afford relief to the community, must be one which will revive confidence, now prostrate, throughout the Union. Although this pressure originated in a temporary deficiency of money for the purposes of business, the evil has become that of the general destruction of mutual confidence between individuals, and, to a great and alarming extent, the destruction of confidence in the currency. The system of commercial business, and the operations of the currency, extend throughout the country. The relief proposed by this bill is merely local-it is temporary and cannot be adequate.

But it is on the ground of the corrupting operation of this measure that I most strenuously protest against it. In addition to a debt of two and a half millions owed to the Treasury by the state banks, you would loan them four millions, you would make it their interest to become subservient and to do the will of those who wield the power of the state-you would thus establish directly and inevitably a great moneyed power to be wielded by the public officers; in other words, by the dominant party through the agency of moneyed corporations operating directly upon the people. The consequence of this will be the corruption of the government, the banks, and the people. Nor is the two million loan in the country less objectionable in this respect. You are in a season of extreme pressure and distress, holding out to the people the enormous sum of two millions. You appeal to the cupidity of some, and operate upon the necessities of others in every county in the state. You would bring all the needy to exercise their influence on the supervisors to draw their portion of the loan. The board of supervisors would yield, the money would be placed in the hands of loan officers. In my place as a Senator, I declare that to be opposed to the administration is a disqualification for the office of loan officers. Those loan officers would distribute the sum which, although inadequate to the general relief, would still be a sufficient bribe to the weak, the unfortunate, the timid and the unprincipled. It is easy to imagine who then would be the recipients of this bounty of the state. And all would know or feel that to participate in it, they must give their political support to those who should dispense it.

Thus, sir, in this free republic, is the money of the people proposed to be employed by the government to corrupt the people themselves. The two millions would become a great corruption fund more dangerous than the gold of Sir Henry Clinton paid to

the traitor Arnold, more destructive of the virtue of the people than were the bribes paid by Philip of Macedon to the Athenian

orators.

Sir, I blush that it has been reserved for the Legislature of New York to establish such a system as this-although, if it must be adopted, I cannot regret that the honor of its paternity belongs to one whose fame as a Representative of this state in the Senate of the United States, rests upon his declaration of the principle that, in reference to political discussions, "to the victor belongs. the spoils of the enemy."

Mr. President, I have shown that relief ought to be given to the people of this state, under an unnecessary and cruel pressure. I have shown, I am sure I have shown that this bill would not afford that relief, and ought not to pass. What, then, is there no relief? Is there no way to arrest the march of this DISTRUST which is spreading ruin throughout the land?

Yes, there is a remedy-one in the power of this legislature to grant; one that will be neither contingent, nor remote, nor inadequate, but immediate, certain and effectual; one that will revive languishing commerce, agriculture and manufactures-nay, more -one whose operation will not be limited by the borders of our state: it will recall confidence and prosperity everywhere throughout this land. To give that relief will require no money, no loan, no expense, no risk-it will compromit no principle, it will work no injury, nor be fraught with any danger to the people. One. sacrifice it requires, but that is a personal one to be made by the members of the legislature. That sacrifice is difficult, but it can work them no injury. They who make it will be approved and applauded and hailed by the generous people who have confided in and honored us as their deliverers from suffering which they as well as we had not foreseen. That sacrifice, however, is one seldom made. None but great minds can make it. It is therefore more precious in the eyes of good men. To make that sacrifice is the only human virtue which can gain the favor of Him who is altogether pure and altogether just. It is the sacrifice of pride, of opinion-the acknowledgment of error. Let this legislature say to those who will obey their will at Washington, because they depend upon their support" Restore the public treasures to their lawful depository; cease this unnatural and unnecessary warfare against the interests of the people, and these ruinous experi

SPEECHES

IN

THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

FREEDOM IN THE NEW TERRITORIES.

MARCH 11, 1850.

FOUR years ago, California, a Mexican province, scarcely inhabited and quite unexplored, was unknown even to our usually immoderate desires, except by a harbor, capacious and tranquil, which only statesmen then foresaw would be useful in the oriental commerce of a far distant, if not merely chimerical, future.

A year ago, California was a mere military dependency of our own, and we were celebrating with unanimity and enthusiasm its acquisition, with its newly-discovered but yet untold and untouched mineral wealth, as the most auspicious of many and unparalleled achievements..

To-day, California is a state, more populous than the least and richer than several of the greatest of our thirty states. This same California, thus rich and populous, is here asking admission into the Union, and finds us debating the dissolution of the Union itself.

No wonder if we are perplexed with ever-changing embarrassments! No wonder if we are appalled by ever-increasing responsibilities! No wonder if we are bewildered by the ever-augmenting magnitude and rapidity of national vicissitudes!

SHALL CALIFORNIA BE RECEIVED? For myself, upon my individual judgment and conscience, I answer, Yes. For myself, as an instructed representative of one of the states, of that one even of the states which is soonest and longest to be pressed in commercial

and political rivalry by the new commonweath, I answer, Yes. Let California come in. Every new state, whether she come from the east or from the west, every new state, coming from whatever part of the continent she may, is always welcome. But California, that comes from the clime where the west dies away into the rising east; California, that bounds at once the empire and the continent; California, the youthful queen of the Pacific, in her robes of freedom, gorgeously inlaid with gold—is doubly welcome.

And now I inquire, first, Why should California be rejected? All the objections are founded only in the circumstances of her coming, and in the organic law which she presents for our confirmation.

1st. California comes UNCEREMONIOUSLY, without a preliminary consent of Congress, and therefore by usurpation. This allegation, I think, is not quite true; at least, not quite true in spirit. California is here not of her own pure volition. We tore California and New Mexico violently from their places in the confederation of Mexican states, and stipulated, by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, that the territories thus acquired should be admitted as states into the American Union as speedily as possible.

But the letter of the objection still holds. California does come without having obtained a preliminary consent of Congress to form a constitution. But Michigan and other states presented themselves in the same unauthorized way, and Congress waived the irregularity, and sanctioned the usurpation. California pleads these precedents. Is not the plea sufficient?

But it has been said by the honorable senator from South Carolina, [Mr. CALHOUN,] that the ordinance of 1787 secured to Michigan the right to become à state, when she should have sixty thousand inhabitants, and that, owing to some neglect, Congress delayed taking the census. This is said in palliation of the irregularity of Michigan. But California, as has been seen, had a treaty, and Congress, instead of giving previous consent, and instead of giving her the customary territorial government, as they did to Michigan, failed to do either, and thus practically refused both, and so abandoned the new community, under most unpropitious circumstances, to anarchy. California then made a constitution for herself, but not unnecessarily and presumptuously, as Michigan did. She made a constitution for herself, and she comes here under the law, the paramount law, of self-preservation.