in the year 1844 a formal treaty was concluded between the United States and Texas for its admission into the great Union, and laid by President Tyler before the Senate for its confirmation. This gave rise to lively and interesting discussions both in and out of the Senate. I will therefore lay before the reader with the greatest possible brevity the views and reasonings of both parties. The opponents of annexation said, that President Tyler had undertaken the whole matter in order to form a party for himself at the next presidential election; and that he had conducted it in a manner contrary to the forms of the Constitution. It was said that, instead of coming forward with a treaty ready made, and taking Congress and the public by surprise, he should have furnished opportunity by means of a message for considering and debating the question, and should have given the people time and opportunity for coming to a well grounded opinion on this novel and highly important topic. By pursuing this course, it would at once have appeared, that according to the Constitution, there existed no power, no authority whatever, that could decide on the adoption of foreign states into the Union and give consent to the same. Supposing however that Congress actually possessed such a right of decision, it must still refuse annexation on numberless grounds. It must do so, in the first place, because Mexico had not relinquished her right to Texas; and consequently its incorporation into the Union must lead to a war that would be both unjust and dangerous. For though the land force of Mexico might be beaten off, yet at sea privateers would destroy the American trade; and the interference of European powers, especially England, could not be avoided. The United States possess already, say the objectors, too much land; every enlargement of the Union must diminish its strength, embarrass the government, and bring forward new conflicting interests and objects attended with the most injurious results. And after all, we do not even know how much land we are to get; since the greater part of it (out of which it is proposed to pay the state debts) is already squandered away, and the western boundary is wholly undetermined. At all events, the United States need no rounding off beyond their present circumference, either for military or for commercial purposes. It is far more natural, more peaceful, and more salutary, that Texas should remain independent on the South, like Canada on the North. The assertion that Texas would then sink into an English colomy, is without foundation; and as to any smuggling that may be carried on there, it is much less extensive and dangerous than that on the Canadian border. Just as little weight is due to the sentimental declaration, that our American brethren and countrymen who have emigrated to Texas must be re-admitted, in compliance

with their prayer, into the great family of the Union. That prayer is the result of sheer necessity; because the Texans are oppressed with a load of debt, and a few selfish individuals who have bought cheap would like an opportunity of selling dear. Moreover, people deserve no support and sympathy who voluntarily forsook their free native land, first subjected themselves to Mexican tyranny, and then founded a slave state,-thus acting the part of renegades both to their country and their religion!*

Were however every other objection and difficulty overcome, an insuperable one still remains. The free states can never consent that a slave state shall enter the Union, and thus extend the detested "institution;" that the very existence of the Union shall again be placed in jeopardy; or that at least the equilibrium of its parts, which is already endangered, shall be destroyed.

To this the friends of the annexation of Texas reply as follows: President Tyler has only done what was right according to the best of his knowledge and belief; nay, this performance of his duty has increased the number and zeal of his opponents more than the number of his friends. Neither can it properly be said, that the formation of the treaty took Congress and the people by surprise; since the principal question has been for years a subject of discussion, and nothing stands in the way of its further consideration. Moreover, if the general government possesses the power of war and conquest, it must have a still better right to peaceful acquisition; or in case the Constitution makes no provision for this, let the requisite power be given by means of new and absolutely necessary laws. Besides, there is a violent contradiction in the fact, that the purchase of Louisiana was highly applauded, while the annexation of Texas is condemned; although in the former case the consent of the inhabitants was not even asked, while in the latter they decide without compulsion and on well grounded conviction. That Mexico adheres to her opposition in spite of her weakness, is a folly which has not prevented other countries from acknowledging the independence of Texas; and from this it necessarily ensues that Texas may decide upon its present and future course without consulting Mexico. Spain waited seventy years before acknowledging the republic of the United Netherlands, and the Pope has never yet assented to the Treaty of Westphalia:-ought such perverse obstinacy to check the world's advancement? Every one, whose views are not distorted by party prejudice, must see that the acquisition of Texas is of the greatest advantage for the purposes both of war and peace; on the other hand the use of an independent power, offended by rejection and courted by England, would be

*Cassius M. Clay's Speech. Sedgwick's Pamphlet, &c.

dangerous to our Union. The chief excellence of this Union is that, cutting off all occasion for war and strife, it can extend further and further the domain of legal relations and legal decisions, without detriment to the progress of individuals and states. The Texans are by no means disposed, as some foolish people assert, to make a cowardly and treacherous surrender of their political existence; but wish to enter into a more extensive, noble, and beneficial confederation; as was formerly the case in a somewhat similar way with Achaia, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, England and Scotland, &c. Louisiana doubled the size of the Union; but now only about a seventh would be added. Besides, by means of highways, canals, and steamboats, the several parts are brought in our day nearer together than they ever were before; thus, although the thirteen states have now become twenty-six, there is no diminution whatever of order, security, and power. The objection, that the American Union will become too unwieldy, would have some weight if the question were of the over-governing and centralizing policy of Europe; but as long as the individual states are undisturbed in their free development, and only matters of general interest and general utility are arranged and settled by Congress (which the European diplomatists and congresses do not arrange and do not settle), there is no material danger of tyrannical combinations or anarchical disputes.

All the assertions-which experience has fully refuted-of the injurious consequences of the acquisition of Louisiana, are once more brought forward against the annexation of Texas; and it is forgotten that Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Clay, John Q. Adams, &c. advocated the former measure. Jefferson declared that," the executive and legislature, in seizing the fugitive opportunity of procuring Louisiana, have done an act beyond the Constitution, in order to advance the good of their country. They cast behind them metaphysical subtleties, and, in taking upon themselves every responsibility, acted the part of faithful servants."*

Acknowledging this, John Quincy Adams remarked in his Eulogy on Madison (p. 69): "Seizing and profiting by the favorable moment belongs to the most eminent qualities of the statesman; and if it demands less elevated virtue than the firmness and prudence that encounter misfortune or the moderation that adorns and ennobles success, it is not less essential to the character of a perfect ruler of mankind."

When the acquisition of Florida was objected to, Henry Clay observed: "If you neglect the present favorable moment, if you reject the proffered gift, some other nation will profit by your error, and seize the occasion to plant its foot on your southern boundary."

*Tucker's Jefferson, ii. 147.

"I presume," says Clay in another place, "the spectacle will not be presented of questioning, in the House of Representatives, our title to Texas, which has been constantly maintained by the executive for more than fifteen years past, under the several administrations. I am, at the same time, ready and prepared to make out our title, if any one in the house is fearless enough to controvert it. I am not disposed to disparage Florida; but its intrinsic value is incomparably less than that of Texas. The acquisition of it is certainly a fair object of our policy, and ought never to be lost sight of. It is even a laudable ambition in any chief magistrate, to endeavor to illustrate the epoch of his administration by such an acquisition."*

Such are the testimonies of a period when there was more impartiality, and when no party aims were at stake. People were bold enough then to found a right to the territory on a dubious cession; and now they hesitate to take it as a free gift, because the western boundary is undefined, and a dangerous war is to be feared. Shall the United States be afraid of Mexico, whose army was easily conquered and routed by a handful of Texans? Shall they stand idly by or blindly lend their aid, while a friendly state is converted into an enemy, and is rendered doubly dangerous, as at length it infallibly will be, by power communicated from abroad? Brothers, relatives, friends, and countrymen do not reason thus; and the Americans are brothers, relatives, friends, and countrymen of the Texans. The former, whatever Congress may resolve or prescribe, will be impelled by reason and feeling alike to rush to the latter's assistance on the first alarm of danger; and thus the annexation of a grateful people will be virtually accomplished, in spite of all opposition. At all events, Texas is entitled to dispose of itself; and no European power has any right to interfere in the matter. As the Americans

do not trouble themselves about the acquisitions of other states in other parts of the world, they require that peaceful arrangements in their own neighborhood should not be disturbed by warlike

remonstrances.

The objections too which are made on the score of slavery are only apparent. For if Texas be not united, nothing whatever is gained for the abolition of slavery, which will continue to exist undisturbed. If, on the contrary, Texas is received into the American Union, the slaves will for many reasons move gradually from the North to the South; and Kentucky, Maryland, and Virginia will shortly be freed from this evil. In fact many oppose the annexation of Texas, because it is without doubt the most effectual and indeed infallible means of undermining the very

* Speeches, i. 12; Appendix, i. 12.

existence of slavery. It is no less clear that the Southern rather than the Northern states will lose by the opening of a dangerous competition in cotton and other productions. In case these and similar considerations fail to quiet the Northern states, they should reflect that within the bounds of Texas free states may also be formed, that Wisconsin and Iowa will shortly enter the Union as non-slaveholding states, that Congress has nothing to do with the subject of slavery in the separate states, &c. From the fact, that certain stipulations were entered into at the formation of the Union respecting slavery and its influence on the representation, it by no means follows, that the same conditions must be granted on the accession of new states, and that no change or improvement can be permitted.

Whether Texas be or be not admitted into the Union, certain it is, that the untiring activity and inherent progressiveness of the Germanic race-which, setting out from the Atlantic, has climbed the Alleghanies and pressed forward to the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Sabine-will hereafter spread with irresistible force beyond the Rio Grande. Thus the American settlements in California are multiplying daily, without heeding the sales made by the impotent Mexican government. "Our confederacy," said Jefferson long ago, "must be regarded as the nest from which all America, north and south, is to be peopled."†

The same holds true of the settlements as far as the Columbia river and the Pacific ocean. That England claims a portion of the Oregon Territory, and also demands access to the sea, is very natural; and the arrangement of the matter should be made. to depend less on a few accidental occurrences that took place in times long back, than on the actual condition and wants of the two countries. To affirm that it can and will be decided by the sword alone, is a rash, nay an impious assertion. If both parties could demean themselves in a friendly and considerate manner respecting the boundaries of Maine and Canada, it will be much easier to pursue a similar line of conduct with regard to the distant territory of Oregon, which still lies in a state of wilderness. houn showed, by the most conclusive course of reasoning, that it would be folly in America to provoke a contest with England at the present time; because she is decidedly stronger in those

*Tucker, i. 210.

Cal

Even in the Senate, and before the new elections have taken place, the question of the annexation of Texas has been answered in the affirmative. It is to be hoped that the decision does not come too late, and that the favorable opportunity has not yet passed away. If the United States impose the same conditions with respect to debts, imposts, rights of sovereignty, &c. to which all the members of the great confederacy are subject, there is in this no injustice whatever. The Texans will be obliged to bear much heavier burdens, e. g. for their army, navy, ambassadors, custom-house officers, &c., if they do not join the United States.

Speeches, p. 544.