FEBRUARY, 1847.] Three Million Loan Bill-Wilmot Proviso. is the result. Negotiation concluded, and a treaty presented to the Senate and rejected, and what will you have gained? Increased divisions, excitement, and disorder throughout the land; dangerous agitation, every thing, sir, which the mind can conceive or the eye look upon, threatening the disturbance of the peace and quiet of the people of this country. [29TH CONG. that will meet their approval; and my word for it, he will not find a dissenting voice. There is no party in this country willing to throw obstructions in the way of beneficial measures-measures for the advancement of the interests and the glory of this country. I know how apt we are to look upon the Representatives in these halls as opposed to each other upon all questions submitted to them, because they represent different portions of the country, and, to some extent, different interests; but, upon a question like this, it will be found that they represent but one people, hav the whole nation. Mr. CALHOUN moved that the subject be informally passed over. HOUSE OF REPRENTATIVES. MONDAY, February 8. Three Million Loan Bill-Wilmot Proviso. The House resolved itself into Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, (Mr. NORRIS in the chair,) and took up for consideration the bill appropriating three millions of dollars to bring the war with Mexico to a speedy and honorable termination. The bill having been read Again: suppose you make a treaty upon this basis, and it is confirmed by the Senate: what do you gain? You have additional territory; what do you propose to do with it? I suppose there is not a citizen of this country who, if the question were put to him, would not saying a common object to promote the good of that you have territory enough already. But you acquire additional territory. What else do you acquire? You will have acquired a large number of the population of Mexico, an ignorant, a fanatic, a disorderly people-a population having none of the elements of character in common with the people of this country-a population sprung from a different origin, having none of the blood of the Anglo-Saxons running in their veins-a people differing from you in origin, in character, in feelings, and in principles-having nothing in common with you. What are you to do with them? Are you to govern them as you do your slaves in those States which now tolerate the institution of slavery? Are you to treat them as serfs belonging to the land which you acquire, as attached to the soil? Or will you put them on a level with the people of this country? Will you give them the privileges which your people enjoy, and enable them to regulate and control the destinies of the Government? Will you elevate them to the character of citizens of the United States, though it is now universally believed that the people of Mexico are entirely destitute of the capacity of self-government? Sir, if they are to constitute a portion of your population-if they are to become free citizens side by side with us-it may be that, in displaying those elements of character which render them now the most unstable, unsettled, inefficient population on the face of the globe, you may have the same difficulty in governing them that the authorities in Mexico have. I will acknowledge the energy and power of this Government, but at the same time remember their remoteness from the centre of action; remember the responsibility that you would incur, owing to their distance from the seat of power. You may pass your laws, but you may not be able to control the people and to enforce their obedience. Mr. C. J. INGERSOLL, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, went into a speech at large in explanation and support of the bill, in which he stated, in substance, that the money was wanted to buy New Mexico and California. He then went into some reInarks on the proviso which he understood his colleague (Mr. WILMOT) was going to offer to the bill, which he strenuously opposed. Mr. WILMOT then obtained the floor, and offered as an amendment, a proviso restricting the addition to the United States of any slave territory; and then yielded the floor to Mr. BOYD, who moved that the committee rise to receive in the House the report of the Committee of Conference on the army bill. The committee thereupon rose and reported progress. The House, on motion of Mr. Brodhead, returned into Committee of the Whole, (Mr. NORRIS again in the chair,) and resumed the consideration of the three million bill with Mr. WILMOT's proviso; and the question being on the adoption of the proviso Mr. WILMOT having the floor, refused to surrender it, and addressed the committee substantially as follows: Sir, in every aspect in which I can view this subject, it does seem to me that it becomes us I suppose, Mr. Chairman, it will be proper to pause before adopting a policy like this. for me to notify the committee that I intend to Let the President, in his confidential relations move to amend the bill by the additional secwith the two Houses, ask us, if he chooses, to tion which has been read, without now desigreceive a Message from him disclosing his nating any particular part of the bill in which policy; let him put this grant of three millions I intend it should come. And my anxiety in upon a known and recognized basis; let the this matter is not to deprive the gentleman country be satisfied that the appropriation is from Virginia, (Mr. DROMGOOLE,) or anybody intended to accomplish a great national object | else of the opportunity to move any amend 2D SESS.] Three Million Loan Bill-Wilmot Proviso. ment to the bill they may wish, but I am embarrassed by these rules of the House, (with which I am little acquainted,) and my object is, the opportunity to be heard upon this question fairly, and not to be deprived, by any parliamentary restrictions, of the opportunity of vindicating this amendment, and vindicating the position which I occupy before the House and the country. Sir, it will be recollected by all present, that at the last session of this Congress, an amendment was moved to a bill of a similar character by me, in the form of a proviso, by which slavery should be forever excluded from any territory that might be subsequently acquired by the United States from the republic of Mexico. Sir, permit me to say, that upon that occasion that proviso was sustained by a very decided majority of this House. Nay, sir, niore; it was sustained, if I mistake not, by a majority of the republican party on this floor. And I am prepared to show, I think, that the entire South were then willing to acquiesce in what appeared to be, and, so far as the action of this House is concerned, in what was the legislation, will, and declaration of this Union on the subject. It passed in this House. Sir, there were no threats of disunion sounded in our ears. It passed here, and it went to the Senate, and it was the judgment of the public, and of many men well informed, that had it not been defeated there for the want of time, it would have passed that body and become the established law of the land. [FEBRUARY, 1847. Mr. SIMS, of South Carolina (Mr. W. yielding) said he recollected, when the question was under discussion here, near the close of the last session, that he had made remarks sustaining the propriety of the two-million appropriation; but in the course of these remarks, he deprecated, as untimely and mischievous, the proposition which was likely to come from the gentleman from Pennsylvania; and the entire South, so far as he recollected, (he knew that he did, at least,) when the proviso was voted upon, voted against it; and he voted against his declared sentiments in reference to the appropriation; so unwilling was he to give any countenance to such a proviso. Mr. WILMOT (resuming.) I was aware that the proviso met with no favor from the South. I did not mean to declare that it did; and if the gentleman so understood me, he misunderstood me. I did not mean to say that the South was favorable in any way to the proviso which I offered. They resisted it, manfully, boldly resisted it. But, sir, it was passed. And there was then no cry that the Union was to be severed in consequence. No, sir. But I fear that the hesitation and the warning of Northern men on this question has induced the South to assume a bolder attitude. Why, sir, in God's name, should the Union be dissolved for this? What do we ask in this matter? We ask but sheer justice and right. It was a question of compromise. I would go as far as any man in this House for compromise. Were it a question of concession and compromise, I might perhaps say to the North, Concede again, as you have done before; yield all; bow to the South, as you have done on all previous occasions-yield this also. But it is a question of naked and abstract right; and, in the eloquent language of my colleague from the Erie district, (Mr. THOMPSON,) Sooner shall they draw this right shoulder from its socket, than I will yield one jot or tittle of the ground on which I stand. Sir, the friends of this Administration, of whom I am one, did not then charge upon me, did not throw the whole burden upon me, nor upon those who acted with me, of having, by the introduction and support of that proviso at an untimely period of the question, defeated a measure especially necessary for the establishment of peace between this country and Mexico. The "Union," sir, the whole Democratic press in the land, charged this upon the unparliamentary conduct of a Senator from Massa- What, then, do we ask? Sir, we ask the chusetts. He was charged with having defeated neutrality of this Government on this question this great measure, by the Administration of slavery. I have stood up at home, and press, and the "Organ" of the Administration; fought single-handed-no, I was not singleshowing that the Administration and the Pres-handed, because my party was with me-but I ident were entirely willing to accept of this appropriation under the restrictions imposed by the proviso which I offered. Yes! no anathemas were fulminated against me then. I was not then denounced as an abolitionist by the correspondents of the "Union," as I have been since, and from which charge I intend to vindicate myself. And I say to its respectable editor, for whom I have high respect and regard, that I am no more an abolitionist than he is a Hartford-Convention Federalist; and of that, no man who knows his history or his character will charge him. I am as far from the one as he is from the other. I assert, then, that the South was prepared to acquiesce in this restriction. have stood at home, and fought, time and again, against the Abolitionists of the North. I have denounced them publicly, upon all occasions, when it was proper to do so. I have met them in their own meetings, and assailed them. And, sir, the efforts that may be made, here or elsewhere, to give an abolition complexion to this movement, cannot, so far as my district and my people are concerned, have the least effect. And efforts made to give me the character of an abolitionist, will fall harmless when they reach my constituency. They know me upon this question distinctly. I stand by every compromise of the constitution. I adhere to its letter and its spirit. And I would never invade one single right of the South. So far from it am I, that I stand ready, at all times FEBRUARY, 1847.] Three Million Loan. [29TH CONG. and upon all occasions, as do nearly the entire | this? It is not, sir, in the spirit of the comNorth, to sustain the institutions of the South pact; it is not, sir, in the constitution. as they exist, with our money and with our blood, when that day comes, as many-many Southern men-fear it may come. When that day comes, sir, the North stands with them. We go for every compromise of the constitution. IN SENATE. Three Million Loan. The Senate proceeded to the consideration of the special order, being the bill making a special appropriation to bring the war with Mexico to a speedy and honorable conclusion the question pending being the amendment of Mr. Cass. Mr. CALHOUN rose and addressed the Senate. Never (said he) since I have been upon the stage of action, has this country been placed in a more critical situation than at present. We are not only in the midst of a war, a very difficult and very expensive war, but we are involved in a domestic question of the most irritating and dangerous character. They both claim our serious and deliberate consideration, and I do trust, that before this session closes, late as it is, they will both receive a full discussion. It is due to our constituents that the actual state of things in reference to both should be fully understood. For the present, I purpose to consider the question which is more immediately pending: How shall this war be best conducted in order to bring it most advantageously to a successful termination? or, to express it a little more fully, How shall it be conducted to enable us most advantageously to effect all the objects for which the war was made? for it is only by effecting these objects, that the war can properly be said to be suc But, sir, this is another question-entirely another question. We ask that this Government preserve the integrity of free territory against the aggressions of slavery-against its wrongful usurpations. Sir, I was in favor of the annexation of Texas. I supported it with the whole influence which I possessed, and I was willing to take Texas in as she was. I sought not to change the character of her institutions. Texas was a slave country; and although it was held out to us, in the celebrated letter of Mr. Walker, that two slave and two free States might be made out of it, yet the whole of Texas was given up to slavery, every inch. For although the Missouri compromise line was mentioned in the resolutions of annexation, yet no State can be admitted without the consent of the original State of Texas; and she, by her refusal to allow any free State to be formed out of her limits, may keep that whole country for slavery. We voted for the annexation of Texas. The Democracy of the North was for it, to a man. We are for it now-firmly for it. Sir, we are fighting this war for Texas, and for the South. I affirm it; here is a matter well known to the Union. We are fighting this war cheerfully, not reluctantly; cheerfully fighting this war for Texas; and as we seek not to change the character of her institutions, slavery was recog-cessful. nized there, and established by law. Now, sir, There are two ways (continued Mr. C.) in we are told that California is ours; and so it which this war may be conducted. The one is. I intend to refer more particularly to this is, to push on offensive operations until Mexico subject before I conclude. But, we are told, is compelled to yield to our terms; the other California is ours. And all we ask in the North is, to take a defensive position, and to maintain is, that the character of its territory be pre- and secure the possession of the country which served. It is free; and it is part of the estab-is already in our military occupation; and the lished law of nations, and all public law, that question which I propose now to consider is, when it shall come into this Union, all laws which of these two ought to be selected? This there existing, not inconsistent with its new is, Mr. President, a great question; in my opinallegiance, will remain in force. This funda- ion it is next in importance only to the war mental law, which prohibits slavery in Cali- itself. I have given it my most deliberate confornia, will be in force; this fundamental law, sideration, and the result to which I have come which prohibits slavery in New Mexico, will is, that we ought to choose the defensive posibe in force. Shall the South invade it? Shall tion, and I shall now proceed to state the the South make this Government an instru- reasons on which that conclusion is founded. ment for the violation of its neutrality, and for I believe that such a course is the best calcuthe establishment of slavery in these territories, lated to bring this war to a successful terminain defiance of law? That is the question. tion, or, to express it more fully and more exThere is no question of abolition here, sir. It plicitly, (for I wish to be fully comprehended is a question whether the South shall be per-upon this important question,) to bring it to a mitted, by aggression, by invasion of right, by subduing free territory and planting slavery upon it, to wrest this territory to the accomplishment of its own sectional purposes and schemes? That is the question. And shall we of the North submit to it? Must we yield certain successful termination, and that with the least sacrifice of men and money, and with the least hazard of disasters or sacrifices, or loss of reputation or standing to this country. If he rightly understood the objects for which this war was declared, he felt a deep 2D SESS.] Three Million Loan. [FEBRUARY, 1847. the cost of that war. I hold, then, Mr. President-such being the objects of the war-that all those objects for which it was declared can be accomplished by taking a defensive position. Two of them have been already thoroughly two brilliant victories; the Rio del Norte is held from its source to its mouth as the American boundary; a single Mexican soldier does not remain within our territory; and such has been the success of our arms, that we have not only acquired enough territory from them, but vastly more than enough to indemnify us for the expenses of the war, if it should be the judgment of this body that it would be a sound, wise, or just policy on our part to seek such indemnity. Here, then, we have the question presented, shall we hold to the line we now occupy, and which we cover by our military forces, comprehending two-thirds of the whole of Mexico, embracing the valley of the Rio del Norte on both sides, as far upward as the Sierra Madre, and down to the extremities of Upper California and New Mexico-shall we hold all this, or shall we select some other position better calculated for the object we have in view? Sir, I am not at all prepared to discuss this point. I have not the requisite information, and, if I had, it would not be necessary, with the object I have in view. What I propose to discuss, in the absence of such information, is, what considerations ought to govern us if this point were determined-if it were determined that a defensive line is the course of policy to be pursued; and this again must be deduced from the objects contemplated by the war. conviction, that by assuming this defensive attitude all those objects might be obtained; if he rightly understood, he repeated, for, strange as it might seem, the objects for which the war was commenced were left, even at this late day, to inference. He had examined the Mes-effected. The invasion has been repelled by sage of the President to Congress, containing his recommendations that Congress should make war-the Messages rather, and the acts of this body arising out of them-for the purpose of discovering the objects for which the war should be undertaken. The result of that examination was, that the objects for which the war was made were threefold: first, to repel invasion; next, to establish the Rio del Norte as the western boundary of Texas; and, thirdly, to obtain payment of the indemnities due to our citizens for claims which they held against Mexico. The two first appeared to him to be the primary objects of the war, and the last only accessory. The President, in his Message, did not recommend Congress to declare war. No; he assumed that the war already existed, and called upon Congress to recognize its existence. The President assumed it to exist, because the country had been invaded, and blood had been spilt on American soil. This assumption he predicated on the ground that the Rio del Norte was the western boundary of Texas; and he alleged that the Mexicans had crossed that boundary-had come to the American side-which he affirmed was an invasion; and the war having been thus entered upon, he recommended likewise that it should be prosecuted in reference to the claims of our citizens. The act of Congress declaring that war had been made by the republic of Mexico recognized the Rio del Norte to be the western boundary of Texas, and affirmed that the crossing of that river by the Mexicans coustituted an act of invasion. Hence, both the executive and the legislative branches of this Government were committed to the fact that the Rio del Norte was the western boundary of Texas, and that the crossing it was an invasion on the part of the Mexicans. These were clearly primary objects. But in recommending the war, the President recommended that it be prosecuted for the objects which he had already mentioned, among which was that of indemnity to our citizens, an object which, though not a sufficient cause of war in itself, yet, being involved in war, it appeared to him might properly be made one of the causes for which the war should be prosecuted, that all causes of difference might be settled. These were the three objects of the war. But (continued Mr. C.) the President now further recommends that the war be prosecuted in order to obtain indemnity for the expenses of the war itself. That can, however, in no sense be considered as one of the primary objects of the war, though it may be said to be a legitimate policy; for it can never be supposed that a country would enter upon a war for the mere purpose of being indemnified for He would now proceed to state what, in his opinion, those considerations were; the first of which necessarily must be to effect the objects they had in view in declaring the war, viz., to repel invasion, to acquire the territory as far east as the Del Norte, to establish that as our boundary, and to compel the payment of the indemnities due to our citizens. And, as far as these considerations were concerned, they ought not to go an inch beyond them; they ought to avoid the appearance even of taking possession of any portion of the country in the way of conquest. But what was to be demanded by these considerations might be enlarged by others, which he would now proceed to state. And, first, as to forming our boundary: he considered that it should be done in such a manner as would involve the smallest possible sacrifice of men and of money; and that it should possess all the natural advantages that such a boundary ought to possess, in order that supplies of men and provisions could readily be drawn from the adjacent country. The next consideration, in his opinion, which ought to govern them in selecting the line was: it ought to be convenient, to possess all natural advantages, to be tenable at the least expense, and to allow supplies to be introduced with the greatest facility, and such as it would be de FEBRUARY, 1847.] Three Million Loan. [29TH CONG. [Here Mr. Calhoun examined this proposed defensive line under all the aspects he suggested, and argued that, under every aspect it was preferable to occupy such a line to engaging in a march upon the city of Mexico-that it would be cheapest in money, cheapest in lives, most certain of bringing the Mexicans to terms-and, skirting our settlements nearly all the way, would be easily maintained and defended. He then displayed a view of the expenses and difficulties of a march upon the city of Mexico, and the uncertainty of its success if accomplished.] sirable for us to possess, if, upon the ultimate | Norte, a southern boundary of New Mexico, adjustment of our differences with Mexico, it and thence due west to the Gulf of California. should become the common boundary between Such a line will strike the Gulf nearly at its head. the two countries. And he would go further: Now, I propose to examine this line in referhe would say that it should be such a line as ence to the considerations which I have already would not deprive Mexico in the smallest pos- laid down as being those which ought to govern sible degree of her resources and her strength; us in determining upon a line of defence. for, while we consulted our own interests in establishing a defensive line, we should not overlook what was due to Mexico. He held that we ought to be just and liberal towards Mexico, not only because she was our neighbor; not only because she was a sister republic; not only because she was emulons now, and ever had been emulous, of imitating our example in the establishment of free institutions; not only because she was, next to ourselves, the greatest power upon this continent, amidst all the powers which had grown up from Spanish or other European origin; though these were high considerations, which every American ought to feel, and which every generous and sympathetic heart would feel, yet there were others, which referred more immediately to ourselves. Mexico was one of the greatest problems among nations; and, in his opinion, the true policy of this country was, not to repress her power, but, on the contrary, to render her strong, and capable of sustaining all those relations which might exist between her and other nations. He held that there was a mysterious connection between the fate of this country and that of Mexico, and that her independence and respectability, and capability of maintaining all those relations, were almost as essential to us as they were to Mexico. He held that Mexico was to us forbidden fruit; and that, if we should consume that fruit, it would be almost tantamount to the political death of our own institutions. The next consideration was, that the line should be so set that, if it should be finally established as the boundary between this country and Mexico, it would lead to a permanent peace, and that it should lead to as speedy a peace as possible; and for this purpose it should be eminently pacific. Now, (continued Mr. C.,) under this aspect of the question, I put it home to the Senate, is it worth while to pursue a war of this description, an offensive war, even if you were assured that you could reach the city of Mexico during this campaign and dictate such a treaty? Sir, what is to be the strength of the army which you propose to raise in order to accomplish this purpose? And what is the amount of money which will be required to carry on your military operations with that army? You propose to raise upwards of seventy thousand men, and to expend thirty-five or forty millions of dollars. Nay, we will suppose that you have an effective war establishment in the field of but fifty thousand troops. Now, what will be the end of the campaign? Suppose, by a concurrence of favorable circumstances, you have effected the whole that you contemplated by the employment of this force and the expenditure of this money, what then is the state of the case? Why, you will have sacrificed in the first place thirty millions of dollars to get to the city of Mexico to dictate this peace; and Now (continued Mr. C.) the question is, what the sacrifice of life will be, may be judged What would be such a line as would fulfil all by looking at the past. One-third must be put these requisitions? And here, again, I am not down as certain to perish, not by the sword, fully prepared to pronounce an opinion; for it but by disease; fifteen thousand lives, then, requires a more accurate acquaintance with must be sacrificed. And I now put this questhe country and more accurate military knowl- tion: Is it worth while that these sacrifices edge than I possess to determine this question. should be made in order to get that which is But, while I do not feel myself prepared with within your reach without any sacrifice at all? the necessary information to enable me to pro- Sir, I put a higher question, thirty millions of nounce upon this with accuracy, I am prepared dollars to be expended in pushing your war, to suggest a line which embraces most of those which must result in obtaining for us no more considerations as nearly, perhaps, as could be than we have already? Is there any man here desired; and, if I understand the wishes of the who would give for California fifteen millions Executive, as interpreted to us by the chairman of money? Yet we propose to prosecute a of the Committee on Foreign Relations, it is war at an expense of thirty millions, which is such a line as the Executive itself considers a to produce this result. Sir, I am but touching proper one. The line which I would suggest the shell of this matter as yet. Is there any is one beginning at the mouth of the Rio del certainty that you will reach the city of MexNorte and extending up to the pass of the Delico, or if you reach it, is there any certainty |