will be because of the aversion of the Mexican Congress, or the Mexican people to cede the territory, or any part of it, belonging to their Republic.

I have said that I would rather have no peace for the present, than to have a peace which brings territory for new States; and the reason is that we shall get peace as soon without territory as with it; more safe, more durable, and vastly more honorable to us, the great Republic of the World.

But we hear gentlemen say we must have some territory -the people demand it. I deny it, at least I see no proof of it whatever. I do not doubt there are individuals of an enterprising character, disposed to emigrate, who know nothing about New Mexico but that it is far off, and nothing about California but that it is still farther off, who are tired of the dull pursuits of agriculture and of civil life, that there are hundreds and thousands of such persons to whom whatsoever is new and distant is attractive. They feel the spirit of borderers; and the spirit of a borderer, I take it, is to be tolerably contented with his condition where he is, until somebody goes to regions beyond him; and then his eagerness is to take up his traps and go still farther than he who has thus got in advance of him. With such men, the desire to emigrate is an irresistible passion. At least, so said that great and sagacious observer of human nature, M. Talleyrand, when he travelled in this country in 1797.

But I say I do not find any where any considerable and respectable body of persons who want more territory and such territory. Twenty-four of us last year in this house voted against the prosecution of the war for territory, because we did not want it. both southern and northern men. I believe the southern gentlemen who concurred in that vote found themselves, even when they had acted against what might be supposed to be local feelings and partialities, sustained on the general policy of not seeking territory, or, by the acquisition of territory, bringing into our politics certain embarrassing and embroiling questions and considerations. I do not learn that they suffered from the advocacy of such a sentiment. I believe they were supported in it; and I believe that through the greater part of the south, and even of the south-west, to a great extent, there is no prevalent opinion in favor of acquiring territory, and such territory, and of the augmentation of our population, and by such population. And such, I need not say is, if not the undivided, the preponderating sentiment of all the north.

But it is said we must take territory for the sake of peace. We must take territory! It is the will of the President. If we do not now take what he offers, we may fare worse. Mr. Polk will take no less; that, he is fixed upon: he is immovable: he has-put-down-his-foot! Well, sir, he put it down on 54 40: but it didn't stay. I speak of the President, as of all Presidents, with no disrespect. But I know of no reason why his opinion and his will, his purpose declared to be final, should control us, any more than our purpose, formed from equally conscientious motives and under as high responsibilities, should control him. We think he is firm and will not be moved. I should be sorry, sir, very sorry indeed, that we should entertain more respect for the firmness of the individual at the head of the government, than we may entertain for our own firmness. He stands out against us:- Do we fear to stand out against him? For one, I do not. It appears to me to be a slavish doctrine. For one I am willing to meet the issue, and go to the people all over this broad land. Shall we take peace without new states, or refuse peace without new states? I will stand upon that and trust the people. And I do that because I think it right, and because I have no distrust of the people. I am not unwilling to put it to their sovereign decision and arbitration. I hold this to be a question vital, permanent, elementary in the future prosperity of the country and the maintenance of the Constitution: and I am willing to trust that question to the people: and I prefer it, because if what I take to be a great Constitutional principle, or what

is essential to its maintenance, is to be broken down, let it be the act of the people themselves: it shall never be my act. I do not distrust the people. I am willing to take their sentiment from the Gulf to the British Provinces, and from the Ocean to the Missouri: Will you continue the war for territory, to be purchased, after all, at an enormous price, a price a thousand times the value of all its purchases; or take peace, contenting yourselves with the honor we have reaped by the military achievements of the army: will you take peace without territory, and preserve the integrity of the Constitution of the Country? I am entirely willing to stand upon that question. I will therefore take the issue: Peace, with no new states, keeping our money ourselves: or War till new states shall be acquired, and vast sums paid. That's the true issue. I am willing to leave that before the people and to the people, because it is a question for themselves. If they support me and think with me, very well. If otherwise, if they will have territory, and add new states to the Union, let them do so; and let them be the artificers of their own fortune, for good or for evil. But, sir, we tremble before Executive power. The truth cannot be concealed. We tremble before Executive power! Mr. Polk will take no less than this! If we do not take this, the King's anger may kindle, and he will give us what is

worse.

But now, sir, who and what is Mr. Polk? I speak of him with no manner of disrespect. I mean, thereby, only to ask who and what is the President of the United States, for the current moment. He is in the last year of his administration. Formally, officially, it can only be drawn out till the 4th of March next, while really and substantially, we know that two short months, will or may, produce events that will render the duration of that official term of very little importance. We are on the eve of a Presidential election. That machine which is resorted to to collect public opinion, or party opinion, will be put in operation two months hence. We shall see its result. It may be that the present incumbent of the Presidential office will be again presented, to his party friends and admirers, for their suffrages for the next Presidential term. I do not say how probable or improbable this is. Perhaps it is not entirely probable. Suppose this not to be the result; what then? Why, then, Mr. Polk becomes as absolutely insignificant as any respectable man among the public men of the United States. Honored in private life, valued for his private character, respectable, never eminent, in public life, he will, from the moment a new star arises, have just as little influence as you, or I; and so far as myself am concerned that certainly is little enough.

Sir, political partisans and aspirants and office-seekers, are not sunflowers. They do not

turn to their God when he sets,

The same look which they turned when he rose."

No, sir, if the respectable gentleman now at the head of the government be agreed upon, there will be those who will commend his consistency, who will be bound to maintain it, for the interest of his party-friends will require it. It will be done. If otherwise, who is there in the whole breadth and length of the land, that will care for the consistency of the present incumbent of the office? There will then be new objects. Manifest destiny' will have pointed out some other man. Sir, the eulogies are now written, the commendations of praise are already elaborated. I do not say everything fulsome, but everything panegyrical, has already been written out, with blanks for names, to be filled when the Convention shall adjourn. When 'manifest destiny' shall be unrolled, all these strong panegyrics, wherever they may light, made beforehand, laid up in pigeon-holes, studied, framed, emblazoned and embossed, shall all come out, and then there will be found to be somebody in the United States

whose merits have been strangely overlooked, marked out by Providence, a kind of miracle, while all will wonder that nobody ever thought of him before, as a fit and the only fit man to be at the head of this great Republic!

I shrink not, therefore, from any thing that I feel to be my duty, on account of any apprehension of the importance and imposing dignity, and power of will, ascribed to the present incumbent of that office. But I wish we possessed that power of will. I wish we had that firmness firmness. Firmness,

"Si sit, nullum numen absit."

Yes, sir, I wish we had adherence. I wish we could gather something from the spirit of our brave corps, who have met the enemy under circumstances most adverse, and have stood the shock. I wish we could imitate Zachary Taylor in his bivouac on the field of Buena Vista. He said he "would remain for the night; he would feel the enemy in the morning and try his position." I wish, before we surrender, we could make up our minds to "feel the enemy and try his position," and I think we should find him, as Taylor did, under the early sun, on his way to San Louis Potosi. That's my judgment.

But, sir, I come to the all-absorbing question, more particularly, of the creation of new States.

When I came into the counsels of the country, Louisiana had been obtained under the treaty with France. Shortly after, Florida was obtained under the treaty with Spain. These two countries, we know, of course, lay on our frontier, and commanded the outlets of the great rivers which flow into the gulf. As I have had occcasion more than once to say, in the first of these instances the President of the United States (MR. JEFFERSON) supposed that an amendment of the Constitution was required. He acted upon that supposition. Mr. Madison was Secretary of State, and, upon the suggestion of Mr. Jefferson, proposed that the proper amendment to the Constitution should be submitted to bring Louisiana into the Union. Mr. Madison drew it and submitted it to Mr. Adams, as I have understood. Mr. Madison did not go upon any general idea that new States might be admitted. He did not suggest a general amendment of the Constitution in that respect. But the amendment of the Constitution which he proposed and submitted to Mr. Adams, was a simple declaration by a new article, that "The province of Louisiana is hereby declared to be part and parcel of the United States." Public opinion, seeing the great importance of the acquisition, took a turn favorable to the affirmation of the power. The act was acquiesced in, and Louisiana became a part of the Union, without any alteration of the Constitution. On the example of Louisiana, Florida was admitted.

Now, sir, I consider those transactions as passed, settled, legalized. There they stand, as matters of political history. They are facts against which it would be idle at this day to contend.

My first agency in these matters was upon the proposition for admitting Texas into this Union. That I thought it my duty to oppose, upon the general ground of opposing all annexation of new States out of foreign territory; and, I may add, and I ought to add in justice, of States in which slaves were to be represented in the Congress of the United States, on the ground of its inequality. It happened to me, sir, to be called upon to address a political meeting in New York in 1837 238, after the recognition of Texan Independence. I state now, sir, what I have often stated before, that no man from the first, has been a more sincere well-wisher to the government and the people of Texas, than myself. I looked upon the achievement of their independence in the battle of San Jacinto, as an extraordinary, almost a marvellous, incident in the affairs of mankind. I was among the first disposed to acknowledge her independ ence. But from the first, down to this moment, I opposed, as far as I was able,

the annexation of new States to this Union. I stated my reasons on the occasion now referred to, in language which I have now before me and which I beg to present to the Senate:

"It cannot be disguised, gentlemen, that a desire or intention is already manifested to annex Texas to the United States. On a subject of such mighty magnitude as this, and at a moment when public attention is drawn to it, I should feel myself wanting in candor, if I did not express my opinion; since all must suppose that on such a question, it is impossible I should be without some opinion. "I say then, gentlemen, in all frankness, that I see objections, I think insurmountable objections, to the annexation of Texas to the United States. When the Constitution was formed, it is not probable that either its framers or the people ever looked to the admission of any States into the Union, except such as then already existed, and such as should be formed out of territories then already belonging to the United States. Fifteen years after the adoption of the Constitution, however, the case of Louisiana arose. Louisiana was obtained by treaty with France; who had recently obtained it from Spain; but the object of this acquisition, certainly, was not mere extension ot territory; other great political interests were connected with it. Spain, while she possessed Louisiana, had held the mouths of the great rivers which rise in the Western States and flow into the Gulf of Mexico. She had disputed our use of these rivers already, and with a powerful nation in possession of these outlets to the sea, it is obvious that the commerce of all the West was in danger of perpetual vexation. The command of these rivers to the sea was, therefore, the great object aimed at in the acquisition of Louisiana. But that acquisition naturally brought territory along with it, and three States now exist, formed out of that ancient province.

"A similar policy and a similar necessity, though perhaps not entirely so ur gent, led to the acquisition of Florida.

"Now, no such necessity, no such policy, requires the annexation of Texas. The accession of Texas to our territory is not necessary to the full and complete enjoyment of all which we already possess. Her case, therefore, stands entirely different from that of Louisiana and Florida. There being, then, no necessity for extending the limits of the Union, in that direction, we ought, I think, for numerous and powerful reasons, to be content with our present boundaries.

"Gentlemen, we all see, that by whomsoever possessed, Texas is likely to be a slaveholding country, and I frankly avow my entire unwillingness to do anything which shall extend the slavery of the African race on this Continent, or add other slaveholding States to the Union. When I say that I regard slavery in itself as a great moral, social, and political evil, I only use language which has been adopted by distinguished men, themselves citizens of slaveholding States. I shall do nothing, therefore, to favor or encourage its further extension. We have slavery already amongst us. The Constitution found it among us; it recognised it, and gave it solemn guaranties. To the full extent of these guaranties we are all bound, in honor, in justice, and by the Constitution. All the stipulations contained in the Constitution, in favor of the slaveholding States which are already in the Union, ought to be fulfilled, in the fullness of their spirit, and to the exactness of their letter. Slavery, as it exists in the States, is beyond the reach of Congress. It is a concern of the States themselves; they have never submitted it to Congress, and Congress has no rightful power over it. I shall concur, therefore, in no act, no measure, no menace, no indication of purpose, which shall interfere, or threaten to interfere, with the exclusive an thority of the several States over the subject of slavery as it exists within their

2

respective limits. All this appears to me to be matter of plain and imperative duty.

"But when we come to speak of admitting new States, the subject assumes an entirely different aspect. Our rights and our duties are then both different. "The free States, and all the States, are then at liberty to accept or reject. When it is proposed to bring new members into this political partnership, the old members have a right to say on what terms such new partners are to come in, and what they are to bring along with them. In my opinion, the people of the United States will not consent to bring a new, vastly extensive and slaveholding country, large enough for half a dozen or dozen States, into the Union. In my opinion they ought not to consent to it. Indeed, I am altogether at a loss to conceive what possible benefit any part of this country can expect to derive from such annexation; all benefit to any part is at least doubtful and uncertain; the objections obvious, plain, and strong. On the general question of slavery, a great portion of the community is already strongly excited. The subject has not only attracted attention as a question of politics, but it has struck a far deeper toned chord. It has arrested the religious feeling of the country; it has taken strong hold on the consciences of men. He is a rash man, indeed, and little conversant with human nature, and especially has he a very erroneous estimate of the character of the people of this country, who supposes that a feeling of this kind is to be trifled with or despised. It will assuredly cause itself to be respected. It may be reasoned with, it may be made willing, I believe it is entirely willing, to fulfil all existing engagements, and all existing duties, to uphold and defend the Constitution, as it is established, with whatever regrets about some provisions which it does actually contain. But to coerce it into silence—to endeavor to restrain its free expression

to seek to compress and confine it, warm as it is, and more heated as such endeavors would inevitably render it, should all this be attempted, I know nothing, even in the Constitution, or the Union itself, which would not be endangered by the explosion which might follow.

"I see, therefore, no political necessity for the annexation of Texas to the Union; no advantages to be derived from it; and objections to it, of a strong, and in my judgment, decisive character.

"I believe it to be for the interest and happiness of the whole Union to remain as it is, without dimunition and without addition."

Well, sir, for a few years I held a position in the Executive administration of the government. I left the Department of State in 1843, in the month of May. Within a month after another, an intelligent gentleman, for whom I cherished a high respect, and who came to a sad and untimely end, had taken my place, I had occasion to know not officially, but from circumstances that the Annexation of Texas was taken up by Mr. Tyler's Administration, as an Administration measure. It was pushed, pressed, insisted on; and I believe the bonorable gentleman to whom I have referred (Mr. UPSHUR) had something like a passion for the accomplishment of this purpose. And I am afraid that the President of the United States at that time suffered his ardent feelings not a little to control his more prudent judgment. At any rate, I saw, in 1843, that Annexation had become a purpose of the Administration. I was not in Congress nor in public life. But seeing this state of things, I thought it my duty to admonish, so far as I could, the country of the existence of that purpose. There are gentlemen, many of them at the North, there are gentlemen now in the capitol, who know, that in the summer of 1843, being fully persuaded that this purpose was embraced with zeal and determination by the Executive Department of the Government of the United States, I thought it my duty, and asked them to concur with me in the attempt, to let that purpose be known to the country.