CHAPTER XII.

POLITICAL HISTORY.

1846-1849.

THE SLAVERY QUESTION BEFORE CONGRESS-INACTION AND DELAY-MILITARY RULE IN CALIFORNIA-MEXICAN FORMS OF CIVIL AND JUDICIAL GOVERNMENT MAINTAINED - FEDERAL OFFICIALS IN CALIFORNIA - GOVERNOR MASON-PRANKS OF T. BUTLER King-GoverNOR RILEY-LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY-CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION at MONTEREY-SOME BIOGRAPHIES PERSONNEL OF THE CONVENTION-MONEY MATTERS-ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTION-ELECTION.

In the anthem of human progress there is here and there a chorus of events which rolls its magnificent volume around the world, making all that went before or that follows seem but the drowsy murmur of the night. In this crash of chorus we regard not the instruments nor the players, but are lifted from the plane by the blended power of its thousand-stringed eloquence, and under the spell of its mighty harmonies become capable of those great emotions which lead to heroic deeds. The political history of California opens as such a chorus, whose mingling strains, distinctive heard for more than a decade, come from a few heavy-brained white men and four millions of negro slaves.

Calhoun, the great yet sinister Carolinian, knew, when he opposed the conquest of California, that the south, and he more than all, had brought about the event;1 and while pretending not to desire more ter

1 Benton, in the congressional debates of 1847, in which Calhoun opposed the acquisition of more territory, and into which he introduced his firebrand resolutions-see Cong. Globe, 1846-7, p. 455-made a clear case against Calhoun, showing unequivocally that either he had three times changed his

ritory, the slave power was covertly grasping at the Spanish-speaking countries beyond the Rio Grande,

policy, or that he was the Machaivelli of American politics. Benton's history of the causes of the war was as follows: "The cession of Texas is the beginning point in the chain of causes which have led to this war; for unless the country had been ceded away there could have been no quarrel with any power in getting it back. For a long time the negotiator of that treaty of cession [Mr J. Q. Adams] bore all the blame of the loss of Texas, and his motives for giving it away were set down to hostility to the south and west, and a desire to clip the wings of the slave-holding states. At last the truth of history has vindicated itself, and has shown who was the true author of that mischief to the south and west. Mr Adams has made a public declaration, which no one controverts, that that cession was made in conformity to the decision of Mr Monroe's cabinet, a majority of which was slave-holding, and among them the present senator from South Carolina [Mr Calhoun], and now the only survivor of that majority. He does not contradict the statement of Mr Adams; he therefore stands admitted the co-author of the mischief to the south and west which the cession of Texas involved, and to escape from which it became necessary, in the opinion of the senator from South Carolina, to get back Texas at the expense of a war with Mexico. This conduct of the senator in giving away Texas when we had her, and then making war to get her back, is an enigma which he has never yet condescended to explain, and which until explained leaves him in a state of selfcontradiction, which, whether it impairs his own confidence in himself or not, must have the effect of destroying the confidence of others in him, and wholly disqualifies him for the office of champion of the slave-holding states. It was the heaviest blow they had ever received, and put an end, in conjunction with the Missouri compromise and the permanent location of the Indians west of the Mississippi, to their future growth or extension as slave states beyond the Mississippi. The [Missouri] compromise, which was then in full progress, and established at the next session of congress, cut off the slave states from all territory north and west of Missouri, and south of 36° of north latitude; the treaty of 1819 ceded nearly all south of that degree, comprehending not only Texas, but a large part of the valley of the Mississippi on the Red River and the Arkansas, to a foreign power, and brought a non-slave-holding empire to the confines of Louisiana and Arkansas; the permanent appropriation of the rest of the territory for the abode of civilized Indians swept the little slave-holding territory west of Arkansas, and lying between the compromise line and the cession line, and left the slave states without one inch of ground for their future growth. Even the then territory of Arkansas was encroached upon. A breadth of 40 miles wide and 300 long was cut off from her and given to the Cherokees; and there was not as much territory left west of the Mississippi as a dove could have rested the sole of her foot upon. It was not merely a curtailment but a total extinction of slaveholding territory; and done at a time when the Missouri controversy was raging, and every effort made by northern abolitionists to stop the growth of the slave states. [The northern states, in 1824, gave nearly as large a vote for Calhoun for vice-president as they did for Adams for president.] The senator from South Carolina, in his support of the cession of Texas, and ceding a part of the valley of the Mississippi, was then the most efficient ally of the restrictionists at that time, and deprives him of the right of setting up as the champion of the slave states now. I denounced the sacrifice of Texas then, believing Mr Adams to have been the author of it; I denounce it now, knowing the senator from South Carolina to be its author; and for this, his flagrant recreancy to the slave interest in their hour of utmost peril, I hold him disqualified for the office of champion of the 14 slave states, and shall certainly require him to keep out of Missouri and to confine himself to his own bailiwick when he comes to discuss his string of resolutions. I come

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as it had at the lands beyond the Sabine, the whole to become a breeding-ground for millions more of

now to the direct proofs of the authorship of the war, and begin with the year 1836, and with the month of May of that year, and with the 27th day of that month, and with the first rumors of the victory of San Jacinto. The congress of the United States was then in session; the senator from South Carolina was then a member of this body; and without even waiting for the official confirmation of the great event, he proposed at once the immediate recognition of the independence of Texas, and her immediate admission to the union. He put the two propositions together-recognition and admission. ...Mr Calhoun was of opinion that it would add more strength to the cause of Texas to wait a few days until they received official confirmation of the victory and capture of Santa Ana, in order to obtain a more unanimous vote in favor of the recognition of Texas....He had made up his mind, not only to recognize the independence of Texas, but for her admission into this union; and if the Texans managed their affairs prudently, they would soon be called upon to decide that question. There were powerful reasons why Texas should be a part of the union. The southern states, owning a slave population, were deeply interested in preventing that country from having the power to annoy them; and the navigating and manufacturing interests of the north and east were equally interested in making it a part of this union. He thought they would soon be called on to decide these questions; and when they did act on it, he was for acting on both together-for recognizing the independence of Texas and for admitting her into the union....He hoped there would be no unnecessary delay, for in such cases delays were dangerous; but that they would act with unanimity and act promptly. Here, then, is the proof that ten years ago, and without a word of explanation with Mexico or any request from Texas-without the least notice to the American people, or time for deliberating among ourselves, or any regard to existing commerce-he was for plunging us into instant war with Mexico. I say, instant war; for Mexico and Texas were then in open war; and to incorporate Texas was to incorporate the war at the same time....I well remember the senator's look and attitude on that occasion-the fixedness of his look and the magisteriality of his attitude. It was such as he often favors us with, especially when he is in a crisis, and brings forward something which ought to be instantly and unanimously rejected, as when he brought in his string of abstractions on Thursday last. So it was in 1836-prompt and unanimous action, and a look to put down opposition. But the senate were not looked down in 1836. They promptly and unanimously refused the senator's motion....The congress of 1836 would not admit Texas. The senator from South Carolina became patient; the Texas question went to sleep, and for seven good years it made no disturbance. It then woke up, and with a suddenness and violence proportioned to its long repose. Mr Tyler was then president; the senator from South Carolina was potent under his administration, and soon became his secretary of state. All the springs of intrigue and diplomacy were immediately set in motion to resuscitate the Texas question, and to reinvest it with all the dangers and alarms which it had worn in 1836...all these immediately developed themselves, and intriguing agents traversed earth and sea, from Washington to Texas, and from London to Mexico.' I will now give a part of a letter, which Benton puts in evidence, from the Texan minister, Van Zandt, to Upsher, the American sec. of state, in Jan. 1844, and the reply of Calhoun, his successor, in April. In view, then, of these things,' said the Texan minister, 'I desire to submit, through you, to his excellency, the president of the U. S., this inquiry: Should the president of Texas accede to the proposition of annexation, would the president of the U. S., after the signing of the treaty and before it shall be ratified and receive the final action of the other branches of both governments, in case Texas should desire it, or with her consent, order such number of the military and naval

human chattels. To the original slave territory had been added, by consent of congress, the Floridas, which cost $45,000,000 in a war, and $5,000,000 decency money to bind the bargain; Louisiana, which cost $15,000,000, or as much of it as made three states; Texas, which cost $28,000,000 in the form of the Mexican war, and before we were done with it, between $18,000,000 and $19,000,000 in decency money. That the government was able to reimburse itself through the conquest of California does not affect the justice of the charge against the southern politicians, who were always ready with their cry of northern aggression, and the unconstitutionality of northern acts, while gathering to themselves all the acquired ter

2

forces of the U. S. to such necessary points or places upon the territory or borders of Texas or the gulf of Mexico as shall be sufficient to protect her against foreign aggression? This communication, as well as the reply which you may make, will be considered by me entirely confidential, and not to be embraced in my regular official correspondence to my government, but enclosed direct to the president of Texas for his information. To this letter Upsher made no reply, and six weeks afterward he died. His temporary successor, Attorney-general Nelson, did reply indirectly, but to say that the U. S. could not employ its army and navy against a foreign power with which they were at peace. Calhoun, however, when he became sec. of state, wrote: I am directed by the president to say that the secretary of the navy has been instructed to order a strong naval force to concentrate in the gulf of Mexico to meet any emergency; and that similar orders have been issued by the secretary of war, to move the disposable military forces on our southern frontier for the same purpose.' Cong. Globe, 1846-7, 494–501. I have not room for further quotations, but this is enough to show the southern authenticity of the Mexican war, which the democratic administration of Polk brought to a crisis in 1845-6, but which was ready prepared to his hand at the moment of his inauguration, by the scheming of the most bitter opponent of conquest -after the restriction of slavery began again to be agitated.

2 No more convincing reference could be made to prove the conciliatory spirit of the free states than the constitution itself, nor to show that they regarded slavery as local and temporary. Section 9 of article 1 declares: The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit shall not be prohibited by the congress previous to the year 1808, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.' The slave states were fewer in number and more thinly settled than the free states; therefore the latter, to equalize the power of the two sections, and secure the federation of all the states, made important concessions; and while saying that 'no capitation or direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken, and that representation should be determined by numbers, says further, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other persons,' meaning three fifths of the slaves in the slave states, which were not subject to taxation, though held as property, and though not acknowledged to be men, were represented in congress. See sec. 1, article 1, of the constitution.

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ritory, enjoying privileges of exemption from just taxation, and having excessive representation in congress and a preponderance of the political patronage. The north, in 1846, had more than twice the free voting population of the south, while the south had more states than the north,3 consequently more votes in the United States senate, with the privilege of a property representation in the lower house. Such was the aggressiveness of the north toward the south, of which for a dozen years we heard so much in congress.

It was said in seeming earnest that the south had not desired the acquisition of Mexican territory. This was but a feint on the part of the southern leaders. The whigs of the north and south, in the senate, opposed the war policy, while the democrats favored it. Nor was it different in the house of representatives. Yet when it came to be voted upon, the matter had gone past the nation's power to retract, and the last $3,000,000 was placed in the president's hands by a nearly equal vote in the senate, and a large majority in the house. Having done the final act, the people could exult in their new possessions, and elect a whig to the presidency for having been the conquering hero in the decisive Mexican battles.

The conquest of California had been a trifling mat

3 At the period when these discussions were being carried on, Feb. 1847, the northern or free states were Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Michigan, 14. The southern or slave states were Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas, 15. In August Wisconsin was admitted, which restored the balance in the senate. The struggle which followed over the admission of California was a battle for political supremacy as well as for slave territory. That this cause underlying this strife has been removed, the nation should be profoundly grateful.

Schenk of Ohio, speaking to the house of representatives, said: "This much we do know in the free states, if we know nothing else, that a man at the south with his hundred slaves counts 61 in the weight of influence and power upon this floor, while the man at the north with his 100 farms counts but 1. Sir, we want no more of that; and with the help of God and our own firm purpose we will have no more of it.' Cony. Globe, vol. 18, 1847-8, 1023.