Qass. Book. / r\ MK. BENTON'S ANTI-COMPROMISE SPEECH. SPEECH V F MISSOURI, IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, JUNE 10, 1850. / On his motion to postpone until the ith day of March, 1851, the Bill reported Jrom the Committee of Thirteen, — the Compromise Bill. The Senate having under consideration the bill providing for the admission of California into the Union as a State, for esiablishing Territorial Gov- ernments for Utah and New Mexico, and making proposals to Texas for the settlement, of her nortli- ern and western boundary — Mr. BENTON moved that the further consider- anon of the bill be postponed until thp 4th day of March, 1851. .-.' X!.c o.^otion being staled by the Vice President, and declared to take precedence of all amend- ments — Mr. BENTON then addressed the President of the Senate, and said: I make the motion v/hich supersedes all other motions, and vi^hich, itself, can only be supersed- ed by a motion still more stringent — the motion to tie on the table. 1 move the indefinite postpone- inen; of this bill, and in the form required by our rules, which is to a day certain beyond the ses.«ion; and, to make sure of that, I propose a day beyond the life of the present Congress. It is the proper motion to test the sense of the Senate on the Aue o*" £ measure, and to save time vi^hich might be lost in useless amendments. 1 have vk'aited a .month for the larger amendments to be voted upon, and now deem it my duty to proceed with my motion, with a view to proceed with the bi!l.'5 singly, if this bill, of many in one, shall be put i cut of the way; but will withdraw it at any time I to admit of votes on vital points. It is a bill of thirty -nine sections — forty, save one — an ominous number; and which, with the two little bills which | attend it, is called a compromise, and is pressed j upon us as a remedy for the national calamities. | Now, all this labor of the committee, and all thi.'=' i remedy, proceed upon the assumption that the peo- ple of the United States are in a miserable, dis- tracted condition; that it is their mission to relieve thi.? national distress, and that these bills are the sovereign remedy for that purpose. Now, in my opinion, all this is a mistake, both as to the con- dition of the country, the mission of the commit- tee, and the efficacy of their remedy. 1 do not believe in this misery, and distraction, and dis- tress, and strife, of the people. On the contrary, I believe them to be very quiet at home, attending k> their crops, such of them as do not mean to reed out of the public crib; and that they would oe (serfectly happy if the politicians would only permivthem to think so. I know of no distress in the country, no misery, no strife, no distrac- tion, none of those five gaping wounds of which the Senator from Kentucky made enumeration on the five fingers of his left hand, and for the heal- ing of which, all together, and all at once, and not one at a lime, like the little Doctor Taylor, he has provided this capacious plaster in the shape of five old blil.s tarkpd togpthpr. 1 believe the Senator and myself are alike, in this, th;u each of us has but five fingers on the left hand; and that may account for the limitation of the wounds. When the fingers gave out, they gave out; and if there had been more fingers, there might have been more wounds — as many as fingers and, toes also. 1 know nothing of all these " gapini^ wounds," nor of any distress in the country since we got rid of the bank of the United States, and since we got possession of the gold currency. Since that time I have heard of no pe- cuniary or business di.Uress, no rotten currency, no expansions and contractions, no deranged ex- changes, no decline of public stocks, no laborers begging employment, no produce rotting upon the hands of the farmer, no property sacrificed at forced sales, no loss of confidence, no three per centum a month interest, no call for a bankrupt act. Never were the people — the business-doing and the working people — as well off as they are to-day. As for political distress, " U is all in my tye." it is all ainong the politicians. Never were the po- litical blessingsof the country sreattr than at pres- ent: civil and religious liberty eminently enjoyed; life, liberty, and property protected; the North and the South returning to the eld belief, that they were made for each other; and peace and plenty reigning throughout the land. This is the condi- [ tion of the country — happy in the extreme; and I listen with amazement to the recitals which 1 have heard on this floor of strife and contention, gaping wounds and streaming hlood, distress and misery. I feel mystified. The Senator from Kentucky, [Mr. Cl.\y ] chairman of the committee, and re- porter of the bill, and its pathetic advocate, for- merly delivered us many such recitals, about the times that the tariff was to be increased, the rta- tiona! bank charter to be renewed, the depositee to be restored, or a bankrupt act to be passed. He has been absent for some years; and, on returning among us, seems to begin where he left off. He treats us to the old dish of distres.'; I Sir, it is a mistake." There is none of it; and if there was, 73897 ^V Z t , ' the remedy would be in the hands of the people — in theheaits ^f tiie people — who love their country, and mean to take care of it — and not in the con- trivances of politicians, who mistake their own for their country's distresses. It is all a mistake. It looks to me like a joke. But when I recollect the Welsh against the English — if this should happen to be the case, and a half and half committee was actually appointed, with the precaution of a border member to give a casting vote in the case of a tie — then it may be, that the work, in fact, is the work of one member of the committee i But that imposing numberof the committee, and how " dis- i' does not appear in the report. It says a majority tinguished " they all were, and how they voted themselves free from instructions, and allowed the Senate to talk, but not to vote, while they were out, and how long they were deliberating: when I recollect all these things, 1 am constrained to believe the committee are in earnest. And as for the Senator himself, the chairman of the committee, the perfect gravity with which he brought forward his remedy — these bills and the report — the pathos with which he enforced them, and the hearty con- gratulations which he addressed to theSenate, to the United States, and all mankind on the appointment of his committee, preclude the idea of an inten- tional joke on his part. In view of all this, I find myself compelled to consider this proceeding as serious, and bound to treat it parliamentarily; which I now proceed to do. And, in the first place, let us see what it is the committee has done, and what it is that it has presented to us as the sover- eign remedy for the national diiitomporo, and tvhipVi we are to swallow whole — in the lump — all or none — under the penalty of being treated by the organs as enemies to the country. Here are a parcel of old bills, which have been lying upon our tables for some months, and which and, upon that basis, it is the work of seven. And hereby comes a new lesson in political arithme- tic — seven to govern the Committee of Thirteeri first, and the Senate of sixty afterwards. For, be it remembered, this batch of bills is not to be a law, freely macle by Congress, but a compact, to be swallowed, and swallowed whole, under the penalty of party execution and political damnation . Sir, this committee has lacked a name— a distinct- ive appellation; and, for want of characteristic distinction, is referred to numerically in the report as the Committee of Thirteen. This gives then: an advantage in the debate. It is thirteen against one-— fearful odds against a solitary assailant. It should have another name. From its composition it might be called the committee de medietate; not liu<^u(e, but terrce; for it comes from different halves of the land, with a border member to sit between, who is to perform the exploit, hitherto deemed iKiposaiblfl in the fox chase, of riding on both sides of the sapling ! From the moUe of its creation, it 1 might be called the free committee; foi- u rortainty : created itself, and freed itself, and tied up the Sen- ' ate while it was out. And from the manner in .....g, ^^w.. ^.^^ .... ^ -, , which a majority of seven first govern thirteen, might have been passed, each by itself, in some I and then propose to govern the Senate, atid then good form, long a^o, and which have been carried I, the whole United States, it might be called the out by the committee, and brought back again, | arithmetical committee; for it certainly seems to bundled into one, and altered just enough to make teach a new lesson in political arithmetic— the each one worse; and then called a compromise— j lesson of the minority governing the majority— of where there IS nothing to compromise— and -sup- i one governing all. ported by a report which cannot support itself, ij The committee has brought m five old bills, bun- Here are the California State admission bill, re- : died into one, and requires us to pass them. Now, ported by the Committee on Territories three 1; how did this committee get possession ot these billsr months ago— the two territorial government bills, p I do not ask for the manual operation. I know reportedby the same committee at the same time— ; that each Senator had a copy on his table, ana the Texas compact bill, orisinated by me six years ! mie;hl carry his copy where he pleased; but these ago, and reproduced at the present session— the bills were in tfee possession of theSenate, on its cal- fugitive slave recovery bill, reported from the ,,.endar— for discussion, but not for decision, while judiciary committee at the commencement of the l! the committee was out. Two sets of resolutions session— and the slave trade suppression bill for i were refened to the committee— but not these bills, this District of Columbia, which is nothing but a : And I now ask for the law— the parliamentary law revival of an old Maryland law, in force before —which enables a committee to consider Dills not the District was created, and repealed by an old ■ referred to it.? to alter bills not in their legal power act of Congress. These are the batch— five bills j or possession.' to tack bills together which the Sen- taken from'our files, altered just enough to spoil |i ate held separate on its calender? to reverse the or- each, then tacked together, and christened a com- \\ der of bills on the calendar.' to put the hindmost promise, and pressed upon the Senate as a sover- j! before, and the foremost behind ? to conjoin incon- eign remedy for calamities which have no.existence. !: gruities,and to conglomerate individualities? This This is the presentation of the case: and now for il is what I ask— for this is what the committee has the case itself. !' done; and which, 'if a point of order was raised, It is the work of a majority of the committee: ; might subject their bundle of bills to be ruled off so the report informs us: and, from the demon- ii the docket. Sir, there is a custom— a good na- strations on this floor, we may suppose it to have j, tured one— in some of our State Legislatures, to been as lean a majority as parliamentary proceed- : convert the last day of the session into a sort ings ever exhibited. Il is the work of a majority ' of legislative saturnalia- a frolic— something like of that committee; and seven is a majority of thir- [: barring out the master— in which all officers are teen; so that this compromise, which is to be ; displaced, all authorities disregarded, all rules swallowed whole by the Senate, is the work of :' overturned, all license tolerated, and all busines<= seven Senators. And if it should happen to be [ turned topsy-turvy. But then this is on;y done that the committee was purposely composed half'! on the last day of the session, as a prelude » a and half— six of one and half a dozen of the other— m general break-up. And the sport is harmless, tor something like a jury de medietate ltngu(z, first in- !' nothing is done; and it is relieved by adjooniment, troduced iinto British law for the safety of the rwhtch immediately follows, Such license aa tnis a may be tolerated; for it is, at least, innocent gport — the mere play of those "children of'a larger growth" which some poet, or philosopher, has supposed men to be. And it seems to me that our committee has imitated this play without its rea- son — taken the license of the saturnalia without its innocence — made grave work of their gay sport — Droduced a monster instead of a merry-andrew — ^nd required us to worship what it is our duty to kill. I proceed to the destruction of this monster. The California bill is made the s'-ape-goat of all the sins of slavery in the United States — that Cal- ! ifornia which is innocent of ail these sin.-s. It is ; made the scape-goat: and as this is the first in- stance of an American attempt to imitate that an- cient Jewish mode of expiating national sins, 1 , will read how it was done in Jerusalem, to show j how exactly our committee have imitated that ancient expiatory custom. I read from an ap- proved volume of Jewish antiquities: '•'Tlie goat being tied In the norttioast corner of the court of the temple, anil his liead IjoiukI with scarlet cloth to signify sin ; the high priest went to him, and laid his hands on hie head, aiui conliwractl ovur it nil the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, puttinj; tlieni all on the head of the goat. After which, he was given to the prrj-on appointed to lead him away, who, in the early ages of the custom, led him into the desert, and turned him loose to die ; but as the goat someumes es- caped from the desert, the expiation, in such cases, was not considered complete ; and, to make sure of his death, the after-custom was to lead him lo a high rock, about twelve miles from Jerusalem, and push him off of it backwards, to prevent his jumping, the scarlet cloth being first torn from , his head, in token ttiat the sins of the people were taken away." This was tlie expiation of the scape-goat in ancient Jerusalem: an innocent and helpless ani- mal, loaded with sins which were not his own, and made to die for offences which he had never comtuitted. So of California. She is innocent of all the evils of slavery in the United States, yet they are all to be packed upon her back, and her- self sacrificed under the heavy load. First, Utah and New Mexico are piled upon her, each preg- nant with all the transgressions of the Wilmot proviso — a double load in itself—and enough, without further weight, to bear down California. Utah and New Mexico are first piled on; and the reason given for it by the committee is thus stated in their authentic report: "The commiuee recommend to the Senate the estabhsh- ment of those territorial governments; and, in order more effectually to secure that desirable object, they also recom- mend that the bill for their establishment be incorporated in the bill for the admission of California, and that, linked together, they both be passed." This is the reason given in the report; and the first thing that strikes me, on reading it, is its entire incompatibility with the'reasons previously given for the same act. In his speech in favor of raising the committee, the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Clay] was in favor of putting the territories upon California for her own good — for the good of California herself — as the speedy way to get her into the Union, and the safe way to do it, by preventing an opposition to her admission which might otherwise defeat it altogether. This was his reason then, and he thus delivered it to the Senate. "He would say now to those who desired the speedy admission of California, the shortest and most expeditious way of attaining the desired object was to include her ad- mission in a bill giving governments to the territories. He made this statement because he was impelled to do so from what hud come to his kuuwlcdife, If her admiwion aw -t separate measure Imj tuged, an opposition in crcBtei which may result in the deleat of any bill for her ailMiiNiion." These are the reason.s which the Senator then gave for urging the conjunction of llie Slate and the Territories — quickest and aafcHt for California: her admission the supreme object, and the conjunc- tion of the Territories only a means of hclpine her along and saving her. And unfoundeil uh 1 deemed these reasons at the time, and now know them to be, they still had the merit of giving pref- erence where it was due — to the superior object — to California herself, a State, without l)eing u Slate 1 of the Union, and suffering all the ills of that anomalous condition. California was then ihe superior object; the Territories were incidental figures and subordinate considerations, to be made , sub-servient to her salvation. Now all this is re- versed. The Territories take the superior place. ! They become the object: the State the incident They take the first — she the second place ! And ' to make sure of their welfare — make more certain I of giving governments to them — inuendo, such governments as the committee prescribe — the con- junction is now proposed and enforced. This is a i change of position, with a corresponding change of reasons. Doubtless the Senator from Kentucky ! has a right to change hie own position, and to i change his reasons at the same time; but he has no right to ask other Senators to change with him, or to require them to believe in two sets of reasons, each contradictory to the other." It is my fortune : to believe in neither. I did not beheve in the first i set when they were delivered; and time has shown *"Mr. Ct-.i-v. Well, if the proposition be to refer the ': President's message to t!je Committee on the Territoriee, 1 1 shall with great pleasure vote for the proposition. But I do ' not think it would be right to embrace, in a general motion, the question of the admission of California, and all the oUier I subjects which are treated of by the resolutions upon the table the subject, for example, of the establishment of ter- i ritorial governments, the subject of the establishment of a boundary line for Texas, and the proposition to compensate Texas for the surrender of territory. I say, sir, 1 do no; think it would be right to confound or to combine all thes« subjects, and to throw them before one commiitee to be acted upon together. I think the subject of the admission of Californiaought to be kept separate and distinct ; although, for one, 1 should have no objection— that question being separated from the residue of the subject— that the resolu- ' tions and the rest of liie propositions that are before the Senate, so far as regards those which have a kindred or common natiiie, should be referred, at the proper time, tea ' committee, to be acted upon together ; liut I think the time has not yet arrived for such a reference. Sir, there are three or four members of Congress who have come here all the way liom the Pacific, with a constitution purporting to be tlie constitution of a State which is seeking to be admitted as a member of this Union. Now, sir, is it right to subjec; "them to all the delay, tl)€ uncertainty, the procrasUnatioii which must inevitably result from the combination of all the.-. subjects, and a reference of them to one/;ommiitee, and !.■ wait until that committee shall have adjudged the whole • I think not. I am not now arguing whether California ought, or ought not to be admitted— whethei she ought, or ought not to be admitted with the boundary which she pr • poses, or with any other boundary— but I am contending that. ! considering the circumstances under which !ier represent*- i tion presents itself to Congress, under the circumstknc'' that when thev left their homes, perhaps nothing on eanb was further from their expectation than that there vvould b> the slightest impediment or obstacle to their admission : .inJ in coiisideraUon of the condition in which these gentlemen are placed who are here in attendance, in ihc lobbies of these halls, it seems to me that we should decide, and de cide as promptiv as we can. consisteiiUy with just and proper deliberation. I think tlie question of the admisirio/i of California is one which stands by itself, and that it should be kept disconnected with Die other rerT>to the Union, slie may liave contributed to the tran- quilht)' and happiness of the.greal family of State?, of which it is til tx? hoped she may one day be i distin^ished mem- ber." This m the compensation proposed to California She is to rejoice, and be highly gratified. She »a to contribute (o the tranquillity and huppinea.i of the great family of Slate;', and thftrrihy l>er,ome iran quil and happy herself. And she is one day, it m hoped, to become a distinguished metTil»er of thia Confederacy. This is to be her com()enaution — felicity and glory ! Prospective felicity, and con- tingent glory. The felicity rural — rural felicity — from the geographical position of California — the most innocent and invigorating kind of felicity. The glory and distinction yet to be achieved Whether California will consider these anticipa- tions ample compensation for all the injuries of thia conjunction — the long delay, and eventual danger, and ail her sufferings at home, in the mean time — will remain for herself to say. For my part, I would not give one hour's duration of actual exiat- ence in this Union for a whole eternity of such compensation; and such, I think, will be the opin- ion of California herself Life, and present relief from actual ills, is what she wants. Existence; and relief, is her cry ! And for these she can Snd no compensation in the illusions of contributing to the tranquillity of States which are already tran- quil, the happiness of people who are already happy, the settlement of questions in which she has no concern, and the formation of compromiae«i which breed new quarrels in assuming t« settJe old ones. With these fine reasons for tacking Utah and New Mexico to California, the committee proceed to pile a new load upon her back. Texaa next appears in the committee's plan, crammed into the California bill, with all her questions of debt and boundary, dispute with New Mexico, division into future States, cession of territory to the United States, amount of compensation to be given her, thrust in along with her! A compact with one State (Hit into a law for the life of another ! And a veto upon the admission of California given to Texas ! This is a monstrosity of which there is no example in the history of our legislation, and for the production of which it is fair to permit the committee to speak for themselves. They aay: "A majority of the committee recommend to the Senate that the section containing these proposals to Te.tas shall be incorporated into the hill embracing the admission of CaJi- fornia as a State, and the establishmentof territorial govern- ments for Utah and New Mexico. The definition and establishment of the boundary between New Me.\ico and Texas has an intimate and necessary connection with the establishment of a territorial government for New Mexico. To form a territorial government for New Mexico, without prescribing the limits of the territory, would leave the work imperfect and Incomplete, and might expose New Mexico to serious controver.sv. if not dangerous collisions, with the State of Texas. And most, if liot all, the considerations which unite in favor of combining the bill for the admission of California as a State and the turiitorial bills, apply to the boundary question of Texas. By ihe union of the ttiree measures, every question of ditticully and division which has arisen out of the territorial acquisitions from Mexico will, it is hoped, be adjusted, or placed in a train of satisfac- tory adjustment. The eommiltee, availing themselves of the arduous and valuable labors of the Committee on Ter ritories, report a bill, herewith annexed, (marked A,) em- bracing those three measures, the passage of which, uniting them together, they recommend to the Senate." These are the reasons of the committee, and they present grave errors in law, both constitutional and municipal, and of geography and history. They assume a controversy between New Mexico and Texas. No such thing. New Mexico o>£- lon^s to the United States, ar.d the controveray iS 6 with the United States. They asenme there is no ,i eider this interjection of Texas, with all her multi- way to settle this controversy but by a compact f; farious questions, into the bowels of the California with Texas. This is another great mistake. There bill. aure three ways to settle it: first, and best, by a .j in the first place, this Texas bill is a compact, oompact; secondly, by a suit in the Supreme Court depending for its validity on the consent of Texas, of the United States; thirdly, by giving a govern- and is put into the California bill as part of a com- ment to New Mexico acjiording to her actual ex- ^ promise and general aetllement of all the slavery tent when the United States acquired her, and holding on to that until the question of title is de- cided, either amicably by compact, or legally by the Supreme Court. The fundamental error of the committee is in supposing that New Mexico is party to this controversy with Texas. No such thing. New Mexico is only the John Doe of the concern. That error corrected, and all the reason- ing of the committee falls to the ground. For the Judicial power of the United States extends to all controversies to which the United States are party; and the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court extends to all cases to which a State is a party. This brings the case bang up at once within the Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, without waiting for the consent of Texas, or waiting for New Mex- ico to grow up into a State, so as to have a suit between two States; and so there is no danger of collision, as the committee suppose, and make an argument for their bill, in the danger there is to New Mexico from this apprehended collision. If any takes place, it will be a collision with the United States to whom the territory of New Mex- questions; and, of course, the whole must stand together, or fall together. This gives Texas a veto upon the admission of California. This is unconstitutional, as well as unjust; for, by the Constitution, new States are to be admitted by Congress, and not by another State; and, there- fore, Texas should not have a veto upon the ad- mission of California. In the next place, Texas presents a great many serious questions of her own — some of them depending upon a compact already existing with the United States, many of them concerning the United States, one concern- ing New Mexico, but no one reaching to Califor- nia. She has a question of boundary nominally with New Mexico, in reality with the United States, as the owner of New Mexico; and that might be a reason for joining her in a bill, so far as- that boun- dary is concerned, with New Mexico; but it can be no reason for joining her to California. The western boundary of Texas is the point of collision with New Mexico; "and this plan of the committee, in- stead of proposing a J3uitable boundary between them, adapted to localities, or leaving to each its ico belongs; and she will know how to prevent this \] actual possessions, disturbing no interest, until the collision, first, by offering what is not only just, out generous, to Texas; and next in defending her territory from invasion, and her people from vio- lence. These are the reasons for thrusting Texas, with all her multifarious questions, into the California bill; and, reduced to their essence, they argue thus: Utah must go in, because she binds upon California; New Mexico must go in, because she binds upon Utah; and Texas must go in, because she binds upon New Mexico And thus poor California is crammed and gorged until she is about in the condition that Jonah would have been in. decision of title upon the universal principle of uti possideiis; instead of these obvious and natural remedies, the plan of the committee cuts deep into the actual possessions of the United States in New Mexico — rousing the question which the commit- tee professes to avoid, the question of extending slavery, and so disturbing the whole United States. And here I must insist on the error of the com- mittee in constitutional and municipal law, before I point out their mistakes in geography and his- tory. They treat New Mexico as having a con- troversy with Texas— as being in danger of a col- lision with her — and that a compact with Texas to if he had swallowed the whale, instead of the ; settle the boundary between them is the only way whale swallowing him. This opens a new chap- to settle that controversy and prevent that collision, ier in legislative ratiocination. It substitutes con- |i Now, all this is a mistake. The controversy is tiguity of territory for congruity of matter, and | not with New Mexico, but with the United Slates, makes geographical affinities the rule of legislative ': and the judicial power of the United States has conjunctions. Upon that principle the committee : jurisdiction of it. Again, possession is title until might have gone on, cramming other bills into the : the right is tried; and the United States having the California bill, all over the United States; for all H possession, may give a government at once accord- our territory is binding in some one part upon ' ing to the possession; and then wait the decision another. Upon that principle, the District of Co- : of title. lumbia slave trade suppression bill might have , I avoid all argument about right — tiie eventual been interjected; for, though not actually binding \\ right of Texas to any part of v/hat was New Mex- upon Texas, yet it binds upon land that binds :, ico before the existence of Texas. I avoid that upon land that does bind upon her. So of the 'question. Amicable settlement of contested claim, fugitive slave bill. For, let the fugacious slave , and not adjudication of title, is now '.ny object. I ran as far as he may, he must still be on land; and, , need no argument from any quarter to satisfy me that being the case, the territorial contiguity may ; that the Texas questions ought to be settled. 1 b« established v^hich justifies the legislative con- 1 happened to know that before Texas was annexed, nmction. and brought in bill.^ and made speeches for that Mr. President, the moralist informs us, that : purpose, at that lime. I brought in such bills six tkere are some subjects too light for reason— too : years ago, and again at the present session; and grave for ridicule; and in such cases, the mere , whenever presented single, either by rnyself or any moralist may laugh or cry, as he deems best. But - other person, 1 shall be ready to give it a generous nol so with the legislator— his business is not consideration; but, as part of the California bill, I laimghing or crying. Whimpering, or simpering, .; wash my hands of it. • • i is not his mission. Work is his vocation, and ^ F am against disturbing actual pos.session, either gravity hie vein; and in 'hat vein I proceed to con- that of New Mexico or of Texas; and, therefore, am in favor of leaving to each all its population, | and an ample amount of compact and homoge- \ neous territory. With this view, all my bills and plans for a divisional line between New Mexico and Texas — whether of 1844 or 1850— left to each all its settlements, all its actual possessions, all its uncontested claim; and divided the re- mainder by a line adapted to the geography and riatural divisions of the country, as well as suitable to the political and social condition of the people themselves. This gave a longitudinal line between them; and the longitude of 100 degrees in my bill of 1844, and 102 degrees in my bill of 1850— and both upon the same principle of leaving possessions intact, Texas having extended her settlements in the mean time. The proposed line of the commit- tee violates all these conditions. It cuts deep and arbitrarily into the actual possessions of New Mexico, such as she held them before Texas had existence; and so conforms to no principle of pub- lic policy, private right, territorial affinity, or local propriety. ' It begins on the Rio del Norte, twenty miles in'a straight line above El Paso, and thence, in doing it would raise the question of (he exten- sion of slavery, and of iiN existence at iliis lime, by law, in New iMcxico as a pari of Tcxhh. This statement is too ini|i<>rtuni in remain a mere statement. I therefore proi-etd to vi-rify ii; and for that purpose have rec(lur^<: to tlu- hiKhcsi au- thorities — Humboldt's Essay upon New yjmin, Pike's Journal of his passage through New Mex- ico, and Dr. SVislizenus's repnri of his lour with Doniphan's expedition. I begin with Humboldt, and quote him to show the boundaries of New Mexico on the east, where ihat province bounded upon Texas and Coahuila. At page 28"2, vol. 1, Paris edition of the Essay, he says: " J'ui lrac6 Ips limiles iIk Coaliiiil;i el ile Tpxa-i, prcM dc t'eiuboiichnre du Rio Tiierco, et vers lc:< sources du Riii de Sail Salia, lellc.-? que je les ai trouv^r.s indiquiif.s dann l«;'< carles spi^ciales coiiserv6es dans les arciive:! de la vlcc- royaut hy enj;inee.rs in the service of the diagonally and northeastwardly, to the point ] King of Spain.' where the P»,ed river cros.ses the longitude of 100°. ij This is what Iriumboldt says of the eastern Now, this beginning, twenty miles above Et ii boundary of New .Mexico; and his map illustrates Paso, is about "Ihree hundred miles in a straight |1 v/hat he says. He places ihat boundary, as il Vme (near six hundred by the windings of the jj leaves the Rio Grande del Norte, at about twelve river) above the ancient line of New Mexico; and [i miles below the mouth of the Pucrcn, in west lon- this diagonal line to the Red river cuts about four hundred miles in a straight line through the ancient New Mexican possessions, cutting off about sev- enty thousand square miles of territory from New Mexico, where there is no slavery, and giving it to Texas, where there is. This constitatea a more serious case of tacking than even that of sticking incongruous bills together, and calls for a most considerate examination of all the circumstances it involves. I will examine these circutnstances, §rst making a statement, and then sustaining it by proof. E! Paso, above which the Texas boundary is now proposed to be placed by the committee, is one of the most ancient of the New IMexican towns, and to which the Spaniards of New Mexico re ^ tude 104, and in north latitude 291, and thence northeastwar.lly to the head of the Rio San Saba, a branch of the Rio Colorado of Texas, in north latitude 32° 15', and in west longitude 101. This is the line he gives as found in the special maps drawn up by engineers in the service of the King of Spain, and preserved in the archives of the vice-royalty in the city of Mexico. Further than that he does not trace it, because the country was wild and unoccupied except by roving Indians; but that isfar enough for our purpose. It is enough lo show that New Mexico, under the Spanish government, extended as far east as 101 degrees of longitude, covering the whole course of the Puerco, and enierin? what is now the county of Bexar, in Texas. So much for flumboidt: now treated in the great Indian revolt in 1680, and made jj for Pike. He says, at p. 5 of his appendix to the their stand, and thence recovered the whole prov- [| journal of his journey through New .Mexico ince. It was the residence of the lieutenant gov- ' " ■■■-■■ ernor of New Mexico, and the most southern town of the province, as Taos was the most north- ern. Being on the right bank of the river, the dividing line between the United States and the Republic of Mexico leaves it out of our limits, and consequently out of the present limits of New Mexico; but New Mexico still extends to the Rio del Norte at the Paso; and therefore this beginning line proposed by the committee cuts into the ancient po.ssession of New Mexico — a possession dating from the year 1595. That line, in its cour.'ie to the Red river, cuts the river and valley of the Puerco (called Pecos in the upper part) into two parts, leaving the lower and larger part lo Texas; the said Rio Puerco and its valley, from head to mouth, having always been a part of New Mexico, and now in its actual possession. Puttnig together what is cut from the Puerco, and from the Del Norte above and below El Paso, and it would amount to about seventy thousand square miles, to be taken by the committee's line from its pres- ent and ancient possessor and transferred to a new ciaimani. This is what the new line would do, and New Mexico lies between ;iO° 30' and 44' of north laii- luile, and 104 and 108 degrees of west longitude, and is llie rno^l noriliern province of the kingdom of New Spain. Il e.xteiids iiorlliwesi into an undefined boundary— is bounded north and east by jjouisiana, south by New Biscay and ("oa- luiila, and west by Sonora and California. Its lengtl) is un- known: its breadth may be 600 miles ; but the inhabited pari is not more than 400 miles in length and ..0 in bnadlli, lying alone the river del Norte from the :!7° to the 3P 30 ot norlh latitude . hut in this space there is a desert of more Ihan iiO miles. Santa F6 is the capital, «nd Ihn residenje of the oovernor. El Paso is the second city, and is the resideiiCH of the lieutenant-governor. It is the most southern lown of the province, as Taos is the most northern." This is the journal of Pike, and his map corre- sponds with it. It shows the eastern boundary of New Mexico, leaving the Del Norte a few miles below the mouth of the Puerco, in longitude_104, and bearing northeast towards the San Saba. This correspond's with Humboldt, and shows that, in naming 104 a.=? the eastern lon-iitudinal limit of New Mexico, he was only speaking of the point at which it left the Rio del Norte, called in that part the Rio Grande. His map— the breadth of the province, stated by him at six hundred miles— and the boundary east on Louisiana— all show that 8 he carried the easitern boundary, after ieaving the [ Del Norte, as far northeast as Humboidt had done. | This is the testimony of Pike, then a lieutenant, afterwards a 2;pneral in llie army of the United I States, an energetic explorer as well as a brave j officer, and mucii addicted to geographical study. | He had explored the head- waters of the Missis- j sippi and the Arkansas, and then traverbed New i Mexico and the contiguous provinces to Chihua- i hua, and ihence to Texas, as a prisoner in the' hands of Spanish otHcers, and improved the occa- 1 sion to learn the geography and history of the j country through which he was led, and gave ijs | the earliest American account of the internal pro- vinces of New Spain. Dr. Wislizenus, a scientific traveler, and one of the latest in the (former) internal provinces,' con- firms both Humboidt and Pike. In his jourjial of '46- '47, he says: " Under the Spaiiisli government, Texa.-i, with Coaliuila, New Santander, and New Leon, belonaed to the general commandancia of the provhicias internfis orientates. This division was made in 1807. In 18-34. when nineteen inde- pendent States and some territories formed themselves into the present Republic of Mexico, New Leon and New Santander, became two of tho-e -States, the latter having changed its name into TamauUpas,anii coariniiaand Texas united formed a third State. The boundtiries of those Stales continued to be Ike same as uwScr the Spitnish government. All the autliorities which I had an opportunity to compare, in regard to the then southern boundary of Te.\as, sf em to agree in a line along the Nueces ; but the respective bound- ary between CJoahulla and Texas appears to have been somewhat indefinite from the earliest settlements. Hum- boldt, in his Essay Politique sur le roj aume de la Nouvelle Espagne. v. i, p. 282, says : " J'ai trac6 les limites de Coa- huila etde Texas prfesdel'embouchuredu Rio Puercoetvers les sources du Rio de San Saba, telles que je les ai trouvees indiqu6s dans les cartes sp^ciales conserv^es dans les ar- chives de la vice-royaut^, et dress^es par des ing^nieurs hu service du roi d'Espague. Mais conimen' determiner des limites territoriales dans des savannes immenses ou les m^tairies sont eloign^es les unes des auires de 1.5 k 20 lieues, etoii I'on ne trouve presque aucune trace de d^- frichement ou de culture." A late German work on Mexico by Muehlenpfordt, pub- lished in 1844, contains the following comment upon the same subject: "The boundaries of the present State of Coahuila towards Texas in the north and northeast are rather indefinite, but we presume that towards the north the boundary of the State of Coahuila extends from^tbe mouth of the Rio Puerco to the small lake of San Saba.near the 32° north latitude." And iti another place the same author says of the State of Tamaulipas : " The State, form- erly called the colony of New Santander, and belonging to the intendance of San Luis Potosi, bin since the revolution of Mexico an independent State, is bound on the north by the State of Coahuila and the present Republic of Texas, and on ths east by the gulf of Mexico, from the Laguna de Tanipico to the Nueces river, or from the 92° to the 28° north latitude." In the " Eiisayo estadistieo sobre el Estado de Chihua- hua," published "in Chihuahua, 1849, I find (p. 10) the fol- lowing passage : « El Rio de Pecos forma la linea divisoria del Estado con el de Coahuila y Tejas,desde los."!2° 30' latltnd norte,hasta se desemboque en el Rio Orande del Norte." "The Pecos river forms the diviilins line between the State of Chihuahua and that of Coahuila and Texas, from 32° 30' north latitude, down to its mouth, into the Rio Grande." The Pecos and the Puerco, it will be remem- bered, are the same river, called, at its sources, after the name of the Indian tribe who lived upon them, and in its lower part Puerco, from the color of its waters, muddy. All authorities agree that this river wa.s, and is, in New Mexico. ''-'''^ The map of Dr. Wislizenu.^, which 1 now pro- duce, agrees w'th Humboldt and Pike, except in the correction of slight, ;!ifferetice8 in longitudes and atitudes, which his accurate! instruments enabled him to make, and which have no practical con- sequence in this examination. On thi.s map I have marked, in a red pencil line, the southeastern boundary of New Mexico as it existed under the Spanish Governinent, and in a dotted red pencil line the new boundary as proposed by our Com- mittee of Thirteen. The difference between the two lines is, as I have stated, about seventy thou- sand square miles; and to thai extent is New Mexico to be affected by that proposed line. To avoid all misconceptioii, I repeat what I have already declared, that I am not occupying myself with the question of titie as it may exist and be eventually determined between New Mexico and Texas; nor am I questioning the power of Con- gress to establish any line it pleases in that quar- ter for the State of Texas, with the consent of the State, and any one it pleases for the Territory of New Mexico without her consent. I am not occu- pying myself with the questions of title or power, but with the question of possession only — and how far the possession of New Mexico is to be disturbed, if disturbed at all, by the committee's line; and the effect of that disturbance in rousing the slavery question in that quarter. In that point of view the fact of possession is everything: far the possessor has a right to what he holds until the question of title is decided — by law, in a ques- tion between individuals or communities in a land of law and order — or by negotiation or arms be- tween independent Powers. I use the phrase, pos- session by New Mexico; but it is only for brevity, and to give locality to the term possession. New Mexico possesses no territory; she is a territory, and belongs to the United States; and the United States own her as she stood on the day of the treaty of peace and cession between the United States and the Republic of Mexico; and it is into that possession that I inquire, and all which I assert that the United States have a right to hoitJ until the question of title is decided. And to save inquiry *qr doubt, and to show that the committee are totally mistaken in law in assuming the consent of Texas to be indispensable to the settlement of the titie, 1 saynhereare three ways to settle it, the first and best by compact, as I proposed before Texas was annexed, and again by a bill of this year: next by a suit in the Supreme Court under that clause in the Constitution which extends the judicial power of the United States to all contro- versies to which the United States is a party, and that other clause which gives the Supreme Court original jurisdiction of all cases to which a State is a party: the third way is for the United States to give a gnverni^.ientio New Mexico according to the territory she possessed when she was ceded to the United States. These are the three ways to settle the question — one of them totally dependent on the will of Texas— one totally independent of her will— and one independent of her will until she choose? to go into court. As to anything that Texas or New Mexico may do in taking or relin- quishing possession, it is all moonshine. New- Mexico i.s a territory of the United States. She is the property of the United States; and she can- not dispose of herself, or any part of herself; nor can Texas take her, or any part of her. She is to stand as she did the day the United States acquired her; and to that point all my examinations are directed. Ai'd in that point of view it is initnater'al wha- are ihe boundaries of New Mexico. The whole of the territory obtained from Mexico, and not rightfully belonging to a Slate, belongs to the United States; and, as such, is the property of the United States, and to be attended to accordingly. But 1 proceed with the possession of New Mex- ico, and show that it has been actual and continu- ous from the conquest of the country by Don Juan de Onate, in 1595, to the present time. That ancient actual possession has already been shown at the starting point of the line— at El Paso del Norte. I will now show it to be the same throughout the continuation of the iine across the Puerco and its valley, and at some points «in the left bank of the Del Norte below El Paso. And first, of the Puerco river. It rises in theilatitude of Santa Fe, and in its immediate neighborhood, only ten miles from it, and running south falls into the Rio del Norte, about three hundred miles on a straight line below El Paso, and has a valley of its own between the mountain range on the west, which divides it from the valley of the Del Norte, to which it is parallel, and the high arid table land on the east called El Llano Estacado — the Staked Plain — which divides it from the head- water.s of the Red river. tliP Colorado, the Brasos, \ and other Texan streams. It is a long river, its head being in the latitude of Nashville — its mouth a degree and a half south of New Orleans. It washes the base of the high table land, and re- ceives no affluents, and has no valley on that side; on the west it has a valley, and many bold afflu- ents, coming down from the mountain range, (the Sierra Obscura, the Sierra Blanca, and the Sierra de los Organos,) which divides it from the valley of the upper Del Norte. It is valuable for its iength, being a thousand miles, following its windings — from its course, which is north and south — from the quality of its water, derived from high mountains — from its valley, timbered and grassy, part prairie, good for cultivation, for pas- turage, and salt. It has two climates, cold in the north from its altitude (seven thousand feet) — mild in the south from its great descent, not less than live thoasand feet, and with a general amelioration of climate over the valley of the Del Norte from its openness on the east and mountain shelter on the west. It is a river of New Mexico, and is so classified in geography. It is an old possession of New Mexico, and the ;no.st valuable part of it, and has many of her towns and villages upon it. Las Vegas, Gallinas, Tecolote Abajo, Cuesta, Peco.s, San Miguel, Anton C^ico, Salinas, Gran Gluivira, are all upon it. Some of these towns date their origin as far back as the first conquest of the Taos Indians, about the year 1600; and some have an historical interest, and a special re- lation to the question of title between New Mex- ico and Texas. Pecos is the old village of the Indians of that name, famous for the sacred fire so long kept burning there for the return of Monte- zuma. Gran CLuivira was a considerable mining town under the Spaniards before the year 1680, when it was broken up in the great Indian revolt of that year. Dr. Wislizenus thus speaks of it, (June, 1846:) "'Within the last few years sr^veral Americans and Frenchmen have visited the place, and although tUey have not found the reputed treasure, they certify at le.ast to the existence of an a(iiieduct, about ten miles in length, to the stiM standing walls of several churches, the sculpture of the Spanish coat of arms, and to many --pacious pits, supposed to be silver nilne.i. It wod no doubt a SpunUh niinint{ town ; and it is not unlikely that it wan dKxtroyod in 1880, in the !»ene added the further evidence resulting from acts of ownership in grants of land made upon its upper part, as in New Mexico, by the superior Spanish authorities before the revolution, and by the New Mexican local authorities since. The lower half was ungranted, and leaves much vacant land, and the best in the country, to the United States. The great pastoral lands of New Mexico are in the valley of the Puerco, where millions of sheep were formerly pastured, now reduced to about two han dred thousand by the depredation of the Indians. The New Mexican inhabitants of the Del Norte send their flocks there to be herded by shepherds, on shares; and in this way, and by taking their .salt there, and in addition to their towns and settlements, and grants of lands, the New Mexi- cags have had possession of the Puerco and it.-? valley since the year 1600— that is to say, for about one hundred years before the shipwreck of La Salle, in the bay of San Bernardo, revealed the name of Texas to Europe and America. These are the actual possessions of New Mex- ico on the Rio Puerco. On the Rio del Norte, a^ cut off by the committee's bill, there are, the little town of Frontera, ten miles above El Paso, a town begun opposite El Paso, San Eleazario, twenty miles below, and some houses lower down oppo- site El Presidio del Norte Of all these,iSan Eleazario is the most considerable, having a population of some four thousand souls, once a town of New Bis- cay, now of New Mexico, and now the property of the United States by avulsion. It is an island; and the main river, formerly on the north and now on the south of the island, leaves it in New Mexico. When Pike went through it, it was the most northern town, and the frontier garrison of New Biscay; and there the then lieutenant-governor of New Mexico, who had escorted him from EJ Paso, turned him over to the authorities of a new- province. It is now the most southern town of New Mexico, without having changed its place, but the river which disappeared from la channel in bhat place, in 1752. has now changed (t to the 10 Bouih of the island. Humboldt thus describee this phenomenon: "The inhabitanus of the Paso ikl Norte have preserved the meDioryot a very extraordinary event whicli took place in the year 1752. Tliey saw all at once the bed of ihe river dry tliirty leagues above, and more than twenty leaf^ues be low the Paso: the water of the river threw "its^elf into a crevasse newly formed, and did notiscue again until near rhe Presidio of San Eleazario. This loss of the Rio del Norte continued a considerable time. The beautiful fields which surround tiie Paso, and which aie traversed by little canals of irrigation, remained without watering ; the inliabitants dug wells in the sand with which the bed of the river is filled. Finally, after several weeks they saw the water take Its ancient course, witliout doubt, because Ihe creva.sse and Ihe subterranean conduits had filled themselves."— £ss(n/ on New Spain, vol. 1, p. 304 1 reiterate: I am not arguing title; I am only showing possession, which is a right to remain in possession until title is decided. The arguinenl of title has often been introduced into this question; a.id a letter from President Polk, through Secre- tary Buchanan, has often been read on the Texan side. Now, what 1 have to say of thai letter, so frequently referred to, and considered so conclu- sive, is this: that, however potent it may have been in inducing annexation, or how much soever it may be entitled to consideration in fixing the amount to be paid to Texas for her Mexican claim, yet as an evidence of title, 1 should pay no more regard to it than to a chapter from the life and ad- ventures of Robinson Crusoe. Congress and the judiciary are the authorities to decide such claims to titles, and not Presidents and Secretaries. 1 rest upon the position, then, that the Rio Puerco, and its valley, is and was a New Mexican possession, as well as the left bank of the Del * Norte, from above El Paso to below the mouth of the Puerco; and that this possession cannot be disturbed without raising the double question, first, of actual extension of slavery; and, secondly, of the present legal existence of slavery in all New Mexico east of the Rio Grande, as a partof Texas. These are the questions which the proposed line of the committee raise, and force us to face. They : are not questions of my seeking, but I shall not avoid them. It is not a new question with me, „ this extension of slavery in that quarter. I met it | in 1844, before the annexation of Texas. On the ' 10th day of June, of that year, and as part of a ; bill for a compact with Texas, and to settle all ; questions with her — the very ones which now ,] perplex us — before she was annexed, 1 proposed, | ss article V. in the projected compact: .^RT. V. "The existence of slavery to he forever prohibi- ted in that part of the annexed territory which lies west of the hundredth degiee of longitude west from the meridian of Greenwich." This is what 1 proposed six years ago, and as one in a series of propositions to be offered to Texas and Mexico for settling all questions grow- ing out of the projected annexation beforehand. They were not adopted. Immediate annexation, without regard to consequences, was the cry; and ail temperate counsels were set down to British Traitors, Abolitionists, and Whigs. Well! we have to regard consequences now — several con- sequences: one of which is this large extension of slavery, which the report and conglomerate bills oCihe Committee of Thirteen force us to face. I did sosixyearsago,and heard no outbreak against imy opinions then. But my opposition to the ex- tension of slavery dates turther back than 1844— | U [ly yews furtiier back; and as this is a suitable ! 11 time for a general declaration, and a sort of gen- 1 eral conscience delivery, i will say that my oppo- I sition to it dates from 1804, when I was a student ! at law in the State of Tennessee, and studied the j subject of African slavery in an American book — ji a "Virginia book — Tucker's edition of Blackstone's ; Commentaries. And here it is, (holding up a vol- umeand reading from the title page:) "Blackstone's I Commentaries, with notes of reference to the Constitu- j lion and laics of the Federal Government of tilt United li States, and of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in five i volumes, ivilh an appendix to each volume containing j , short tracts, as appeared necessary to form a connectc-d ; view of the laics of Virginio as a member outh, I high and mountainous in the north— lower, and ' wiih. broatler valley lower down. Santa Fe has an elevation of 7,"250 feet, El Paso 3,800. The Rio del Norte is called in the upper part of its course the river above, (Rio Arriva;) in the lower part, river below (Rio Abajo;) and the chmate corresponds with this structure of the country — rigorous at Santa Fe, mild at El Paso. Humboldt thus speaks of them: " New Me.xico, though placed under the same latitude with Syria .and Central Persia, has a climate eminently cold. It freezes there in the middle of the month of May, near to Santa Fe, and a liule further north (under tlie parallel of the Morea) the Rio del Norte is covered sometimes several years in sticcesvion with ice so thick that horses and car- riages pass on it. We do not know the elevation of the country in New Mexico ; but I doubt wliether, under the 37' of "latitude, the bed of the river may have more than seven or eight hundred metres of elevation above the level of the sea. The mountains which border the valley of the Del Norte, even those ai the foot of which is placed the vil- la£e of Taos, lose theirsnow already toward; the commence ment of the month of Juue."— Foi. i,p- 'Mi. "The environs ofEt, Paso are a delicious country, which resemble the most beautiful parts of Aiidalu.=ia. The fields are cultivated in corn and wheat. The vineyards produce excellent wines, which are preferred even to the wine> o; Parias and of New Biscay. The gardens contain, m abund- ance, all the fruit trees of Europe— figs, peaches, pome- granates, and pears."— FbJ. l.p. 306. Humboldt is right, and recent travellers confirm now what he wrote in 1804. It was at the head of the valley of the Dei Norte, some three degrees north of Santa Fe, that Colonel Fremont suffered his great disaster— had to struggle through snows above the heads of men and horses, and found i. a relief to tread the river, solid with ice, for a road. At Santa Fe, the 20th of February, he found it winter; eight days afterwards, on the Ri ■ Abajo, half way to El Paso, and having descended two thousand six hundred feet, and still one thousand two hundred feel above the level of El Paso, he foud it spring— the farmers ploughing and seed- in'^, the early fruii trees in bloom, and the air so mild that he camped out of nights, and without tents, though in a settled and hospitable couhtry. Here then, are two climates in New Mexico- one a' barrier against the introduction of Afrioin slavery, the other not; and it is that part which is not a barrier that is propo!>.«d to be transferred to 12 Texas. This applies to the Del Norte and its valley: it is still more crue of the Puerco and its %'alley^ Rising in the latitude, and at the eieva lion of Santa Fe, it descends below the latitude, and below the elevation of El Paso, and is mider in its climate throughout, because more open to the east, and sheltered on the west by a long and !ofty range of mountains. Its more genial climate makes it, as I have said, the bucolic region of New Mexico, to which the inhabitants of The banks of the Del Norte send their flocks to find their own food, and live without shelter, the year round. And it is precisely the southern half of this river and valley, reoching a degree aid a half south of New Orleans, and without sufficient altitude to counteract the effect of southern latitude, that the committee's bill would transfer this large district from the possession of New iVIexico to the pos- session of Texas. Climate there can be no bar to the introduction of slavery; and thus its actual extension into that quarter becomes the question which the committee's bill forces us to face— and which I have faced ! The committee's line has the further ill conse- quence of raising the question of the existence of slavery by law in the Santa Fe part even of N«w Mexico. If theirline is a. compromise of the Texas claim, it admits the right and sovereignty of Texiis both above and below, and will involve members in an inconvenient vote — the consequence of which as readily seen. This is a consequence which the committee's bill involves, and from which there is no escape but in the total rejection of their plan, and the adoption of the line which I propose — the longi- tudinal line of 102 — which, corresponding with ancient title and actual possession, avoids the question of slavery in either country; which, leav- ing the population of each untouched, disturbs no interest, and v/hich, in splitting the high sterile ta- ble land of the Staked Plain, conforms to the nat- ural division of the country, and leaves to each a natural frontier, and an ample extend of compact and homogeneous territory. To Texas is left all the territory drained by all the rivers which have their mouths within her limits, whether those tnouthsarein the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi, or the Rio Grande: to New Mexico is left the whole course of the Rio Puerco and all its valley, and which, added to the valley of the Del Norte, will make a State of the lirst class in point of ter- ritory, susceptible of large population and wealth, and in a compact form capable of defence against Indians. The Staked Plain is the natural frontier of both countries. It is a dividing wall between systems of waters and systems of countries. U is a high sterile plain, some sixty miles wide upon some five hundred long, running north and south, its western declivity abrupt and washed by the Puerco at its base: its eastern broken into chasms — caiiones — froni which issue the myriad of little ."Streams which, flowing towards the rising sun, ibrm the great rivers — Red river, Brasos, Color- ado, Nueces, which find their outlet in the Missis- sippi or in the Gulf of Mexico. It is a salient feature in North American geography — a table of land sixty miles wide, five hundred long, and some thousands feet above the level of the sea — and sterile, level, without a shrub, a plant, or grass, and presenting to the traveler a horizon of its own "ike the ocean. Without a landmark t-o guide the steps of the traveler across it, the early hunters and herdsmen of New Mexico staked their course across it; and hence its name. El Llano Estacado — the Staked Plain. U is a natural frontier between New Mexico and Texas; and for such a line, qui- eting all questions between thern, all with the United States, yielding near two hundred thousand square miles of territory to the United States, and putting intoher hands the means of populating and defentling New Mexico by giving lands to settlers and defenders — i am ready to vote the fifteen mil- lions which my bill fairly and openly proposes. For the line in this bill I would not give a copper. But it would be a great error to suppose I would give fifteen millions for the territory in dispute be- tween New Mexico and Texas. That disputed territory is only a small part of what the Texan cession would be. It would embrace four degrees of latitude on the north of Texas, and a fronf of a thousand miles on the Arkansas, and would give to the United States territory indispensable to her — to the population and defence both of New Mex- ico and Utah, in front of both which this part of Texas lies. The committee, in their report, and the Senator from Kentucky. [Ml . Clay.] in his speech, are im- pressive in their representations in favor of giving governments to New Mexico and the remaining part of California. I join them in all they say in favor of the necessity of these governmenis, and the duty of Congress to give them. I mean terri- torial governments, and would not vote for State governments in either of them, even if they sent constitutions here. I do not deem them ripe for such governments; they are too young and weak for that. They are in our hands, and upon oar hands, and belong to us; and it is our duty to pro- vide for them, and take care of them, until they are strong enough to take care of themselves as sovereign States. Both territories require govern- ment at our hands, and protection along with it; New Mexico especially, now desolated by Indian ravages, and suffering more in the three years that she has belonged to the United Stales than in any three years of her existence — even during the most helpless period of the Mexican rule. The Spanish Government, under the vice-regal system, appro- priated two thousand dragoons to the protection of the internal provinces from the Apaches, the Nav- ahoes, the Cumanches, and other wild Indians. We have a few companies of dragoons and some stationary infantry, in sight of whose barracks these Indians slay men and women, carry off children, and drive away flocks and herds, some- times thousands in a drove. The Navahoes actu- ally have more New Mexican sheep now than the New Mexicans have left. A single individual in- habitant of El Paso owned more catt'e and sheep when Pike was there in 1806 than the whole town and settlement now own. Single inhabitants of the valley of the Del Norte owned flocks and herds then nearly equal to those of the whole i>rovince now. The ualley of Puerco, then the sheep-walk of millions, is now reduced to some two hundred thousand, and becoming less every day. All this is a reproach to us. It is a reproach to republican government in our persons. It is an appeal to us ; for succor and protection, to which we cannot be deaf without drawing down upon our heads the censure of all good men. But this bill is not the way to give it. These govern meins are talked by Ji3 Dein^ pui into this bill. They not only impede i California, but themselves. The conjunction is an I injury to both. They mutually delay and endan- I ger each other. And it is no argument in favor of j the conjunction to say that the establishment of a i govermneni for New Mexico requires the previous | settlement of her eastern boundary with Texas, j That is no argument for tackmg Texas, with al! her ; multifarious questions, even to New Mexico, much > less to California, it is indeed very de.-3irable to set- ; tie that boundary, and to settle it at once, and for- ! ever; but it is not an indispensability to the crea- j tion of a government for New Mexico. We have a right to a government according to her posses- sion; and that we can give her, to continue till the question of title is decided. The uli possidetis — as you [Tossess — is the principle to govern our legis- lation — the principle which gives the possessor R right to the possession until the question of title is d'ecided. This principle is the same both m national and municipal law — both in the case of citizens or communities of the same government, and between independent nations. The mode of decision only is different. Between independent nBti"«a Ir ;« done Wj- "^a^tl-tio^ «, by anais: be- tween citizens or communities of the same gov- ernment, it is done by law. Independent nations may invade and fight each other for a boundary: citizens or communities of the same government cannot. And the party that shall attempt it commits a violation of law and order; and the government which permits such violation is derelict of its duty. I have now examined, so far as I propose to do It on a motion for indefinite postponement, the three bills which the committee have tacked to- gether — the California, Utah, New Mexico and Texas bills. There are two other bills which I have not mentioned, because they are not tacked, but only hung on ; but which belong to the sys- tem, as it is called, and, without some mention of which, injustice would be done to the commitee in the presentation of their scheme. The fugitive slave recovery bill, atid the District of Columbia slave trade suppression bill, are parts of the sys- tem of measures which the committee propose, and which, taken together, are to constitute a ifimpromise, and to terminate forever and most fraternally all the dissensions of the slavery agita- tion in the United States. They apply to two oat of the five gapinij wounds v/hicii the Senator from Kentucky enumerated on the five fingers of his left hand, and for healing up all which at once e had provided one large plaster, big enough to I ver all, and efficacious enough to cure all ; while i-.e President only proposed to cure one, and that with a little plaster, and it of no efficacy. I do not propose to examine these two attendant or se- (]jacious bills, which dangle at the tail of the other three, i will not go into them, nor mention ihem further than to say, that the alternative in ine report to pay the owner out of the federal treasury for the loss of irrecoverable slaves, might admit, in practice, of abolition in the States by the legislation of Congress and the purse of ine nation ; and to suppress the slave trade in this District as a concession for abstaining from the a- bolition of slavery in this District, as expressed in the report, page 17, is to make concession of something valuable, for an abstinence which we j have had for sixty years without conce-^sion, and ■ are still to have on the same terms. This IS the end of ihe cornmittee's labor— five old bills gathered up from Jiur table, lacked to- gether, and christened a compromise ! Now com- promise is a pretty phrase at all times, and is a good thing in uself, v;hen there happens to be any parties to make it, any authority to enforce it, any penalties for breiking it, or anything to be compromise!!. The comfiromi-sea of tlio Constitu- tion are of that kind; and they stand. Cumpro- mises made in court, and entered of recoid, arc of that kind; and they stand. Compromises made by individuals on claims to properly are likewise of that character; and they stand. 1 respect all such compromises. But where there liappena to j be nothing to be compromised, no parties to make a compromise, no power to enforce it, no pciiully for its breach, no obligation on any one — not even its makers — to observe it, and when no two human beings can agree about its meaning, then a com- promise becomes ridiculous and pe6tiferou.-j. I have no respect- for it, and e.schew it. U cannot stand, and will fall; and m its fall will raise up more ills than it was intended to cure. And of this character i deem this farrago of incongiuous matter to be, which has been gathered up and stuck together, and offered to us "all or none," like "fifty-four forty." It has none of the requi- sites of a compromise, and the name cannot make j it so. ! In the first place, there are no parties to make a I compromise. We are not in Convention, but in Congress; and 1 do not admit a geographical di- j vision of parlies m this Chamber, although the Committee or Thirteen was formed upon that prin- i ciple — six from the South, half a dozen from the I North, and one fro.: the borders of both — iilting I on a ridge pole,* to keep the balance even. I recog- ' nize no such p!vrtle^i. ! know no North, and 1 know no South; and i repulse and repudiate, as a j thing to be forever condemnea, this first allenipt to i establish geographical parties in this Chamber, by i crediing a committee formed upon that principle. : In the nexi place, there is no sanction for any such j compromise — no authority to enforce it — none to j punish its violation, in the tliird place, there is . nothing to be compromised. A compromise is a : concession, a mutual concession of contested claims I between two parties. 1 know of nothing to be ! conceded on the part of the slaveholding States in [ regard to their slave property. Their rights are i independent of the Federal Governmeni, and ad- 1 mitted in the Constitution — a right to hold their i slaves as ^ro/)e)-ij/, a right to pursue and recover i them as properly, a right to it as a political tkmenl in the weight ol these Stales, by making five count three in the national representation. These are our rights by an instrument wliii'.h we are iiound to respect, and 1 will concede none of them, nor purchase any of them. I never purchase as a con- cession what 1 hold as a right, nor accept an infe- rior title when i already hold the highest. Even V * A very criiiial position, .iriti rtqiiiiing a most nice ad- jujlnient of balance to keep tbi; wiiglit from falling on mie side, or the other— somelliing lilie thai of Uie Boman i.-mpe- ror, in his apolhijo^is, who w.is required to ;ix himself ex- actly in tlie middle of the lieavtn.-. le.st, by leaning to one side, or the other, lie might ovi jstt tlie universe. •' Press not too much on any part llie sphere. Hard were tlii. task thy wHigtii diivine to bear; O'er the mid orb more" equal shall Uiou rise. And wi,Jh ?. jiHter balance fix the ckieH.-'— Lucan. if this congeries of bills was a compromise, in fact, I should be opposed to it, for the reasons stated. But the fact itself is to me apocryphal. What is it but the ca.se of five old bills introduced by different members as common legislative measures — caught up by the Senator from Kentucky, and his com- mittee, bundled together, and then called a com- promise! Nowf, fins mystifies me. The same bills were ordinary legislation in the hands of their authors; they become a sacred compromise in the hands of their new possessors. They seemed to be of no account as laws: they become a national panacea as a compromise. The difference seems to be in the change of name. The poet tells us that a rose will smell as sweet by any other name. That may be true of roses, but not of compro- mises. In the case of the compromise, the whole smell is in the name; and here is the proof. The Senator from Illinois [Mr. Douglas] brought in three of these bills: they emitted no smell. The Senator from Virginia [Mr. Mason] brought in another of them — no smell in that. The Senator from Missouri, who now speaks to the Senate, brought in the fifth — ditto, no smell about it. The olfactory nerve of the nation licver accnted ilicir existence. But no sooner are they jumbled to- gether, and called a compromise, than the nation is filled with their perfume. People smell it all over the land, and, like the inhalers of certain drugs, become frantic for the thing. This mysti- fies me, and the nearest that I can come to a solu- tion of the mystery is in the case of the two Dr. Townsend's and their sarsaparilla root. They both extract from the same root, but the extract is a totally different article in the hands of the two doctors. Produced by one, it is a universal pana- cea: by the other, it is of no account, and little less than poison. Here is what .the Old Doctor says of this strange difference: " We wish it iiniierslood, because it i.> tlie absolute truth, that S. P. Townsend's article and 0!fl Dr. Jacob Townsend'.s Sarsaparilla are heaven-un.de cqiart, and infmitely dissimilar ; that they are unlike in every particular, having not one sin- gle thing in common."' And accounts for the difference thus: '' The sarsaparilla root, it is well known to medical men, contains many medicinal properties, and some properties which are inert or useless, and others which, if retained in preparing it for use, produce fermentation and acid, which is injurious to the system. Some of the properties of sarsa- parilla are so volatile that they entirely evaporate, and are lost in the preparation, if they are not preserved by a scien- tific process, known only to the e.xperienced in its manufac- ture. Moreover, those volatile principles, which fly off in vapor, or as an e.xhalation, under heat, are the \eiy essential medical properti eso{ the root, which give to it all its value." Now, all this is perfectly intelligible to me. I understand it exactly. It shows me precisely how the same root is either to be a poison or a medi- cine, as it happens to be in the hands of the old or the young doctor. This may be the case with these bills. To me it looks like a clue to the mys- tery; but I decide nothing, and wait patiently for the solution which the Senator from Kentucky may give when he comes to answer this part of my speech. The old doctor winds up in requir- ing particular attention to his name labelled on the bottle, to wit, "Old Doctor Jacob Townsend," and not Young Doctor Samuel Townsend. This shows that there is virtue in a name when applied to the extract of sarsaparilla-root; and there may be .equal virtue in it when applied to a compro- mise bill. If so, it may show how these self-same !j bills are of no force or virtue in the hands of the pj young Senator from Illinois, [Mr. Douglas,] and beQorne omnipotently efficjicious in the hands of the old Senator froin' Kentucky. This is the end of the grand committee's work —five old bills tacked together, and presented as a remedy for evils which have no existence, and re- quired to be accepted under a penalty — the penal- ty of being gazetted as enemies of compromise, and played at by tlje organs! The old one, to be sure, is dreadfully out of tune — the strings all broken and the screws all loose, and discoursing most woful music, and still requiring us to dance to it ! And such dancing it would be ! — nothing but turn round, cross over, set-to, and back out! Sir, there was once a musician — we have all read of him — who had power with his lyre (but his in- strument was spelt 1 y re) — not only over men, but o ver wild beasts also, and even over stones, whi ^ he could make dance into their places when the walls of Ilion were to be built. But our old organist was none of that sort, even in his best day; and since the injury to his instrument in playing the grand national symphony of the four i] f's — the fifty-four i'orty or fiffht — it is so out of j tune that its music will be much more apt to scare ]! off tame men than to charm wild beasts or stones. I-! No, sir! no more slavery compromises. Stick li to those we have in the Constitution, and they 1} will be stuck to! Look at the four votes — those ! four 01! the propositions which 1 submitted. No I abolition of slavery in the States: none in the forts, ' arsenals, navy yards and dock yards: none in the i District of Columbia: no interference with the slave trade between the States. These are the 'j votes given on this floor, and which are above all ! Congress compromises, because they abide the i compromises of the Constitution. The committee, besides th^'^ordinary purpose of legislation, that of making laws for the govern- ment of the people, propose another object of a different kind, tiiat of acting the part of national benefactors, and giving peace and happiness to a miserable and distracted people — i»inue7i