JULY 1, 1836.] Supplementary Deposite Bill-President of the Senate pro tem. Resolved, That a committee be appointed on the part of the Senate, to join such committee as may be appointed on the part of the House, to consider and report by what token of respect and affection it may be proper for the Congress of the United States to express the deep sensibility of the nation to the event of the decease of Mr. Madison, just announced by the President of the United States. The resolution was unanimously adopted; and, On motion of Mr. RIVES, the committee was appointed by the Chair, consisting of the following gentlemen: Messrs. RIVES, CLAY, CALHOUN, GRUNDY, BUCHANAN, LEIGH, and TALLMADGE. SUPPLEMENTARY DEPOSITE BILL. On motion of Mr. WEBSTER, the bill supplementary to an act to regulate the deposites of the public money was taken up for consideration. [This bill goes to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to transfer money from the deposite banks in any State or Territory to any other deposite bank, when it is necessary to prevent the accumulation of too much of the public money in any one bank.] Mr. MANGUM moved to lay the bill on the table, but withdrew the motion. Mr. WALKER renewed the motion, and it was negatived. The amendment of the committee was concurred in, and the bill was ordered to be engrossed. Mr. MANGUM moved that the Senate take a recess till seven o'clock; which was agreed to. EVENING SESSION. The bill supplemental to the act to regulate the public deposites was read the third time and passed, by yeas and nays, as follows: YEAS-Messrs. Bayard, Buchanan, Clayton, Cuthbert, Davis, Ewing of Ohio, Goldsborough, Hendricks, Kent, King of Alabama, King of Georgia, Linn, Nicholas, Niles, Page, Porter, Preston, Robbins, Robinson, Southard, Swift, Tomlinson, Wall, Wright-24. NAYS-Messrs. Benton, Brown, Mangum, Moore, Walker, White-6. Mr. T. accompanied this motion with some remarks in its favor. Mr. EWING, of Ohio, said that there were, no doubt, many advantages in the proposition of the gentleman from Indiana, but he thought it too late in the session now to obtain information from the General Land Office, which was necessary before making so important a change. Mr. TIPTON's motion was rejected, and the bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading. It was, in a subsequent part of the evening, read the third time and passed. RESPECT TO JAMES MADISON. [SENATE. and affection it may be proper for the Congress of the United States to express the deep sensibility of the nation in the event of the decease of Mr. Madison, reported the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted: "The President of the United States having communicated to the two Houses of Congress the melancholy intelligence of the death of their illustrious fellow-citizen, James Madison, of Virginia, late President of the United States, and the two Houses sharing in the general grief which this distressing event must produce Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the chairs of the President of the Senate and of the Speaker of the House of Representatives be shrouded in black during the residue of the session, and that the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the members and officers of both Houses, wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days. Resolved, That it be recommended to the people of the United States to wear crape on the left arm, as mourning, for thirty days. Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to transmit a copy of these resolutions to Mrs. Madison, and to assure her of the profound respect of the two Houses of Congress for her person and character, and of their sincere condolence on the late afflicting dispensation of Providence. After transacting a large amount of other business, principally in relation to bills, The Senate adjourned at about half past 12 o'clock. lowing effect: Gentlemen of the Senate: This flattering manifestation of the confidence and respect of my brother Senators fills my heart with the liveliest sensibility. To be called to preside over the deliberations of the Senate of the United States, distinguished as it is for intelligence, moral worth, and a patriotic devotion to the principles of liberty, is an honor of which the first in this land might be justly proud. I shall enter, gentlemen, upon the discharge of the duties which your kindness has devolved upon me, with the determination to discharge them zealously, faithfully, and impartially. I am, however, fully aware that, unless I am sustained by the Senate, all my efforts correctly and usefully to discharge them must prove vain and fruitless; but the order, the decorum, which has heretofore so eminently distinguished the Senate of the United States; the courtesy and good feeling which has uniformly marked the official and social intercourse of its members, gives to me the strongest assurance that I may confidently rely on their kindness and support. I earnestly request honorable Senators to make proper allowances for the errors into which I may occasionally fall, and to aid me in correct Mr. RIVES, from the select committee appointed to meet such committee as might be appointed by the other House to consider and report by what token of respecting them. Mr. PRESTON moved the Senate to take up the resolution of the Committee on Foreign Relations on the subject of Texas. [JULY 1, 1836. ment, carried even to the point of timidity in reference to Greece; and referred to the fact that General Houston had seconded his resolutions on the subject of sending commissioners to that republic. Mr. WALKER made some remarks to show that Mexico had never exercised the power of government in Texas, except during a short interval when Santa Anna was in Texas. Mr. PRESTON made some remarks, in the course of which he stated that he had with difficulty restrained himself from offering an amendment to recognise the independence of Texas immediately. He gave a brief Mr. BUCHANAN concurred in every sentiment exnarrative of the events of the revolution in Texas, and pressed in the report of the committee, and congratustated that he had this morning received authentic infor-lated the Senate on the spectacle exhibited by the peomation, in the form of a letter from Mr. Austin, which confirms the statement that General Filasola had carried into effect the armistice agreed on between the Texian Government and Santa Anna. This treaty Mr. P. regarded as amounting to a recognition on the part of Mexico of the independence of Texas. The Vice President of Texas was about to proceed to Vera Cruz, to enforce from the mouths of the Texian guns the conclusion of a definitive treaty of peace between the two countries. Mr. P. continued, at some length, to expatiate on the situation and achievements and claims of Texas, and adverted to certain treaty stipulations with Mexico concerning the Indians west of the Sabine, which stipulations it would only be in the power of Texas now to carry into effect. He concluded with offering to amend the resolution by adding an expression of the gratification which the Senate felt on hearing of the course taken by the President of the United States to obtain information of the situation of Texas. Mr. CLAY said he had no objection to the amendment, as it is in consonance with the tone of the report. He did not agree that the fact of a new State having expelled her enemy, or having even captured the head of the hostile force, was, of itself, sufficient to warrant a recognition of her independence as one of the family of nations. In reference to the remark of the Senator that Texas only could carry into effect the treaty we have negotiated with Mexico, (Mr. C. said,) no principle in the law of nations was more settled than that the branches of a nation were bound to fulfil the stipulations of a treaty made by the head; and Texas was now as much bound by the treaty with Mexico, as was Mexico herself. We are bound to have some sympathy with the people of Mexico, while we heap indignities upon the vainglorious and cruel tyrant Santa Anna; and he hoped that this would be a cherished feeling towards the eight | millions of the people of Mexico, and that we would wait so long as to give them an opportunity, in the first place, to recognise the independence of Texas, by the treaty which the Senator had said the Vice President of Texas was on his way to Vera Cruz to conclude. This would be the course most glorious and most advantageous to Texas. If he were to yield to his own feelings merely, he might be inclined not only to recognise Texas, but to go still farther to promote the interests of those who are struggling for their freedom. As soon as the information desired by the President should be obtained, (and the sooner the better,) he hoped the President would take that course which would be most in conformity with the feelings of the American people. ple of the United States, who, although operated upon by the strongest feelings of indignation at the outrageous conduct of the Mexicans, had confined themselves within the limits of our established policy. He did not perceive that any disadvantage could result to Texas from a little delay, now that she is in the full tide of her prosperity. Mr. CALHOUN congratulated the Senate on the tone of the discussion; stated that he had hoped we shoud be ready to recognise Texas before now; but under existing circumstances, he thought we should only go at present so far as the report and resolution contemplate. Mr. NILES said that he did not wish to prolong the debate; yet, from the relation in which he stood to the subject, he felt it a duty to express his approbation of the resolution which had been reported by the Committee on Foreign Affairs. He fully concurred in the views of the committee. He thought they had gone far enough, and had stopped at the proper point. He had on a former occasion expressed the opinion that it would be premature unqualifiedly to recognise the independence of Texas at this time, and he had seen nothing to change this opinion. In determining the question of the propriety of the recognition of the independence of Texas, there are two points of investigation: the first, whether the people of that portion of the country are in fact an independent and distinct community, exercising the powers of self-government; and, the second, whe ther there are reasonable grounds to believe that they are in a condition to maintain their independence. In relation to the first question, there was no difficul ty; the dominion of Mexico over Texas is completely and effectually overthrown, and the people have established a constitution and Government for themselves, founded on liberal principles, similar to those forming the basis of our own institutions. They are at this time de facto a free and independent State, governing themselves, and managing their own affairs. This elevated position, and the rights pertaining to it, no people have stronger claims to; they have been achieved and won by their valor, sacrifices, and sufferings, almost unparalleled in so short a contest. Animated by a spirit of liberty and independence, they have contended against fearful odds, with courage and determination that could hardly fail of success, and which led to the glorious victory of Saint Jacinto--a victory not surpassed in the records of modern warfare. By this single victory, not only the power of the Mexican chief was overthrown, but that of the Mexican nation, which still acknowledges him as at the head of its Government. Texas is now free and independent; she has thrown off the dominion of Mexico, and stands forth to the world Mr. WEBSTER added a few words to express his en- as a separate and sovereign State. But before we can tire acquiescence in the resolution of the committee and extend our arms to receive and embrace her as a memthe amendment. He was willing to go so far as to vote ber of the family of nations, we must be reasonably sat. funds to enable the President to send out a proper min- isfied that she is capable of maintaining the high attitude ister. But against a direct recognition he thought there she has assumed; we must look not only to her military existed strong objections. It was the proper function of power, but to the number and condition of her people. the President to take the lead in this matter. He was of Has she a population, has she resources, sufficient to the opinion that the recency of the revolution was an sustain the rank and character of an independent State? objection to immediate recognition. Time was expe- Her population is limited; in Texas proper it does not dient where the object was not of peculiar urgency. He perhaps exceed sixty thousand; and in the whole terriadverted to the generally cautious policy of our Govern-tory, including the State of Cobuibui, less than two hun JULY 1, 1836.] dred thousand. Texas. This, it must be confessed, is a small population for an independent State; but it is to be remembered that all power is relative; and, in judging of the capacity of the Texians to sustain themselves as an independent people, we must also look to the condition and strength of Mexico. It is well known that the republic of Mexico, if such it can be called, has for more than twenty years been agitated and distracted by successive revolutions; that the power has been transferred from one chief to another, according to the fortune of war, or the success of the intrigues and ambitious schemes of political aspirants. In these protracted struggles, and almost continuous civil broils, the nation has become enfeebled and exhausted, and the people impoverished and plundered by the rapacity of the chiefs and military rulers. Although possessed of a considerable population, Mexico is a weak and feeble State. She has no navy, and possesses none of the elements for constructing one. The physical position and advantages of a State form an important element in its means and capacity of defence. On the Rio del Norte there is a desert of sixty miles in breadth, which seems to be a natural barrier that separates the southern from the northern portion of the Mexican territory. Or it may become the barrier and natural boundary between two great nations on this continent; the one extending south to the isthmus of Darien, the other embracing the whole country north. If Texas is a small community for an independent State, it is to be borne in mind that there are many small independent States in Europe, surrounded by the most powerful nations; such are Portugal, Switzerland, and others. However small a State may be, yet if it have asserted and established its independence, and from physical or other causes, or the weakness of the Power claiming dominion over it, it is able to maintain it, the small amount of its population, and its weakness, as compared with the large Powers of the earth, form no objections to its being recognised and received into the family of nations. The same principles of justice and of national law apply to a small State as to a large one. In either case the question is, is it in fact independent? Is it in the possession of a Government and civil constitution, and in a condition to maintain them? In estimating the capacity of Texas to sustain the attitude she has assumed in relation to Mexico, we must not overlook the character of her population, a large portion of them having been emigrants from the United States, enterprising and enlightened. The intelligence, the physical and moral energies, of a people are of more importance than their numbers. How many Mexicans are equal to one Texian? Let the victory of Saint Jacinto answer. Mr. N. said he would not touch on the ulterior questions connected with this subject; and he regretted that the honorable Senator from South Carolina [Mr. CALHOUN] had alluded, to the annexation of Texas to the United States. When considering the question of her independence, he thought it should be kept free from even any suggestions regarding the probable future destiny of that country. It might occasion suspicions injurious to the honor and purity of our conduct, to connect any views of ultimate aggrandizement or accession of territory with the question of doing justice to a brave people upon our borders struggling for their rights. Whatever may be the ultimate destiny of that country, or its influence on that of this republic, he was not disposed to inquire on this occasion, as no considerations of that character ought to influence us, either to grant or withhold a recognition. Whether it would be for the interest and safety of the United States to purchase Texas, was a question that he did not wish to see connected with the one before the Senate; that question, [SENATE. should it ever arise, would probably be found beset with many difficulties, and may excite a deep conflict of feelings. He would only say, that destiny, which no legislative foresight or human sagacity can control, had no doubt intimately connected Texas with the United States. Nothing can be more clear than this. She is upon our borders, and is and will be settled by citizens of this Union, speaking our own language, carrying with them the spirit of our free institutions, and the same love of liberty glowing in their hearts. Destiny had established intimate political connexion between the United States and Texas; but what that relation would be, whether that territory would be annexed to this Union, and form one or more States, or whether it would exist as an independent nation under the protection of the United States, time only could determine. Such political rela. tions were not incompatible with the rights of sovereignty and independence, and have long existed between England and Portugal. That Texas would be able to sustain the attitude she had assumed, he had little doubt; yet the recency of events there required that we should not be precipitate; time alone could test the stability and true condition of affairs in that country. He did not, however, concur with the honorable Senator from Pennsylvania, [Mr. BuCHANAN] that a recognition on the part of this Government at this time would not benefit Texas. He thought such an act would have great influence on her affairs; it would give them an impetus, powerful and irresistible; it would be the signal for the bold and enterprising citi zens of the United States to rush like a swelling flood into that country, to share in the toils, the glory, and the rewards, of the contest which is going on. But the very fact that an unqualified recognition of the independence of Texas would exert so potent an influence in her cause, is a strong reason against such a measure in the present unsettled state of the contest. It might throw a suspi. cion upon our neutrality, if an act of this Government should have a direct agency in effecting the independence of a country lying upon our borders, and which may hereafter be annexed to our territory. The resolutions now before us, containing a qualified recognition, will no doubt have a favorable and salutary influence on the cause of Texian independence and liberty. It will be a voice from a great, free, and kindred people, which cannot fail to cheer, animate, and encourage the brave men on our southern border, who have shown themselves so deserving of freedom and so capable of maintaining it. This voice will reverberate throughout the Union, and its influence will not be slow nor small on our own citizens. Aroused by a spirit of liberty and enterprise, a strong current is setting that way, and its course will be onward, strong, and irresistible. If the adoption of these resolutions shall contribute to give a favorable impulsation to the cause of Texas, he should rejoice at it; for so far as it is right for this Government to go, without being exposed to the slightest imputation of an improper interference or a disregard of the strictest obligations of neutrality, so far he was prepared to go. He would scrupulously guard the national honor and faith, and strictly adhere to those principles of action which have ever controlled the course of this Government in its connexions with other nations; but these resolutions will not conflict with those principles, whilst I think they may have a favorable and salutary influence on the cause of Texian independence and freedom. He hoped they would be adopted with perfect unanimity. Mr. SOUTHARD said: Mr. President, the opinion and wishes expressed by the Senator from South Carolina [Mr. CALHOUN] induce me to say a few words before the vote is taken. I am willing to give my assent to the resolution presented for our consideration by the Committee on Foreign Rela tions, and also to the amendment offered by the Senator from South Carolina, [Mr. PRESTON.] They may be justified by the events which have occurred, and by the case as it appears before us; but I am not willing to proceed further, nor bind myself to any ultimate course on the subject. We are too ignorant of the existing condition of Texas, in many respects, and have too slight materials on which to form an estimate of her future prospects, to justify us, in our capacity as Senators, in pronouncing a decision that may implicate the interests of this nation with hers. Both in the principles avowed in the report of the committee, and in the conclusion at which it arrives in the resolution, we go quite as far as prudence and sound policy will permit. Even they may lead us, at no distant day, into difficulties of which our excited sympathies and ardent feelings do not, at this moment, take proper cognizance. I am not prepared to unite in the general expression of a belief that the independence of Texas is secured, and her struggle over. It seems to me impossible that this can be the case. Texas may--she probably will-at some period, perhaps not remote, establish her independence on a foundation which Mexico cannot shake. She has temptations to offer to enterprise, ambition, and avarice, to the better and the baser passions of our nature, which may draw to her very efficient aid in her conflict, and will, probably, carry her triumphantly through it. But I cannot persuade myself that the con test will not be renewed; and that Mexico will make no effort to reduce the rebellious province, and restore the State of Texas to the confederacy. If she should not, it will be one of the most extraordinary facts in the history of human society, and in the separation of States and nations. It seems to me incredible, when I reflect on the previous condition of that province, on the effects which must result from quietly yielding her independence, and on the population and wealth of the nation. No, sir, Santa Anna is not Mexico. His army was not the strength of that nation. She still has men and money-Bravos and Urreas--and it will not be long before we hear of them, in the administration of the Government, and at the head of armies, advancing upon Texas. I can found no opinion or act on the belief that there is an end of the conflict. [JULY 1, 1836. lead, in or out of this chamber, to the inference that all those who vote for the resolution concur with him in opinion. The question which he has started should be left perfectly open and free. Mr. BENTON rose and said he should confine himself strictly to the proposition presented in the resolution, and should not complicate the abstract question of recognition with speculations on the future fate of Texas. Such speculations could have no good effect upon either of the countries interested; upon Mexico, Texas, or the United States. Texas has not asked for admission into this Union. Her independence is still contested by Mexico. Her boundaries, and other important points in her political condition, are not yet adjusted. To discuss the question of her admission into this Union, under these circumstances, is to treat her with disrespect, to embroil ourselves with Mexico, to compromise the disinterestedness of our motives in the eyes of Europe, and to start among ourselves prematurely, and without reason, a question which, whenever it comes, cannot be without its own intrinsic difficulties and perplexities. Since the three months that the affairs of Texas have been the subject of repeated discussion in this chamber, I have imposed on myself a reserve, not the effect of want of feeling, but the effect of strong feeling and some judgment combined, which has not permitted me to give utterance to the general expression of my sentiments. Once only have I spoken, and that at the most critical moment of the contest, and when the reported advance of the Mexicans upon Nacogdoches, and the actual movement of General Gaines and our own troops in that direction, gave reason to apprehend the encounter of flags, or the collision of arms, which might compromise individuals or endanger the peace of nations. It was then that I used those words, not entirely enigmatical, and which have since been repeated by some, without the prefix of their important qualifications, namely, that while neutrality was the obvious line of our duty and of our interest, yet there might be emergencies in which the obligation of duty could have no force, and the calculations of interest could have no place; when, in fact, a man should have no head to think! nothing but a heart to feel! and an arm to strike! and I But, Mr. President, I should not have risen to express illustrated this sentiment. It was after the affair of these notions, if I had not understood the Senator from Goliad, and the imputed order to unpeople the country, South Carolina [Mr. CALHOUN] to declare that he re- with the supposititious case of prisoners assassinated, garded the acknowledgment of the independence of women violated, and children slaughtered, and these Texas as important, and principally important, because horrors to be perpetrated in the presence or hearing of it prepared the way for the speedy admission of that an American army. In such a case I declared it to be State as a member of our Union; and that he looked my sentiment-and I now repeat it, for I feel it to be in anxiously to that event, as conducing to a proper balance me-in such a case, I declared it to be my sentiment that of power, and to the perpetuation of our institutions. treaties were nothing, books were nothing, laws were am not now, sir, prepared to express an opinion on that nothing! that the paramount law of God and nature was question--a question which all must foresee will embrace every thing! and that the American soldier, hearing the interests as wide as our Union, and as lasting in their cries of helplessness and weakness, and remembering consequences as the freedom which our institutions seonly that he was a man, and born of woman, and the cure. When it shall be necessarily presented to me, I father of children, should fly to the rescue, and strike to shall endeavor to meet it in a manner suitable to its mag-prevent the perpetration of crimes which shock humanity nitude, and to the vital interests which it involves; but I will not, on the present resolution, anticipate it, nor can I permit an inference, as to my decision upon it, to be drawn from the vote which I now give. That vote is upon this resolution alone, and confined to it, founded upon principles sustained by the laws of nations, upon the unvarying practice of our Government, and upon the facts as they are now known to exist. It relates to the independence of Texas, not to the admission of Texas into this Union. The achievement of the one, at the proper time, may be justified; the other may be found to be opposed by the highest and strongest considerations of interest and duty. I discuss neither at this time; nor am I willing that the remarks of the Senator should I and dishonor the age. I uttered this sentiment not upon impulsion, but with consideration; not for theatrical effect, but as a rule for action; not as vague declamation, but with an eye to possible or probable events, and with a view to the public justification of General Gaines and his men, if, under circumstances appalling to humanity, they should nobly resolve to obey the impulsions of the heart instead of coldly consulting the musty leaves of books and treaties. Beyond this I do not go, and, except in this instance, I did not speak. Duty and interest prescribed to the United States a rigorous neutrality, and this condition she has faithfully fulfilled. Our young men have gone to Texas to fight; but they have gone without the sanc JULY 1, 1836.] Texas. [SENATE. tion of the laws and against the orders of the Govern- tions changed into foreign fabrics, and giving double ment. They have gone upon that impulsion which, in employment to the navigation of the country. New all ages, has carried the heroic youth of all countries to Orleans has taken the place of the Havana; it has become seek renown in the perils and glories of distant war. the entrepot of this trade; and many circumstances, not Our foreign enlistment law is not repealed. Unlike directed by law, or even known to lawgivers, have England, in the civil war now raging in Spain, we have combined to produce the result. First, the application not licensed interference by repealing our penalties: we of steam power to the propulsion of vessels, which, in have not stimulated action by withdrawing obstacles. the form of tow-boats, has given to a river city a prompt No member of our Congress, like General Evans in the and facile communication with the sea; then the advanBritish Parliament, has left his seat to levy troops in the tage of full and assorted cargoes, which brings the imstreets of the metropolis, and to lead them to battle and porting vessel to a point where she delivers freight for to victory in the land torn by civil discord. Our statute two different empires; then the marked advantage of a against armaments to invade friendly Powers is in full return cargo, with cheap and abundant supplies, which force. Proclamations have attested our neutral dispo- are always found in the grand emporium of the great sitions. Prosecutions have been ordered against viola- West; then the discriminating duties in Mexican ports in tors of law. A naval force in the gulf, and a land force favor of Mexican vessels, which makes it advantageous on the Sabine, have been directed to enforce the policy to the importer to stop and tranship at New Orleans; of the Government; and so far as acts have gone, the finally, our enterprise, our police, and our free instituadvantage has been on the side of Mexico; for the tions, our perfect security, under just laws, for life, Texian armed schooner the Invincible has been brought liberty, person and property. These circumstances, uninto an American port by an American ship of war. If directed by Government, and without the knowledge of parties and individuals still go to Texas to fight, the act Government, have given to New Orleans the supreme is particular, not national, compromising none but the advantage of being the entrepot of the Mexican trade; parties themselves, and may take place on one side as and have presented the unparalleled spectacle of the well as on the other. The conduct of the administration noblest valley in the world, and the richest mines in the has been strictly neutral; and, as a friend to that admin- world, sending their respective products to meet each istration, and from my own convictions, I have conform- other at the mouth of the noblest river in the world; ed to its policy, avoiding the language which would and there to create, in lapse of time, the most wonderirritate, and opposing the acts that might interrupt ful city which any age or country has ever beheld. A pacific and commercial communications. Mexico is our look upon the map of the great West, and a tolerable nearest neighbor, dividing with us the continent of capacity to calculate the aggregate of geographical adNorth America, and possessing the elements of a great vantages, must impress the beholder with a vast opinion Power. Our boundaries are co-terminous for more than of the future greatness of New Orleans; but he will only two thousand miles. We have inland and maritime look upon one half of the picture unless he contemcommerce. She has mines; we have ships. General plates this new branch of trade which is making the considerations impose upon each Power the duties of emporium of the Mississippi the entrepot of Mexican reciprocal friendship; especial inducements invite us to commerce, and the recipient of the Mexican mines, and uninterrupted commercial intercourse. As a western which, though now so great, is still in its infancy. Let Senator, coming from the banks of the Mississippi, and not Government mar a consummation so auspicious in from the State of Missouri, I cannot be blind to the con- its aspect, and teeming with so many rich and precious sequences of interrupting that double line of inland and results. Let no unnecessary collision with Mexico inmaritime commerce, which, stretching to the mines of terrupt our commerce, turn back the streams of three Mexico, brings back the perennial supply of solid money hundred mines to the Havana, and give a wound to a which enriches the interior, and enables New Orleans noble city which must be felt to the head spring and to purchase the vast accumulation of agricultural pro- source of every stream that pours its tribute into the duce of which she is the emporium. Wonderful are King of Floods. the workings of commerce, and more apt to find out its own proper channels by its own operations than to be guided into them by the hand of legislation. New Orleans now is what the Havana once was-the entrepot of the Mexican trade, and the recipient of its mineral wealth. The superficial reader of commercial statistics would say that Mexico but slightly encourages our domestic industry; that she takes nothing from our agriculture, and but little from our manufactures. On the contrary, the close observer would see a very different picture. He would see the products of our soil passing to all the countries of Europe, exchanging into fine fabrics, and these returning in the ships of many nations, our own predominant, to the city of New Orleans; and thence going off in small Mexican vessels to Metamoras, Tampico, Vera Cruz, and other Mexican ports. The return from these ports is in the precious metals, and, to confine myself to a single year, as a sample of the whole, it may be stated that, of the ten millions and three quarters of silver coin and bullion received in the United States, according to the custom-house returns during the last year, eight millions and one quarter of it came from Mexico alone, and the mass of it through the port of New Orleans. This amount of treasure is not received for nothing, nor, as it would seem on the commercial tables, for foreign fabrics unconnected with American industry, but, in reality, for domestic produc VOL. XII.-121 | Thus far Mexico has no cause of complaint. The conduct of our Government has been that of rigorous neutrality. The present motion does not depart from that line of conduct; for the proposed recognition is not only contingent upon the de facto independence of Texas, but it follows in the train, and conforms to the spirit, of the actual arrangements of the President General, Santa Anna, for the complete separation of the two countries. We have authentic information that the President General has agreed to an armistice; that he has directed the evacuation of the country; that the Mexican army is in full retreat; that the Rio Grande, a limit far beyond the discovery and settlement of La Salle in 1684, is the provisional boundary; and that negotiations are impending for the establishment of peace on the basis of separation. Mexico has had the advan tage of these arrangements, though made by a captive chief, in the unmolested retreat and happy extrication of her troops from their perilous position. Under these circumstances, it can be no infringement of neutrality for the Senate of the United States to adopt a resolution for the contingent and qualified acknowledgment of Texian independence. Even after the adoption of the resolution, it will remain inoperative upon the hands of the President until he shall have the satisfactory information which shall enable him to act without detriment to any interest, and without infraction of any law. |