The Democracy And Texas

The informalion lias rit longth reaehed us, that the Democratie party have been successful in inducing Congress lo take the first step towards the accomplishment of the pa rámount object of that partyMe Annexation of Texas wrni slavert. Thcy have not, indeed, yèt consuinmated the scheme. nor have thèy been ablc to make such progress tcwards t as to render the result cerlain; but t.hey have induced Congress to declare the readiness of this nation to receive Texas on certain conditions, provided they shall fiit receive the nssent of the people of Texas. As Ibis proposition wil] be the prominent iopic of discussion for some time, and as 1t is one of the most important that has ever come before this nation, we subjoin it entire, as it carne from the House. JOINT RESOLUTION DRCLARING TUK TRRMJ3 ON WHICU CO.GRE?S 1VILL ADM1TTKXAS I.NTO THI-. UXION AS A STATK: Be it resolved by the S)iale and Hwse of Jieprescnuliitsoflhe Üaited States of America in Congress assvrnWi, That Cnress doth consent lliat the trnïtory properly i'nct'uded within, nnd riphtfnliy bfeíbPgmg to, the republic of Texn?, may be erected into a new State, to becaDed the Suütroj -Texas, wil l a reptiblican form of g-overnir ent, to be ;t!opted by the people of said republic, by (iepulies ín convoniion assombled, witli the consent of the existir) nrove:inent, n order tíiát the same may be adiiiiltcd üs one öf the Slat es of this Uu ion.Sec. L. And be il furflicr resolved, Thai the fbregöing consent of Congrios is Wen upon the foümving cunditions, and with tbè fol'owing gnarnntier--, to wit: First. Said State to be fotmed, subject to the adjustment by ftlis governmem of al' qneslions of boondnry tljat may ari;e with othergovernments; and W.e constiuition tbere of, with the proppr evidence nf its ndoption by the people of soid rrpnblic of Te.vns, thall bc troiiimiitcd to the President of llic Uiiiled States, to be n i,i beforo CongresS foi its final act ion. or on before the fiTSt dnyoi January,one thoustsnd eiglit hunored and forty EtX. Second. Said Slate, when ndmitied into the Union, after ceiing to the United States all mines, roinerafe, snit lakes, end ipiing?: and alio üll public cdifce?: fortificalions, j racks, portsand iiarbors, navy and navy yards. docks, magftzines, arms, armainents, and all other property and meana pertomin to t!i(j public defence, bolonLr.'! lo paW reuublic o! Texas, shall retain al! the public fuads,debt?, taxesandues of everv kind, vviiich may belong to or be due or owinr said republic-.tind Ehall also retain all the v;icant and unappropriated iands lyUrg within its ümits, to be ap plied to tl. e payment of the debts and ties of eaïd Repubiic of Texas; and the xeAdue of paid landi, af:er difchnrofinor said dtb'6 and liobiütie?, to be disposod of as enid Stnte may direct ; bnt in no event are said debts and liabilities to beoonif a charge upon tiië govern xuent of the United States. Third. New Siales, of convenient szf, and hnvinsr sufficicnt popdation, may herenfter, by the consent of said Sta'.e, be fnrme' out of the lerritory thereof, which shall bt eniitled to admifsion utider the provisions ol the federal constitution. And fnich States bp may be formed out of that porlion of said terrilory lying eotitli of thir.y-s'x degrees thiny roinntes north laütude, eommonly known a the Missouri comprorrnse i"ne, eliall be adrnit1ed in'o the Union, with or without slavery, ss the people of each State a&king admission may desire. And in eiu-ii StTite or States hs shall be formed out of said terri'ory norlh of the Missouri compromise line, slavery, vr in voluntary eervitude (e.ceptlbr crime) shall be prohibued.[Bmlons rfmendment.] Sec. 3. And Ie il furlherresolvedt Thai if the Presirlenl oP the Uniled States sha]), in hifi jd(]ir.eni and (iiscreüon, deern il most ad visabtt?. instead of proceedinji lo suhmit Ihe f(r?going resolutinn to Uie republic of Ttxnt--. ns nn overtnre on the part of llie Ühited States for admission, to negotiato wilh tha; republic, Uien- Be it resolved, Tliat a Smte; to be formed out of the present r?pnblic of Texns, witli 6uïtab'.e extent and bour.daries, and w'ith Vwo representa; ives in Conress utitil the next apporliomnent of representa i ion. tball be admittel into the Union dy viitue oi'this act, on on equal footing with the xi.süng States, at soon as the torms anl cordittons of such adrnission, and the cossion of tbe remnininrr Texun territorv to tlie United States sh:il! 'üp ogrecd npou by the g.ovcr'nraer.x of Texas sik the United States; and tho sum of 8tlOü,000 ia hereby approprialed o (fefray the expenses of ÖMSsidtls and negotialions. to nree upon tbe teimsof snid admissionand eession, eilliei by trety to be subiüitie.l u the Señale, oí by arücles to be eubt-m.ted the two Hquües of Congress, as the President may 3i. reet.. Let us examine íhe features of this proposition. 1. It will be noticed tliat we are totoke Texas without knowjng in reality wlmt territüry we. are acquiring. "The territory properly included in, and rightfully belongingiu, the rcpublir-, ofTexns," Is a vcpy indefiniie description, and leaves the door open for serious diificulties with inrftign nntionR, '2. The present proposuiou is notchisive lliai Texas .hall be admitted, even if it be ratified and accepfed by lier pet people. The pcople of ToNas mus! firsl ! Ion a State Constilu'.ion whicb sluill ho : ncceptoble to Congrèss. and if t iails lo i meet their oppröbatiqn, Texns inay slill be rejected. The wholo questioii wil] be opon nntil Congress shall decide whëther ihcjState Conslitution llius formodshall be ngreeable to tbem or nof. Tliis wil] be the "final actinri' of Congress. 3." The )i-onsa] is thnt Texas shall koop aïl hor lnnds. and pay all 'hér oun debls. Tliis loóles well on paper, but prnotically il ili amount to nothing al all. i7o onc enn lol] how much Texas owes, nor lo whom it is enving. JNío suffieient have beeu kept of the I amount ol' Scrip issued by the Govern! ment. and it is. the opinión of Co]. Renton, we believe, tliat all the valuable lands of the rcpublic have been tavished awny. - But how are we to avoid paying the foreign liabilities of Texasï IJ we take possession oí all her "mines, minerals, salt lakesandsprings, public ed fices, barrnck, forti fication?, ports and harbors, navy and navy yards, docks, magazine, arms, armaments," dsc- if wc thus seize j npon her means of paying, and approprijate them to our own use, and thereby Jesignedlv keop them from the hands of the foreign credilor- we are jusily holden to pay tlie dobts. We are also holden to do t!i is by the law of nations, as has been deolared by Adanis, Clay, and ot her eminent men of the Wliig party, and not denièd so far as we remember, by the ablest statesmen of the othcr party. As to the creditors of Texas residing in that ccun;ry: and in the United States , there is no 'doubt that ihoy mouM soon tease the National Government into an aüowance of their claims; and we have ampie roason from the e'vperience oftliepast for believing that a hole once onened on fhe south sidc of the national treasury box will be constantly visiied. The ostensible refnsal to pay the debts of Texas is a mere device for blinding the eyesofthe citizens ofthe Free Slates, from whom the greater portion of ihe means for payins- them must be extorted.4. Any 'number of "nao Statet," mny be hereafter formcd out of this State óf Texas, provided they be of "convenient size" and "svjficient populalion." This indefiniteness s all favorable to the Souih, h'nd afibrds tliè Slaveholder nn opportuniiy ofgetting ín as many smal} Sliiles, wilh as smnll a population fn eacb. as possible. No limitations are placed upon Congress. 5. All these new Stntes which may be ionncd north of thirty six degrees thirtv minutes norlh latitude, shall be Free States. Now here is another l;umbug whereby it is attempted to deceive the ignorant. We are assured by John Quincy Adoms, whose opportunities of knowledge on this subject are not probably surpassed by those of any other man, that Texas has nol the least rightful claim whatever to any land norlh of the line heredesignated, but that the northern bonndary of Texas, according to her proper limits Á be at least two degrees, or 140 miles, soutb of this line of pretended compromise! Besides, admiltjog the titie of Texas .to the country here described, it is the most inhospiiable and poorest portion of the 318,000 square miles claimed by Texas, and wnuld be the very last to be settled. What a mockery. then,.to agree that Free Statesmighi be fprmed out of a parcel of land that belongs to a foreign nation, and which is of a quality tbat would not be setiled tilla future age, and tlien would önly sustain a poor and sparse populalion! , 6. The new States to be made south of thjs line are to be admitted with or without Slavery as the people of each State itiay wish. This,$pccording to the present state of things, is equivalent to their admission as Slave States, as the emigration to Texas will bechieily ft om the slaveholding States. Theproposition to admit tliese States with or without slavery has a plausibleappearai.ee of liberality in it; but it involves one of the mostlangerous and hateful provisions that ;ould possibly be devised. These new States may be formcd forty or fifiy, or íven a hundred years bcnce; nnd il t liey shoose to be Slaveholding States, Congress, hv this agreenrcent. will.be plkdged to receive thern as stich. The faith of this nntion will guarantee this. How different is tbis action of the Democratie party from that of our ancestors. wlio, in laying out the great territory of the Northwest, expressly provided, that a, slave shpuld never dweil upon thesoil! The admission of Texas with Slavery, seeing it isan cxistingin.stitution of that country, migbt in somesense be considered a pardonable offence; but a solernn gnorantee to rnake more slave States a centurvhenee to curse coming generaüons, betrays a contempt for the blessings of liberty and free institutions whicb would scem scarcely possible in those who had boen boen and educated undcr their influence. 7. Nor rsthis alï. These new States nre to bo adrnitled unnder the provisions of the Federal Constitution." VV hat are j these provisions? One is, thnt the (ïen, eral Government shall protect cacb Stateíigrtinsi damestic violence, wlien npplied to by the exccutiveor legislature thereof. Suppose an íñsurrectlon of ilie Sla ves to mko place in llieso ncw States, all the military oud naval forcé of this nation mu.st bc exerted to re-enslave the rebels, and kce) them and their poste rit y in subjection forever. unless the States shall voluntarilv chonse to abolish Slnverv. - Thus the General Government will nol unh be slave enteher for our own fourteen Slavc States, but by this process we go into a foreign country, and volunteer our gratuiious Hervices, f theslaveleaders will but give us a job! Another provisión of the Federal Constitu:ion is, ttiht five slaves shall count in polilical power equal to three free persons. This is anolher beautiful feature of this project, which is sustained by a party vociferous for equal political right?. Let the freemen of Michigan consider well this part of the bavgain which has been made for them by their Representativos, McClelland, Hunt and Lyon.- Tiiey have pledged us lo give a premium ïn,politieal power to foreign slaveholders, if they will only condescend to come into the Üuiun with us! A capitalist of Detroit, who has $100,000 invested in merchondize. ims hut a single vote which may be counterbnlanced by that of liie person who blacks his boots. The capitalist of Texas, who has invested Sl00}000 in 100 human beings, will exercise a politic-al pouei1 equai to that of stxty-one of the hardworking farming population of Michigan. Are the freemen of this State disposed to place themselves thus in the power of slaveholding nabobs] Will thev confirni such a barsain?8. Mr. Benton's amendment proposes thot a State comprising a port of Texas, sliall be odmitted - the remaining part of Texas to be considered as a national territory- if i he terms can be ngreed upon by commissionérs of the two governments. This, it will be seen, leavesthe whole question of Anuexation open, to be formed and sbaped by ihe Executive of tho two nnlions, and subsequently ratfied on part by the Senate or bothHouses; Thé President is authorized to submit either plan o the Texans. which he inay deern most likely to succeed. - In our opinión, the first proposa 1 is the mosl dangorous of the two: it makescertnin definite proposilions, & wlien Texas shall assent to them, ihe work will be fnirly laid out and almost completed. - Wherensthe commissioners ot both parties, with an urilimited field before them, -.vnuld slnrt an endless variety of to)ics for discussion nmong ihemselves, and diságreémeht amongtlieir constiiuents. It now remains (of the peopleofthe Free States to say whelhcr they will sanction this abominable project. They have it yet in the; r power to prevent it. A general unanimity of action and feeling in the ï1 ree States will forever put a veto upon U. Let every State do its part. - Let the people of Michigan speak out their opinión to the men who so unworthily represent them at Washington; and givethem insiructions for their action at anoiber session of Congress.that shall not be resisted or misunderstood.OThe "Lake Hurón Observer;" a paper cnlling itself Democratie, thus discourses of the Congressional nomination of the Liberty party of Wisconsin. - His testimony to "the undoubted abilities and high moral worth" of Mr. Holton is unequivocal, but what reason has he for calling Mr. Holton and his Libert) frieuds "misguided fanatics"? Can he lelilMartyrdom. - The Wisconsin Territorial Liberty Convention, held at Prairieville on the 6th uit., nominated Edward D. Holton, Esq-, ofMilwaukie, as tlieir candidnte ibr Delégate to Congress at the next September election. The glory of becoming a mnrtyr in the cause of those who are now much better off than any legislation can moke them, we fear wil] be the only satisfaction Mr. H. will derive f rom this nomination. We know him well, and cannot. but regret that by ronsenting to becoroe the leade of a set of imisguided fanatics.he has fore sworn political fettowship with the grea body of bis fellow-citizens who might otherwise, perhaps, have elevated him to a station where bis undoubted abilities and high moral worth could not but be appreciated and secure to him the confidence of the people of the beautiful territory of which he is happy in being a citizerj."