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©27, 1844.TWO DOLLARS IN ADVANCE.3Yumber lt;i-ANNEXATION OF TEXAS,defend it, come from what quarter We invite the particular attention • t*,ie. a^ac^ as any of those whoof the reader to the following extract j r; ^ cfce^fec’ its PeCu‘t ... . j. * har guardians and protectors; manytrom a letter wnttan by the Hon, A. j of whom, however, 1 must say,evince Barrow, member of the Senate from j more zeal than judgment, more bra-the State of Louisiana. Coming as va{lo than true courage, in the courseit does from the extreme Soutl ern | Pn^sessino-*hlt;»n r I United States, dangerous to our peaceportion of the Union, somethin? of) birtheS ^fety, and will be resisted ac** *0 S’ capdinely.grocs to Engl and for $200 each., tthen j they would have to pay $AO0 eachI for those they might need in the COlin-j try of their adoption. This idea, therefore, is not well founded, but highly absurd and a gross insult to Texas. Wo were told the same thing in 1837, when. Texas applied for ad-mission into the Union. The accusation was false then, and the prediction will prove equally false now.— England, moreover, as Lord Aberdeen informs us, is desirous of the separate and independent existence of Texas, and we have good reason to believe that such is the wish of France. We have no right to doubt the sincerity of those great Powers, out at the same time I think it the duty of our government to make known to them, and to the world I hat any attempt on their part, or on the part of any other European pow-lt;r, to colonize Texas, or to interfere in her internal affairs, or to take her i nder their peculiar protection, will 1 e considered an aggression by the^ I an idea can be formed from it,7 what will induce Southerners to op-_ pose the Annexation of Texas. Mr. , J Barrow reasons like a Southerner, and in favor of Southern interests, and places his arguments in a clear, forcible position. Read it, and v0U will he well paid tor the trouble. ’ The ratification of the treaty of Annexation, now before the Senate, will inevitably, in my opinion, involve us in a war with Mexico, and in all probability, in a war with England, and perhaps with France. Every well wisher to the prosperity of our country would consider a war with the twowhat will induce Southerners to op- opinions and well matured convictions and to say nothing of interest, to watch over and protect, as far as I am able, the institution of slavery, I am decidedly of opinion that the annexation of Texas to the United States will not give any additional security to the South; and that on contrary, our position will be weakenuu nv the measurr. Let us suppose, for a mou.„;, 1hlt;1, y;cx_ ists now, or may hpreaiu. a fixed purpose on the part of our brctn ren of the non-slave-holding States to abolish slavery, would the annex- ......... .. ( aticm af Texas arrest that purpose, orlatter Powers, or cither of them, as a I would it not rather stimulate it? Saynational calamity; but in waging it. in the event supposed, no breach of treaties, no violation of the laws of nations could be justly charged a-gainst us; while, in the contest with Mexico our national honor would be .tarnished if not destroyed by the 'n-fraction of solemn treaty stipulatio is. Is national honornothing? Are treaty obligations to be disregarded wht n-ever it suits our convenience? Arc we prepared to show to the world by our acts, that we are ready at any time to wage an unjust war whenever we believe wo possess the physic al power to gratify an insatiable lust lor territory, or when we may consider that additional territory is needed to preserve a political equilibrium, or to interpose a protection to the peculiar institutions of the South, or for a iy other of the thousand purposes lor which reckless ambition might suggest the acquisition of additional territory.Say that Texas is annexed with in eye to the preservation of the balance of political power, how many slave states caiT we make out of it? Foar would be a liberal number. But, while we are carving out th€=?c States, would nothing be done in the Northwest? When the vast county north and west of Missouri, to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, comes to be peopled and formed into States, to say nothing of the Oregon Territory west of the Mountains, what becomes of this equilibrium? To maintain it wo shall have to acquire, ty war or otherwise, New Mexico, California, c.But this is not all, Wc know that in some of the States, such as Kentucky and Tennessee, the disposition to get rid of their slaves, and to turn their attention to manufactures, is increasing, and that in others, such as Maryland and Virginia, slave labor produces but a small return upon tl c capital invested. It is from these States that the South has been principally supplied with the slaves that she needed. Let Tesas be annexed, and such an opening will present thal,that they are even at this moment resolved en the abolition of slavery in the United States: of course they must be in favor of a dissolution of the Union, nnd to dissolve that at any time, for any cause, is to produce civil war. Any attempt on the part of the North to interfere with slavery must end in a disruption of the Union; none know this better than our Northern brethren, and none, I am sure, would deprecate such a result more than they. Interest, to say nothing of patriotism, would l'orbiil such an idea,The love of the Union is as strom in the North as in the South ; its dissolution would prove more disaster-ous to that portion of the country than to ours; and I must have stronger evidence than I now possess before I can believe in the existence of any serious or general wish in thi non-slave ho Id mg States to destroy the Union—before I will consent to accuse them of forgetting the exam pie of a noble ancestry, of degenerating from men who*e names clrtstcr in a glorious constellation around the era of the formation of the Constitution—before, in short, I can bring myself to brand them with the odious name of traitors. But, admit that the Ilot-spurs and Don Quixotes of the South are right, and, that I ara wrong in my opinion as to the -wishes and intentions of the people of the NortI on this subject, we ought then to expect civil war, and prepare for it. In the event of such a war, would n't the South be weaker with its white and slave population scattered over a territoiy stretching from the Delaware Bay to the Rio del Norte than it would were they confined to their present limits? Our population would be more scarse, the frontier to be defended double in length, the difficulty and expense of assembling troops and concentrating the munitions of war greatly increased. Any military mnn, as well as common sense, will tell you that it would be a much easier matter successfully to defend, gainst the assaults of a formidablein all probability, some, if not all cf Power, the other slave States, were these States, will be drained of their the white and black population ofslaves, as the South docs not possesi more, if as many as she requires, and would not be, therefore, able to furnish them. What, then, becomes of this bugbear of th© balance of political power, should all, or the most of these States join themselves, as in the course of time they would probably do, to the non-slaveholding States'5. The bcain will be kicked with a vengeance, and we shall run the risk of losing from our side and suppor. States already populous anil influential, for the uncertain purpose of securing the aid of country yet unsettled, and to settle which will necessarily weaken ourselves.Let me examine this question, of. political balance, in another aspect Southern gentlemen have afiirraec that unless Texas ia annexed, the North will have the preponderance in both branches of Congress, anc that then slavery will not be secure from the ruthless attacks of the abolitionists. My ancestor* emigrated from England more than one hundred years ago, and settled in Virginia, and their descendants, without a single exception that I know of, have from that period resided in the* slaveholding portion of the Unitec States. The destiny of the South will be the destiny of my children. 1 am, moreover, one of those who believe that the physical and moral condition of the slaves of the South is superior to that of many of the manufacturing and laboring classes of the old world ; and I do not believe tha'. slavery is a political or moral evil.— Whenever, therefore, the institution of slavery, guarantied by the compact of the Union, shall be seriously assailed, X shall be found as ready toAlabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri removed within the limits of the other eight slave States, than to defend the present 13 slave States. Any person who would contend that it would be as easy to defend, with the same or nearly the same means, a large and extended frontier as a comparatively smull and contracted one, must either be a fool himself, or expect others to be so.I am not one of those who believe in the notion industriously propagated by the friends of annexation, that, if the treaty is rejected, the Texians will unite themselves with, or sell their slaves to England. The present population cf Texas consists principally, almost entirely, of emigrants from the slaveholding States of our Union. By education, by habit, they are favorable to, and believe in the neccgity of slave labor, and they would be as prompt to repel any attack upon the institution of slavery as ourselves-To assume, therefore, that the Texians are prepared to form an alliance with England, upon the condition of the abolition of slavery for r stipulated price, is to assume that the whole of the present population are prepared to abandon Texas, and to remove either to Great Britain or to the free State# of this Union j for no Southern man can for a moment imagine that they will remain in a country where their slaves have become their equct?*.Equally violent ia the prompt ion that the Texians are prepkHd, or could bo induced, to fell their slaves to England, with the intention of becoming residents of the slave-holding States of the Union; for it osn hardly be supposed that they would be wil-owlingly.| By this much talked of treaty, the ' I nitcd States will be bound to assume the debt of Texas “should it nt exceed ten millions of dollars.5* Although this particular sum be specified, will we not be obliged to assume the debt even should it amount tc fifty millions, and are you prepared tr add so greatly to your present indebtedness, or in order to get rid-of it, would you be rilling to resort to thn cheap and easy mode of repudiation? a'79.oge thing* sometimes occur in ' P »n leu?, an(j j,aci f not becomeu y aware 01 ■*» fact, I should havo tn-cn astonished at thu .*vont,ry with w’lich some of the friends 01 at vocate the assumption of its debt, at the same time that they cannot lis-te 1 with patience to nny proposition which might be made for the nrrange-m ml or payment of the debt owing by some of the State*? already enclosed within the pale of the Union, *nd iv11tell, one might think, would be fir-tt entitled to their sympathies.I have thus, fellow-citizens, pre-se ited to you, in my “plain unvar-ni-died5 way, the views I cnteratin upon a question which, lam compelled to believe, has been agitated, In its inception and progress, rather with a view to the gratification of st fish ambition and tho attainment of power, than to promote the interests an 1 harmony of the whole country. Ar J, in conclusion, I would ask you to pause and reflect, ns I havo done, be ore you allow yourselves to he carried away by the specious but falie arguments of the advocates of this measure, I would ask, too, if im nediatc annexation is of such ovcr-wl elmvng importance that we should be ready to sacrifice for its attainment thlt; se great principles—such as a jia-iio ml currency,a tariff, a distribution oft he public lands—for which we have so long and so manfully contended? To obtain Texas, which can be ob-tai icd at this time only with danger and dishonor, are you willing to throw ovlt; rboard these and the other principles of the Whig party', and to toss aft-r them this man who is their truest am. best representative?A LEXANDEUBARROW.Washington, Mav 24, 1844.Serious Riots in Canada—-Proh-nhl Herohttion in the British Pravine-. .—Wo learn from passengers from the Canada frontier, who arrivedheri on Saturday, says the New York Sur,that terrific scents of riot and disi rdcr were being enacted last week near the Lachine canal. The facts, as i ear as wc can gather them, ore that tlie Irish laborers who were recently discharged for their inteforence at the Montreal election of a member of Parliament, assembled in great niur bers on Wednesday or Thursday, and commenced the work of destruction anc] bloodshed by destroying the woiks, attacking the contractors, and bea' ing the overseers. The military wet a called out, and marched to tho Beene of carnage and blood-shed.— A* ihe companies approached the rioter?, symptoms of disaffection were manifest in the ranks, but concealed from the officers.T ic spirit of revolt gradually spread among the army, and being drawn up I eforc the rioters, on receiving orders to fire, tbo soldiers grounded their arm?/ declaring their unwillingness to fire. The utmost consternation prevailed among Her Majesty's officers of the higher grades, whilo* the subordinates united with the revolutionists, and ordered the temporary seizure of all who would not join In the revolution.Such are the facts ns near as wo havlt; been able to collect them, from gentlemen of respectability, who had justftrrived from the frontier. Wc comess the story is rather improbable. The arrival of the Albany boat of S inday afternoon will decide the matter.ling or weak enough to tell their ne- year.A State Convention of women ha* beei called in Illinois to form a State Abo ition Society. We thought the women in those ,,diggillg■,, eftuld gem rally get married and find better business.The New York Commercial Advertiser states that Father Mathew has written to the Her. Mr. Kellogg, of Knox Collage, IHinois, that tnr-cvmstances compel-him to postpone his vkit to the XJ. States for another
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Madison Express
Madison, Wisconsin, US
Thu, Jun 27, 1844
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