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VOL. I. NOTE TO MR. CHAPPELL. MACON, Juke 20th, 1850. llox. A. 11. Cu-vrrELL: Sir —The undersigned friends of yours and lovers of the I'nwn, having great confidence in your political opinions, de sire from you au expression of sentiment for publication, in reference to the great issues which arc now agitating the pub lic mind, and more particularly as to the course of policy to pursued in relation to the Compromise Bill recently introdu ced into the Senate of the L'nited States by the Hon. Henry C'lay.ss Chairman of the Committee of Thirteen. Will you be kind enough to furnish us with an exposition of your views at your earliest convenience, anfl,obligc Years, respectfully, ABNER P. POWERS, WILLIAM K. Dr/.ftAFFENREID, L. O. REYNOLDS, ROBERT COLLINS, ROBERT S. LANIER, JAMES W. ARMSTRONG, JOHN R. LAMAR. MR. CHAPPELL’S REPLY: Gentlemen :—I Ikivc given much reflection to the note you addressed me on the 20th nil., desiring for j publication an expression of my sentiments “in refer ence to the great issues now agitating the public mind, and more particularly as to the course of policy to be pursued in relation to the Compromise Bill re cently introduced into the Senate of the United 1 States, by Mr. Clay as Chairman of the Committee of Thirteen.” . I will riot disguise, gentlemen, that your request has given me considerable embarrassment. I have been • unable to repress the conviction that while a few par- , tial friends like yourselves may feel an interest in . knowing my sentiments on the great political ques tion of the day. yet that the mass ot the public will be quite certain to regard then) with irtdifler- | ence. For there are. I believe, but three classes J of men. whom the people recognize as having the j privilege ot’ making demands on their attention: j those who are in actual public service ; those who are candidates forelection to public trusts ; and those, who, having served the country long, ably and ac ceptably in high places, have become permanently endeared to the popular heart, and continue to be re garded as a species of cherished public property, j even alter their retirement to the shades ot private ; life. Whoever ventures before the public with his j sentiments on great political subjects unsupported by j cither ol these claims, is not ordinarily entitled to ex- j pert much intention and will be more likely’ to en counter the imputation of presumptuousness, than to obtain a thoughtful attention to the views which he may advance. These considerations, gentlemen, had well nigh determined me against complying with your deeply appreciated request. But when I took another view— when I looked at the matter on another side, and j pondered on the momentous character ol the issues j „n which you have asked an expression ot’ my’ sen- j fiuiciits. and saw too, what no man can open his ; eyes to things around him without seeing, that the , paramount, patriotic want of the times in reference j to these issues, is a full, fearless and perfect freedom | and unreserve of the Southern people in unbosom- j ing themselves, and coming to a clear, frank, manly understanding with one another, when 1 saw that thiri was the distinctive, craving want of the times, 1 felt at once that your call upon me had crea ted an occasion which did not leave me at liberty to he restrained by’ any refinement of delicacy from performing my part, however humble, towards meet ing ;t want which I regarded as so great and imper il tivc. 1 proceed, therefore, without longer hesitation to the tusk of attempting to fulfil your request. And in order to a just presentment of tny’ views in regard ; to the existing crisis, it is necessary’ 1 should take a gkuice at the events and influences out oi which it. lias grown. The annexation of Texas led to the Mexican j war, the Mexican war resulted in the acquisition j of New Mexico and California, and this acquisition ; gave rise directly to the great territorial quarrel which now agitates and threatens the Union. The annexation of Texas, the war with Mexico, and the acquisition of New Mexico and California were all emphatically’ Democratic measures. They were, moreover, peculiarly and eminently, measures ot the Southern section of the Democratic party. It can, never be forgotten how loth our Northern Demo cratic brethern were to launch the country’ on the stormy and uncertain ocean ot the first of that se- ; ries ot’ measures; nor how stoutly the whole body ol Northern YVliigs (ought against it from first to last. The Northern Democracy, however, yielded to the ur gency of their Southern political allies and conquer ing their own strong reluctance, embarked fully’ with | us in support of the great opening measure, the en tering wedge of the scries, the annexat ion of I exas j a measure which was. undoubtedly, the potent, pro ductive cause, thq prolific parent of all that follow ed. They stood by us throughout, and by their aid, we triumphantly consummated the whole o! that stupenduous series ol measures, constituting a mass -ot achievements which raised the character of our ■country’ prodigiously', both at home and abroad, and justly filled the Democratic party, and especially the Southern portion of it with boundless pride and ex ultation. Being thus the originators and authors of these •measures, a heavy moral and political responsibility rests on the Democratic party, and especially on ‘Southern Democrats, in relation to their consequen ces. It’ these measures, or their consequences shall terminate in tlie dismemberment and overthrow ot ■our great Republican Confederacy, deep shame and accountability for the result, must under any circum stances lie at the door of the Democratic party. But the case will be rendered still worse if that party, and especially the Southern branch ot it. snail fail to exert itself with the utmost sincerity and iutensc ness of patriotism, to prevent these, their measure s from winding up in the dire catastrophe of Disunion. •Such guilty’ delinquency’ on our part, will tinge out inevitable shame and accountability, in connexion with the matter, with criminality of the darkest dye. Eor what can be, more criminal, morally ami politi cly. than to fail to use our utmost exertions to pre- Vc, it disaster and rum from flowing from our own measures. These facts and views, gentlemen, do, in my’ opin -1011 powerfully concur with the general obligations 1,1 Patriotism, in summoning Southern Democrats, in a most stringent and special manner, to the rescue ot Hieir country from the dangers of the present cri *‘s\ his a crisis mainly of their own creation—oi their own bringing about. It was the Southern Dem orrau who forceiAhe annexation of Texas as a lead mg party measure on the unwilling Democracy of ’he North. It was the Southern Democrats, like- Wls c, who. for the sake of the annexation of Texas, than for all other reasons put together, presen r’ the ever-to-bc-honored James K. Polk to the ’filer reluctant acceptance of their Northern politi 'al brethren as a candidate for the Presidency. It for the sake and under the influence ot the ’-hern Democracy that their Northern brethren Porously accepted and triumphantly sustained lt J 11 the measure and the man. And to crown all, i w,ls a Southern Democratic Administration thus , ‘"-tght i n t o power by the behest of the Southern unocratic party', and zealously supported by that ant | in - its P o,ic y an d measures —it was such to winistration that introduced the country in ’ ie -’lexicon War, and to which all the glories and responsibilities of that war, and of the ac quirement ol New Mexico and California right \ BiHy belong, and must forever cling. The Southern i Democracy have not failed exultingly to claim and j enjoy their lull share of these clustering glories.— i They are far too magniminous and just to disavow . or disregard the heavy attendant responsibilities. Among these responsibilities it was clearly seen and acknowledged beforehand, that the heaviest, most difficult and fearful would be the settling of the strong sectional conflict between the North and South which it was well known would spring up out of the question of allowing or disallowing slavery in the territory that might be acquired from Mexico, by means ol the war. With this conflict in full and certain prospect before its eyes, and with all the weighty responsibility of settling it in full view, the Southern Democratic party persevered—properly and patriotically persevered in advocating and sup porting the war and war measures, and in insisting on a large cession of territory’ from Mexico, as the condition on which peace should be made. The result was made to coincide with their desires. We be came, by’ means of the treaty’ that closed the war. masters of New Mexico and California. And now in view of these facts, and this undenia ble history ol the case, a solemn question seems to me to address itself to every Southern Democrat. It is this: Is it consistent with honor, with justice and patriotism for Southern Democrats now to take an extreme stand, and to say that this dangerous conflict ! which they have been thus largely instrumental in 1 : bringing about, shall never be settled except on terms , of their own dictation? Is it consistent with honor, j ! with justice, with patriotism for them to take a stand j agairtstall compromising of this conflict—or for them ‘ | even to takeftheir stand doggedly’ on certain partiou- | lar terms ol compromise, and proclaim that. l -t}iese ! at least ice will hare or, so far as in us lies , this glo- j nous, peerless Lilian shall he blown to atoms.” Let i every Democrat ponder on these questions, and an- ; swer them to his own heart and conscience, and if j the response shall not be in fullest unison with honor, j with justice, with patriotism, I will confess myself i painfully mistaken in the character and tone of the i political party with which lam connected. For my- , sell I have no hesitation in declaring my profound 1 conviction, that the above noticed undeniable facts of Southern Democratic agency and instrumentality', in bringing about the events and state of things out of which the present threatening sectional conflict has sprung, lays a peculiar and extraordinary weight of obligation on the Southern Democratic party, to do its utmost to carry the country safely through the j perils of that conflict. They are circumstances of ! the most cogent nature, superadded to our general duty’ as patriots, biuding us by'redoubled ties to be ac tuated by a conciliatory spirit in this matter. They ! are circumstances which not only place our duty as patriots, but our point of honor as parties to a quar rel. decidedly ou the side of conciliation and compro mise. 1 feel deeply assured that if Southern Demo crats will but apply’ their minds to the calm, dispns : sionatc study’ and review of the whole case, —they j must come to this conclusion —a conclusion which is but an anticipation of the clear voice of history, and the permanent judgment of mankind. Turning now from the contemplation of the pecu liar position of tfie Southern Democracy in reference to this great territorial controversy', let us for a mo ment advert to that of the national Democratic party in relation to the same thing. It took the whole Democratic party of the country —the Southern wing of it leading—the Northern aiding and co-operating, to elFectuate the vast measures which form the ante cedents and sources of this controversy. The whole Democratic parly’ is, therefore, under special obliga tion, though some in a greater degree than others, to see that the country sutlers no detriment from the consequences ot’ what they’ have done. The Demo cracy of the North and of the South, as they’ united and acted together in achieving the great measures of which New Mexico and California are the fruit — are now infinitely more bound to unite and work to gether to save the country lrom the disgrace and ruin of being torn to pieces by intestine strife between the North and South about the division of the conquered territory. Yes! A deep, ineffable disgrace will it. indeed, be, to have it written down and perpetuated j iu history’ that the Democratic party, holding in its , hands the sway of national allars, did, by policy and arms acquire immense territories lor tlie country, and then meanly proved itself to be neither able nor will ing to prevent that country from being dismembered and destroyed by reason ol a quarrel growing out of the acquisition! Happily for itself and for the country, such a re proach lias not fastened itself on the Democratic party, and I confidently believe, never will. That this portentous controversy has not ere now been sa tisfactorily adjusted, has been owing lo no fault of the Democrats as a party —to no want of wise, pa triotic foresight, precaution and exertion oil the part of tlie true Democrats of the Union, and their eminent and trusted public men. At an early moment after tiie treaty with Mexico, Mr. Bulk, as President of the United States, threw ; the whole weight of’ his character and official posi tion into the scale, in favor of an adjustment on the principle of extending the line of tiie Missouri Com promise to the Pacific ocean. This recommendation was made in his message to Congress upon the return of the Oregon bill with his signature. There was every reason to hope that tins basis ol settlement would lie accepted by tiie country, and particularly by the South. For it had very recently received the ! seal of” renewed national favor and recognition, by ; being incorporated in the resolution by which Texas was'annexed to the Union. Mr. Buchanan brought his unsurpassed reputation and weight ol character as a statesman, and as a great man, and a great i minded catholic patriot, to bear upon public opinion in concurrence with Mr. Polk’s views. And thou sands upon thousands of the best Democratic minds and hearts in the country, were in unison with theirs j —and the great mass of the party would undoubtedly have readily moved in tiie same direction. But there were not a few, and among them men ol mark, both in the North and South, who were restrained liom concurring with their brethren, by strong, and appa -1 rentiy insurmountable scruples. They regarded the , Missqpri Compromise with stern disfavor, as being a sort of bastard engraftinent on the constitution, rather j than as its legitimate filiation and offspring, and they ; thought it high time to put it under the ban. The great deceased Carolinian, John C. Calhoun, figured I at the head of those in the South, who were distin guished by this feeling, and who. aside from the con ; stitutional difficulty, were irreconcilably averse to the principle of the virtual exclusion by act of Con gress of the people of an entire section of the Union, from a fair participation in every portion of the nation ; al domains. To ohviatc these scruples and devise a platform I on which all might confidently and conscientiously stand,—-Gen. Cass determined to go back to the very | fountains of the constitution. He did so, and in his | celebrated Nicholson letter, laid down the broad doctrine of total non-interference by Congress with the subject of slavery in the Territories. Here we behold what, it would seem, ought to have been a basis of reconcilement solid and ample enough to ! satisfy all minds but those fixed immovably in favor of a Congressional inhibition ol slavery. And it did satisfy and unite an overwhelming proportion ot the Democracy, both of the North and South. I hey adopted it as their grand party platform, and rallied upon it alike for carrying the Presidential election, .•and for settling the Territorial Question. The Democratic party understood well what it was doing when it adopted this platform. It well understood that, whilst it was thus doing justice and seeking to give satisfaction to the South, it was sacrificing itself at the North to the tune of thousands, and tens of thousands of votes. And it looked, ami had “Jnkpenknt in all tilings—Neutral in Nottjiug. 11 MACON, GEORGIA, FRIDAY MORNING, JULY", 12, 1850. a right to look to the South for compensation, for this heavy patriotic loss—a loss incurred for the sake of the Sou tit. But it looked in vain. More than half the Southern people, embracing the whole Whig party, and enough Democrats to turn the scale in three or four Southern Democratic States, (Georgia being one of them) voted against Gen. Cass and ef fected his defeat, and that of the national Democratic party. Thus was forever lost to the South, by her own deliberate fault, a priceless, irrevocable opportunity of securing a benign settlement of this matter through the happy, constitutional medium of the Bal lot Box. Thus did the people of the South by’ their votes work the overthrow of the National Candi date and party who were their friends on this subject and who, had they been placed in power, would have undoubtedly brought about a satisfactory adjustment of it! And still more and worse did the Southern people do. They not only rejected their friends, but by their votes they put their known enemies in power. They put the reins of government in the hands of Zachary Taylor, and the Northern Whig party who were, and arc, our enemies on this ques tion. The arms of the South, on ihe great battle field ol the last Presidential election, were beheld strangely gleaming in ranks Hostile lo her cause, and i powerfully helped to win a crushing Waterloo Victory against herself. So gigantig and astound- ; ing an instance of madness and folly, in the exercise of the elective franchise, history has never before had to record against any people ! It is in vain.-utterly in vain, for a people who haov \ been guilty of such misconduct towards themselves. ! to expect to escai>c all the penal consequences due j to their criminal fatuity. Heaven would be neither wise, just nor severe, nor wisdom belter than folly, i nor right than wrong, if it were allowed t<. bo But. when such a Heed has in fact been done by a | people, when they have irrevocably committed such | an act of madness and folly, how shall they repair it? How shall they go about, making amends for it, or arresting or mitigating the consequences of it?— This is the great practical question which presses painfully on us of the South now. Undoubtedly, when a people have been guilty of such an act of madness and folly, they are not at liberty to undertake to repair it, or lo get away from the consequences of it, by rushing to the commission of another act of equal or greater madness or folly. Undoubtedly, in the present case, the people of the South arc not at liberty to attempt to repair their own miserable misdoing and self sacrifice in regard to the Territorial Question, by resorting to the per petuation of a still greater misdeed, of which the ef fect will be our exclusion from the Union, without t any tendency whatever towards giving a remedy or j redress for our exclusion from the Territories. — Undoubtedly, after recklessly throwing away as we j have done, the all-sufficient, orderly, legitimate ! remedy of the Ballot Box, we are not at liberty to \ undertake to compensate ourselves for the effects oj : that unsurpassed'foily by adventuring upon a, course j of stupendous folly and wickedness combined. And | it would he a course of stupendous wickedness as j well as folly for Southern men. having a full view of j all the past and present circumstances of tlie case, i deliberately to make the existing Territorial contro versy the basis on which to plant the lever of nmchi- , nations, for the overthrow of the Union. If tin’s ■ glorious Union must indeed be broken up, and by Southern action too. —let it be on some other ground, j some other quarrel; not on that! Let it he on some ground, some quarrel which we are not responsible j tor, —not culpable for. If we must, indeed, tear down the pillars of our noble Federal Temple, let us at least go about the sad work with clean hands and blameless minds. Let us be executioners of the j deed, without being partakers of the crime ! Let not the ruins of the subverted fabric of the Union over- j whelm us with dishonor and remorse, as well as with . calamity. What part, then, ought we of the South now to ! act? The’ answer seems to me exceedingly plain. — j We ought to acta part which will throw the weight ; of the South with the greatest effect in favor of a prompt and judicious settlement of this quarrel.— And in ordef to act that part., we must_ co-operate with the friends, not the enemies of conciliation and settlement. To the honor of the Southern Whigs, as a party they arc found pursuing this course. They commit ted a great and ever to be deplored error, in placing Gen. Taylor and the Northern Whig party in power. They are now striving to redeem that error, to con fine within the narrowest possible limits tlie danger and detriment to the South, and the Union which that error has so powerfully operated to produce.— They arc found generally renouncing President Taylor’s policy so dear to Northern Whigs, Free Soilers and Abolitionists, and rallying under the op posing banner, and following the great souled patriotic lead ol their illustrious old chief, Henry Clay. And with them the notile Spartan band of Northern Democrats who still cherish justice and friendship towards the South, are evidently disposed to co-operate, —and if they shall fail so to co-operate, it will, in all probability, be more owing to alenia lion and resentment, at the contrary course of South ern Democrats, than to any other cause. The question, then, comes back with increased pungency: —What is the duty of Southern Demo crats? What ought they lo do? It is very plain what would have been their duty, and what they would have dne, in case the Demo cratic party had not lost the Presidential election, and with it the power to carry out their well understood, fully avowed policy on this subject. But for the oc currence of this woful and unhinging mishap, the duty of the Democratic party, Northern and South ern, would have been to organise territorial govern ments, on the non-intervention principle , lor till the territories acquired from Mexico, California included. From this duty there would have been no escape or attempt at escape, and it would ere now have been fully and faithfully performed. General Cass, as President, would have recommended it to Congress — and Ins Northern Democratic supporters in both Houses would have slood shoulder to shoulder with Southern Democrats in the performance of this duty. Southern Whig members would not have been disposed, nor would they have dared, to withhold their co-opcration—and thus the prompt and easy passage of the measure would have been secured be yond all shadow of doubt. But General Taylor was elected President, and the act of the people in electing him. and the results of his policy and management since his election, have greatly changed the duty of the Democratic parly, and of Southern Democrats also, by interposing it manifest impossibility to carrying out the original Democratic programme in relation to the territories. Through his management and influence, and that of his Cabinet, California has been led to organise a State government; and backed by his recommenda tion. she is now knocking at the door for admission into the Union, with an interdict in her constitution against all slavery within her limits. And it is con ceded on all hands that it would be a hopeless and impossible thing to attempt to refhse her entrance and remand her back to a territorial condition. We are compelled consequently to give up California as a territory, She is lost, irretrievably, as a satellite to our system, and can henceforward belong to it only as a star in the grand constellation of States. Possibly we may. by well-directed efforts and judicious, co operation with the friends of measures of conciliation and concord, succeed in procuring a salutary curtail ment of her enormous boundaries. Even this however, there is little chance for—more, it would be wild to think of. But although California is thus lost to us, and lost bv no fault or misdoing of the Southern Democratic Dartv vet there is nothing whatever in the fact or circumstances of that logs which can operate to ex onerate Southern Democrats from the full and faith ful penormance of all that part of their original duty in relr on to the territories that yet remains possible to be performed. New Mexico still remains—the newly proposed territory of Utah remains—both claiming, and ready to receive at our hands, territo rial governments upon our own cherished non-inter | vention principle. Our duty in regard to these terri j tories is certainly not at all done away or lessened 1 because Gen. Taylor has rendered it impossible for I us to perform the like duty in regard to California. — On the contrary, that duty is even heightened by the I course which Gen. Taylor has pursued in relation | to California, and the policy which he is now’ urging 1 in relerence to the other two territories —which policy unblushingly proposes to withhold from them civil j and political organizations, and to treat them as out i casts from government, in order by such treatment to I drive them to a speedy imitation of the example of California, and to a like irregular and obnoxious claim for admission into the Union. The duty, then, of Southern Democrats in relation to these territories remains entire. It is a duty to organise territorial governments lor them on the basis of Congressional non-interference with the subject of Slavery within their limits ; it is a duty to save them from suffering, for a long and indefinite period, the wretched fate Which Geivl Taylor’s heartless and unscrupulous policy of Governmental qon-action and abandonment would inflict upon them ; it is a duly to rescue them, moreover, from being made, what that policy would undoubtedly make them, a long contin uing, effective stalking-horse of anti-slavery agitation; ! and, above all, it is a duty summoning them to the rescue of the South, and of the Union, from the tre mendous disasters in store lor them both, from the rapid spread of Abolitionism an.l bitter sectional hatred wiwcquuii upon such agitation. Such are the manifest and imperative duties of Southern Democrats in the present critical and alarm ing state of things—duties of which I am utterly un able to see how they can effectually acquit them selves otherwise than by earnestly co operating with j those who show themselves deeply penetrated with a j sense of the same duties : with such men as Clay, : Webster, Dickinson, Atchison, Mangum, Cass and Foote, all those Northern and Southern Democrats and Southern Whigs, aye, and Northern Whigs, too if any such there be, who are working hard for the performance of all these duties —who are laboring to ; compose the strifes of the country, to heal its fearful wounds, and to restore it once more to a state at which the patriot need neither blush nor tremble. It is only by such a co-operation, I repeat, we can at all acquit ourselves of these duties. Certainly we cannot do it by siding, whether actively or pas sively, with Gen. Taylor and his followers in this matter, w r ho are seeking to carry’out a policy which sets all these duties at naught. As little can we do it by siding with those who, in their blind rage at General Taylor’s too successful legerdemain in re gard to California, are bent on pursuing a course which, without the least prospect of defeating the full realization of that part of his plan which relates to Calilbrnia, vv 11 absolutely ensure the success of that j other part which relates to New Mexico and Utah. The bill reported by Mr. Clay, as Chairman of the Coin- 1 mittee of Thirteen in the Senate, is the great antagonistical plan to that of the President and his cabinet, and to the schemes and views of the Northern Whigs, Free-soilers and Abolitionists. If it fails , they must neccsarily triumph. If it succeeds, they are as necessarily defeated and aver - j thrown. Such is the real uushunnable alternative which the 1 ease presents. Let us then look dispassionately at that bill. The un doubted excellence, the exalted patriotism of its objects, en- j title itrat least to a fair and liberal examination before it- is con- j detuned and rejected. It is impossible, I apprehend, to deny that it is a bill which contains mneh that is good—and good of the highest kind. It is equally impossible to deny that it will prevent much that is evil, and evil of the very worst kind. In the first place, it is a marked ingredient of good in the bill, that it makes provision for the organization and govern ment of the Territories of New Mexico and Utah. The atro cious contrasted wrong and evil which it will prevent, and which so deeply stains the opposing cabinet plan, is the leav- ; ing of the people of these Territories for an indefinite length of years without the protection of government and laws, to be 1 a miserable prey to civil anarchy, military despotism and bar barian outrage. Every day that this state of things is allowed to last, is a continuation of the most crying, merciless, discred itable injury ami injustice, on the part of our government, to wards this portion of our fellow citizens. It constitutes a case of the most remarkable governmental pravity and ‘abandon ment of duty, thal was ever known. Tt involves a breach of the faith of treaties, of the obligations of the Constitution, and of the sanctity of oaths, all of which unite to demand in tliun der-toncs of the President and Congress, to give to the peo ple of New Mexico and Utah, the benefits and protection of civil government and laws. Mr. Clay’s bill proposes to dis charge this most solemn and imperative duty. The antago nistic Presidential plan, proposes to set this duty at naught, and to abandon these Territories for an indefinite length of time, to all the miseries and wrongs of their present auarchi ’ cal and unprotected condition. M ill Southern Democrats— , will Southern men of any party pursue a course which effec tually helps and enables Gen. Taylor oud his cabinet, to carry : out such an atrocious policy ? This is one of the questions which they must answer by their course in this matter. For to help to defeat Mr. Clay’s biff, is to help most efficiently to carryout Gen. Taylor’s system of govevmental non-action and abandonment of duty, in regard to the Territories. Tluitsys ; tern goes into effect if the bill is defeated-—it vanishes into nothing if the bill is passed. i Another prominent and undeniable merit which Mr. Clay’s j bill possesses, is to be found in the rejection of the \\ ilmot Proviso, and in the feature it contains of Congressional non ■ interference with the subject of slavery in the Territories. ! Those Southern men who refuse to recognize this as a great j ! and satisfactory merit in Mr. Clay's bill render very poorscr- j vice to the Southern cause. They contribute to weaken and ! demoralise the South in her own eyes and in the eyes of the j 1 whole country, by stirring up dissatisfaction now against what ! i the Southern people clamored for, only two years ago. Let j ,us beware, now that the position wc contended for in 1818 —is - sought to he conceded to us, how wc turn away grumbling from the offer, and insist upon another position we then repu diated. Haw downward is the tendency of such a course! I And how certainly arc those who pursue it destined to sink the character of patriots in that of faction ists ! The bill has a still further merit in connection with the mat ter of slavery. It is not only marked throughout all its pro | visions, by the entire abstinence of Congress to legislate iu re- j lotion to slavery, but in order to make absolutely sure ot Southern approval in this particular, it expressly denies to the Territorial government the power to pass any law prohibiting or establishing it; thus leaving the question of slavery in the Territories in the hands of the judiciary where the celebrated Clayton Compromise bill of IS4B —over the loss of which the Southern people so poignantly grieved, sought to put it. Sure ly, then, it cannot he that Southern men mid especially South ern Democrats, will pronounce Mr. Clay's bill unsatisfactory , on the subject of slavery in the Territories, Again, the great and, so far as I am aware, the only point of honor urged or made by the South in connection with this controversy,has been that Congress should not make a discrimi nation against the Southern people, by passing a law in re straint of their right to emigrate with their peculiar property, to territories acquired by the common blood and treasure ol the whole country. Such a discrimination it was felt and in sisted, would be hot less a wound upon Southern honor and equality thau an infraction of Southern rights. Thi* point of honor is saved *to us—saved complete and inviolate by Mr. . Clay's bill. , And yet further: —The passage of Mr. Ckn ’Jbffl, in con junction with the opinion prevalent tlirougho .. . South, : that, in the absence of all Congressional or Territorial legisla tion to the contrary, the Southern people, would be entitled in i point of law to carry their slaves into the Territories —the pas sage, I say, of this bill in conjunction with this prevailing opin ion, would make Southern, men feel see nr e in emigrating i thither with their slaves. And if there be adequate induce ments presented by the sofl, climate, and productions, mineral I or agricultural, of thecountry, they will so emigrate to it, 1 and-plant Southern influence there, and in due time bring the | States there to bo formed, into the Union as slave-holding 1 Stales. In strongest contrast with all this, is the course which i things must take if the bill is defeated and Gen. Taylor’s ; policy of non-action and abandonment of the Territories to ! an unorganized and lawless state, supervenes in its place. ; In that ease, the whole world knows that there will be no ; immigration of Southern slave owners with their property, j i For men owning any kind of permanent or valuable property, ; especially slaves in the South, to the absolute security of , 1 which they look for the inaiutainance of their families and a i provision for their children, will not risk it in a land destitute jof the protection of civil government and laws. In such a land the needy, lawless, the outlawed and the desperately ad venturous, will mainly congregate. Such will be the cfcarac- I ter of the population, that under the system recommended by Gen. Taylor, will at some distant day frame constitutions and governments, and ask for admission into the l nion for New Mexico and Utah. And such a population, owning no slaves and looking merely to the appropriation of the country audits government and honors to themselves and others of their own sort —will be sure to shut out Southern slave-owners, by an 1 interdict in their State Constitution, as the Californians have ! done. The Northern Y\ bigs. Free Suffers and Abolitionists, who j are supporting Gen. Taylor’s non action policy, understand well what will be its operation. They know that it will, in the end, certainly throw New Mexico and Utah into their i hands—as the President’s active policy lias already thrown California into their hands—and so they be but sure of get | ting the substantial tiling which they want, they are not j over-nice or particular about the process by which it shall be done. Will Southern Democrats, will Southern men of any party, pursue a course which amounts to giving them effectual and | decisive aid for achieving smell an end by such means ? They will IxTpursuing such a course if they co-operate with them j in causing Mr. Clay's bill to be rejected. It is another important merit of the bill, (or rather it is a | necessity from which the bill could not escape,) tlmt it seeks I to provide for the settlement of the disputed boundary between . Now Mexico and Texas. This branch of the biff is insepara bly incident to the great object of organizing a territorial go vernment for New Mexico. For, in order to the organization j ; and working of a Territorial government, measures for set- ; ! tling this disputed boundary, are indispensable, unless wc i ; would have Congress to be guilty of the wickedness and in- j : sanity of organising a territory for the purpose of making it a ; wide and revolting arena Os governmental collision and war- j fare with a neighboring state. It has already been ascertained by a decisive vote of the | Senate, that it is wholly impossible to pass a biff recognizing [ : and confirming the vast length of Western boundary claimed by Texas, stretching from the mouth to the source of the Rio | Grande del Norte, and thence due North to the 42J parallel j of latitude. Probably Texas herself, would regard as a most ! unhappy circumstance, the permanent engraftment on her po- ; litieal body, of the immense, barren proboscis to which she ‘ now lays claim, projecting up so far to the North and partak ing of her vitality to little other purpose than that of provok ing upon her perpetual hostilities and incursions from numer ous tribes of savages. According to the imperfect attention I have given to the subject, I am inclined to tliink the best boundary b ‘tween j New Mexico and Texas, would be a lino quitting the del Norte at a point some sixty miles above the town of El Tasso, and : stretching from thence to Red River, along the Southern margin of the Great Desert of the Journey of D alh, throw ing that 1 )esert entirely into New Mexico. Such a line would give Texas all the territory in that direction that can possibly ; be desirable to her. For giving up her claim to the territory North of that line, she ought to receive an ample equivalent, and so the bill provides. This part of the bill ought also to be wholly disentangled from the slavery controversy, by a pro vision expressly recognising and perpetuating the Missouri Compromise Line, as laid down and established in the Texas Annexation Resolutions—which, I believe, has been done by an amendment introduced for that special purpose. After all, this whole branch of the biff amounts to nothing more than making an overture to Texas for the settlement cf the boundary. And in the perfect freedom which Texas will possess of accepting, rejecting or modifying the terms offered by the bill, we have ample security that nothing detrimental to the great interests of the South, will be allowed to be con- J summated. Such arc the undoubtedly good provisions which the Ter ritorial bill of the Committee of Thirteen, contains—.provi sions which Congress is clearly bound to enact—the enact ment of which is a fluty of the gravest kind—a duty which it is no light thing for American Congressmen and especially Southern members add Southern Democrats, to omit to per form. Yea! more! It is a duty so grave ami imperative, so 1 i binding on their souls anl consciences, that they arc bound to i use their utmost exertions, to exhaust all the constitutional | means in their power, for its full and effectual performance. , On this point it does not seem to me that there can be any 1 ground of doubt. And if the bill contained no other provi -1 sions but these, it would have easily united the suffrages 1 alike of Whigs and Democrats of the South. : It was a deep and over-ruling sense of the solemn duty of ; carrying into effect the measures contemplated by these pro- visions that actuated those Senators who co-operated to unite them together in the same Bill with another measure.—that : for the admission of California Into the Union as a State.—■ ! The joining of them in the same Biff with that measure, was | resorted to as a means of affecting their passage, and as the , only means by which it was believed it could be effected—and • ; for no other reason. The Senators, who thus cooperated and who were so pro- . fouudly peentrated with a conviction of the overwhelming j j character of the duty of enacting these provisions, on looking around to ascertain what were the prospects for success, were j struck with grief by the discovery that their utmost endeavors j I were doomed to certain defeat, in case these provisions were ’ left to depend for tliyir passage on their own mere and unaided I strength in Congress. This melancholy discovery made a I deep impression on their minds, but was far from making * j them feel that they could be justified in leaving these provis- 1 ions to the fate which was seen certainly to await them, as a ( separate and disconnected measure. On the contrary, they , felt it to be their duty to east about for some warrantable le- : ( gislative expedient to strengthen them and give them abettor * j chance of success. After long debate and great deliberation, and strong oppo sition, they adopted such an expedient. They beheld lying beneath their hands, on the Senate table, a separate Bill for . the Admission of California—a measure known to possess a I very plethora of strength —troops of zealous friends—large and determined majorities in both branches of Congress. i They beheld In it a measure, which was conceded on all hands i | to be absolutely certain to pass by a decided vote, and a mea- j sure which they believed to be strong enough to carry along i j with it on iu back those other weaker measures, which these j Senators liad so much at heart—the Bill for tbe organization, non-intervention principle, of the Territoriea of Now Mexico and Utah, and that, also, for the settlement of {be , Nfov xi ; Texas Boundary question. I itits those cirru instances, what did they do? they did what was no new or questionable thing in parliamcn i tan-tactic* and practice. Senators who were the friends, and Senators who were the enemies of the measure of the admission of California, united to throw it into the same Bill with those other measures, in order that its strength might be , made to sid their weakness and carry them safely through Congress. In oilier words, they laid hold, of the fleet and strong-limbed California admission steed, that was deemed cer tain to pass triumphantly through the Congressional lists, and j determined to make him do some good service, if possible, to the country, as he passed—determined to make him servo as a pack-horse to carry through along with himself the whole load of our favorite Southern measures connected with the Territorial controversy. Those measures are known be Ipo weak to carry them j selves through by their own unassisted strength, and in fast ening them to Cen. Taylor's California Admission measure. Southern members of Congress are not, by any means, ma king themselves chargeable with the blame and responsibility of that measure, but are merely using it as an engine to drag through their own better, though weaker measures. ‘•The very head and from of their offending, Hath this extent, uo more.” Admitting, what I do not see how any man can successful ly deny, that it was foul play on the part of the Administra j tion to foist upon the turf this powerful California Admission I measure, choosing us of tbe South so adroitly out of our i cherished non-intervention policy in reference to California— admitting this, I say, to be so, there is certainly nothing ir such a fact to entitle either the powerful steed or his patrons and abettors.to any favor or exemption at our hands. Audit j would be a very great favor to them—one highly promotivc of their dearest schemes and wishes, for us to throw oft’ the weighty Southern measures which have been fastened on the ; back of their steed, or for us to let him fail, for want of due 1 application of whip and spur, votes and voices on our part, to carry that load of measures successfully through. Tor ihe question is not whether he shall go through or not go through. It is certain lie will go through, in spite of us; and the real I and only practical question is, whether lie shall go through j with our load of measures on his back, or without them, and to j their utter and hopeless loss. For once let it be settled inf any way that he shall not or cannot go through with them, , and then, relieved of that load, lie will fly around the track j on In*>ts of winged speed, bringing California into the Union i as a separate measure with her enormous boundaries, her ir ; regularities of organization and her constitutional interdict of ! Slavery; and leaving New Mexico and Utah unorganized, the t New Mexico and Texas Boundary question unsettled, leaving the whole mighty mass of Congressional duties in relation to these Territories unperformed, and without the chance or pros pect of performance—leaving, for years to come, those territo ries fruitful, in scarce any thing else, to be putrcseently fertile ! liot-beds of Govermental collisions, sectional animosities, An : ti-Slavery agitation and Abolition propagandism—with the certainty at last of coining into the Union like California, with an Anti-Slavery Constitution; if, indeed, the l*iion shall not, ! ere then, perish on the rocks of the very controversy which i these Territories will thus serve to exasperate and perpetu ate, and from which there is not patriotism enough in the North or the South, the East or the West, to extricate the country. All this wc are asked to hazard, all this we are asked to lend ourselves to the probable bringing about, all this we aro asked to render ourselves deeply, culpably responsible for, if it should come about. And for what ? Not because by doing thus, wc should have a prospect, on which a reasonable man would incur a heavy hazard, of gaining what we want, in whole or part. Not because we would thereby obtain a pros pect of releasing ourselves from provoking and disastrous consequences, wliieli are traceable to causes in which we have largely participated, and for which we are largeldVesponsibla as a people; but simply because we liave grave objections which we will not surmount, to voting for a Bill containing a provision for the admission of California, although all its oth er provisions are precisely what wc approve and what tho country wants, and although the Passage of the Bill is tho only probable measure of peace, conciliation and adjustment that we can hope to obtain for our distracted and endangered country. I am fully sensible of the force of the objections to the Ad mission of California. They are objections founded on tho enormity of her boundaries—her nnpreparedness ,to be a State—the gross irregularities attending bar organization as a State Government, and the unfair and inadmissible means employed tocause her precipitately to form a State Govern* ment and adopt an Anti-Slavery Constitution. Ido not men* tion .as one of the objections, the inert fact that such is the character of the Constitution she has ailopted. That would be sanctioning the monstrous principle maintained by the celebrated Missouri Restrictionists of 1819, ’2O, who contend cd that when a State was applying for admission into the Un ion, Congress had a right to scrutinize the character of the pro visions or permissions of her constitution or. the subject of sla very, and to make them the basis of her admission or rejec tion. Such a principle, asserted by the North, shook the con federacy to its foundations, thirty years ago. The bare re miniscence of that era will be enough to keep forever fresh the stigma tliat rests ou that most dangerous and abominaWo doctrine. In reference, however, to any and every objection tliat can be urged against the admission of California, it is obvious that California herself ought to be dealt with in the most tender and liberal manner. She has been from the beginning to this present hour, the party “more sinned against tlian sinning We refused to give her wliat she most pressingly needed, most earnestly desired—what we were bound by the most sacred obligations to give her—a territorial Government. W e left her to anarchy and outlawry, of which neither she nor wo were able to see the termination, and at this moment sho would have been in that state, as New Mexico actually is, if she had not organized a Government of her own. Under these circumstnnoes, it does not lie in the mouth of Congress, the wrong-doer tliat drove California to the oour-se she has taken, to indulge in much censure against her for what she has done, or her unpreparedness for doing it, or the irregular ity of her proceedings in doing it, or the inadmissible influen ces which may have operated upon her in relation to. it Con gress and the country seem fully sensible of this. The con sequence is. that the controversy in regard to California, has become very much narrowed, reduced down to a question as to what boundaries shall be given her. Every body in the South, I suppose, certainly all those who arc in favor of the extension of the Missouri Compromise hue to the Pacific, ! would be willing to see California at once admitted into the ’ Union, on the single condition of her acceptance of the par allel of 36.1. 30. as her Southern Boundary. I should bo ‘ greatly rejoiced if such a curtailment of hr* limits could be 1 introduced as an amendment in Mr. Clay's Bill. Such an amendment, if made, would render another necessary, name ly : an additional provision in the Bill, organizing a Territory in South California, upon the same principles in reference to i the Slavcrj- Question as those which the Bill establishes for the organization of New Mexico and Utah. If these two amendments could be introduced, Mr. Ciay s Bill, it I seems to me, would he entirely unexceptionable to all South ! ern men—bating some inevitable difterenoejaf opinion as to what would be the best line of boundary between New Mex l icoand Texas. Certainly Mr. Clay's Bill, with these amend - ments, would be better for the South than the extension of the Missouri Compioinu-e line to the Pacific B w ould be at NO. 16.