The Texas Democrat (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 4, Ed. 1, Saturday, February 17, 1849 Page: 2 of 4
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of the Union, and whi'e the treaty making power is j sonic river separating tlie iwo.ioptiblic?, and that the
from its very nature, wholly iuapplicaMejlo it, the'eon-! resolutions, of anucxalion had authorized the United
stitiuion has invested the Congress, "the .legislature of I Slates to determine' all ''questions of navigation," can
the Union, with no power to legislate upon the subject
Nor da the resolutions of annexation concede such a
power, even were it legitimate to look to such a source
for the derivation and origin of legislative authority.
'IfhiT "RitRr.tvo bu not the western boundary of
Texas, then she has no western boundary, and any
one imaginable line might be indicated as well as any
oihers-And-jf Gm gross may. assume to exercise a
power conceded and belonging, to the treaty making
authorities of the Union, Texas is liable to beicdnced
"to the smallest conceivable dimensions. It is in vain
to sav that Mexico refused to treat : for though reluc
tantly;-yet in the end she did in fact treat. And the
late treaty by which she ceded California and New
Mexico to f e United States ought to have designated
and settled the boundary ot Texas. And the fact that
the United Stales omitted to prescribe a boundary in
the only way in which they were authorized to do,
shows conclusively that they meant to acquiesce in
'the one claimed by Texas. And Congress, the law
making authority, cannot assume to say what the trea
ly making authority ought to have done, and to found
a claim to reversionary power upon the imputed neg-
. lect, oversight, -or delinquency of the treaty making
authority. ""
riFhat the late treaty did not disturb the boundary of
the Rio Grande, did not prescribe any other, shows
"that ihe Executive, and Senate meant to acquiesce in
that boundary: and the resolutions of annexation fully
commit Congress to the same boundary, should the
treaty making autlio ity agree upon it. In not prescrib
ing a different boundary, the kxecuuve and benale
practised no bad' faith towards ihe legislatuieof the
Union. They neglected nothing they were com-
manded to do,hut only omitted whatthey weie per
milted to do or not tc do upon their own free discretion.
The only ground, therefoie. upon which Congress
could insist upon a different boundary, would be that
the treaty making authorites intended that a diffcien!
one should". he fixed upon. But whoie is the proof
that a different one was intended? an it be found m
jthe fact that the one claimed by Texas was nol dis-
turbed? , The controversy in relation to boundary was nol
between Texas and tin's Union, but between Texas
and the Republic of Mexico. And if Mexico refused
r'to treat, tho forfeiture of claim should fall upon her,
' and not upon Texas, who stood at all times submis-
sive to the treaty making authority. Contrary rea-
soning; would be strange indeed !
In submitting the question of boundary to the U.
Slates, Texas hoped to avail herself of the friendship
and advocacy of the United Slates. She set a high
value upon the advantage of having the mora! force
of s"o powerful a government in favor of her preten-
sions and claims. But if this friendship and advocacy
are to be displaced and substituted by advorse and ri-
val pretensions if this moral force is to be brought to
bear against her, if she has only exchanged a contro-
versy with Mexico for one with the United States,
then it would be belter for her had she kept her desti-
mesin he own hands, and stood up single-handed
agai nst her former ad rersru y.
The power conceded by Texas to the United States,
in acceeding.to the resolutions of annexation, was nol
a power to institute and ordain arbitrarily the limits
and 'extent of her territory, as though she had been a
new State about to be formed and admitted into the
.Unipjj, having np determinate claim to any definite
limits or extent of territory. Instead of such, it was a
merejiidiciaj power to ascertain a boundary previously
existing, and to which Texas laid a definite claim.
The power did not cover the whole matter of boun-
dary and territorial compass: if it had, the United
Sta'tes might claim to unsettle every boundary of the
"State east, west, north or south, and might reduce it
to any size or shape they please; they might cutoff
a portion of her territory as well south or east as wcsl
or north.
The subject of boundary, as a substantive matter,
was not meant to be placed under the jurisdiction of
ihe United States : but only were "questions of boun-
dary J' submitted to their Arbitrament.
There was pending at the time of annexation a ques
"lion of boundary between Texas and Mexico, and
this question relating to boundary was the whole foun-
dation and final cause of the authority vested in the
United States ; and it .was the solemn duty of the
United States, bflpeir treaty making authorities, to
adjudge and determine this question in a manner as
favorable to Texas as Mexico might, by all the lawful
means of negotiation, be induced to acquiesce in.
But this question ceasing to exist, all authority de-
pendant upon its existence must also ceas
ir The late treaty of peace between the Unite 1 Si-,',T,-
Ijand Mexico put an end to every question or c.nr.-
it-be pretended that, under such a provision. Congress
'would have legislative jurisdiction 'over the whole
matter of internal navigation, as a substantive founda-
tion of power? -For
the reasons set forth in the foregoing irpor'. tile
minority solemnly protest against the action of the
House of Representatives, or the Congress ol the Uni-
ted States, tauckingrthc territory claimed by the Stale
of Texa".
T. PILSBL'ilY,
In lehaiyGj ihe Minority of the Committee.
y
THE TEXAS DEMOCRAT.
AUSTIN. SATURDAY. FEB. IT, 1810.
We pub'bh ihis week the Report and Protest of the Hon. T.
PIl bury i if i elation to the proposed dismemberment ot" Texas
Weak for it an attentive perusal. The argument of our repre-
sentative i strong and lucid, and the whole puper displays a propel
concern foi the interests as well as vigorous dciencc of the rights of
the Stale.
Tlu'cw Oilean5? papers of the oh inst., represent the Cution
"tfakc!.v.duil and dropping. The latest news .by telegraph oTj
the Canada's advices was unfjvon.blo. SiriclJy Middling could
have been purchased at Gc. The -.ales previous were at a decline
of 1-1 ct.
There r.s a public meeting held at Gtlveston on the evening of
the 5th ins4 forthe purpose of considering the practicability and im-
portance of cutting a canal so as to connect the waters of the Brazos
liver wilh the western pari of Galveston bay.
There were only three ad nissionsjrird three deaths, from Chole-
ra, at the New Oi leans Charily IIospilr.1 on Saturday the 3d in-.!.;
and nineteen deaths in that institution, of Cholera, during all the
previous week.
I: is stated that the Caliibinii fever is rging xo a great ex entin
London rnd Liverpool. A number of vessels were pn-'p.-rlng !o
anil for tl.egold digging.
Cases of Cholera have appeared amor.:
fornia on the 1-thrr.nof Psnam.
the emigrant t'ur Ciili-
In the Senate of the United States, on the 2i).h ult.. Mr. Douglass
reported bills for the admission of California as a Stale immrtiiate-
Ij, and Nt-w Alex'eo prospectively.
A number ofTcsianslefi G.:lveston on the 7.h inst , ovcii.ind,
for the Gold region.
The LuracJ Journal, speaking of the steamer Kate W?ul, siys:
" We are pleased to see her, and lie: "energetic Capt. Ward, u'turc
they can be useful, and sincerely hope :-he may bj profitable to her
owners. She is now funning as a lighter in this bay. but is design-
ed to nr.vig-ite the Guadalupe frcm S.ilnria is Victoria. mrin -
" The Colorado will undoubtedly b -navigated by stFarrifcrsas
soon as the raft is removed-"
Gen. Wm. S. Harney, Cil. o'S the 21 Dr.i-3n-, anv, ci at Snr.
Antonio, a fev: d-iyssinee
DISME MBERM U T Oj&gpX. 4S.
But seldom if ever zn't wo :agJMiS5r.tory a parallel
to ihejiso and progress of "l ux4?pfs!Fmore difficult
yet would it be to find one w hmc-'d bnr compa-
rison with the injustice she is being threatened v'th.
The powers which covered IhemseUcs with dium
even in despotic and king-loving Europe by a parti-
tion of Pola"TTd,.j3adthe platform of self preservation
as a pretext for their injuTtice,,afljmsy fabric, 'us true,
but those who are about to attempt a partition of Tex-
as have not even so weak a groundwork to rest upon.
The colonies of ancient days were always nurtured
as tenderlings from the parent stock, protected in ad-
versity, encouraged at all phases, and cheered at cyery
step of advancement.
Texas on the other hand struggled, unaided by any
government, dependent alone on herself and individ-
ual efiorts, and finally achieved unaided, her indepen-
dence by her sword, forcing a way for trie leue star to
the proud pinnacle of a National Sovereignty. The
more honor hers for the achievement. As a sovereign
power her advantages soon made the acquisition of
her trade and products a desideratum to her nuo-hbors
of the old as well as to those of the new world. The
energy and perseverance so characteristic of her peo-
ple were looked upon as certain vouchers of her fu-
ture prosperity and greatness in the scale of nations,
and hence France, England and the United States
were soon found to be competitors for her favor, in
which the latter from possessing the high advantages
Miritv of institutions, -geographical proximity,
versy, and in doing so put an end-to ihe authority 1 u .iost a tie of connnginuity of races, became
conceded to Ihe United States in the resolutions of an-, the reel. nl of those advantages so eagerly sought
mexation. i.-.fate.n ,i ?v- . 1 i "., ', ,
15irr, Wllal lil Hie claim lluyseTrrnroTfr3eTidli tfiJCa-h ,: , , i .i T i . ' . r
psvfr r iv r ruin n -u
,.0. . w. . . ucuiv limning aitinonues 04i. ;'.,. . . ,t ., r,
the Union,to whom was entrusted1 con trovPrsvfnnrh- lttnI0ie t0Slh xviih confidence
ing boundary between a foreio-n nation and r-nV of th the-wof and warp of the tissue, pr
and affection as
esentcd the sketch
States of the Union, having concluded that controver-lof annexation, and the idea once embodied soon ro
sy in a manner not satisfactory to tho federal lco-isla-
ture, tfiat legislature may lawfully rectify, by assuming
as'a proper subject of legislative jurisdiction, the d
termination of the limit's and extent of a sovereign
State. -
Whence such a power? If the controversy between
Texas and Mexico still subsisted, no one would ima-
gine that Congress was competent to take cognizance
of it. How, then, can it be pretended that the resolu-
tions of annexation intended to commit that contro
versy to Congress, and not to the treaty making pow
or? It seems, therefore, that, by confounding a"qncs
tion of boundary " between a foreign nation and oni
of the States of the Union with the'matter of bounda-
ry and limits as subjects of internal domestic legisla-
tion, a new authority is sought to be derived, never
thought of in ihe resolutions nf nnno.ntinti nnri
furthermore, that that authority is asserted in favor of
department of the government equally unthoughtof
111 juabe lUMJiuuons.
Suppose that, at the time of annexation, a conlro
versy had existed between Texas and Mexico not re
" lative'to "territory, but relative to the navigation of
suited in her emergence from a Stale of Nationality in-
to a State of the Union.
Thus far ail has worked well, the heroos'who carv-
ed out her career, the talent and genius which con-
ducted her through it, and the moia! sentiments referr-
ed to confidence and affection, which have resulted as
staled, all deserve much from the hand of her histori-
an and will eventually be conceded to her. But she
must reiy upon her own innate exertions to secure her
future destiny, and now is the time for action.
Heretofore as the '-Loot; Star," she was a unity,
an integer, and her dictum was her law, the wishes of
Iter people, the rule of action, the decision of her 1c
gislalors, the lever of her piwcr, but now as " one of
the many," her dictum the wi.shes of her people, and
the decision of her legislators are to be moic or less
swayed by the wishes and decisions of her compeer
States.
The concessions made by the individual when ad
mitted as a member o! society, the concessions made
by ,a State when admitted into the United Slates are
inviolable and just because constitutional. Those con-
cessions Texas lias been, is now, andever will borea-"
dy to yield to and be governed by, and it is only an
abuse of them which she desires to guaid against and
which she will never submit to. The indications of
selfishness shewn in 'certain quarters, have become so
well defined, the glaring injustice some are attempting
to mete out to her, are so well concerted and so basely
unlike lite American character, aie the ''signs of the
times,"' thtit as before stated she must arise in her might
and strength, and with her innate energy act in de-
fence of her tights, and act in such a manner that she
may nol he a victim of the moral sentiments which
led her into annexation, and see that tiie confidence
extended to a body politic, be not used by that body to
impose upon those rights bearing in mind that gord
nature in the social circle is so ofien abused, that t al-
low it a shire in national oveitures is aSmnst surely
prejudicial iu proportion to the means it affords others
to make ii so.
That the most flagrant injustice i intended to Tex-
as, needs no lengthy exposition, he that runs may read.
The report of the committee on territories, the repoit
and able protest of the minority of the same commit-
tee,, ihe vole of Senators and the columns of some
picsscs all show it.
A bare reference to the action of Indiana's legisla-
tu re, instructing her luminaries at Washington to carve
out some system by which lew Mexico in part may be
made a colony of free blacks, is enough and the climax
of the design, the apex of the vast pyramid of folly
which such propose to luii'd upon Texian soil.
Are 'hose engaged in the work, anxious to have ihe
last lingering rays of a setting sun shine simuifancouly
upon such a pyramid and the monuments erected iu
memory of the deceased heroes of the Texian revolu-
tion ? Are they so indifierent. to every other result,
so their fanatical schemes are secured ? Have they
forgotten, or aie they ignorant, that to succeed they
must tarnish theii country's escutcheon, till now imnm
culate. with a stain lo which Santa Anna's perfidy were
the whiteness of innocence, and Russia's most despotic
ukase an cdict.of clemency." If the decimation of
Mier has i.een justly deemed infamous, wheie shall
we find a word to define the act of America in hang-
ing the leaders of lite Taos insurrection, if those lead-
ers were not (by an acknowledgment that it was done
within Texian limits) citizens of the U. S. territorv.
and, as such,"traitors lo their country?
If the violation of promises of qnarlcrs by ?,Iexi-
cans Ins been deemed flagrantly base, what column of
our lexicon furniShesa word, adequate for designating
llretacts of the Union, in first calling on Texas to -''rely
with confidence upon the well known justice and
liberality of her sister States;' an'd then when she en-
ters the temple of liberty lo despoil her of her honor,
her name a.id her fair proportions, and leaving her to
pay,her debts, as best she may.
Are they willing to have ''Columbia" with one
hand extend to the "bairn " of the Union a scroll of
perpetuity and equal possession of rights, whilst with
the other, she seizes a firebrand from her unprotected
hearth, and spreads the flames to her national home,
and blood-bought heritage 1
Are they willing lo sec the name and fame of the
volunteers of the war made a by-word and a scandal,
by first issuing orders to those at andjiear Santa Fe,
us Texian posts; and when their services aie at an
end. to tell them they vcre duped, and used as tools
in subduing New Mexico, under the tinsel show of
defending Tewis and her boundaries?
If they are, let Texas but be united, moderate, firm,
and calm, and guided by the finger of Providence, her
rights will prevail, and the prophets iu wolf's cloth-
ing the Pharisees of loud prayers for their country,
will be driven from ihe tabernacles, to an abyss blacker
in dye, if possible, than their stain of treachery
Sjj extract of a letter from Mr. Buchannr.n lo lr. Donclson,
published in the- repoit and protest of the Lion- T- Piblmrv.
The "Washington Union state-; that the Ivlint at Philadelphia has
coined sonic of ihe gold received from California into quarter
eagles, wiih ' Cal."' inscribed over !hc he-id of the eagle.
From tiik Pi.aixs.-A letter from Fort Leaven-
worth to the St. Louis New-Era, states that the con-
tractors for supplying provisions to (he army at Santa
be, on their way out, suffered excessively from cold,
hunger and fafigue, the last twenty days of its march.
One of the men perished with the cold, and sixteen
hundred oxen died on the way This will be hard
upon tho company contracting to do this service for
the Government. The oxen" and other animals were
the priva'c property of the contractors.
The snow at Fo'i t Leavenworth, on the 27th of
December, was twenty inches decp.Bultimore Sun.
16th inst.
A letter of the 2lst ult., savs: Mr. Calhoun was
much better yesterday, and is still better to-day. His
case is one of catalepsy rather than of apploplexy a
wantof the proper circulation necessary to sustain the
system, rather than of excessive circulation of a ten-
dency of blood to the head, etc.
Cami-orxia Gold G ukase. A Yankee down
east has invented this specific for the use of Gold hun-
ters : The operator is to grease himself well, lay down
on the top of a hill, and "thn loll to the bottom. The
gold, and -"nothing else." will stick to him. Price,
fp-l per box.
Capt. Augustus f; Sheppard, of the Stii Infantrv,
U. S- Army, died suddenly on ihe 22d ult-. at Jeffer-
son Barracks.
A statement in ihe New York Herald of the 20th
ult.. makes the total number of emigrants who hd
sailed for California, up lo that date, 2,212 of which
number 1GS2 weic to gj via Cape Horn, and 530 via
the isthmus.
In reference to the character of-thcemigration. the
same paper remarks : -
t: The emigrants now leaving us for Californin ap-
pear to be remarkably orderly, respectable, and intelli-
gent. -They arc men of energy and euleiprisiv and
full of enthusiasm. It is a chatacter of the emioration
that we do not (as we willingly would) get rid of the
woisl part the idle, the rowdies, the vagabonds of
our population; but we lose with regret we say it
i!ic finest portion of our youth, and in all cases" such
as possess f ome means such as are not impelled lo
emigrate by want, but who rush forward in eager haste
to Ihe golden regions, from sheer ambition. "The dis-
solute, idle, and necessitous, who with brawny amis
and active limbs encumber our almshouses, and fill
ourstreels with mendicants or burglars, arc those who
are ieft behind : not that the love of gold is less pro-
foundly impressed upon their heaits. but thut they
want the means of conveying them away lo the scei.e
of ihe general scramble.
''So much tho better for Californja so'imich .the
worse for us "
Among those who have already gone to California,
from the Eastern States, are many gentlemen well
known to the- public, and many whohave left com-
fortable and lucrative situations there, in the hope of
more speedy enrichment. From the port of New
iorK nave gone, or arc anoiu leaving, a nnmher xt
punusners. eanors, artists ana oincia's,. among whom-
we may mention K. Berford, publisher: Jonas Win
chester, do. ; three sons of Robert Emmet ; S. S. Os-
good, the artist ; Caleb Lyon of Lybnsdale ; Mr. John
Shoit. who has for some years superintended the news-
paper department of the Post Office; Sam Ward, for-
merly ol the house of Prime, Ward ec King, who
goes out to establish a financial house; Mr. Gainsiia,
of the Sub-Treasury Department: Messrs. Livings-
ton, Le Roy, Schermerhorn, Beckman, Ray, Jones,
and a number of other voting men. 'from the first fa-
milies in our City, whosu'led in the Christova! Colon;
Messrs. J. II. Giles and J. Gray from the Tribune Of-
fice ; beside many from other cities, who ttansfer to a
new region tho intelligence and enterprise which
would have rendered tl:rm distinguished at home.
The London Mngaziuo of Science, of the month of
December, says thaifin the travels of Lord Lindsay it
is slated that during his wanderings in Egypt he dis-
covered a mummy, which the hieroglyphics upon it
proved to be more than two thnusanj "years o'd. In
one of its closed hands he lonnd a bulbus root,' which
he carried home and deposited in a suuy soil. In a few
weeks it sprouted, grew, and finally blossomed inio a
beautiful dahlia. As the dahlia has usually heen con-
sidered nativs only iu .Mexico and South America,
this solitary blossom from the hand of the Egyptian
mummy may perhaps be cal ed up a beautiful witness
in coroboration of the idea that the inhabitants of tl e
Old World (as it is called) onre had communication
with the western continent. And granting rhat ques
tion settled in the affirmative, another stiff lies behind
it more difficult perhaps of solution, viz: was the dah-
lia originally transferred from 'Mexico to Egvnt, or
from Egypt to Mexico? The pirsumption is," iliat as
Mexico has been the accredited home of the dahila iu
modern limes, it was also ib home in the earlier age
of the wor'd.
As a collateral item in reference to the idea of an
cient communication between ihe old wor'd and tho
new, an argument is raised to show that ''thc'gold of
Ophir," of Scripture celebrity, came from California.
Major Noah, in his last '-Sunday Times," goes into tho
argument to considerable extent, and infers, from the
vast amount of the gold of Ophir used in the construc-
tion and ornaments of Solomon's temple, the length of
the voyages of the ships which were sent for thc'gold,
and various other considerations, that it was Califor-
nia gold, that so wonderfully and magnificently en-
riched the famous temple of antiquity. The Major
states the cost of the temple at upwards of four hun-
dred and fifty millions of pound sterling a sum hard-
ly to be compared with any single financial account
n recjord. except the national debt of Great Britain.
The ships sent by Solomon and Hiram of Tyre for the
gold and treasures of Ophir required three years to
make the voyage, and as ihe locality of ihe Ophir has
not been ascertained, and as the length of thevhyage,
would seem to correspond very well with the distance'
to California, Major Noah therefore concludes thafan--cicnt
Ophir and modern California are one and ihe"
same place, j lie conclusion does not exactly amount
to a geometrical demonstration, but it affords material
for curious speculation; worth, placing by the side of
Lord Lindsay's dahlia. Nat. Inielli fencer.
When Texas was admitted into the Union, as a Stale
of the confederacy, her people believed that her limits,
as denneu by t:te statutes of tne Republic of Texa
would be respected by the American Congress. The
President of- the U. States, also, entertained a similar
opinion, as is shown by his messages previous to the
passage of the bill of annexation. If the people of
Texas were in error when they voted for annexation,
and President Polk was also in error when he signed
the bill, it is but just that the whole question should
be reconsidered, and that the people of Texas
should be permitted to vote again for or against annex
ation U tne "senators and Representatives of New
York will vote with the Whigs to repeal the law an-
nexing Texas to the Union, we are quite certain that
the people of Texas will instruct their Senators, and
request their representatives, to vote with thousand
go out of the Union as cheerfully as she went in.
She was admitted into the Union by a bare majority of
Congress not by the treaty-making power, and site
can go out by the same means, with the sanction of
the President. We can assure our northern friends,
that if they will vote Texas out of the Union, they
win never no troubled wuii tier peculiar institutions,
uniess, UKe bad neighbors, they should meddj
affairs that do not belong to theni.-
meddlc with
Telegraph.
Six hundred thousand dollars was the full value of
all the California Gold received at the" IV S. Vint, tip
to the 23d nil. ' l
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The Texas Democrat (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 4, Ed. 1, Saturday, February 17, 1849, newspaper, February 17, 1849; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth48386/m1/2/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.