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1. COLLEGE AVENUE, ATHEN8.
On his Amendment to the California Bill; deliv
ered in the Senate of the United States, June
2Ath and 25th J 850.
But, Mr. President, if you were disposed to
admit California without the requirements which
1 have alluded to, even then would you be wil
ling to admit her with the limits which she
claims in her present constitution t I am most
reluctant to believe it; and I proceed to state
some of the promiueut objections 1 have to the
boundaries she claims in it:
1st. They aro enormous and excessive, and
far lieyond such as were ever allotted to any of
the States which were furmeil out of territories
belonging to the United Stat es. Tennessee was
only allowed, in round nun:hers, 44,000 square
miles; Ohio, 40,000; Louisiana, 46,0b0 ; Indi
ana, 34,000 ; Missouri, 67,000; Illinois, 55.000;
Alabama, 50,000; Maine, 35,000; Mississippi,
47,000; Aikansas. 52,000; Michigan. 56,000;
Florida, 59,000; Iowa, 50,000; and Wisconsin,
54,000.
2d. They are unnatural, disregarding those
geographical divisions which her very structure
indicates, and combining together districts dis
joined by the eternal barriers of the Creation,
and by antagonisticul conditions of soil and cli
mate.
3d. They are impolitic, placing tinder the
control and sway of a single State territory equal
in extent to all New England, with the Empire
State of New York added to it; an extent of
seacoast exceeding one thousand miles; all the
trade of China and of the Indian Archipelago.—
And laying the foundation for an empire which
may hereafter wield in its hands the destinies of
this republic, if it should not endanger its very
existence.
But wc shall find intlicmovemenls that brought
about the adjustment of the present bounda
ries of California, that they by no means origi
nated in any wants of hers, hut with the inter
meddling of the administration, and in the arro
gant assumption of the authority of Congress
to close up the slavery question, through the ex
clusion of the South from the totality of the Ter
ritory, which was the nucleus of the contest at
the last two sessions; and that I may give the
Senate an insight into the motives which actu
ated the delegates in the California Convention
to assume the boundaries which they claim, 1
will now lay before it some other passages from
the debates of tbe convention :
Mr. Semple, (president of the convention.)—
I feel under some obligation to repeat a conver
sation which has a direct hearing upon this mat
ter. There is a distinguished member of Con
gress, who holds his seat from one of the States
of the Union, now in California. With a desire
to obtain all the •information possible in relation
to the state of things on the other side of the moun
tains, 1 asked him what was the desire of the
people Congress. I observed to him that it
was not tbe desire of the people of California
to take a larger boundary than tho Sierra
Navada, and that we would prefer not em
bracing within our limits this desert waste to
the east. His tcply was: “For God’s sake,
leave us no territory to legislate upon in Con
gress.” He went on to state then that the great
object in our formation of a State government
was to avoid further legislation; there would
lie no question as to our admission by adopting
this course; and that all subjects of minor im
portance could afterwards be settled. I think
it my duty to impart this information to the
convention. The conversation took place be
tween Mr. Thomas Butler King and myself.—
(Debates, 184.)
Speaking of this communication, Mr. Shan
non says, (Debates, 191:)
The chief argument which lias been urged in
favor of the extreme boundary has been, not as
to necessity, not the convenience, not the benefit
to be derived from it, nor the necessity of includ
ing it, but the probability of its passing the - Con
gress of the United States, and the authority of a
gcntle.man from Congress, that, if such a propo
sition was adopted, it would pass. Sir, I claim
for the dignity of the new State of California,
that all dictation of this kind should not receive
a very favorable reception in this bouse ; that we
should not listen to the propositions of gentle
men iu this matter, however high their characters
at home, &q. * * * * Hut
who are these authorities? Are they men who
have become, by long life or service in this coun
try, so deeply interested in the welfare of Cali
fornia that the weal of the new State is alone
the dearest objects of their aspirations ?—or are
they not rather the agents of interested parlies,
not of Congress? For they do not speak tbe
will of Congress; a single man cannot speak the
will of Congress. Ana when tho presideutof
this convention stated this afternoon the expres
sion of Mr. Thomas Butler King: “For God’s
sake, leave no territory in California to dispute
about”—when he (Mr. King) spoke it, I pre
sume he did not spenk the sentiment of tho cn
tire Congress of the United States. The secret
of it is this, that the cabinet of the United States
have found themselves in difficulty upon this
question; they are in difficulty about the Wil-
mot Proviso; and Mr. Thomas Butler King (it
may be others) is sent here, in the first place,
for the purpose of influencing the people of
California to establish a State government, and,
in the next place, to include the entire Territo
ry. • • • • There are two great
E olitical parties there, (in Congress,) who have
een for years past fighting like tigers in their
cage. Every day, every hour, but increases the
ferocity with which they struggle upon this ques
tion of slavery.
When this proposition comes before them,
southern members—those from the slaveholding
States—will see that it strikes from beneath
their feet an enormous tract of country iuto which
they desire to introduce slavery hereafter. Add
to that the further argument of the enormously
extensivo territory that it includes; and then
add to that the further argument, that a large
portion of that territory has not been represent
ed in this body—that the feelings and wishes of
tho people are not known——and I think you
leave open ground enough for them to build an
argument upon that will defeat your constitu
tion ; that you at least bring all those difficulties
which gentlemen hope to avoid directly to bear
against it—a result which every gentleman here,
I have no doubt, honestly seeks to avoid. These
are arguments which you cannot get over,
is true, sir, that the boundary is enormous. No
man here wishes to include tbe whole of it.-—
We are told by these very gentlemen that it ia
too large; it is unwieldy; it includes an enor*
mons barren tract of country—an immense des
ert waste ; but, say they, we will bring it all in,
not for the purpose of retaining it within the
State of California, but for the purpose of set
tling the slave question at home. We don’t in
tend to keep it.
Then we have something still more significant
from the delegate from San Francisco, [Mr.
Gwin.J page 197:
I was opposed to any other boundary hut that
of California, as recognized by the governments
of the United States and Mexico, for another
reason, and I consider it a very important one ;
that if we leave a portion of territory out, we
would necessarily open a question which we
here should not interfere with. We ull know
30 min. is. It is the"great bone «»f able whole.
the Pacific? Will you thus disturb the natural
demarcations which so peculiarly characterize
and divide the different portions of that country
—not because it is right in itself, or just to the
South, or best for California, but to remove the
frantic cravings of a rapacious and iutolerant
frae-soilism ?
Nature has drawn with her own hands
the limits which California should have as a
State, by uniting in a common centre the valleys
of the Sacramento and the SanJoaquiu. They
discharge their main waters into the same basin,
and that basin is the only outlet that connects
them with the Pacific: aud although they may
differ somewhat iu climate aud fertility, yet they
were clearly intended to form a single, insepar-
Tbc imposing and almost impassable Sierra
Nevada encircles them as within a belt of rude
what 36 de
contention.^ North of that ..„ ____
south of it there is a contest. If gentlemen will
look where this line strikes the Pacific, they v/iil
see that not a solitary vote was cast by a delegate
in this convention south ofthat line, except those
cast against a State government. The represen
tatives beie from that region are unanimous in
their votes against the establishment of a State
government. If we iuclude the territory these
delegates represent on the coast, why exclude
the barren waste beyond, where no while man
lives ? We take away the substance and leave
the shadow. Let us take the whole territory,
or stop at that line. If we stop at that line, we
mutilate the convention by excluding the mem
bers south of it.
Here w; have the secret of this extraordinary
assumption, on the part of California, of boun
daries extending far beyond her actual and ne
cessary jurisdiction.
True it is, that the boundaries adopted by the
convention fell far short of those advised by Mr.
King: nevertheless, the Senate will see that
they embrace every inch of ground that is-worth
having. *
As Mr. Gwin says : %
Why exclude the barren waste beyond, where
no white roan lives? We takeaway the sub
stance and leave the shadow.
Mr. DOUGLAS. W T ill the honorable sena
tor inform us on what page of the report that it
is to lie found?
Mr. SOULE. At page 197. But let me
proceed. Had the California convention any
right at all to parcel out the country ? If yea,
why embrace the reluctant districts of Santa
Barbara. Sun Diego, San Louis, Obispo, and Los
Angelos? If no, why not call into the conven
tion Deseret, which numbered some 30,000 or
40,000 inhabitants? Had Deseret joined the
southern districts, who can say what would have
been the result as to the formation of a stale gov
ernment at all, or as to the slavery question ?
Nor does the representation of the several „ - --------
districts in tbe convention seem to have been yef *V e ^ e vada ; become themselves
ry weighty, as far a.*, numbers in the constituent nv ® rt I now towards each other; n:
body were concerned, if we may judge ofit from
the. fact stated by one of the delegates of ono of
tbe most populous and most respectable districts
of California, (Mr. Botts, from Monterey :)
Do you know (says he, 193) by what vote of
my constituents I sit upon this floor? 1 will tell
you. I received 96 votes; my colleague recei
ved some 20 or 30 more; and as for the remain
der of my colleagues, I believe they are eveu
worse off than I am. And yet we are called up
on to form laws for 30,000 freemen upon the
Salt Lake! For my own part, 1 have not the
face to do it.
And thus a district representing fully one-
tenth portion of the nominal population of all
California, and more than one-fourth of its resi
dent population, only cast in the election of dele
gates something less than 200 votes! What the
votes were in the other districts, wo are unin
formed
Strange opinions seem to have been entertai
ned in the California Convention. Its members
certainly conceived that they were vested with
most extraordinary powers, that they should
have assumed the high tone which characterizes
their language when they speak of their rela
tions with the United States. “ Negotiations
were to be opened between the high contracting
parties /” They took it for granted that they
were under no constraint to limit their bounda
ries to tlicir own wants, hut might rejoice and
assist the frec-soilers in their efforts to crush
and degrade the South, by excluding her from
settling in the ceded Territories, and thus des
poil her of her equal share iu the common prop
erty of tho Union :
Mr. McCarver. It is the duty of tho State of
California and the United States, as the two
high contracting parties, to fix the boundary,
Ac. It is
our duty to refuse to come into the Union, as
Iowadid, unless Congress accedes to the bounda
ry which we deem proper to adopt.—Debates,
page 169,
The secret of all this boldness on the part of
the California Convention is to be found at pago
179 ol the Debates, where Mr. Botts is made to
say : “ We have .got the Congress of tho Unit
ed States in a tight place." * * “Congress
is hound to take us—to admit us, boundary and
all." • * * “lam there
fore now inclined to lay dotcn the dictum to Con
gress—to prescribe to them even this question of
boundary—to make it the sine qua non of our
admission.”
Such were the views that operated on many,
if not on most, of the delegates composing that
convention. The slavery issue was to be taken
from Congress, and devolved upon them ! Cal
ifornia would settle it, aud settle it readily, by
taking all from the South,-and giving it to the
North. W'hy, the North could have done that
long ago, had she ventured, and had she dared.
She had the power; hut, in her praise let me
add, she was void of the rashness, and void of
the injustice to exert it. But the convention was
with plenary powers, and was willing so toex<
ert them that no territory should be left for Con
gress to legislate upon. California might take it
easily; for she had Congress in a tight place, and
ready to surrender at discretion. And when all
this Is taken into consideration, will any one
wonder that California should have appropriated
to herself those limits which give her, in the
language of Mr. Shannon, (p. 192,) “ a shape
most awkward and ungainly t”
But they had resolved upon taking the sub
stance and leaving the shadow. Are you, sena
tors, prepared to receive her into the Union, un
shorn of an atom of her monster dimension T—
with 153,000 square miles of jurisdiction, and
with 1,000 miles of coast ?—with the command
of every outlet through which the vast territory
that stretches eastward to the western slope of
the Rocky Mountains might disgorge its pro
ducts and enlarge its trade by a free access to
granite—divides the maritime region from the
Great Basin, (Utah,) which it closes on the west;
while the two valleys, by theinnumerahlestreams
and rivers which run from the south and the
north, and converge to the bay of San Francis
co, are hound and knit together :
The Sierra Nevada (says Mr. McDougal, p.
ISO,) presents to my mind a most proper and
feasible line for our Slate. Following the coast
of the crest of that line from the north to south,
taking the waters as they flow, all that portion
of country where the waters commence to flow
to the west is tvliat my proposition includes, and
that gives us an area of country double as large
as any other State in the Union. If you cast
your eyes on the map, you will see three distinct
divisions marked by Nature in the Territory of
California, &c.
Here is that map, and senators may see, strik
ingly delineated upon it, the three divisions al-
luded toby Mr. McDougal—Utah, the maritime
Ijegion embraced by the Sierra and the territory
to the south, between the lines described in my
substitute. And this opinion of the delegate
from Sacramento is fully sustained by the high
est authority which I can summon before the
Senate—that of tho learned, enteiprising, and
indefatigable officer to whose labors the Unit
ed States and the world are so much indebted :
The valleys (says Col. Fremont, spoaking of
the valleys of the Sacramento and the San Joa
quin) are one, discriminated only by the names
of rivers that traverse it. Jt is a single valley—
a single geographical formation, near five hun
dred miles long—lying at the western base of
the Sierra Novada, and between it and ihe coast-
range of mountains, and stretching across the
head of the bay of San Francisco, with which
a delta of twenty-five miles connects it. The
two rivers—Sau Joaquin and Sacramento—rise
at opposite ends of this long valley ; receive nu
merous streams, many of them hold rivers, from
riaviga-
meet half
jWay, and enter the bay of San Francisco to
gether, in the region of tide-water, making a
continuous water line from one end to the other.
—(Fremont’s Memoir, p. 15.) ■
The Sierra Nevada is an unmistakable boun
dary to those two valleys, leaving no natural out-
let from them tothe Pacific hut through theGold-
eti Gate, which unites the hay with the ocean.—
It closes the valleys on the northern side by a
promontory, several thousand feet above the lev
el of the sea, and to the south, by a gentle slope
and neck that connects it with the Santa Barba-
n mountains, which carry the limit to the wa
ter’s edge of the sea ; and thus are the bounda
ries of the new State drawn by the hand of God
in bold and indestructible characters.
But, independent of this great feature, which
marks so peculiarly the geographical structure
of the two valleys thus held embraced by the
great Sierra, Nature has set another seal on its
neeessary separation from the country lying
south. I’he climate is no longer the same.—
The soil is different, and the products altogether
dissimilar. Here begins quite a new country.
South of Point Conception (says Fremont,
p. 38) the climate and the general appearance of
the country exhibit a marked change. The
coast from that cape tends almost directly east;
the face of the country has a more southern ex
posure, and is sheltered by ranges of low tnouu-
iainsfrom the violence and chilling effect of the
northwest winds. Hence the climate is still
more mild and genial, fostering a richer variety
of productions, differing in kind from those of
the northern coast. * * * The
soil is generally good, of a sandy or light char
acter, easily cultivated, and in many places of
extraordinary fertility.
Thus the limits which California assumes in
her constitution connect what Natnre had in
tended should remain separate and distinct.—
They embrace countries that bear no relation to
each other. The two great valleys formed by
the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers, with
the plains that stretch along between the lower
ranges of mountains on the coast, constitute the
natural and most appropriate appurtenances of
the new State, and embrace an area of territory
sufficient to maintain millions of inhabitants, be
ing something less than 100,000 square miles.—
I quote again from Fremont, pages 13 and 14 :
West of the .Sierra Nevada, aud between that
mountain and the sea, is the second grand divis
ion of California, and tho only part to which the
name applies iu the current language of the
country. It is the occupied and inhabited part;
and so different in character, so divided by the
mountain wall of the Sierra front tho great ba
sin above, as to constitute a region of itself, with
a structure aud configuration, a soil, climate, and
productions of its own; and us northern Persia
may be referred to as some type of the former,
so may Italy be referred to os some point of com
parison with the latter. * * • *
* Looking westward from the sum
mit of the Sierra, ihe main feature presented is
the long, low, broad valley of the San Joaquin
and Sacramento rivers—the two valleys forming
one, fore hundred miles loug and fifty miles
broad, lying along the base of the Sierra, and
hounded on tbe west by the low coast-range of
mountains which separates it from the sea.
California, below the Sierra Nevada, is about
tbe extent of Italy from tbe Alps to the termin
ation of the peninsular. It is of the same length,
about the same breadth, consequently the same
Brea—about one hundred thousand square miles
—and presents much similarity of climate and
production. Like Italy, it is a country of moun
tains and valleys. Different from it in its inter
nal structure, it is formed for unity—its largo
rivers being concentric, and its large valleys ap
purtenant to the great central bay of San Frau-
cisco, within tbe §rea of whose waters the dom*
mating power must be found.—(.Ibid, p. 43.)
i And now let u> follow tbe map, and see wbet
new region expands beyond the southern
termination of the Sievra Nevada.
The country south of Point Conception is ut
terly cut from the valleys of San Joaquin and
Sacramento rivers, and can only communicate
with them, to any extent, by the Pacific. 1 have
already noticed its climate, its productions ; let
me add a few remarks from Mr. Fremont. He
traces the southern division fronrPoint Concep
cion to the Gulf of California, aud speaking of
it says :
The productions of the South differ from
those of the North, and of the Middle. Grapes,
olives, Indian corn, have been its staples, with
many assimilated grains.. Tobacco has been in
troduced, there , and the uniform summer heat
which follows the Wet season, and is uninter
rupted by rain, would make the southern coun
try well adapted to cotton.
And we are reminded by the same authority
(same page) that—
Vancouver found in 1792, at the Mission of
Bueua Ventura, (latitude 34 deg. 16 min.,) ap
ples, pears,plums, figs, oranges, grapes, pearlies,
and pomegranates growing together with the
plantain, banana, cocoa-nut, sugar-cane, and in
digo, all yielding fruit in abundance, and of ex
cellent quality. r
Why, then, I ask, connect, by artificial limits,
this country with the valleys above? Why-
block up the vast plains behind from all com
munication with the Pacific ? Why put the
eastern and southern basins out. of renrli of all
navigable streams? Why cut them oft' from all
outlet for their produce ? Are we prepared to
doom them forever to utter insignificance and
dependence—to separate them from the rest of
the world? No, no!
Mr. Sherwood, from New York. As to what
ought to be our future boundary. I concur fully
wiih several gentlemen who have expressed the
opinion that the crest of the Sierra Nevada, or
some line of longitude near it, should be the fu
ture permanent boundary of this State; and if
that yvere the only question before the house, I
should, without hesitation, vote for the proposi
tion which embraces these limits. But there
are other questions which ought to influence our
tan, of China, of Japan; behind thjfSr foe al
most boundless empire, stretching from tbe
Straits of Fuca to the Gulf of Mexico, from
the Pacific to the Rocky Mountains! Are you
prepared thus to lay the foundation of a state of
things that may, and must eventually, either en
able the new State to wield in her hands the dee.
times of the republic by the weight of numbers
which ere long she will cast in your national
councils, or entice her to set out for herself with
the bright prospects which the future holds out
to her?
We are laying the foundation for a great em
pire, (says Mr. Halleck, from New York, p. 434.)
Let it be broad and deep. Let us be governed
by no narrow or short sighted policy. Wo are
not legislating for a single day, or for a single
generation, hut for ages and generations vet in
the womb of time.
action.
now, by taking in the whole of California tothe
New Mexico line, we can throw that question
out of Congress, and keep it from discussion be
fore the people, and thus remove the bone of
contention between the North and the South.—
W e should then do an act which may render
certain that the Union cannot he dissolved. We
are not aware of all the feelings that control the
people of the eastern states States.—(Debates,
p. 180.
And tlie delegate from San Francisco, (Mr.
Gwin,) alluding to thq same subject, (Debates,
196,) uses the following startling language:
I have not the remotest idea that the Congress
of the United States would give us this great
extent of boundary if it was expected it would
remain ono State; and when gentlemen say that
they will never give up an inch of the Pacific
coast, they say what they cannot carry out. So
far as I ain concerned, I should like to see six
states fronting on tho Pacific in California.
It is strange, then, that the South should revolt
at the idea of letting California come into the
Union, with limits that were avowedly fixed with
a view to strip her of every inch of soil in the
newly-acquired Territories, and to prepare the
utter annihilation of her influence in the govern
ment by the forthcoming adjuuction of six new
free States and of course of twelve additional
free States senators ? See, Mr. President, what
they themselves think of it ?
Mr. Hastings, from Ohio. But gentlemen
maintain that it is very important to include the
whole territory, if possible, because if wo settle
the question of slavery now for the entire terri-
toiy, it will he forever settled. * *
***** I can assure
you, gentlemen, that the new State of California
will not be permited to settle the great question
of slavery, See. * * * *
Will the South permit it? No. sir. It will be in
sisted by the South that we have been urged to
The position of California is unprecedented
in history. She is already attracting the atten
tion of the world. There is no spot on this con
tinent which excites at the present time so much
interest and concern. Men of intelligence from
the old ai d the new States, and from the com
mercial cities of South America and Europe,
are already rushing in large bodies to this land
of promise. Every avenue of approach is
crowded to excess; every vessel that reaches
our ports is ci owded to overflowiug. This new
population will iorm a State of public spirit and
of daring enterprise. No other portion of tlie
globe will exercise a greater influence upon the
civilization and commerce of tho world, &c.—*
We should therefore lie carefuj, in laying tho
foundation of the new empire, hot to contract
within too narrow limit* the circle of its action,
nor necessarily circumscribe the sphere of its
usefulness.
But, while we suffer our attention to be thus
engrossed by the claims which California pleads
at our bar, we lose sight of Deseret entirely.—
What of her ? She also has sent here her con
stitution, and pleads for admission into the Un
ion. Ts she to he held as an independent commu
nity ? Then she has her inherent rights as well
as California proper. She is the oldest iu date
before us ami in her State organization. Her
constitution extends her limits to tho crest of the
Sierra Nevada, and down tbe Sierra to the San
ta Barbara mountains ; thence along the Pacifio
to the Gulf of California, embracing the whole
of the southern coast. Can you cut her short
of those limits to sanction the posterior usurpa
tion of California ? Deseret acted in her right,
if California did. whenframinglier constitution,
and her boundaries, having been asserted long
prior to California, (by seven months,) ought to
prevail. If Deseret must be considered as bo*
ing in subjection to California, why was she not
summoned to the Monterey Convention-?
But (says the delegate from ban Francisco,
Mr, Gwin) have they any right to complain?—-
Are we not the majority ? Does any pretend
to say, in this house or elsewhere, that the dis
tricts of California, established under proclam-
\nd at * on l ' ie governor, do not contain a popula-
1 tion that is not represented here ? Have not
thousands reached the country since we were
elected ? As a minority, were they not bound
to submit to the will of the majority ? Sir, aro
are we not here forciuga State government up
on a portion of tho people of California, whoso
delegates have, by their recorded votes, stated
the fact that their constituents are unanimously
against a State government, aud in favor of a
territorial organization ? * *
Gentlemen affect to believe that in taking a largo
extent of territory not .represented here, and
from which no opposition to our SCtkrfi has been
made known to us, we are doing a great act of
injustice to those people; when, at the same
time, wc have here before us the direct protest
against a State government of a portion of tbo
inhabitants of this Territory who ere represent
ed. But do we stop ? Do we refrain from
committing this act of injustice ? No, sir; wo
go on, and include them.
Then, Mr. President, might is to suprsede
right. II not, why join the four protesting to
the western districts, and force them into sub
mission to the State government organized by
the convention ? Why take from them tho
right to provide for themselves that form of gov
ernment which best suits them ? They are Cal
ifornia also ; and most of them the Californians
for whom provision was intended to be made,
and protection was secured, in tho treaty that
transibned them to us ; and the first act of tho
conqueror is to bring them, by a feat of political
legerdemain, within the pale and under the au
thority of a government to which they wero
unanimously opposed.
The whole matter of the boundary, theu, was
cunningly devised to be merely nominal, pur
posely unreal, and thoroughly deceptive. It was
to he effective and irreversible for a single object
—SriPto cxchtde the South forever from all
share in the territories, through spoliations of
her rights and a degradation of her sovereignty,
without an alternative that does not end in au
do so by influences brought to hear upon us
from the North, &c.—(Debates, p. 173.) .. . . . . .. . . rr .
The same. We have a very low estimate of ,n ^ orl °" 3 8ul \ ml86 } nn or u rupture of the Union.
the sagacity of the South if wc suppose they
will overlook this point. They will naturally
say : You, a few Californians on the other side
of the continent, assume to settle the great ques
tion of slavery for a tract of territory which
must ultimately constitute thirteen or fourteen
States of the Union.—(Debates, p. 177.)
Mr. McCarver. But do gentlemen suppose
that the* South would acquiesce in this arrange
ment, that they will permit us to settle the ques
tion of slavery ?—Debates, same page.)
The same. Do gentlemen suppose that Con
gress would ha vo suffered Louisiana to settle
that question of slavery for the whole territory
known as Louisiana? Equally idle is the as
sumption that Congress will stand by, and allow
a handful of citizens in California to settle the
slave question. It is a monstrous doctrine.—
(Debates, page 137.)
Put they never expected thpt you would he
brought to assent to such pretensions. Mr.
Gwin expressed himself us follows:
We know that Congress has the right to set
tle our bouudary; aud the boundaries of all new
Stages. It is a right which they will insist upon,
and which they have always refused to surren
der. And hence 1 have thought hat if we make
the boundary of the Sierra Nevada to ru« to the
mouth of the Gila, Congress might say to us,
You have included too much for one State; we
will limit you to the territory in which your pop
ulation resides; we will cut off all south of 36
deg. 30 min. South oi that must he a territorial
government. * * * * That will be the
great battlefield. I confess! would greatly pre
fer a more restricted boundary. We have the
natural boundary to make a greater State than
any in the Union—the hay of San Francisco and
its tributaries. If wo had our choice, we would
thus shape our boundaries—(Debates, p. 445.)
Will you, then, let me repeat it again, admit
California as she presents herself to you ? Wo
are told that she has already a population ex
ceeding 150,000 of able-bodied meu. capable to
array in battle 75,000 of stout and hardy soldiers
—of such soldiers as would command the choice
of the Senator from Illinois | Mr. Shields] tn a
great emergency. What, when she shall have a
population of 500,000—:>f 1,000.000—of 2,000,-
000, and 3,000,000? How monstrous her im
portance, if she should remain in the L ni°n.
I am now drawing rapidly to a close; and I
promise tho Senate that 1 shall do my best to
shorten as much as possible the remaining re
marks which I intend submitting to irs consider
ation, for l feel that I have trespassed already
too long upon its patience.
My substitute proposes to restrict the limits
of California to the 36 deg. 30 min. parallel of
north latitude.
The original line of the Missouri Compromise,
Mr. President, came not at the South’s instanco,
nor was it adopted through tlie South’s choice.
Her assent to it was constrained; it was the
only alternative loft her between the spoliation
and abandonment of her equal rights north of 36
deg. 30, and tlie dismemberment of the Union ;
and to save the one she sacrificed the other, and
was thus despoiled of three-fourths of the slave-
holding territory of Louisiana. With the North
the case was altogether different. She deemed
it her interest to partition the territory by an
east and west line, and in such a way that while
southerners were excluded from migration and
settlement nortli of the line, northerners were
left free to migrate and settle on both sides of it,
as they were before. Through the power of
numbers, she established this principle of terri
torial partitions, and with the privilege of choice
she fixed on the degree of latitude where thft
line should run.
This was in 1820. Precisely one-fourth of a
century thcreaft r, (1845) Texas, with her im
mense territory, was before Congress for ad
mission into tho Union. The North insisted
that the line of the Missouri Compromise should
be applied to her territory. It was iu vain to
tell her that not a foot of this territory was tho
property of the United States, but belonged ex-
clusively to the State of Texas. She replied
that the"principle ol territorial partition between
the North and the South, upon the line of 36
deg. 30 min., had been finally settled by tbo
Compromise of 1820, had been adhered to for
one-fourth of a century, and was now as binding
as the constitution itself. She was inexorablo
the South yielded again, and the Missouri lino
was stretched through the State of Texas.
Scarcely three years had elapsed before tbq
question of the Missouri Compromise was again
mooted in Congress. It oame upon the Oregon
territorial bill. All of Oregon south of foe Co
lumbia river bad teen acquired uudep the Lou
isiana treaty of i803, and of course was in
cluded in the Missouri Compromise of 1820,
_ow 0 . 0 — , . f _ _ ___
should choose 7° ° Ut Before them foe com- j But afl of Oregon north of that river was an-
meJ^andfoe luxuriant temptations of Hindos- jquired ut.dev tbe Florida treaty
