, had been
made to engage the attention of the whole nation.

Sir, said Mr. F., the question of annexation is no longer a question of the Presidency. That has gone by. They who "raise the whirlwind" cannot always "ride on the storm." Mr. Tyler knows that now. He may have waked up the tempest, but he is too small a man either to stay or to increase its fury; it rages fiercely in spite of our desires, and has aroused elements of contention which cannot be quieted by ridicule, or forced down by back-handed blows. We are bound to meet it; to meet it here on this floor; to meet it for a serious decision. Let us meet it, then, openly, fairly, and candidly; and, however that decision may be, let us hope for the best, and still stand for the country.

But he had another objection (Mr. F. said) to the reception of the memorial offered by the Senator from Michigan, stronger, if possible, than the one he had just urged. However undesigned for that unhappy purpose, the tendency of the whole proceeding might be to involve the peace and harmony of the country. It was evidently, he said, trifling with the pride of a friendly power, and that power one

Feb, 1845. Senate.

questionable powers. They believe that the same
constitutional instrumentalities that will acquire Tex-
as will also acquire the Canadas. They contemplate
no other mode of acquisition than by treaty, but they
do insist that whatever form of annexation shall be
adopted in the one instance ought to be adopted in
the other. In this case, whatever peculiar interests
may be invoked to sanction the one measure, are
balanced by those which have reference to the
other.

Things are said to be peculiar which possess
qualities and attributes which are not to be found
elsewhere. If the South be peculiar in that it has
slavery, the North is peculiar in that it has it not.
These peculiarities constitute one of the most impor-
tant and delicate features in our political system, and
these memorialists have seen, as I have seen, else-
where and here on this floor, the utmost jealousy man-
ifested by our Southern brethren for the preservation
of the balance which now exists between them. I
have often heard the sentiment spoken here that no
new Northern State would be permitted to take its
place in the Union unless accompanied at the same
instant by a new Southern State; and can it be sup-
posed that, with a preponderance of white population
in the free States over that in the slave States of five
millions, there should be less of this rival feeling at
the North, especially in view of the vital importance
suggested by the constitutional composition of this
branch of the National Congress? Can it be imagin-
ed that the North, jealous of its rights, present and
prospective, will consent to jeopardize its most cher-
ished views of federal policy by silently permitting
the present equilibrium to be shaken one iota to its
disadvantage?

But, sir, the Senator from Tennessee entirely
mistakes the character of this memorial when he
attempts to gag the voice in which it speaks, by
raising the question of reception; and he mistakes it
too, when he characterizes it as an attempt, by any
other means than such as are legitimate and fair, to
bring Texas annexation into ridicule. Not a posi-
tion can be taken to defend the one measure that is
not applicable to the other; and the gentleman may
find that this new project of annexation may be
something more than a mere bagatelle, if the lawless
spirit which now thirsts for territorial aggrandize-
ment, in defiance of laws and treaties, be not check-
ed.

Why is it that you can annex Texas and canno annex Canada? I shall be told, perhaps, that Texas has an independent national existence, and is therefore competent to dispose of herself as she pleases. How came she free, and why is it that Canada is not so? Sir, a full answer to this inquiry involves a necessity for glancing at the events of the last few years; and I confess that in giving that answer I feel a degree of humiliation which ought to take possession of the heart of every man who cherishes the honour of the American name, and who desires to see our good faith and consistency preserved in our relations with foreign powers. How came Texas free? Was it through the efforts of the revolters there of 1835 and 1836? Think you that the banner of freedom would have been unfurled in that country but for the well-founded hope that “the land of the free" would send forth a sympathizing aid to rally beneath its folds? No, sir, no. They knew we were the descendants of those who had converted this country from an oppressed colony into an empire, destined at no distant day to rival the greatness of the parent from which it had sprung. They knew the disposition of this gallant people, and the result has shown that theirs was no vain reliance. Who does not know, sir, that the Texan revolution was brought to its successful termination by the efforts of citizens of the United States who emigrated to that country, not only with arms in their hands, and with the means and appliances of war about their persons, but banded together in the form of military organization, trained, disciplined, and officered on our own soil, and ready on their arrival at their destination to wheel into line of battle. I blame not those who thus acted, for I know that the spirit which impelled them was as natural as the air they breathed. Still they violated our obligations of neutrality to Mexico, as well as the laws of their country. But who could censure them, since

28TH CONG.....2D SESS.

it may almost be said they acted under the permission and connivance of those who at that day administered this Government! Not even an Executive proclamation was issued to stay this tide of military emigration from our shores, much less were the troops of the United States stationed at points of embarcation to wrest from the emigrants their arms and munitions of war. Sir, under such circumstances, how could the issue of the Texan revolution be for a moment doubtful? The battle of San Jacinto was fought and won by citizens of the United States, and a country to whom we were bound by a solemn treaty "to observe a firm, inviolable, and universal peace," was thus dismembered.

Now, sir, turn your eye to the events which attended the Canadian revolt in 1837-'8. Can it be imagined that the friends of independence there would have been guilty of the temerity of attempting, unaided, to breast the mighty power of England in a struggle for its attainment? No, sir. They looked, as the Texans had looked the year before, to this country for emigrants and sympathisers-for the "thews and bulk," as well as the materiel of war; and what was the response? You saw it, sir, in the blaze of enthusiasm which burst forth from one extremity to the other of the Northern frontier. But, unlike the kindred movement at the South, it struck terror into the minds of the President and his Cabinet. An Executive proclamation was instantly issued, in which, after a long preamble reciting the "unlawful interference on the part of our citizens in the contest unfortunately commenced in the British provinces," &c., (not a word about Texas,) a solemn injunction was given for an observance of "the authority of the laws and the FAITH OF TREATIES!" The commander-in-chief, as well as all your other general officers, were at once despatched to the frontiers in every direction. All the troops of the United States, which could by possibility be made disposable, were marched to the same points. The very locality from which this memorial comes was the scene of an unceasing military surveillance night and day. The Patriots," as they were called, were pursued and hunted down in every direction; arrests were daily and hourly made, but your courts were powerless in giving effect to the laws; arms and munitions of war were, however, seized and withheld; spies were running in every direction with a view to guide the operations of the inlisted military of the United States, for on them alone could any dependence he placed. How would Texas have fared under such an iron police on her border as this? Sir, without dwelling on these details, which are familiar to all, are we not brought irresistibly to this conclusion, that we suffered to be done on the Mexican frontier what we dared not permit to be done on the Canadian frontier? These memorialists regard these two cases as identical; that the obligations of national faith are as strong in the one as in the other; and that, if there be any difference made, it ought to be in favor of that power which is weakest. Such a line of conduct, they believe, would best consist with the character of a brave and magnanimous people. But, to our shame be it said, our course has been diametrically the opposite of this, and the sensation produced by the presentation of this memorial is but a new proof of the shameful fact. But I have not done with these details. When did you pass your new and stringent neutrality act? On the 10th of March, 1838; in hot haste-in the very midst of these Northern border disturbances. Look at its provisions. It confers a summary power on "all collectors, naval officers, surveyors, inspectors of customs, marshals, and deputy marshals of the United States, to seize and detain any vessel or vehicle, or any arms or munitions of war, which may be provided or prepared for any military expedition or enterprise against the territories of a cotermineous power, where the character of the vessel or vehicle, and the quantity of arms and munitions, or other circumstances, should furnish probable cause to believe that they are intended to be employed in any such expedition." And yet, in the face of this new enactment, the alarming agitation continued for more than a year, in spite of the accumulated military forces of England as well as of the United States at suspected points of invasion, until terminated at last amid the rigors of a northern winter, by the tragedies on the

Debate on the Annexation of Canada.

Detroit and St. Lawrence, which resulted in death, or captivity in Australia, to many who, in Texas, would have been canonized as martyrs in the cause of liberty. Sir, I complain not that these energetic measures were adopted by this Government for the preservation of the faith of treaties; and I will not deny that, residing on the very spot from which this memorial comes, I may have been more strongly impressed with the importance of them; but by no ethics of my own am I able to distinguish between the casus fœderis in the two examples of England

and Mexico.

A single allusion to one memorable event of the period to which I have adverted, and I will dismiss this contrast. Suppose a band of Mexicans had crossed the Sabine during the Texan revolt and burnt an American steamboat, murdering at the same time her crew; and suppose one of the perpetrators had fallen into the power of a criminal court in Louisiana -think you, sir, we should have made a McLeod case of him? No, sir; the gallows would have been his end. Perhaps a summary sus. per col on the first tree would have dealt justice in a manner sufficiently becoming for a Mexican. McLeod escaped: had he not, England would have spoken to us

"In thunders from her native oak."

And we knew it. It is, I repeat, sir, humiliating to find, by such a review as this, that we have done wrong only because we could do it with impunity, and right only because we dared not do otherwise.

Sir, let us look at the territorial limits of this Republic, as fixed by the treaty of 1783. If the St. Lawrence at its mouth was within the dominions of a foreign power, so was the Mississippi. The statesmen of that day, under whose auspices that treaty was negotiated, could not, however, have regarded these magnificent water-courses, destined at some period not distant to become the highways of an immense internal commerce, in any other light than as future acquisitions to be subject to our exclusive use and control. If in their prophetic visions of our national greatness they saw this, they saw at least what has proved a reality in respect to the latter. The Congress of the Confederation regarded these great natural arteries with equal interest, and doubtless with equal confidence, that they would become tributary to American enterprise alone, when they provided that all the navigable streams discharging into each should forever remain public highways, free for the use of the citizens of the United States. Many of these memorialists are engaged in the commerce and shipping of the great lakes-a commerce which is shortly to connect itself directly, by means of the Canadian canals, with the ocean world. It is easy to see the interest, therefore, with which they contemplate their countervailing measure of annexation.

One word on the military argument, and I will take my seat. This is an argument which, uninformed as I am in military matters, I should attach no great importance to but for the fact that it is sustained by the authority of distinguished military names. General Jackson speaks of the annexation of Texas as indispensably necessary to guard us against the hostile approaches of England. Sir, is it necessary for me to point to the geographical position of these memorialists in order to show their exposure to such hostile approaches? The events of the late war furnish a more convincing view of this matter than any I could present, and I will content myself by a mere general reference to them. There is not a man within the sound of my voice who will not, on instituting a comparison between the two coterminous points in this view, pronounce the Texas military argument a stupendous political hallucination. A prominent citizen of my own State, however, endorses it; and yet it might happen that the first intelligence which should reach him of a war with England would be communicated by the passage of a thirty-two-pound shot through his bedroom at midnight.

Much more might be said on this subject, and other topics with which it is intimately connected, and I wish it had fallen into abler hands than mine. In what I have said my aim has been to vindicate these memorialists, as well as to rescue their constitutional right to petition from the ruthless violation which threatens it.

Senate.

Mr. BAGBY had merely a word or two to say upon this subject. He would not inquire into the propriety or liberality of reaching this Texas question through Canada. He had heretofore endeavored to show that the Texas question was of sufficient importance to stand upon its own basis. He was astonished-and he expressed his astonishment with entire respect to the honorable Senator (Mr. PokTER) at the opinion which the honorable Senator seemed to entertain, that this was a direct movement in favor of the annexation of Canada to the United States, and not an indirect attack upon the annexation of Texas to the United States. The Senator, with very great labor and difficulty, had endeavored to institute a parallel between the people of Texas and the people of Canada. In what respect could the parallel be sustained? Did the people of Canada send and ask admission into the Union, as the citizens of a free, sovereign and independent Republic, desiring to be annexed to the United States? But there was another view of the question in his (Mr. B.'s) mind-the propriety of submitting to the Senate of the United States a grave proposition, the direct and inevitable effect of which was to produce insubordination and a spirit of rebellion amongst a portion of the subjects of a power, a great power, at perfect and apparent peace with the Government of the United States. Was it possible, if such was the design of the memorialists, that the honorable Senator was disposed to aid them in carrying that design into effect?

If this were intended merely as a counter movement, to defeat the annexation of Texas to this Union, so far the gentleman's argument was good; but if the Canadas are to be annexed to the United States, let that question depend upon its own merits. Besides, let gentlemen inquire into the consequences which might be produced in the country by a proposition of this kind. The direct effect of it is to produce a state of feeling in Canada which must be unfriendly to the British dominions in North-America. Did it become the honorable gentleman, as a grave Senator, whose highest duty was to preserve peace amongst the nations of the earth, to encourage the agitation of a question like this on the part of Canada? No; he did not believe that the honorable Senator himself was in earnest in that aspect of the case. He believed that this proposition was to the Senator, what it was to the memorialists-a pro position merely endeavoring to cast odium and reproach upon a great national movement. But it could not be put down in that way. Unpalatable as it might be in certain quarters, he hoped and believed it would be carried triumphantly here. This great question had been trifled with long enough. He did not deny the right to memorialize and petition upon any subject of a legitimate nature; but he appealed to that honorable Senator, and other honorable Senators, when they had certain objects in view, to come out like men, and avow those objects. Gentlemen talked about the balance of power. It was just as legitimate to cheat Great Britain as it was to cheat Mexico. The thing has been done in the one case, but dare not be attempted in the other. This was the argument advanced to support the prayer of the memorialists! Now, when the people of Canada, or any other portion of God's creation upon earth, shall place themselves in the situation of the people of the Republic of Texas, and appeal to the United States to admit them into this Union as freemen, he, for one, would feel dis-posed to lean to the proposition. But the citizens of Canada were not in that situation. He hoped that no portion of the citizens of the United States would be denied a hearing if they were to come forward and remonstrate against the annexation of Texas to the Union. But let them come out and show their hand, and not by an indirection attempt to get at the Texas question through Canada.

He was under obligations to the Chair, and to the Senator from Tennessee, for having raised the question of reception. There was a maxim in law which he hoped would be borne in mind by gentlemen who presented memorials of this kind-that you cannot do that indirectly which you cannot do directly."

66

Mr. FOSTER said he entered reluctantly into the debate, and he was very unwilling to prolong it. He

28TH CONG.....2D SESS.

only took the floor, by permission, to add a few words, and then to change the character of his motion. He had objected, he said, to the reception of the memorial. In his ignorance of the rules of the Senate, he had, as he was just informed, gone too far. He was willingly corrected, and would, before seating himself, withdraw his present proposition, and move to lay the memorial on the table. His honorable friend from Michigan had, he said, pretty well elaborated the question of annexation in the argument he had just advanced. He did not rebuke him for that, nor would he, now or hereafter, censure the judgment and decision of his honorable friend, how much soever they might differ from his. He claimed from him, and had no doubt he should obtain, the same charity. Nor would he, at this time, and on this collateral matter, debate with the honorable gentleman the question of annexation now pending before the Senate. Sufficient for the day is the (labor) thereof.

He had, indeed, heretofore expressed himself so fully on the question, that he was not sure he should partake at all in the coming discussion. He certainly should not, if he could avoid the task. Nevertheless, he had, he said, a word or two for his honorable friend, and as the occasion suited so well, he would give it to him then. The Senator speaks of the balance of power, and complains of the danger to the North-the free States he means-if Texas is annexed. Sir, said Mr. F., the gentleman looks now on one side of the picture; I invite him to turn his eyes with me and contemplate the other. It is thus sir, and thus only, we shall hope to arrive at any just conclusions on the future. I admit that Texas is large enough for five States, and that Florida-if she is ever permitted to enter the Union-will make the sixth; these constitute the utmost hopes, and all the prospective power of the South: within these narrow confines are limited forever all she ever expects or can ever get.

But, sir, how is it with the free States? Has the Senator forgotten himself, or does he suppose we have forgotten, the geography of the country? Has it ever occurred to him to calculate how many States -happy, free, and prosperous States, I hope-may in time to come, be embosomed in that vast and boundless extent of our public domain which lies north of latitude 36 deg. 30 min., and stretches from Missouri and Michigan to the distant shores of the Pacific ocean-in length and breadth covering a large portion of North America? I do not propose, myself to number these States; but, adopting in part the theory of some Northern citizen who has lately visited us with a magnificent railroad memorial, I set them down at twenty and the rise. What now becomes of the gentleman's fears for the "balance of power," and the rights of the free States? Sir, with his side of this great and disturbing question, these fears may "vanish into thin air;" whilst with others the future is full of painful forebodings and unquiet apprehensions. Already has the North more than the lion's share; but, insatiate as the grave and quite as remorseless, her constant cry is, down with the institutions of the South: keep her down. If Texas is to be annexed, take the Canadas, and preserve the balance of power. What balance? Where? Already and long since powerless, the South asks nothing of the North but friendship, union, and the protection and preservation of her liberty and property under the solemn compromises of a common Constitution. For these blessings she pays, a heavy, perhaps a dear tribute. She has paid it cheerfully, and may continue to do so until her cup of bitterness is made to overflow.

But, assailed as she is daily at her hearths and family altars-bearded with her institutions by those who do not understand and cannot justly appreciate them-condemned for a system of domestic labor which combines the charities of life with a primeval decree of nature, and which cannot be abolished without incalculable misery and desolation-threatened with a servile torch, and scorned for an "inheritance" she could not now avoid if she wouldwho can say how long it may be before patience and submission may give place to sterner virtues? These struggles must soon prove; but I freely confess my fears and misgivings. I love the Union for the sake of the many blessings it has already conferred. I

Annexation of Texas-Mr. Haywood.

love it for the innumerable blessings it still has in store for us, if we happily cling together. I love it for the veneration I bear to the statesmen and patriots who constructed its parts, and sanctified them with their prayers and their benedictions. And if, after all, we are doomed to melt away and dissolve, I will, in the expiring moments of our political unity, embrace the precious delusion, and hope against hope itself, until the last black cloud gathers on its once brilliant face, and the sun of our short-lived glory shall set to rise no more for ever.

I now move, sir, that the memorial be received and laid upon the table. Which motion was agreed to. Mr. BERRIEN then moved that the memorial relating to the annexation of Canada, previously presented by the Senator from New York, (Mr. DICKINSON,) be also laid on the table. Which was agreed to.

In the Senate of the United States, January 14, 1845On the bill presented by him for the annexation of Texas.

Mr. HAYWOOD, pursuant to notice before given, asked and obtained leave to introduce the following bill, which (after the remarks of Messrs. HAYWOOD, MOREHEAD, and ARCHER, subjoined) was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

Bill to provide for the annexation of Texas to the United States, and to restore the ancient limits of the republic.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa tives of the United States of America in Congress assem bled, That from and immediately after the date of the final adoption of the compact which shall be made by the supreme authorities of the United States and the supreme authorities of the republic of Texas for ceding and annexing the territories of the said last mentioned repub. lic unto the United States of America, the ordinance passed on the 13th July, 1787, and entitled "An ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio," shall be, and it is hereby, extended over, applied to, and re-enacted, as to the whole of the territory which shall be ceded or annexed as aforesaid; and it shall be the duty of the President of the United States to execute the same in each of the districts created therein, according to the constitution and laws of the United States. And the said ordinance, mutatis mutandis, shall be and remain as articles of compact between the United States and the people thereof and of the said territory, to be ceded and annexed as aforesaid, and of each district thereof, and the people of the said territory and districts, unalterable unless hy common consent, as the same was heretofore declared to be the articles of compact between the United States and the people thereof, and the said northwest territory and the people thereof; subject, however, to the following conditions, alterations, limitations, and restrictions, to be engrafted in the said compact of annexation and cession according to their substance, as the said compact may hereafter be formed and adopted by the supreme authorities of the United States and the republic of Texas, to wit:

First. The said compact of cession and annexation, when made as aforesaid, to provide for making all the territories ceded and annexed to the United States subject to the constitution of the United States; and to such alterations as shall be lawfully made therein, and to all the acts and ordinances of the United States in Congress assembled, conformable to the said constitution now in force, or hereafter to be enacted.

Second. The said compact of cession and annexation, when made, to provide further for the division of said territory into two parts or districts, by a line to be agreed for, end running as near as may be from east to west along the 34th degree of north latitude; and all the territory lying on the south of said line shall be one territory, to be known and called by the name of "The Southern Territory of the United States;" and all the territory lying on the north of said line shall be added to the whole of the lands belonging to the United States, adjoining the said upper and northern part of Texas, and which are south of the 42d degree of north latitude, and these to be another territory, to be known and called by the name of "The Territory of Nebraska:" Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to impair, annel, or in any manner to interfere with the rights of Indians, or the existing obligations of the United States to any Indian tribe whatsoever.

Third. The said compact of cession and annexation, when made as aforesaid, to provide further for the future forma tion in said Territories of at least two States, and if more than two, then of four States, and if more than four, then of six States, to be hereafter admitted into the United States of America. But one-half of the number of Slates so to be formed, shall be situate in the said Territory of Nebraska, and the other half of the number of said States so to be formed to be situate in the said Southern Territory of the United States.

Fourth. The said compact of cession and annexation, when made as aforesaid, to provide further that the 8th section of the aet passed by the United States in Congress assembled, and approved 6th March, 1820, in the following words. commonly called the "Missouri compromise," to wit: "SECTION 8. And be it further enacted. That in all that territory ceded by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of 36 degrees and 30 minutes north latitude, not included within the limits of the State contemplated by this act, slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes,

> Senate.

whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted, shall be, and is hereby, forever prohibited: Provided always, That any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed, in any State or Territory of the United States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid," shall be in full force, mutatis mutandis, whilst there is a territorial government over so much of the terri tories to be ceded and annexed to the United States as aforesaid as may be situate in the Territory of Nebraska aforesaid, in lieu of, and as a substitute for, the article in the aforesaid ordinance of 1787, entitled "article 6;" but the said article 6th, and the said 8th section of the act approved 6th March, 1920, shall neither be imposed upon, nor in any manner be applied to, the rest of the territory to be ceded and annexed to the United States, nor to any portion thereof, nor to the Territories and States to be formed therein.

Fifth. The said compact of cession and annexation, when made as aforesaid, to provide further that the people resi ding or coming into that part of the Territory of Nebraska which shall be ceded to the United States by the compact of cession and annexation as aforesaid, shalf not forfeit nor lose any of the property recognised as such by the laws of Texas by force of said compact or of this act, until a reasonable time has been allowed to them for removing the same, to be provided by said compact of cession or annexation. (Note A.)

Sixth. The said compact of cession and annexation, when made as aforesaid, to provide further, as between the United States and the people thereof and the said republic of Texas and the people thereof, for a full, entire, absolute, and per petual release and cession to the United States of all the right, title, possession, jurisdiction, empire, and domain of the said last-mentioned republic in, to, and over the whole territory of Texas, with its appurtenances, be the same, more or less, at such price, and upon such terms of payment, and with such stipulations in addition as may be right and proper in respect thereto, and to all the other property, and in respect to the debts of the republic of Texas, according to what may be approved and finally sanctioned by the su preme authorities of both nations. But so that all that part of the territory of Texas which was once ceded to the United States by the French republic, under the name of Louisiana, by the treaty between the United States and said French republic, signed at Paris, and dated 30th April, 1803, shall be retroceded and reannexed to the United States forever; and yet in such manner as will leave the Uaited States at perfect liberty, without any breach of faith to Texas, or the people thereof, to settle, by negotiation or otherwise, at the discretion of the United States, with any other nation, (not a party to such compact,) any claim of jurisdiction with, in, and over any portion of the said territories which may happen to lie without the reputed boundaries of Louisiana, as ceded by the French republic in the treaty aforesaid, signed 30th April, 1803; and also at their discretion hereafter to settle, by negotiation or otherwise, the bounda ries between the said republic of Texas and any other na tion. The time and manner of said negotiation and settlement to be determined upon by the lawful authority of the United States, without the intervention of Texas and the people thereof.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said compact, when made, may provide further, by the mutual agreement of the supreme authorities of the United States and the republic of Texas, for all and every other matter or thing within their constitutional power, of and concerning the premises, not inconsistent with the spirit and true intent of the provisions hereby, made for giv ing and declaring the legislative assent to the same, and which may be proper and necessary for restoring the ancient limits of the United States, as they were claimed and avowed by the United States, after the aforesaid treaty with the French republic, signed 30th April, 1803. And the public faith of the nation is hereby pledged to enact such other and further laws as are or may be necessary and proper for executing the same without unreasonable delay: Provided, That nothing shall be required inconsistent with the honor of the United States, nor in plain violation of the reasonable and just rights of other nations, to be judged of by the United States, nor adverse to the true meaning of this act.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted by the authority afore said, That, as soon as may be after the final adoption of any compact for the cession or annexation of the territories aforesaid to the United States by the supreme author ities of both nations, if any such compact is made and adopted as aforesaid, the President of the United States shall nominate and appoint the officers, and cause the governments to he organized in the districts or territories aforesaid, accord ing to the provisions of the ordinance of 1787 aforesaid, as modified by this act; and until that can be done conveniently, the whole of said territories shall be governed by such officers and such authority as may be agreed upon in the said compact between the republic of Texas and the United States.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall be the duty of the President of the United States to issue his proclamation, and thereby to put into full force and effect the provisions of this act as soon as may be, after any compact of cession and annexation shall have been adopted by the supreme authorities of the United States and the supreme authorities of the republic of Texas. And this act shall from thenceforth take effect without condition, as upon the day that the provisions of such compact shall go into operation as the supreme law of the United States, and not before.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That nothing contained in this act shall be construed so as to prevent the Congress of the United States from "admitting Texas as a new State into this Union," during the present or any future session; nor from admitting as a new State into this Union any part of the territory of Texas; nor shall it be construed into any expression of assent or dissent to such a law, nor as the expression of any opinion as to the proper and constitutional mode of making the compact herein alluded to; but the same is left to the decision of the competent anthorities of the United States, who may be called upon to propose or ratify the same in all respecta as if this act had not passed. (Note B.)

28TH CONG.....2D SESS

Mr. HAYWOOD, after some allusions to its great importance, and the deep anxiety with which he had endeavored to arrive at a correct conclusion upon the subject of incorporating Texas into the Union, from the moment when it had been first made his duty as a senator to act upon the question, and deprecating as he had done all the while its illegitimate connexion with party strife, proceeded to ask the indulgence of the Senate, whilst he tres-" passed more than he was accustomed to do upon their patience to explain and define a bill which he now asked leave to introduce.

[The bill is published above.]

He said this subject of incorporating Texas into the Union, at its first appearance in the Senate, necessarily presented two questions to a faithful and scrupulous senator: first, whether the constitution allowed the government, by the action of any one of its departments, or all of them together, the rightful power to acquire additional territory. For if not, there was an end of it. And next, though the pow er might exist, whether it was politic and wise in the United States to exercise it, and to enlarge her borders by the acquisition of Texas. Without going into a repetition of all the reasons for holding the affirmative side on these constitutional and national questions, he remarked that for one he had sought after the truth, determined in his own mind to pursue it, regardless of the interests of men or parties. He had looked to the wisdom of the past in order to decide his vote at the present, when legislating, as we were in a peculiar sense, for the weal or woe of the future.

Upon the first point-the power of the United States government to enlarge her borders by the acquisition of new territories he found that the treaty of Louisiana, made by Mr. Jefferson in 1803, had been ratified by more than two-thirds of the wise men men and patriots of the Senate of that day. It had been ratified not in silent acquiescence, nor by any constrained submission to a real or supposed necessity, but deliberately, and after full debate, by the great minds of the nation. It was not a decision made without intellectual conflicts, but a solemn, well-considered determination of the question, after everything which could be said against the power had been said and answered and deliberated upon.

He found that the Florida treaty was made by Mr. Monroe in 1819, whereby another large territory was likewise acquired; and at that day the opinion of the country had become so well settled in favor of the power of acquiring territory under our constitution, that the treaty of Florida was ratified by the UNANIMOUS vote of the Senate!

In the House of Representatives there was some opposition to the bill for carrying the treaty into effect, and some effort had been made to protest against it, not, however, upon the ground of hostility to receiving the territory which was acquired by it, and not for the want of power to acquire it, but on account of the cession by the United States to Spain of the American claim to Texas under the treaty of 1803-Texas being a part of Louisiana as originally purchased in 1803.

He found that, from time to time, new States had been organized in the Territory of Louisiana, and had been admitted into the Union; and Florida herself was now at the door waiting, and even demanding our consent to admit her to take her place with Iowa in the Union. These decisions were conclusive upon the question of our power to acquire new territories.

Upon the other point-the policy of reacquiring Texas-a like recurrence to the past had been sufficient to remove all his doubts. He found, from 1803 to 1819-from the time of the Louisiana treaty by which Texas was acquired as a part of Louisi ana to the date of the Florida treaty by which it was ceded to Spain, a period of 16 years-that the government of the United States, our officers, statesmen, politicians, and public presses, had put up a claim to Texas as a part of Louisiana; and, as already stated, some of the most eminent statesmen, in the House of Representatives and out of it, had denounced and opposed that part of the treaty of Florida by which our claim to Texas had been ceded away. They had reprobated its impolicy, and denied the right of the government to part with any portion of the national territory. They had yielded to it, however, on account of the higher policy and the political expediency of abiding by the treaty as a whole. Yet some of them, who were still conspicuous leaders in politics, and shining lights in the galaxy of American statesmen, even at that day had avowed their determination to reacquire it, as necessary to

Annexation of Texas-Mr. Haywood.

the welfare of the nation, and indispensable to an important section of the Union.

He found that Mr. Adams's administration, being the next immediately after Mr. Monroe's, had endeavored to reacquire Texas, and failed.

He found that General Jackson's adminstration, the next after Mr. Anams's, had pursued the same policy, and had renewed these efforts to reacquire Texas, but without success.

He found that Mr. Van Buren's administra tion, the next after General Jackson's-President Van Buren having been in fact the secretary who conducted the negotiation for it under his predecessor-never abandoned the policy of reannexation, but only suspended any active inmediate exertions to accomplish it, for reasons of state too familiar to require a repetition.

He found that Mr. Tyler's administration, the next after Mr. Van Buren's, had adopted the policy of his predecessors, and had pushed it with great zeal, so as to make a treaty with Texas, and had submitted it to the Senate for their advice.

He found that Texas, a few years after being ceded to Spain in 1819, became a sovereign member of the Mexican confederacy; and that, after a successful revolution, this Mexican confederacy was acknowledged by the United States to be a sovereign and independent nation.

He found that Texas, afterwards, had successfully resisted, by force, the attempt to subjugate her people at the overthrow of the Mexican confederacy; and that the United States, in solemn form, had acknowledged her independence and sovereignty, as did the other great powers of the world. But even in our act admitting the independence of Texas, the old and cherished policy of this government to reincorporate Texas into our Union was distinctly avowed in the Senate, as it had been responded to and reciprocated by Texas herself; and although postponed, it was not at all abandoned.-(See debates.)

Having looked so far into the public acts of the nation, in proof of her policy, Mr. H. said he had then examined the opinions of the eminent men, some of whose names he might use, but in no spirit either of censure or of praise. He found that all the Presidents of the United States, since Texas was ceded away-all, without exception-had been anxious and active in their endeavors to reacquire itAdams, Jackson, Van Buren, Tyler. Though differing widely upon other points, there was a most remarkable concurrence upon this one.

He found that all the Vice Presidents, since that time, had approved the policy of reacquiring Texas.

He found that all the Secretaries of State (to whose office it belonged to conduct our foreign affairs) concurred and co-operated in the same thing.

He had found, indeed, that until a comparatively late day, when fanaticism had combined with party spirit to organize voluntary societies for abolitionism, this sentiment had been almost universal, There might be exceptions, yet he believed there was not an eminent statesman, nor a distinguished politician, in America, who had lifted his voice against the reacquisition of Texas-against the policy of reincorporating Texas into the Union, until after it had been injuriously burdened with an alliance to the question of negro slavery.

With this unvaried current of sentiment in all sections-with all administrations of all political parties-with most if not all of the leading statesmen and politicians of America-he could not undertake to contend and to set up against the measure now any distrusting fears of his own mind. As he had not heretofore, so neither would he at this time, enlarge upon the topic, by attempting to assign other reasons why it appeared to him to be our true policy to restore the ancient limits of the republic whenever Texas was ready and willing to be reunited to us, and the good work might be accomplished with harmony, according to the constitution.

True it was, (he continued,) that the spirit of our times put into operation, by the aid of these organized sectional societies, had engendered hostility to annexation, and it had reproduced the old arguments against our power which were made and overruled nearly half a century ago, notwithstanding the decision of 1803 was, sixteen years afterwards, at the ratification of the Florida treaty, unanimously confirmed by the Senate of the United States.

Mr. H. declared that, if such an array of authority, time, acquiescence, unanimity of public men, as wise if not wiser than we were, and who were quite as patriotic as the men of any age or country

Senate.

and that, too, after their opinions had been approved by public sentiment, and had, by the introduction of new States, grown up as it were into the fabric of the Union as it is-did not settle the question of power, then no question would ever be regarded as a settled one. If these did not close the door upon any refinements of grammar and of logic about the meaning of this word or of that one in our organic law-if these did not furnish a right rule for the people's representatives-if these did not establish beyond cavil the power to acquire new territory-if these were not the true and the "old paths" which an honest and scrupulous statesman might pursue with safety,-why, then he had entirely mistaken his duty; and he had wholly misapprehended what the wisest men and best authors could mean when they recognised precedents as fit guides to a true exposition of constitutions and laws. That the testimony to which he had referred established beyond reasonable controversy that it had been the policy of the United States for a quarter of a century and more to reacquire Texas whenever it might be done. with honor and with a reasonable degree of harmony, he presumed none would deny or dispute.

Mr. H. said that, though he did not pretend to assert that he had stopped his investigation precisely at this point, yet he could declare that, apart from all others, this view of the subject seemed to his mind conclusive, as well upon the question of power as upon the question of policy.

The Treaty was rejected at the last session, but the question of annexation was only adjourned for a more convenient season; and that now it had returned upon Congress, not without new and embarrassing concomitants. He would to God it were otherwise, but the fact was too plain to escape notice. As it would be unwise for the friends of annexation, so it would be unpardonable for the friends of our common country to shut their eyes against the perils lying about and beyond the immediate question itself.

Mr. H. said he had made up his mind to aid in accomplishing the incorporation of Texas into the Union, if it could be done by a reasonable and fair concession to the opinions, or even to the prejudices, of others; and for that reason he had given notice of a motion for leave to introduce a bill, and now, in pursuance of that notice, he had asked the leave of the Senáte to do so. It was painful to detain the Senate by a dull explanation of its details, and a statement of the main purposes and motives for which they had obtained a place in the proposition he should make, yet the subject was too important, and the step he had taken was too responsible, to omit it altogether.

That, the power and the policy of reacquiring Texas being once established or admitted, it remained to be ascertained how, and by what course a of proceeding, we were most likely to succeed in it.

That a majority of this Congress probably believed that it was politic for the United States government to incorporate Texas into our Union; and that it was within the authority of some department of the government to accomplish it, were nothing, so long as irreconcilable divisions existed upon the other questions connected with it. A portion of the friends of annexation would, by turns, vote with its out-andout opponents, and our defeat would be inevitable upon any bill which contained in it all the questions to be voted upon, and determined together by a single decision. The first question we had to deal with was, whether a majority were now in favor of annexation upon terms acceptable to themselves. If they were, then the mode and manner of acquiring Texas was a separate and distinct question; and his leading object had been to separate them. If not able to agree, let the first question be brought up so as to show that fact to Texas, to the United States, and to the world, and there must be an end of Texas, for this session at least.

That among the opponents of annexation, whether their hostility arose from the supposed impolicy of the measure, or was founded upon that construction of the constitution which denied the right to acquire Texas by treaty or by law, or by both together, we could not hope to find aid. The friends of annexa. tion, therefore, ought to present the subject for action so as not to give their opponents a triumph to which they were not entitled. He spoke advisedly, for he had taken the pains to ascertain that there were divisions among the friends of annexation; and if the question of annexing Texas to the United States was not separated from the questions about the mode and manner of acquiring Texas, so as to be annexed, or to become annexed, there was no