Garden meeting, at all the principal cities in the interior of the State, and throughout the United States. At Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and St. Louis, Union meetings were held, composed of gentlemen of both political parties, at which many of the most eminent public men appeared and participated in the proceedings, and urged their fellow-citizens to stand by the Union and support the execution of the fugitive slave law at all hazards.

Earnest and continued action by the supporters of the compromise seemed to be especially demanded at this time, as the sentiment was rapidly gaining ground in the North, and especially in Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio, that the fugitive slave law was inconsistent with the Declaration of Independence and the law of God, and therefore not binding on the conscience. Clergymen did not hesitate to preach such doctrines from the pulpit;* and all those who held to immediate abolition of slavery were ready to advise to any action, no matter how extreme, even

*The Rev. Mr. Parker, in Boston, said, "I have sometimes been amazed at the talk of men who call on us to keep the fugitive slave law, one of the most odious laws in a world of odious laws-a law not fit to be made or kept. I have been amazed that they should dare to tell us the law of God, writ on the heavens and on our hearts, never demanded we should disobey the laws of men! Well, suppose it were so. Then it was old Daniel's duty at Darius's command to give up his prayer; but he prayed three times a day, with his windows up. Then it was John's and Peter's duty to forbear to preach of Christianity; but they said, 'Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.' Then it was the duty of Amram and Jochebed to take up their new-born Moses and cast him into the Nile, for the law of King Pharoah, commanding it, was constitutional,' and political agitation' was discountenanced as much in Goshen as in Boston. But Daniel did not obey; John and Peter did not fail to preach Christianity; and Amram and Jochebed refused 'passive obedience' to the King's decree! I think it will take a strong man all this winter to reverse the judgment which the world has passed on these three cases.

"Talk of keeping the fugitive slave law! Come, come, we know better. Men in New England know better than this. We know that we ought not to keep a wicked law, and that it must not be kept when the law of God forbids!

"But the effect of a law which men cannot keep without violating conscience is always demoralizing. There are men who know no higher law than the statute of the State. When good men cannot keep a law that is base, some bad ones will say, 'Let us keep no law at all,'-then where does the blame lie? On him that enacts the outrageous law.

"The idea that a statute of man frees us from obligation to the law of God, is a dreadful thing. When that becomes the deliberate conviction of the great mass of the people, North or South, then I shall despair of human nature; then I shall despair of justice, and despair of God. But it will never come."

Other clergymen, however, though disliking the law, have expressed themselves in an entirely different tone, and inculcated submission to it.

Thus Dr. Tyng, of New York, on a public occasion, said:

"With regard to the fugitive slave law, he regarded it as indispensable to the existence of slavery. He hated the law, in all the circumstances of its provisions, yet he was bound to obey it, while it was on the statute book, and he had no other alternative than to inculcate obedience to it, as a law binding on the individual conscience and on the nation."

to the dissolution of the Union, to accomplish the object for which they labored. As an evidence of this deep-seated and reckless hostility to slavery, we record the following declaration of sentiments at a large meeting of the people at Berlin, Ohio: "That since our government has become thus destructive of the ends of liberty, an engine of torture and slavery to millions, compelling the entire people to be slaveholders or slaves, it has be come our right and duty not to alter, but to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundations on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as shall seem most likely to secure a full equality of the blessings of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and with full confidence in the integrity of our purpose and the justice of our cause, we DO HEREBY DECLARE OURSELVES THE ENEMIES OF THE CONSTITUTION, UNION, AND GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES, and the friends of the new Confederacy of Northern States, where there shall be NO UNION WITH SLAVEHOLDERS, but where there shall ever be free soil, free labor, and free men. And from this great and glorious Convention we proclaim it as our unalterable purpose and determination to live and to labor for a dissolution of the present Union by all lawful and just, though bloodless and pacific means, and for the formation of a new Northern Republic that shall be such, not in name only, but in full living reality and truth!

"And we do hereby invite and entreat all the young people of Ohio, and the friends of justice, humanity, and true liberty in all the States, to unite with us in laboring for so glorious and holy an object."

The consequence of such inflammatory language at the North was a corresponding irritation at the South, which was only allayed by the efforts of the Unionists, who rank among their number some of the most able and influential men in the slave states. Still, however, the secessionists of the South (especially in South Carolina) have of late rather increased than abated their hostile tone, and the extreme abolitionists of the North invite the issue and defy them to do their worst. None, therefore, can foretell the future destiny of this great Union. It is in the hands of that Superintending Providence to whom the early fathers of the Republic consigned it, and under whose direction the coming events must decide for good or ill, its permanence or its dis ruption.

CHAPTER V.

Action of Texas on the boundary question-Acceptance of the proposition-President's message in relation to Nicaragua-Mr. Clayton's views-Declarations of Lord Palm erston-Importance of the subject-Difficulties with Portugal-How adjusted-Arrival of Amin Bey-Interview with the President-Second session of the Thirty-first Congress -President's message and reports of Secretaries—The railroad to the Pacific--Remov als from office-Correspondence with Austria.

THE Governor of Texas received official information on the 27th of September of the passage of the Texas boundary bill. He at once issued his proclamation convoking a special session of the legislature on the third Monday of November. This was necessary, because the act of Congress on that subject required that the acceptance by Texas of the propositions, if embraced, should be given by an act of the legislature of that State, on or before the first day of December, 1850.

In his message to the legislature of the 18th November, Gov. Bell stated that he considered the propositions of the Federal Government so important that he deemed it proper to refer them to the people for their sanction, previous to the meeting of the legislature. He had therefore directed by proclamation the chief justices of the different counties of the State to cause polls to be opened at the various precincts at which the citizens of the State were invited to express their sentiments as to the propriety of accepting or rejecting the propositions of the United States, in order that the legislature might have some guide respecting the will of the people on this important subject. The polls were accordingly opened, and the votes of the people were taken for accepting or for rejecting the terms proposed by Congress. A very large majority of votes were given at the election in favor of the boundary and terms of compromise proposed by the act of Congress. The returns were made directly to the legislature, and its members thus came to the consideration of the subject duly instructed as to the wishes of their constituents on the subject before them. Very few days were therefore consumed in deliberating on the act, by which the assent of the State to the boundary propositions was to be given. On the 25th of November, a law was passed agreeing to, and accepting the proposition contained in the act of Congress.*

*After reciting the provisions of that act, the Texan law proceeds to enact and declare as follows:

Therefore, First, Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That the

On the 13th of December, the President transmitted to Congress the assent of Texas, with a message, in which he remarks: "I cannot refrain from congratulating Congress and the country, on the success of this great and leading measure of conciliation and peace. The difficulties felt, and the dangers apprehended, from the vast acquisitions of territory under the late treaty with Mexico, seem now happily overcome by the wisdom of Congress." The United States, Texas and New Mexico, may be considered as the principal parties concerned in this boundary dispute. It can hardly be doubted that three-fourths of the people of the United States were perfectly satisfied with the adjustment. Texas, with unexpected unanimity, yielded to it her assent, and the assent of New Mexico may be fairly presumed, for no manifestations of dissent have been exhibited on the part of the inhabitants, who gave a favorable reception to the territorial governor sent out by the government. At the South the number of those who were hostile to the Texas boundary, as established, was comparatively small, and many of them acknowledged, that their objections could no longer be urged with propriety after the expression of the Texan people in favor of the boundary thus established. At the North, the opposition to the arrangement with Texas was confined chiefly to the most ultraadvocates of the Wilmot proviso; and their indignation was gradually merged in their engrossing hostility to the fugitive slave law. The great majority at the North cared little as to the specific terms upon which this boundary question was settled. The consummation of the arrangement was therefore generally regarded as a desirable disposition of a troublesome matter. Having thus summarily reviewed the legislation of Congress, with respect to those great questions of a domestic nature, which so fully engrossed its attention for the greater part of the first session of the Thirty-First Congress, we must advert now to some other subjects which properly belong to this portion of our history.

State of Texas hereby agrees to and accepts said propositions; and it is hereby de clared that said State shall be bound by the terms thereof according to their true import and meaning.

"Second, that the Governor of this State be, and he is hereby, requested to cause a copy of this act, authenticated under the seal of the State, to be furnished to the President of the United States, by mail, as early as practicable; and also, a copy thereof, certified in like manner, to be transmitted to each of the Senators and Representatives of Texas in Congress, and that this act take effect from and after its passage.

"Approved, November 25, 1850.

"C. G. KEENAN,

"Speaker of the House of Representatives.
"JOHN A. GREEN,
"President of the Senate.

"P. H. BELL."

In the fourth volume of the Register, we inserted the convention between the United States and Great Britain for facilitating and protecting the construction of a ship canal between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, through Central America. This treaty bears date the 19th April, 1850. Ratifications were exchanged on the 4th of July ensuing, and published with the President's proclamation on the fifth.

Owing to the rapid growth of Oregon and California, and the increased intercourse between the old States and these new settlements upon the Pacific, much solicitude had been manifested in the United States for the improvement of the different routes between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The principle adopted by Mr. Clayton, the Secretary of State, by whom the convention respecting the Nicaragua Canal was negotiated, of aiming at no exclusive control of these routes, provided other nations would agree equally to protect them, was a principle which had been recognized by previous administrations. On the 3d of March, 1835, the Senate, on motion of Mr. Clayton, sanctioned and adopted this principle with reference to such inter-oceanic communication. This resolution was approved by General Jackson, who sent Mr. Biddle to Central America and New Grenada, with instructions to negotiate on the basis of the principle thus avowed. The same policy was pursued by Mr. Polk, as appears by his message transmitting to the Senate the treaty respecting the Panama Railroad, and finally re-confirmed and asserted in the convention of the 19th April, 1850. The negotiations which were concluded by that convention, were known to be in progress, when much excitement was produced throughout the country, by intelligence that the British forces had seized on Tigre Island, which it was said commanded one of the proposed termini of the contemplated Nicaragua canal. On the 24th of January, 1850, a resolution was adopted by the House of Representatives, requesting the President to communicate to that body, "provided the publication thereof be not pre

*See Treaty, Vol. iv., p. 554.

†The policy adopted by this government in negotiating with the Central American States, and with all foreign nations in regard to those States, owes its origin to the resolution of the Senate of the United States unanimously adopted on the 3d of March, 1835, in the following words:

"Resolved, That the President of the United States be respectfully requested to consider the expediency of opening negotiations with the Governments of Central America and New Grenada, for the purpose of effectually protecting. by suitable treaty stipulations with them, such individuals or companies as may undertake to open a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by the construction of a ship canal across the isthmus which connects North and South America, and of securing forever, by such stipulations, the free and equal right of navigating such canal to all such nations, on the payment of such reasonable tolls as may be established to compensate the capitalists who may engage in such undertaking and complete the work."