The spirit of democracy. [volume], August 23, 1844, Image 1

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V
PRINCIPLES AND MEASURES, AND HEH THAT WIXA C4.BHT THOSE PRINCIPLE! AMD MEASURES INTO EFFECT."
BY J A. SI E3 B. MORRIS.
WOOnSFIKLD, OHIO, FRIHAY,- AUGUST 23, 1841.
VOLUMHiX NUMBER 26.
i
TIIE SPIRIT OF DEMOCRA C Y
IS PUBLISHED EVERT FRIDAY MORNING, "
. . DY J. R. MORRIS.
TERMS : $1,60 per annum in advance; $2,00
if paid within six months; $2,50 if paid within the
year, and $3,00 if payment be delayed until after
the expiration of the year.
fjp- No paper will be discontinued, except at the
option of the editor, until all arrears are paid.
Ofr All communications sent by mail must be
post-paid. ' .
Advertisement inserted at the usual rates.
POETItY.
From the New Monlliley Magazine.
' 'V'V THE POLKA.
;. OR THE BOHEMIAN GIRL TO HER LOVER.
' The following graphic description of the far
famed "Polka Dance" has recently been given to
the world by the celebrated Frederika Bremer, the
Edgeworth and Austin of Sweden, in a work enti
tled "Strife and Peace,'of which a translation
has appeared from the pen of a kindred writer, the
accomplished Mary Howitt. This dance, which
ii equally popular in Bohemia, Hungary, S .veden,
Norway, fee., is, saya Miss Bremer, "highly char-
ac tens tic; it paints the northern inhabitants' high
est joy in life; it is the Berserker gladness in the
dance. Supported upon the arm ol the woman,
the man throws himself high in the air; then
catches her ir. his arms, and swings round with
her in wild circles; then they separate, then they
unite again, and whirl again round, as it were in
superabundance of life and delight. The meas
ure is determined, bold, and full of life. It is a
dante intoxication, in which people for the mo
ment release themselves from every care, every
burden and oppression of existence!"
Dear youth, from the forest and mountain,
Oh, come, 'neath the wild cherry tree
My flax thread I've washed in the fountain,
Come, love, dance the Polka with me!
Like the waves of the Elbe madly bounding,
Let not the dark Woodnyk affright,
The Mandoline long hafbeen sounding,
Like Vitas, we'll dance through the night!
Dear youth, from the forest and mountain,
. Oh, come, 'neath the wild cheny tree
My flax thread, I've washed in the fountain,
Come, love, dance the Polka with mo!
With the garnets you gave to adorn me,
Those gems in our Giant's Glen found,
That our Burgrave himself should not scorn me,
By .my gold hearted mother I'm crowu'd!
There's life in my feet and my arms, love I
' There's fire in my heait and my soul!
I pant for Polka's wild charms, love,
Which each sorrow of life can cm, (ml
Then come from the forest and mountain,
Oh, come, 'neath the wild cherry tree
My flax thread I've washed in the fountain. 1
Come, love, dance the Polka with me!
Like wine that glad dance will inspire m.
With transport 'twill thrill every vein;
Did I dance through the night 'twould not tire me,
I would dance it at morning again!
What rapture, when heart to heart joining
In thine eyes, love, as onward we go,
All its magical circles entwining,
I must gaze, or I giddy should grow!
'Then come from the forest and mountain,
Oh, come, 'neath the wild cherry tree
My flax thread I've washed in the fountain, .
Come, love, dance the Polka with me!
REV. DR. BEECHER.
This gentleman, it seems, feels bound to carry
out his profession if so, ho is very unlike many
others, of like position in society, of whom we
have heard: Statesman.
From the Utica Observer.
'"''. ' DUELLING.
The Rev. Dr. Beecher published not long since
a pungent sermon, in which he took occasion to
denounce, in the severest terms, the impropriety
ofsupporting duellists for high and responsible
offices. The following is an extract from the dis
course referred to :
"Permit me now, my friends, to ask you sol
emnly, will you any longer persist in your attach
ment for Duellists? .Will you any longer either
deliberately or falsely, vote for them?. Will you
renounce allegiance to your Maker; cast the bible
behind your back? Will you confide in moo void
of the fear of God and destitute of moral princK
pies? Will you trust your life to MURDERERS
and liberty to DESPOTS?" .
The whigs have fancied that notwithstanding
this clerical fulmination, the Dr. would be found
among the friends of Mr. Clay. A correspondent
of the Boston Morning Chronicle, has recently had
an interview with him, and in the course of their
conversation the Dr. remarked.
. "I MEANT IT FOR EVERY WRETCH
WHO IS WILLING TO REDDEN HIS hands
IN HIS - BROTHER'S BLOOD," and added,
"I AM NOT THE MAN TO NULLIFY MY
OWN INSTRUCTIONS. I SHALL MAIN.
TAIN THEM BY MY PRACTICE."
Fai field ( County. We have strong assurances
' that the democracy of old Fairfield are in most glo
rjpus trim for the great November battle. ; .Every
township is holding its mass meetings. - Our ma
jority in that county will be larger than it has ever
been heretofore. . Germans and their descendants
form a large portion of the population. The un
boly alliance of wbiggery and nativeism has justly
v influenced every one of that intelligent and indus
trious part of our fellow citizens, in Fairfield, to be
come a valiant soldier of democracy..
. Area of Texas. Texas contains 318,000 square
miles, which is full as large as the States of Virgin
. ia, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississip
pi and Louisiana combined.; These . States have
now a population of about 4,000,000 which num
' hex Texas wjl reach in less than, (en years. .
THE SPIRIT OF DEMOCRACY.
AUGUST 28. 1844.
,. For the Spirit of Democracy.
Mr. Editor: In compliance with the well
known wishes ol the people of this county, I last
winter, introduced bill in the House of Repre
sentatives to provide forfaiting convention to
amend the third article of our constitution. The
design was to reform our Supreme Court, a tribu
nal the least lilted to our circumstance, which in
genuity could devise. But the idea was industri
ously profagated by John M. Gallagher and some
of his associates, (hat the people could not call a
convention with limited powers, such as to reform
the Supreme Court, for instance, but that a con
vention whether so intended by the people or not,
would instantly be clothed with power to alter or
abolish the whole constitution. This was the read
iest method ol defeating the hill, a rio one wished
to meddle with the whole constitution, but only to
amend the judiciary system, so far as relates to the
Supreme Court.
The following argument was delivered, in op
position to this insane notion. How far I succeed
ed in the eye of reason, is cheerfully left for the
decision of my fellow-citizens.
EDWARD ARCIIBOLD.
Woodsficld August 12, 1844.
REMARKS OF MR. ARCHBOLD.
In committee of the whole, on Saturday the Hth
January, the question bring on the motion of
Mr. Gallagher, of Clark, to strike out the words
"third article" wherevir they occur in the fust,
second, und third sections of the bill, by which
means the bill, if passed, would provide for a
Convention with general powers.
Mr. Arciibold rose and said:
Mr. Chairman : If it is admitted that the
people have a right to revise, amend, or niter their
whole constitution, why may they not revise,
amend, or alter a part? Does not the whole con
sist of parts? If we suppose the constitution divi
ded into eight parts, will gentlemen contend that
the people cannot remodel one part without chang
ing the whole? That they cannot repair one pillar
of their temple, without tearing down the whole
struc ture? It is readily granted that the powers of
a rnnventinn would be absolute and plenary on the
subject committed to them, but are the people ns-
cessarily compelled to commit every interest, how
ever dear, however sacred, to any body of dele
gales, whatsoever? However high and transcen
d.iiit the powers of a convention maybe, that body
will cxiit of mere agents, delegates and repre
sentative"! the people. Way not the people pre
scribe the boundaries of delegated power? May
they not say to any body of agents and ministers
whatsoever, "this subject we commit to your ma-
tore and calm consideration, and this we deny to
your deliberations?" In other words, cannot the
nf.; p make a special tetter oi attorney.' i-an uiey
:r t create a special minister with plenipotentiary
aiitlim ity on tbe subject committed t3 his care? If
they cannot, what becomes of their complete sov
ereisnty? He might give a special letter of attor
ney to another person to sell a horse or convey a
piece of land, or he might give him a general let
ter, authorizing him to conduct and manage alibis
affairs, to oversee all his concerns. And what
would become of his control over his own proper
ty if he could not make a letter of attorney of the
former kind? Or if every special letter which he
did make must necessarily he construed into a gen
eral one ? And if he bad given authority by letter
of attorney man individual, to convey a tract of
land, who would undertake by virtue of it, to exer
cise general superintendence over all his affairs,
would he not'say "you are a usurper and intruder,
and I do not thank you for your officiousness?" Is
not the power of the people sovereign, absolute,
uncontrollable? And who shall prescribe boun
daries to sovereign, absolute, uncontrollable power?
Yet gentlemen, though forced to admit the sover
eign, absolute, uncontrollable power of the people,
deny them the power of creating a body of special
agents. The people have unlimited despotic pow
er on all subjects, but no power on one subject un
connected with the rest! They have unlimited,
despotic power, but they cannot make a special
letter of attorney!
The argument in behalf of the people's power,
seemed so plain, so unanswerable, so invincible
that he would suppose there could be but one opin
ion about it, in the minds of men who advanced
to the investigation without prejudice, and with
out bias; yet he had no hopes of convincing gentle
men who had espoused the other side of the ques
tion, however hastily. The opinion which dis
qualifies the people has the advantage of color, of
surface, of appearance, and above all, of absurdity
and paradox. A man may abandon his own off
spring, but a logician will never abandon his para
dox. The pride of the understanding more or less
inherent in all men, forbids such a surrender. The
man who is fully persuaded of the inability of a
witch to cross the broomstick which lays at his door .
will nevei believe that she can bona fide, cross a
broomstick. It might be very convenient for fhe
old lady to possess the power in question, and it is
very difficult to assign any reason for her disability;
but so it is, the disability exists, and it would be
hcresey, heterodoxy and infidelity to deny it.. So
it might be extremely necessary and convenient for
the people to be able to create a convention, with
ample and plenary powers over one branch of their
constitution, without submitting the whole instru
ment to their discretion; but to assert that the peo
ple have such power, is as heterodox and radical,
as it would be in the eyes of the good mussulmanto
deny the truth of the oleoran, Other gentlemen
admit that the sovereign people may clothe a con
vention with full power over one article of the
constitution, or with full powers over the whole
instrument; but that the General. Assembly can
take no steps to facilitate the action of their will.
This upinion seems more liberal in theory than the
former, but it is only in theory. How can the peo
ple act on any subject, except through their con-
stltuted organization ? Does any man suppose that
two million of people inhabiting a surface of more
than forty thousand square miles, can ever assem
ble en masse to consult of their affairs, and take res
olutions pertaining to their common welfare? He
was not disposed to deny to the people in their in
dividual elementary capacity, the right of revolu
tion, aright never to be abandoned, but never to
be exercised except in extreme cases; but for all
practical purposes, the man who denies to the peo
ple, the power to act on any given subject through
their constituted organs, denies them the power to
act at all. The people, cannot meet and consult en
masse, then if they cannot meet and consult
through their authorized agents and representatives,
they cannet meet and consult at all. And this is
precisely the siluatic n of helplessness and destitu
tion to which the "arguments of gentlemen would
reduce them.
Having convinced themselves, and attempted to
convince others, that the people's power to create
a body of special agents with plenary powers on one
subject, but limited to that subject, labors under
palsy, they proceed todiaw the most frightful pic
tures of the anarchy, the confusion, the ruin, that
are to rush in as a flood-tide, if we once open the
gates, by calling a convention clothed with general
powers to amend our whole Constitution. He had
no such distrust of the people. The evils for which
we propose to provide a remedy are admitted by all
to be urgent in the highest degree. The eight
new President Judges, and the four chancellors of
the gentlemen from Preble, and his proposition to
destroy the appellate powers of the Supreme Court,
and to lop off one of the Associate Judges of the
Common Pleas, discover, in glaring light, his
sense of the evils under whichwe labor.
Would the gentleman propose to add so many
new cog-wheels and trundle-heads, if our mill
would even grind tolerably ? And he would add,
that complex and intricate machinery is apt to be
bungling and inefficient; and predicted that such
would be the case with the gentleman's, if put in
operation. To distrust the capacity of the people,
safely to amend their Constitution, is to distrust
their capacity for self-government; is to despair of
the republic. The people would be stimulated by
tbe strongest motives that ever influenced the hu
man breast, by their own interests, and the inter
ests of the latest posterity, to the exercise of their
highest mental and moral faculties. The noblest
sons of the commonwealth, the men most distin
guished for high, mental, and moral attainments,
would be willing to accept seats in that conven
tion; in one word, the effort to amend the Consti
tution would concentrate the highest mental and
moral energies of the State, and he had no fears for
the result. Before the awakened majesty ol the
people, demagogucry would start back appalled and
rebuked. It could not breathe in the atmosphere
of purity, which the awakened intelligence and
moral feeling of this great community would cre
ate. Although gentlemen have made the ghosts
of anarchy, and confusion, and turbulence, and
agrarianism, stalk .mournfully across the stage be
fore our eye3, it was easy to perceive that the
threatening apparitions were merely hobgoblins,
raw-head-and-bloody-bones, which ought to fright
en none but children.
Political topics had been unnecessarily dragged
into this discussion. It was not necessarily a paity
question, and he would not be the first man to
make it so. If over a question demanded calm and
mature consideration, it was a question concerning
the amendment of the organic law. They were
bound, at their peril, by the highest and weight
iest motives that could influence the human breast:
Kindred, coun'ry, frionds, and above all by their
endearing paternal connexion with all posterity,
to the highest exercise of their intellects, and the
subjugation of their passions. They were legisla
ting not for the present generation alone, but for
the millions of men who were soon to tread the soil
of this great State. Yes, and in some respects for
the unnumbered millions who were soon to inhab
it our mighty continent; for our example might tell
upon the destinies of other States of this confede
racy, u was a noble conception oi tisner Ames,
that an "American legislator ought to consider
himself the patriarch of half mankind." Let the
Diets and Juntas of the little petty States of Eu
rope, engage in faction, cabal and intrigue. They
had no such stakes involved as we had; their re
stricted territory and limited population afforded
nonesuch. Fot himself he pretended not to be
exempt from the ordinary frailties and imperfec
tions of human nature, and he supposed no man on
this floor pretended to such exemption. But he
had, at a former period, taken occasion to exhort
his compatriots here, to set up a high standard of
legislative purity.
In the words of a celebrated author, he would
remark, that "the highest praise ever bestowed on
a statesman, was, that all his aims were his coun
try's, his God's and Heaven's;" and would add,
that a legislative assembly of this mighty Common
wealth engaged in a petty political scramble, in the
little intrigues and partizan conflicts of the day,
must, in the eye of reason, resemble a giant play
ing with a rag-doll.
The following is a copy of the bill offered by Mr.
Archbold, which was yesterday lost in the House:
A BILL,
Toprovidejor taking the sense of the qualified elec
tors of this State as to the proprxety of holding
a convention ta amend the 2d article of the eon'
stilution of this Stale.
Whereas, 'by the existing constitution of this
State, the number of judges of the supreme court
cannot exceed four, who are constitutionally bound
to hold a court in every county in the State once in
each yes: , two being necessary to constitute a quo'
rum, an amount of labor which they are inade
quate to perform by means of which, justice is
greatiy delayed, imperfectly administered, and its
attainment rendered enormously costly; the courts
being continually obliged, for went of time, to con
tinue cases against their own will and against the
wishes ol all parties concerned; an inconvenience
which has arisen from our great and unnrecedent-
ed increase in wealth and population, but which is
not the less severely felt on that account; and,
whereas, the people of this State are entitled to
speedy, cheap and effectual justice, which the
present judiciary system is inadequate to afford,
being as little suited to their circumstances as the
tiny garments of a child to the limbs of the full
grown man, and, whereas, the people ought to
have the power, by their authorized agents in "the
general assembly, to increase the judiciary force as
the exigencies of tbe case may demand; therefore,
Sec. 1. Re it enacted by the General Assem
bly of the Slateof Ohio, That it shall be the duty
of the judges and clerks of election, in every elec
tion district in this State, to open a poll on the sec
ond Tuesday in October next, and take the votes
ol the qualified electors for or against a convention
to amend the third article of the constitution of this
State.
Sec. 2. That the columns of the poll book, con
taining the votes for and against a convention to
amend the third article of the constitution, shall be
in the following form as nearly as may be.
Convention.
Number of votes,
No convention".
Number of votes.
Sec. 3. That every ticket found in the ballot
box, with the word convention, written or printed
thereon, shall be deemed and taken to be a vote in
favor of calling a convention to amend the third ar
tide of the constitution of this State, and that eve.
ry ticket found in the ballot box with the words no
convention, written or printed thereon, shall be
deemed and taken to be a vole against the calling of
such convention.
Sec. 4. That the votes for and against a con
vention shall be taken at the same time and in the
same manner, in all respects, and contained in the
same poll books, as the votes for members of Con.
grcss and Slate and county officers.
Sec S. That it shall be the duty of the clerks
of the court of common pleas, in every county la
this Slate, to forward to Columbus, abstracts of all
the votes taken in their respective counties, in
compliance with this act, at the same time and in
the same manner, and directed to the same per
sons as by the law, as it now stands, it is their duty
to forward the votes for Governor.
Sec. 6,. That if any judge or clerk of any elec
tion shall neglect or refuse to perform any duty en
joined upon him by this act, and being thereof con
victed, by indictment, he shall be fined in any sum
not less than fifty nor more than two hundred dol
lars; and if any clerk of the court of common pleas
shall fail or refuse to perform any duty enjoined
upon him by this act, and being thereof convicted,
by indictment, he shall be fined in any sum not less
than two hundred nor more than five hundred
dollars.
The following is the vote upon the indefinite
postponement of the above bill:
YEAS Messrs. Alexander, Atherton, Frnnd,
Bryson, Downing, Duncan, Fisher, Foot, Glines,
Gunckel, Harsh, Harvey, Hawkins, Johns, John
son, Kaler, Kiler, Kellogg, Alartin ol fayette,
Martin of Columbiana. McCleary, McMaken,
Means, Morse, McBeth, McFarland, Mcllrath,
McMillan, Noble, Parsons, Riley, Shane, Sharp,
Snyder, Wakefield, White of Licking, Vanmeter,
and Speaker 38.
NAYS Messrs. Archbold, Bennett, Carle,
Cassidy, Clark, Craighill, Carey, Claypool,
Coombs, Crum, Dunn, Ewing, Filson, Green,
Guiberson, Hctrich, Lawrence, Mcdhury, My
ers, Manning, .Farmery, fiieis, Houaeousn, isar
gent, Smart, Smith, Waggoner, Warner, White
of Brown, and Willoz 30.
TABLE.
Showing the total number of members ofthe
House of Representatives of the United States
by the different ratios since the adoption ofthe
Constitution.
Year. Ratio. Members.
1793 , Fixed by the Constitution 65
1703 33,000 105
1803 33,000 141
1813 35,090 181
1823 40,000 121
1833 17,700 243
1843 70,680 223
A CHARITABLE PROPOSITION.
The True Democrat proposes "to raise a fund
sufficient to cover the amount of the bond given by
Mr. Clay to the Mayor of Washington City, for
his good behavior the amount to be deposited
with Joe Gales or John M. Botts that all fears of
"that bond" being thus removed, Mr. Clay may
be free to flog any man woman or child in the
country that his friends may have no reason to
say, after the election, that the hands of their can
didate were 'tied up," and that consequently the
election was unfair.
The following toast was given on the 4th of July,
at a democratic celebration in Berks county, Penn
sylvania: By George Ely: If a man cheats me once, he is
a knave; if he cheats me twice, I am a fool and as
in 1S40, 1 was cheated about those "two dollars a
day and roast beef," and the whigs were knaves,
so In 1844, 1 would bo a fool if I were cheated
again. Hurrah, then, for Polk, Dallas, and Muh
lcnburg. A fiendish Act. The public well at Springfield
Illinois, was poisoned on Monday night last, by the
introduction into the pump of a poisonous com
pound. The fact was discovered before any per
son was seiiously affected by it, although some 150
persons were working near the well, and using
water from it. Tfce mayor has offered a reward of
$100 for the perpetrators of the outrage Bait.
Sun. , ....
Nothing sets so wide a mark between a vulgar
and a noble soul, as the respect and reverential love
of womankind. A man who is always sneering at
woman, is generally a coarse profligate or a coarse
bigot. ' ' ' ' ' l
A GMNCE AT TEXAS.
DEINO A BRIEF SKETCH Of HER HISTORY, GO
VERNMENT, POPULATION, CLIMATE, SOIL,
PRODUCTIONS, AND EXTENT OF TERRITORY;
TO WHICH ARE ADDED, A REVIEW Of TUB
ARGUMENTS AGAINST TIIE ANNEXATION OF
TEXAS TO THE UNITED STATES, AND A STATE
MENT OF THE REASONS IN FAVOR OF THE
SAME.
BY THOMAS J. MORGAN.
(Continued.
Scarcely a hostile foot has pressed the soil of
Texas since the memorable 21st of April, 1836.
Yet Mexico still threatens the subjugation of that
republic, and although hei menaces are no more
to be heeded than the idle wind, they have never
theless the inevitable tendency of retarding her
onward march to greatness. In the present stale
of uncertainty, property will not command one
fourth its value, capitalists are unwilling to make
investments in a country whose independence is
not acknowledged by the parent government; and
heads of families, desirous of removing thither, are
deterred by the reflection that possibly their help.
less offspring may become victims of the worse
than savage barbarity of the treacherous Mexican
Their fears and apprehensions are all illusory; but
they exist, and existing, obstruct the general pros
perity no less than if founded in reality. Col.
Benton justly observes, that "Nothing is so disas
trous to Texas as the kind of war which has
prevailed for some years, it destroys her resour
ces repulses emigration sinks the value of pro
perty at home, and rates her credit abroad at five
cents and ten cents on the dollar. This is what
depresses and exhausts her. A fight is nothing.
An invasion would be her triumph and her glory."
Had she consulted her own pecuniary interests
merely, Texas would have sought an alliance with
Great Britain rather lhan annexation to the United
States. No one conversant with the subject can
doubt the truth of this proposition. But the land
of the single star has shown that whilst she values
riches, the prizes republicanism still more highly.
She has proven that her attachment to our Union
outweighs all other considerations and if, at some
future period her soil shall be made (he lodgment
for British soldiery destined to again scatter fire
and wave the sword upon our western frontier,
or to once more march to the magnificent city of
the south-west, and there with the countersign of
"beauty and booty," crimson the Mississippi with
the blood of our people the citizens of Texas
can well exclaim, " Our hands are clear of it!"
SHALL WE REJECT THE OFFER OF
TEXAS.
How slrange the necessity of propounding such
an inquiry? We have offered Mexico millions for
Texas, and our propositions have been rejected.
Texas is now an independent nation, and volunta
rily tenders to the Union her territory as a gift, and
yet wonderful to relate, persons are to be found
who are unwilling to receive it.
The principal arguments urged, against the an
nexation of Texas, shall be briefly examined the
chief of which is, with us in the North,
SLAVERY, AND THE POWER OF THE
SOUTH.
The institution of slavery was bequeathed to us
by Great Britain. The insatiable avarice which
ever distinguished that government, dragged from
their Afric homes the forefathers of the present
negro race in the United States. It was a mon
strous sin, the commission of which, and cuuntlers
miriads of others, that bloodstained land will one
day expiate in bitterness of woe.
But slavery is in our land, and the only question
now is, will the annexation of Texs increase the
number of negroes held in bondage?
Suppose, for example, there are now three mil-
lions of slaves in the United States and Texas.
Will the union of these two countries increase
that number? If so, pray how? It ten thousand
blacks be taken from Virginia to Texas, the number
in Virginia would of course be decceased to that
amount. There would be a mere change of loca
tion. And should there be a greater demand for
slave labor in Texas than in the northern slave
States, the prices would be correspondingly higher;
and very scon would Delaware, Maryland, Vir
ginia and Kentucky, be drained of the entire negro
population, and become free States, at the same
time, adding to the slave territory in the south.
SLAVE TERRITORY WILL BE DECREAS
ED TIIE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE
WILL BE EFFECTUALLY CHECKED
THE CONDITION OF THE BLACKS
WILL BE MELIORATED, AND SLAVE
BY ITSELF PROBABLY GRADUALLY
ABOLISHED BY THE ANNEXATION
OF TEXAS TO THE UNION.
The constitution of Texas recognizes the exist
ence of slavery throughout her entire territory,
and, if she remains an independent nation, slavery
will continue to be protected by law over the
whole republic. But should Texas be annexed
to the United States, at least one half of her soil
will become immediately free. Senator Benton's
bill for the annexation of Texas provides for the
division of that country into four States, two of
which shall remain forever free; and Henry Cloy
says, (as will presently more fully appear,) that th
annexation of Texas will add three free States and
only two slave States to our confederacy. Here,
then, at the very threshold, annexation will banish
slavery from an extent of territory equal to one
hundred and fifty thousand square miles.
' When Texas was a colony of Mexico, slaves,
in small numbers, were' not uufrequently carried
thither, either directly from Africa, or from the
West India Islands no war vessel being properly
stationed to prevent it. Upon shaking oft the
Mexican yoke, the Texian government adopted
stringent measures for the suppressing of this
traliic, and a brig, which once sailed under the
banner of the African negro stealer, was soon
conveited into a man-of-war. But although the
law makers of the yonng republic have adopted
every precaution to strangle the monster, it is fear
ed that her deficiency in naval power renders
Texas unable to efficiently defend her numerous I
ports from the approach of these piratical vessels.
Should she be attached to the United States,
her coast would be no less strictly guarded than
our own.
It is well known that a southern climate is most
congenial to the negro. Our governmsnt census
tables demonstrate the fact, that blacks residing in'
the southern States live to a more advanced age)
than those in the north, and are a hundred fold ,
more exempt from the maladies with which their
brethren in the colder climates are afflicted. Tex
as is more salubrious than any other portion of
the sjuth and possesses the finest temperature i
America. Upon the supposition, then, that all
the blacks from the northern slave States should ;
be transported to Texas, their condition would be
much improved. There, they cannot suffer from
cold, however meanly clad; and to experience
hunger in Texas, without the means of satisfying
it, a man must either be disabled, or incorrigibly
indolent.
What benefit is to result from confining the
blacks to their present northern abodes Is it
imagined that any of the States are about to man
umit their slaves? Where are the evidences of
such a proceeding? Is the testimony to be found
in the increased, and increasing, rigor of the laws
of almost every northern slave Slate? No, no
no such policy is contemplated. Slaveholders
either ridicule or become incensed at, tbe bare
mention of liberating their slaves, and turning
them loose upon our country. But let them speak
for themselves. The distinguished citizen of
Kentucky, Hon. Henry Clay, who says he is the
owner of fifty slaves, may be presumed to enter
tain the same views held by the great mass of his
brother slaveholders; und hear what he says.
HENRY CLAY'S OPIMON UPON THE
SUBJECT OF ABOLISHING SLAVERY.
In his celebrated address to Mr. Mendenhall,
after referring to some of the effects of abolishing
slavery, Mr. Clay goes on to remark : See Gree
ley's life and speeches of Clay, vol. 2, page 505.
"A contest would inevitably ensue between the
two races; civil war, carnage, pillage, conflagra
tion, devastation, and the ultimate extermination
or expulsion of the blacks. Nothing is more cer
tain. And are not these evils far greater than the
mild and continually improving state of slavery
which exists in this country? I say continually
improving; for it this gratifying progress in the
amelioration of the conditien of the-slaves has been
checked in some of the States the (responsibility
must attach to the unfortunate agitation of the sub
lect of abolition."
And again, Mr. Clay says in his speech on aboli
tion petitions, delivered in the Senate, February
7, 1839, and which may be found in the work just
quoted, vol. 2, page 412, that,
"If I had been a citizen of Pennsylvania, when
Franklin's plan for gradual emancipation was
adopted, I should have voted for it, because by bo
possibility could the black race ever acquire the
ascendency in that State. But if I had been then,
or were now, a citizen of any of the planting ;
States the southern, or south-western States .
should have opposed, and would continue loop- -pose,
any scheme whatever of emancipation, grad-'
ual or immediate, because of the danger of an
ascendency of the black race, or of a civil contest .
which might terminate in tht extinction of one
race or the other."
Here, we have the evidence ofthe Hon. Henry
Clay showing that he regards the abolition of '
slavery either gradual or immediate, and throwing
(he slaves upon our own country as thegreatesf -.
curse that could befal our land.
In Texas, the slave will occupy ajeountry ad--
joining one in winch no distinction is made in
respect to color. In Mexico all shades of com
plexion are on an equality the black, the mulatto,-,
the quartroon and the white all enjoy tbe same
privileges. In that government there are five
coloied to one white man. It is a curious fact that' .
on Galveston Island, in 1837, among some five
hundred prisoners taken at the battle of San Jacuv
to, not one white man was to be found,
Mexico being possessed of such a population1
aud institutions, is it not natural to suppose that
the negroes of Texas would seek an asylum in that .
country, if permitted by their masters? And the
all powerful objeclion to manumission which pre---vails
in the United States, not existing in Texas,.,
it is not to be presumed that hundreds of philan-
thropic owners would liberate their blacks and
send them across the border? We daily hear of "
persons willing to manumit, provided their servants'
are sent out of the country. The colored man is
unwilling to go to the home of his forefathers; and'
if he was, means are deficient to send him to-
Africa. But when once iu Texas, this difficulty
no longer exists. There, the slave may receiver
bis freedom one week, and in the next, occupy a
land wheie the laws, and (what is more potent)'
public opinion place him on a level with the-white..
The most powerful objection to the extinguish
ment of slavery in the United States would lose
its potency in Texas; and it is by no means vision-'
ary to imagine that annexation may at some future
day prove the means of abolishing slavery through
out North America. In the boundless territory of
Mexico and Central America is to be found' the
only secure retreat for the posterity of the Africa.
But exclude Texas from the Union, and yooi
forever bar the door to their passage into-Mexieo-Many
northerners are jealous of the political
power of the South. That portion of our confed--eracy
possesses nothing like the weight of tbe'
north. The territories of Iowa and Wisconsin are
about being admitted into the Union, which Will
add still further to our preponderance. Besides,.
the stupendous territory of Oregon is ours, andb
the day is not very remote when her soil will add
several new States to our glorious constellation,
aud all of them will be free. This will bear down
the balance immensely on the side of the north.
But upon the authority of Henry Clay, and agree,
ably to the provisions of Senator Benton's bill,
the annexation of Texas will not add to the rela
tive political power of the South.