lished in the capital of each district, and six months thereafter, neither will the introduction of slaves be permitted under any pretext."

[Translated from page 149, Vol. 5, Mexican laws.]

DECREE OF PRESIDENT GUERRERO.

Abolition of Slavery.

The President of the United Mexican States, to the inhabitants of the RepublicBe it known: That in the year 1829, being desirous of signalizing the anniver sary of our Independence by an act of national Justice and Beneficence, which may contribute to the strength and support of such inestimable welfare, as to secure more and more the public tranquillity, and reinstate an unfortunate portion of our inhabitants in the sacred rights granted them by nature, and may be protected by the nation, under wise and just laws, according to the provision in article 30 of the Constitutive act; availing myself of the extraordinary faculties granted me, I have thought proper to decree:

1. That slavery be exterminated in the republic.

2. Consequently those are free, who, up to this day, have been looked upon as slaves.

3. Whenever the circumstances of the public treasury will allow it, the owners of slaves shall be indemnified, in the manner which the laws shall provide. Mexico, 15th Sept. 1829, Á. D.

JOSE MARIA de BOCANEGRA.

[Translation of part of the law of April 6th, 1830, prohibiting the migration of citizens of the United States to Texas.]

ART. 9. On the northern frontier, the entrance of foreigners shall be prohibited, under all pretexts whatever, unless they be furnished with passports, signed by the agents of the republic, at the places whence they proceed.

ART. 10. There shall be no variation with regard to the colonies already established, nor with regard to the slaves that may be in them; but the general government, or the particular state government, shall take care, under the strictest responsibility, that the colonization laws be obeyed, and that NO MORE SLAVES BE

INTRODUCED.

COLONIZATION LAWS OF COAHUILA AND TEXAS.

ART. 35. The new settlers, in regard to the introduction of slaves, shall be subject to laws which now exist, and which shall hereafter be made on the subject.

ART. 36. The servants and laborers which, in future, foreign colonists shall introduce, shall not, by force of any contract whatever, remain bound to their service a longer space of time than ten years.

Given in the city of Leona Vicario, 28th April, 1832.

JOSE JESUS GRANDE, President.

In the course of my observations, I have several times asserted, that it was the intention of the insurrectionists to establish and perpetuate the system of slavery, by "Constitutional" provision. In proof of this, I now quote several paragraphs from the "CONSTITUTION" which they lately adopted. This extract is taken from that part under the head of "General Provisions," and embraces all that relates to slavery.

Sec. 8. All persons who shall leave the country for the purpose of evading a participation in the present struggle, or shall refuse to participate in it, or shall give aid or assistance to the present enemy, shall forfeit all rights to citizenship, and suck lands as they may hold, in the republic.

Sec. 9. All persons of color, who were slaves for life previous to their emigration to Texas, and who are now held in bondage, shall remain in the like state of servitude, provided the said slave shall be the bona fide property of the person so holding said slave as aforesaid. Congress shall pass no laws to prohibit emigrants from the United States of America from bringing their slaves into the republic with them, and holding them by the same tenure by which such slaves were held in the United States; nor shall Congress have the power to emancipate slaves; nor shall any slaveholder be allowed to emancipate his or her slave or slaves, without the consent of Con

gress, unless he or she shall send his or her slave or slaves without the limits of the republic. No free person of African descent, either in whole or in part, shall be be permitted to reside permanently in the republic, without the consent of Congress; and the importation or admission of Africans or negroes into this republic, excepting from the United States of America, is for ever prohibited, and declared to be piracy.

Sec. 10. All persons, (Africans, and the descendants of Africans, and Indians excepted,) who were residing in Texas on the day of the Declaration of Independence, [a great portion of the native Mexican citizens are, of course, excluded,] shall be considered citizens of the republic, and entitled to all the privileges of such. All citizens now living in Texas, who have not received their portion of land, in like manner as colonists, shall be entitled to their land in the following proportion and manner: Every head of a family shall be entitled to one league and "labor" of land, and every single man of the age of seventeen and upwards, shall be entitled to the third part of one league of land.

The adoption of a constitution, with such provisions as are here quoted, may be termed the crowning act-the finishing stroke of this monstrous scheme of oppression, so far as the expressed will of those concerned in it can be manifested by conventional regulation. When we look back to the commencement of their operations, and trace their movements, step by step, bearing in mind their open declarations upon various occasions, what man of reason and common sense can, for one moment, doubt that the re-establishment of slavery has been their principal object, their settled determination, from the beginning?

I have unfolded to the view of the attentive reader what I know to be the motives and intentions of the instigators. I have, by this means, endeavored to undeceive the honest portion of the great American community, who have not had sufficient opportunities to penetrate the veil of their masked designs, and have been imposed upon by their false pretensions. The very acts of the insurgents-even the whole systematic course of their proceedings-prove clearly the correctness of my charges and expositions. It will be seen that, instead of a desire to establish and perpetuate the liberal institutions of freedom and equality of rights, they have taken up arms against the Mexican government from motives of personal aggrandizement, avaricious adventure, and unlimited, enduring oppression. The alarming fact is also clearly and fully substantiated, that the influence of the SLAVEHOLDING PARTY in the United States is now so completely in the ascendant, and so thoroughly sways the deliberations and proceedings of our federal government, that it makes it the passive, if not the active, instrument, in extending and permanently establishing that horrible system of oppression, even in regions where it had been destroyed by the power of moral virtue and republican principle.

The period has indeed arrived-THE CRISIS IS AT HÅND—when the wise, the virtuous, the patriotic, the philanthropic of this nation, must examine, and reflect, and deeply ponder the momentous subject under consideration. Already we see the newspaper press in some of the free states, openly advocating the system of. slavery, with all its outrages and abominations. Individuals occupying influential stations in the community at large, also countenance and encourage it, and even instigate the vile rabble to oppose, maltreat, and trample on the necks of those who dare to plead the cause of the oppressed. At the ensuing session of our national congress, the great battle is to be fought, that must decide the question now at issue, and perhaps even seal the fate of this republic. The senators and representatives of the people will then be called on to sanction the independence of Texas, and also, to provide for its admission, as a SLAVEHOLDING STATE, into this Union. These measures will positively be proposed, in case the Mexican government fails to suppress the insurrection very soon, and to recover the actual possession of the territory. A few of our most eminent statesmen will resist the proposition with energy and zeal; but unless the PUBLIC VOICE be raised against the unhallowed proceeding, and the sentiments of the people be most unequivocally expressed in the loudest tones of disapprobation, they will be unable to withstand the influence and power of their antagonists. Arouse, then! and let your voice be heard through your primary assemblies, your legislative halls, and the columns of the periodical press, in every section of your country!

Citizens of the United States!-Sons of the Pilgrims, and disciples of Wesley

and Penn!-Coadjutors and pupils of Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin!-Advocates of freedom and the sacred "rights of man!"-Will you longer shut your eyes, and slumber in apathy, while the demon of oppression is thus stalking over the plains consecrated to the genius of liberty, and fertilized by the blood of her numerous martyrs?-Will you permit the authors of this gigantic project of national aggression, interminable slavery, and Heaven-daring injustice, to perfect their diabolical schemes through your supineness, or with the sanction of your acquiescence? If they succeed in the accomplishment of their object, where will be your guarantee for the liberty which you, yourselves enjoy? When the advocates of slavery shall obtain the balance of power in this confederation; when they shall have corrupted a few more of the aspirants to office among you, and opened an illimitable field for the operations of your heartless land-jobbers and slave-merchants, (to secure their influence in effecting the unholy purposes of their ambition,) how long will you be able to resist the encroachments of their tyrannical influence, or prevent them from usurping and exercising authority over you? ARISE IN THE MAJESTY OF MORAL POWER, and place the seal of condemnation upon this flagrant violation of national laws, of human rights, and the eternal, immutable principles of justice.-National Enquirer of Philadelphia.

JOHN Q. ADAMS.

Sir, in the authority given to congress by the constitution of the United States to declare war, all the powers incidental to war are, by necessary implication, conferred upon the government of the United States. Now, the powers incidental to war, are derived, not from internal municipal sources, but from the laws and usages of nations. In your relations with the Indian tribes, you never declare war, though you do make and break treaties with them, whenever either to make or to break treaties with them, happens to suit the purposes of the President and a majority of both houses of congress. For, in this matter, you have set aside the judiciary department of the government as effectually as if there were none such in the constitution.

There are, then, Mr. Chairman, in the authority of congress and of the Executive, two classes of powers, altogether different in their nature, and often incompatible with each other; the war power and the peace power. The peace power is limited by regulations, and restricted by provisions, prescribed within the constitution itself. The war power is limited only by the laws and usages of nations. The power is tremendous: it is strictly constitutional, but it breaks down every barrier so anxiously erected for the protection of liberty, of property, and of life. This, sir, is the power which authorizes you to pass the resolution now before you, and, in my opinion, there is no other."

And it was upon that same principle, that I voted against the resolution reported by the slavery committee, "that congress possess no constitutional authority to interfere, in any way, with the institution of slavery in any of the states of this con. federacy," to which resolution most of those with whom I usually concur, and even my own colleagues in this House, gave their assent. I do not admit that there is, even among the peace powers of congress, no such authority; but in war there are many ways by which congress not only have the authority, but are bound to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states. The existing law prohibiting the importation of slaves into the United States from foreign countries, is itself an interference with the institution of slavery in the states. It was so considered by the founders of the constitution of the United States, in which it was stipulated that congress should not interfere, in that way, with the institution, prior to 1808.

During the late war with Great Britain, the military and naval commanders of that nation, issued proclamations inviting the slaves to repair to their standards, with promises of freedom and of settlement in some of the British colonial establishments. This, surely, was an interference with the institution of slavery in the states. By the treaty of peace, Great Britain stipulated to evacuate all the forts and places in the United States, without carrying away any slaves. If the government of the United States had no authority to interfere, in any way, with the institution

of slavery in the states, they would not have had the authority to require this stipu lation. It is well known that this engagement was not fulfilled by the British naval and military commanders; that, on the contrary, they did carry away all the slaves whom they had induced to join them, and that the British government inflexibly refused to restore any of them to their masters; that a claim of indemnity was consequently instituted in behalf of the owners of the slaves, and was successfully maintained. All that series of transactions was an interference by congress with the institution of slavery in the states in one way-in the way of protection and support. It was by the institution of slavery alone, that the restitution of slaves enticed by proclamations into the British service could be claimed as property. But for the institution of slavery, the British commanders could neither have allured them to their standard, nor restored them otherwise than as liberated prisoners of war. But for the institution of slavery, there could have been no stipulation that they should not be carried away as property, nor any claim of indemnity for the violation of that engagement.

But the war power of congress over the institution of slavery in the states is yet far more extensive. Suppose the case of a servile war, complicated, as to some extent it is even now, with an Indian war; suppose congress were called to raise armies; to supply money from the whole Union to suppress a servile insurrection : would they have no authority to interfere with the institution of slavery? The issue of a servile war may be disastrous. By war, the slave may emancipate himself; it may become necessary for the master to recognise his emancipation, by a treaty of peace; can it, for an instant, be pretended that congress, in such a contingency, would have no authority to interfere with the institution of slavery, in any way, in the states? Why, it would be equivalent to saying, that congress have no constitutional authority to make peace.

I suppose a more portentous case, certainly within the bounds of possibility.-I would to God I could say not within the bounds of probability. You have been, if you are not now, at the very point of a war with Mexico-a war, I am sorry to say, so far as public rumor is credited, stimulated by provocations on our part from the very commencement of this Administration down to the recent authority given to General Gaines to invade the Mexican territory. It is said, that one of the earliest acts of this Administration, was a proposal made at a time when there was already much ill-humor in Mexico against the United States, that she should cede to the United States a very large portion of her territory-large enough to constitute nine states equal in extent to Kentucky. It must be confessed, that, a device better calculated to produce jealousy, suspicion, ill-will, and hatred, could not have been contrived. It is further affirmed, that this overture, offensive in itself, was made precisely at the time when a swarm of colonists from these United States were covering the Mexican border with land-jobbing, and with slaves, introduced in defiance of the Mexican laws, by which slavery had been abolished throughout that republic. The war now raging in Texas is a Mexican civil war, and a war for the re-establishment of slavery where it was abolished. It is not a servile war, but a war between slavery and emancipation, and every possible effort has been made to drive us into the war, on the side of slavery.

Sir, far be it from me to depreciate the glories of the Anglo-Saxon race; although there have been times when they bowed their necks and submitted to the law of conquest, beneath the ascendancy of the Norman race. But, sir, it has struck me as no inconsiderable evidence of the spirit which is spurring us into this war of aggression, of conquest, and of slave-making, that all the fires of ancient, hereditary national hatred are to be kindled, to familiarize us with the ferocious spirit of rejoicing at the massacre of prisoners in cold blood. Sir, is there not yet hatred enough, between the races which compose your southern population, and the population of Mexico, their next neighbor, but you must go back eight hundred or a thousand years, and to another hemisphere, for the fountains of bitterness between you and them? What is the temper of feeling between the component parts of your own southern population, between your Anglo-Saxon, Norman-French, and MoorishSpanish inhabitants of Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri? between them all and the Indian savage, the original possessor of the land from which you are scourging him already back to the foot of the Rocky Mountains? What between them all and the American negro, of African origin, whom they are holding in cruel bondage? Are these elements of harmony, concord, and patriotism between

the component parts of a nation starting upon a crusade of conquest? And what are the feelings of all this motley compound equally heterogeneous of the Mexican population? Do not you, an Anglo-Saxon, slaveholding exterminator of Indians, from the bottom of your soul, hate the Mexican-Spaniard-Indian emancipator of slaves, and abolisher of slavery? And do you think that your hatred is not with equal cordiality returned? Go to the city of Mexico, ask any one of your fellowcitizens who have been there for the last three or four years, whether they scarcely dare show their faces, as Anglo-Americans, in the streets. Be assured, sir, that, however heartily you detest the Mexican, his bosom burns with an equally deepseated detestation of you.

And this is the nation with which, at the instigation of your Executive Government, you are now rushing into war-into a war of conquest; commenced by aggression on your part, and for the re-establishment of slavery, where it has been abolished, throughout the Mexican republic. For your war will be with Mexicowith a republic of twenty-four states, and a population of eight or nine millions of souls. It seems to be considered that this victory over twelve hundred men, with the capture of their commander, the President of the Mexican republic, has already achieved the conquest of the whole republic. That it may have achieved the independence of Texas, is not impossible. But Texas is to the Mexican republic not more nor so much as the state of Michigan is to yours. That state of Michigan, the people of which are in vain claiming of you the performance of that sacred promise you made them, of admitting her as a state into the Union; that state of Michigan, which has greater grievances and heavier wrongs to allege against you for a declaration of her independence, if she were disposed to declare it, than the people of Texas have for breaking off their union with the republic of Mexico.

And again I ask, what will be your cause in such a war? Aggression, conquest, and the re-establishment of slavery, where it has been abolished. In that war, sir, the banners of freedom will be the banners of Mexico; and your banners, I blush to speak the word, will be the banners of slavery.

Sir, in considering these United States and the Mexican States as mere masses of power coming to collision against each other, I cannot doubt that Mexico will be the greatest sufferer by the shock. The conquest of all Mexico would seem to be no improbable result of the conflict, especially if the war should extend no further than to the two mighty combatants. But will it be so confined? Mexico is clearly the weakest of the two powers, but she is not the least prepared for action. She has the more recent experience of war. She has the greatest number of veteran warriors; and although her highest chief has just suffered a fatal and ignominious defeat, yet that has happened often before to leaders of armies too confident of success and contemptuous of their enemy.-Even now, Mexico is better prepared for a war of invasion upon her. There may be found a successor to Santa Anna, inflamed with the desire, not only of avenging her disaster, but what he and his nation will consider your perfidious hostility. The national spirit may go with him. He may not only turn the tables upon the Texian conquerors; but drive them for refuge within your borders, and pursue them into the heart of your own territories. Are you in a condition to resist him? Is the success of your whole army, and all your veteran generals, and all your militia-calls, and all your mutinous volunteers against a miserable band of five or six hundred invisible Seminole Indians, in your late campaign, an earnest of the energy and vigor with which you are ready to carry on that, far otherwise formidable and complicated war ?—complicated, did I say? And how complicated? Your Seminole war is already spreading to the Creeks, and, in their march of desolation, they sweep along with them your negro slaves, and put arms into their hands to make common cause with them against you, and how far will it spread, sir, should a Mexican invader, with the torch of liberty in his hand, and the standard of freedom floating over his head, proclaiming emancipation to the slave, and revenge to the native Indian, as he goes, invade your soil? What will be the condition of your states of Louisiana, of Mississippi, of Alabama, of Arkansas, of Missouri, and of Georgia? Where will be your negroes! Where will be that combined and concentrated mass of Indian tribes, whom, by an inconsiderate policy, you have expelled from their widely distant habitations, to embody them within a small compass on the very borders of Mexico, as if on purpose to give that country a nation of natural allies in their hostilities against you? Sir, you have a Mexican, an Indian, and a negro war upon your hands, and you are plunging